InterMat Staff

(Photo/King Athletics) A familiar face finished atop the NWCA National Dual Championships NCAA Women's division. King University dominated the field, downing three top-ten teams and winning their fifth-ever dual championship; however, it was the school's first since 2017. Over the course of five duals, King only lost seven individual matches. Here are some of the notable moments from the tournament and we're not just limited to King University! McKendree's Alara Boyd, ranked #1 at 155, dropped to 143 and beat King's 5th ranked London Houston. The move may simply have been for dual purposes, but it could change things at 143. If she does stay down, that should push her teammate, #2 Kayla Morano, up to #1, but there was a hitch. King's Ashlynn Ortega, ranked #2 at 143, bumped up to 155 and beat Morano. We're not sure if she plans to stay there, but she was pinned by 143 #1 Katie Lange (Augsburg) in her only previous action this season. King's Samara Chavez, #5 at 116 behind teammate #2 Sage Mortimer, dropped to 109 and beat #2 Pauline Granados. Not only did Chavez defeat Granados, but she also downed #4 Sydney Petzinger (North Central) in a 10-8 brawl. Speaking of Mortimer - McKendree's Felicity Taylor, who had opened the season ranked #2 at 116, but fell out because she had not competed - did. And she teched Mortimer with hellacious leg lace. Another wrestler ranked early but dropped out for non-competition appeared in style. 116 pre-season #3 Jaslynn Gallegos (Presbyterian) came out and beat #4 Kendra Ryan (North Central) and #6 Aliyah Rollins (McKendree). King's 101 #2 Jaclyn McNichols won not 1 but 2 matches by scoring the last point, 1-1 over #5 Brooke Thurber (UWSP) and 3-3 over pre-season #3 McKendree's Lizette Rodriguez. A win - or 2 - is a win. That's even more notable because McKendree's unranked Rodriguez came in and beat 101 #3 Sam Miller (Presbyterian). Rodriguez had fallen out of the rankings when she began the season at 109. At 109, not an upset but fun to watch, #4 Sydney Petzinger and #5 Natalie Reyna have now wrestled 4 times this season, with Petzinger making it 2-2 with the fall in Louisville. Tiffin's Sugey Ceja, #3 at 116, had a mixed tournament, losing by tech to unranked Gabriela Ramos Diaz (Limestone) and by fall to Mortimer, but also managing wins over #4 Ryan and #6 Rollins. It would have been nice to see her match up with Presbyterian's Gallegos. The committee might keep an eye on Diaz. She bumped up to 123 and teched UWSP's Abby Nelson, she lost 6-3 to Mortimer and she bumped up again to 123 and went a wild 6 minutes with Lindenwood's #6 Cayden Condit (20-12). Augsburg's 136 #5 Nina Kemu Makem upset King's #1 Ana Luciano in pool play. Luciano came back to beat #4 Sara Sulejmani (North Central) and #3 Skye Realin 7-4 (McKendree) in the team semifinals and finals. Unranked Tiera Jimerson (North Central) avenged a pin from Tiffin's Taylor Hites in Vegas with a fall of her own, and followed that up with a pin of King's 5th ranked Tiffany Baublitz. And at 170, King's #3 Cheyenne Bowman upset #1 Yelena Makoyed (North Central), 9-6.

Lehigh's NCAA qualifier Jake Logan (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Saturday's Dual Results Bucknell 29 Long Island 10 125 - Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) dec Robbie Sagaris (Long Island) 3-2 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) maj Bryce Cockrell (Long Island) 10-0 141 - Noah Levett (Bucknell) maj Devin Matthews (Long Island) 12-1 149 - Kolby DePron (Bucknell) maj Drew Witham (Long Island) 13-3 157 - Nick Delp (Bucknell) fall James Johnston (Long Island) 2:09 165 - Blake Bahna (Long Island) dec Matt Kidwell (Bucknell) 7-3 174 - Ryan Ferro (Long Island) maj Sam Barnes (Bucknell) 11-3 184 - Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) maj TJ Franden (Long Island) 9-1 197 - Mason McCready (Bucknell) maj Karl Osmond-Bouyer (Long Island) 14-3 285 - Tim Nagosky (Long Island) dec Luke Niemeyer (Bucknell) 5-2 Bucknell 21 Hofstra 15 125 - Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) dec Jacob Moon (Hofstra) 3-1SV 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec Ty Cymmerman (Hofstra) 4-2 141 - Justin Hoyle (Hofstra) dec Noah Levett (Bucknell) 8-6 149 - Kolby DePron (Bucknell) fall Michael Leandrou (Hofstra) 2:20 157 - Nick Delp (Bucknell) dec Joey McGinty (Hofstra) 5-1 165 - Ricky Stamm (Hofstra) dec Matt Kidwell (Bucknell) 7-3 174 - Sam Barnes (Bucknell) InjDef Ross McFarland (Hofstra) 184 - Charles Small (Hofstra) dec Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) 8-2 197 - Trey Rogers (Hofstra) dec Mason McCready (Bucknell) 3-2 285 - Zachary Knighton-Ward (Hofstra) dec Luke Niemeyer (Bucknell) 6-2 Lehigh 18 Cornell 15 125 - Vito Arujau (Cornell) dec Jaret Lane (Lehigh) 9-3 133 - Malyke Hines (Lehigh) dec Dom LaJoie (Cornell) 10-4 141 - Connor McGonagle (Lehigh) dec Cole Handlovic (Cornell) 3-2 149 - Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) tech Steven Storm (Lehigh) 21-6 157 - Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) dec Hunter Richard (Cornell) 9-2 165 - Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec Brian Meyer (Lehigh) 3-2 174 - Jake Logan (Lehigh) dec Chris Foca (Cornell) 5-2 184 - AJ Burkhart (Lehigh) dec Jonathan Loew (Cornell) 7-6 197 - Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) tech Eli Jones (Lehigh) 19-4 285 - Jordan Wood (Lehigh) dec Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) 9-3 Ohio State 27 Michigan State 14 125 - Malik Heinselman (Ohio State) dec Tristan Lujan (Michigan State) 6-2 133 - Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) tech Will Betancourt (Ohio State) 16-0 141 - Jordan Hamdan (Michigan State) dec Klay Reeves (Ohio State) 5-3 149 - Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) fall Jaden Enriquez (Michigan State) 5:39 157 - Chase Saldate (Michigan State) dec Jashon Hubbard (Ohio State) 4-2 165 - Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) maj Caleb Fish (Michigan State) 14-6 174 - Ethan Smith (Ohio State) tech Nate Jimenez (Michigan State) 24-9 184 - Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) fall Marty Larkin (Michigan State) 3:24 197 - Cameron Caffey (Michigan State) dec Rocky Jordan (Ohio State) 7-2 285 - Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) dec Brad Wilton (Michigan State) 10-3 Oklahoma State 35 Little Rock 6 125 - Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) dec Jayden Carson (Little Rock) 8-3 133 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) tech Jaylen Carson (Little Rock) 17-2 141 - Carter Young (Oklahoma State) maj Conner Ward (Little Rock) 14-4 149 - Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) dec Joey Sanchez (Oklahoma State) 5-0 157 - Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) tech Austin Keal (Little Rock) 15-0 165 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State) dec Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) 9-4 174 - Triston Wills (Little Rock) dec Jalin Harper (Oklahoma State) 7-1 184 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) tech Tanner Mendoza (Little Rock) 18-0 197 - AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) fall Brooks Sarcharczyki (Little Rock) 2:39 285 - Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) maj Josiah Hill (Little Rock) 10-2 Sunday's Dual Results Campbell 47 Bellarmine 3 125 - Korbin Meink (Campbell) dec Jack Parker (Bellarmine) 11-4 133 - Domenic Zaccone (Campbell) fall Max Dansereau (Bellarmine) 1:11 141 - Shannon Hanna (Campbell) FFT 149 - Chris Rivera (Campbell) FFT 157 - Matthew Dallara (Campbell) dec Alex Rivera (Bellarmine) 4-0 165 - Troy Nation (Campbell) fall Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) 1:24 174 - Austin Murphy (Campbell) FFT 184 - Sam Schroeder (Bellarmine) dec Shane Quick (Campbell) 6-5 197 - Levi Hopkins (Campbell) fall Bryant Wilkinson (Bellarmine) 1:11 285 - Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) tech Charlie Cadell (Bellarmine) 19-4 Cleveland State 24 SIU Edwardsville 15 125 - Logan Heil (Cleveland State) dec Austin Macias (SIU Edwardsville) 7-5 133 - Jake Manely (Cleveland State) fall Matt Malavsky (SIU Edwardsville) 5:41 141 - Saul Ervin (SIU Edwardsville) tech Hunter Olson (Cleveland State) 18-2 149 - Marcus Robinson (Cleveland State) dec Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville) 7-5 157 - Max Kristoff (SIU Edwardsville) maj Caleb Cass (Cleveland State) 11-3 165 - Riley Smucker (Cleveland State) FFT 174 - Kevin Gschwendtner (SIU Edwardsville) dec Anthony Rice (Cleveland State) 4-2 184 - DeAndre Nassar (Cleveland State) dec Sergio Villalobos (SIU Edwardsville) 4-3TB 197 - Ben Smith (Cleveland State) dec Ryan Yarnell (SIU Edwardsville) 5-1 285 - Colton McKiernan (SIU Edwardsville) dec Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) 6-0 Buffalo 24 SIU Edwardsville 12 125 - Austin Macias (SIU Edwardsville) dec Jordan Reyes (Buffalo) 4-2 133 - Derek Spann (Buffalo) fall Matt Malavsky (SIU Edwardsville) 2:04 141 - Saul Ervin (SIU Edwardsville) dec Ben Freeman (Buffalo) 2-1 149 - John Arceri (Buffalo) dec Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville) 6-3 157 - Hunter Shaut (Buffalo) dec Max Kristoff (SIU Edwardsville) 10-5 165 - Noah Grover (Buffalo) FFT 174 - Jay Nivison (Buffalo) dec Kevin Gschwendtner (SIU Edwardsville) 5-3 184 - Sergio Villalobos (SIU Edwardsville) dec Pete Acciardi (Buffalo) 3-2TB 197 - Sam Mitchell (Buffalo) dec Ryan Yarnell (SIU Edwardsville) 3-1 285 - Colton McKiernan (SIU Edwardsville) dec Toby Cahill (Buffalo) 1-0 NC State 32 Princeton 9 125 - Jakob Camacho (NC State) FFT 133 - Jarrett Trombley (NC State) maj Nick Masters (Princeton) 11-3 141 - Ryan Jack (NC State) maj Danny Coles (Princeton) 14-3 149 - Tariq Wilson (NC State) dec Marshall Keller (Princeton) 6-4 157 - Ed Scott (NC State) dec Quincy Monday (Princeton) 6-4 165 - Jake Marsh (Princeton) dec AJ Kovacs (NC State) 5-4 174 - Hayden Hidlay (NC State) tech Nathan Dugan (Princeton) 17-2 184 - Trent Hidlay (NC State) maj Travis Stefanik (Princeton) 17-4 197 - Aidan Conner (Princeton) fall Isaac Trumble (NC State) 2:44 285 - Tyrie Houghton (NC State) dec Matthew Cover (Princeton) 6-3 Minnesota 23 Northwestern 9 125 - Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) dec Patrick McKee (Minnesota) 8-7 133 - Chris Cannon (Northwestern) dec Jake Gliva (Minnesota) 6-3 141 - Jakob Bergeland (Minnesota) dec Frankie Tal-Shahar (Northwestern) 2-0 149 - Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) dec Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) 6-1 157 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota) FFT 165 - Cael Carlson (Minnesota) FFT 174 - Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) dec Troy Fisher (Northwestern) 9-5 184 - Sam Skillings (Minnesota) dec Jon Halvorsen (Northwestern) 4-2 197 - Michial Foy (Minnesota) fall Brendan Devine (Northwestern) 4:45 285 - Gable Steveson (Minnesota) maj Lucas Davison (Northwestern) 13-4 Pittsburgh 29 Army West Point 10 125 - Gage Curry (Pittsburgh) maj Ryan Chauvin (Army West Point) 12-4 133 - Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh) maj Mark Montgomery (Army West Point) 14-5 141 - Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) fall Thomas Deck (Army West Point) 3:00 149 - PJ Ogunsanya (Army West Point) maj Luke Kemerer (Pittsburgh) 14-5 157 - Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) dec Markus Hartman (Army West Point) 4-2 165 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) dec Dalton Harkins (Army West Point) 1-0 174 - Ben Pasiuk (Army West Point) fall Hunter Kernan (Pittsburgh) 4:38 184 - Gregg Harvey (Pittsburgh) dec Sahm Abdul Razzaq (Army West Point) 6-4 197 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) dec JT Brown (Army West Point) 8-4 285 - Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) dec Brandon Phillips (Army West Point) 6-0 Michigan 29 Pittsburgh 12 125 - Nick Suriano (Michigan) maj Gage Curry (Pittsburgh) 18-7 133 - Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh) dec Jack Medley (Michigan) 5-2 141 - Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) dec Stevan Micic (Michigan) 11-5 149 - Cole Mattin (Michigan) dec Dan Mancini (Pittsburgh) 9-4 157 - Will Lewan (Michigan) dec Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) 3-1 165 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) FFT 174 - Logan Massa (Michigan) fall Hunter Kernan (Pittsburgh) 2:18 184 - Myles Amine (Michigan) fall Nicholas Meglino (Pittsburgh) :46 197 - Patrick Brucki (Michigan) dec Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) 6-3 285 - Mason Parris (Michigan) maj Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) 14-4 Wisconsin 19 Rutgers 14 125 - Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) dec Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) 8-4 133 - Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) dec Kyle Burwick (Wisconsin) 4-3 141 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) tech Joe Zargo (Wisconsin) 19-3 149 - Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) maj Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) 11-1 157 - Garrett Model (Wisconsin) dec Robert Kanniard (Rutgers) 13-8 165 - Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) dec Andy Clark (Rutgers) 10-4 174 - Andrew McNally (Wisconsin) dec Jackson Turley (Rutgers) 6-1 184 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) dec Chris Weiler (Wisconsin) 12-5 197 - Greg Bulsak (Rutgers) dec Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) 8-7 285 - Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) dec Boone McDermott (Wisconsin) 6-3 South Dakota State 27 Northern Iowa 13 125 - Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) dec Kyle Gollhofer (Northern Iowa) 4-3 133 - Kyle Biscoglia (Northern Iowa) maj Caleb Gross (South Dakota State) 10-2 141 - Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) dec Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) 11-4 149 - Daniel Kimball (South Dakota State) dec Tristan Lara (Northern Iowa) 9-5 157 - Derek Holschlag (Northern Iowa) dec Kenny O'Neill (South Dakota State) 7-1 165 - Tanner Cook (South Dakota State) fall Cayd Lara (Northern Iowa) 1:24 174 - Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) dec Pat Schoenfelder (Northern Iowa) 10-6 184 - Cade King (South Dakota State) fall Dajun Johnson (Northern Iowa) 1:55 197 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) fall Nic Casperson (South Dakota State) 4:12 285 - AJ Nevills (South Dakota State) dec Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) 4-3 Penn State 29 Indiana 11 125 - Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State) dec Jacob Moran (Indiana) 6-2 133 - Brock Hudkins (Indiana) tech Baylor Shunk (Penn State) 18-3 141 - Cayden Rooks (Indiana) dec Brandon Meredith (Penn State) 9-4 149 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec Graham Rooks (Indiana) 6-4 157 - Derek Gilcher (Indiana) dec Tony Negron (Penn State) 4-1 165 - Creighton Edsell (Penn State) maj Sammy Cokeley (Indiana) 11-3 174 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) fall Sean Grim (Indiana) 2:07 184 - Aaron Brooks (Penn State) maj Donnell Washington (Indiana) 13-4 197 - Max Dean (Penn State) maj Nick Willham (Indiana) 9-1 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) tech Jacob Bullock (Indiana) 20-3 Columbia 46 Long Island 0 125 - Joe Manchio (Columbia) dec Robbie Sagaris (Long Island) 3-2 133 - Angelo Rini (Columbia) fall Bryce Cockrell (Long Island) 3:17 141 - Matt Kazimir (Columbia) dec Devin Matthews (Long Island) 4-0 149 - Dan Fongaro (Columbia) maj Drew Witham (Long Island) 14-2 157 - Andrew Garr (Columbia) dec James Johnston (Long Island) 8-2 165 - Josh Ogunsanya (Columbia) fall Blake Bahna (Long Island) 2:37 174 - Nick Fine (Columbia) fall Ryan Ferro (Long Island) 4:11 184 - Brian Bonino (Columbia) fall Gavin Claro (Long Island) 4:45 197 - Michael Baker (Columbia) fall Karl Bouyer (Long Island) 2:42 285 - Danny Conley (Columbia) dec Tim Nagosky (Long Island) 2-0 Iowa 36 Purdue 4 125 - Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec Devin Schroder (Purdue) 6-1 133 - Matt Ramos (Purdue) maj Jesse Ybarra (Iowa) 11-1 141 - Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) dec Parker Filius (Purdue) 7-6 149 - Max Murin (Iowa) maj Trey Kruse (Purdue) 10-2 157 - Kaleb Young (Iowa) maj Cooper Noehre (Purdue) 12-4 165 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa) tech Hayden Lohrey (Purdue) 22-7 174 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa) tech Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue) 17-1 184 - Abe Assad (Iowa) dec Max Lyon (Purdue) 6-3 197 - Jacob Warner (Iowa) dec Thomas Penola (Purdue) 3-0 285 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) fall Michael Woulfe (Purdue) 1:14

Drake Ayala (right) and Devin Schroder (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) How to Watch: January 9th, Big Ten Network (3pm EST) We didn't have much time to speculate or continue this will he/won't he game regarding Iowa's replacement for three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee. On Friday night, Tom Brands unleashed blue-chip, true freshman Drake Ayala at 125 lbs opposite returning All-American Patrick McKee (Minnesota). Starting a true freshman has been a rarity during Brands' tenure, so sending out Ayala in the first dual without Lee speaks volumes to how the staff views Ayala. Through 13 matches in his first year in Iowa City, Ayala has compiled a 10-3 record, with all three losses coming to 2021 NCAA third-place finisher McKee. In each contest, Ayala has never looked out of place or outclassed. He's hung with, and even led the All-American, which has given many observers the indication that Ayala could flip this result with more time in the Iowa room and experience against DI competition. That's what we're looking at today; Ayala's path for the remainder of the regular season and the Big Ten Championships. By the time the conference meet rolls around, in early March, he'll undoubtedly be battle-tested as the Hawkeye schedule is loaded with potential tests at the 125 lb weight class. Starting today! At 3pm (eastern), on the Big Ten Network, Ayala will tangle with two-time Big Ten runner-up Devin Schroder (Purdue). The Boilermaker veteran is currently ranked fifth in the nation and possesses one of the most dangerous top games at this weight. Many freshmen struggle on the mat, so this will be a considerable test for Ayala. January 14th - #17 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) The 2021 NCAA Round of 12 finisher did not see action this year before Friday evening. DeAugustino made his presence known and took out returning All-American #4 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) in his debut. He is definitely ranked lower than his abilities indicate, more of a function of a lack of data for the 2021-22 season. January 16th - #24 Justin Cardani (Illinois) The 2020 NCAA qualifier is coming off a title at the MatMen Open, where he downed a pair of ranked wrestlers. January 21st - #14 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State) The much-improved Heinselman currently sports an 11-1 record and is looking to improve upon his fourth-place finish at the 2021 Big Ten Championships. While known as being slick on his feet, Heinselman has been more well-rounded during this campaign. January 28th - Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State) This will be a colossal matchup in one of the most-anticipated duals of the year. Hildebrandt made his PSU debut on Friday with a pin against Maryland, but it remains to be seen what kind of shape he's in. If anywhere close to his 2021 form that led to a fourth-place finish at NCAA's, Hildebrandt will be a huge test for Ayala. February 5th - #4 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) The third 2021 All-American on Ayala's schedule, Barnett presents a different challenge from some of the other opponents. He's capable of scoring points in bunches and with big moves, so he may be the most dangerous of the crew. February 12th - #9 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) The Iowa/Oklahoma State match is one that will take place at the Texas Rangers' stadium (Globe Life Field) alongside a dual with Team USA/Iran. #3 Oklahoma State is one of the few teams with enough balance to perhaps defeat the Hawkeyes. This bout between Ayala and undefeated Trevor Mastrogiovanni is likely one that propels the winner to a team victory. February 20th - #23 Liam Cronin/Jeremiah Reno (Nebraska) If this final dual with Nebraska represents a “let up” for Ayala in the schedule, that tells you just how difficult is upcoming slate is. Returning national qualifier and #13 seed at NCAA's, Cronin, is 3-3, but hasn't competed since the Daktronics Open in late November. Since then, Reno has gotten the call and is 3-6, overall. March 5/6th - Big Ten Championships #4 Barnett, #5 Schroder, #7 McKee, #14 Heinselman, #17 DeAugustino, #23 Cronin, #24 Cardani, #25 Jacob Moran (Indiana), #30 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers). Plus, currently unranked Nick Suriano (Michigan) and Hildebrandt.

Virginia Tech 157 lber Connor Brady (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Duke: The Blue Devils are off this week and will return to action against Appalachian State next week. North Carolina: The Tar Heels sent a limited squad to the F&M Open made up of attached and unattached wrestlers. We will have a full breakdown of the results next week. North Carolina State: The #5 Wolfpack travels to New Jersey this weekend--they were supposed to dual Rider Saturday and #19 Princeton Sunday, but the Rider dual was canceled due to COVID precautions within the Rider program. The dual against the Tigers will be a good one, though! There are potentially three ranked versus ranked matchups in the dual, starting with a huge match at 125. #10 Jakob Camacho will face #1 Patrick Glory. Camacho will be facing the #1 wrestler for the second match in a row; he lost a decision to Spencer Lee of Iowa at the Collegiate Duals. Since Lee is done for the season with knee surgery, Patrick Glory slides up to the top spot. Camacho is 7-2 on the year and Glory is 4-0, including a major decision win over #5 Devin Schroder of Purdue. The next big match is at 157 with #11 Ed Scott squaring up with #5 Quincy Monday. Scott is 13-0 on the year and is coming off of two ranked wins at the Collegiate Duals-#24 Jarrett Jacques and #12 Kaleb Young. Monday is 8-1 with wins over #6 Peyton Robb, #15 Will Lewan and #12 Kaleb Young; his only loss is to #2 Ryan Deakin at CKLV. We will see if Scott is able to continue his impressive start to the year and pick up another signature win or if the experience of Monday will make the difference for the Tigers. The final potential ranked match is at 184 with #3 Trent Hidlay matching up with #22 Travis Stefanik--I say potential because Nick Reenan is also listed as a potential starter for the Wolfpack. Stefanik is 4-1 on the year, with his best win over #23 Max Lyon of Purdue; his only loss on the season is to #10 Taylor Venz of Nebraska. Hidlay is undefeated on the year and has been dominant with five of his six wins by BONUS. The Wolfpack should be able to win this dual handily, but Jadwin Gym can be a tough place to wrestle a scrappy Princeton squad. It will be a good test for the Wolfpack to have another tough dual on the road before they settle in for ACC competition starting January 21st when they host Virginia Tech. Pittsburgh: The Panthers were scheduled to face Penn in an in-state battle, but due to COVID precautions, that dual was canceled. Coach Gavin wasn't content with having a weekend off, so he got on the phone and found two other coaches who had teams ready to scrap. Army and Michigan will make the trip to Pittsburgh for a late scheduled-but great day of wrestling. Against Army, there will be some solid matches, including multiple ranked matchups. At 141, #23 Cole Matthews will hit #33 Corey Shie. Then at 157 #21 Elijah Cleary will face #28 Markus Hartman. Cleary is coming off of winning the championship at the MatMen Open and is arguably wrestling the best he ever has for the Panthers. Hartman will be a good test to see if Cleary continues his more offensive style. #13 Jake Wentzel will look to get a solid start to the second half of the season against #32 Dalton Harkins. Finally, at 197 #8 Nino Bonaccorsi will square off with #25 JT Brown. Pitt is favored on paper, but Army is always tough and will get scrappy with any team they face. Against the Wolverines, we will see some big matches from start to finish. 125: #31 Gage Curry vs. #18 Jack Medley (don't think we see Suriano yet) 133: #7 Micky Phillippi vs. #8 Dylan Ragusin 141: #23 Cole Matthews vs. #3 Stevan Micic 149: Luke Kemerer/Dan Mancini vs Cole Mattin 157: #21 Elijah Cleary vs. #15 Will Lewan 165: #13 Jake Wentzel vs #10 Cam Amine 174: Hunter Kernan vs #6 Logan Massa 184: #31 Gregg Harvey vs. #2 Myles Amine 197: #8 Nino Bonaccorsi vs #9 Patrick Brucki 285: Jake Slinger vs. #2 Mason Parris As you can see, there is a lot of firepower in this dual. If Pitt is ready to go like they were at MatMen Open, this will be a very entertaining dual. Phillippi/Ragusin and Bonaccorsi/Brucki alone would be worth the price of admission. But there are great matchups up and down the lineup--a lot of potential for Pitt to make some statements going into ACC duals. Really looking forward to this one. Kudos to Coach Gavin, Coach Ward and Coach Bormet for making this happen on short notice. Virginia: The Hoos sent a limited team to the F&M Open to get some mat time, including the return of Vic Marcelli. We will have a full breakdown of the results next week. Virginia Tech: The Hokies host a tri in Blacksburg on Sunday, welcoming Binghamton and West Virginia. They will be heavily favored in both duals, but there will be some great matchups to pay attention to throughout the day. There was a last-minute change to the format; instead of official duals between the three teams, it will be run as a round-robin event to maximize mat time for multiple wrestlers; official team scores will not be kept. Official lineups have not been released, so all of these matches are potential matchups. Against Binghamton, there are a couple matches to keep an eye on. At 133, #6 Korbin Myers will face #32 Anthony Sobotker. At 197, #12 Louie Deprez will face Andy Smith and at 285, #14 Nathan Traxler will wrestle #20 Joe Doyle. Against the Mountaineers, Sam Latona will have a chance to set the tone for the second half of the season against All-American #6 Killian Cardinale. Latona is 2-0 against Cardinale--both wins were one-point decisions. Latona has struggled to start the year, but we have all seen that he is capable of beating almost anyone when he is on; I'm hopeful that he was able to reset and rest over break and comes back in top form. At 165, Clayton Ulrey will face a very hot #11 Peyton Hall coming off a 4-1 run at the Southern Scuffle-losing only to Keegan O'Toole of Mizzou. The final ranked matchup will be the second of the day for Nathan Traxler as he faces #22 Michael Wolfgram. The Hokies will look to get some mat time for wrestlers who were out the first half of the season--so look out for Andy Smith and the potential return of Sam Hillegas at 141. The Hokies will face George Mason in the Moss Arts Center dual next week before ACC duals begin.

2021 79 kg world champion Jordan Burroughs (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) 57 KG #9 Abubakar Mutaliev (RUS) took the Umakhanov tournament title in a 9-6 victory over 2018 Alans bronze medalist Magomed Abdurakhmanov (RUS). Finishing with bronze at the Umakhanov was 2019 Russian Nationals runner-up Muslim Sadulaev (RUS) and Aleksey Kopylov (RUS). Sadulaev returns to the rankings at #16 for beating 2021 Yarygin runner-up Musa Mekhtikhanov (RUS) along with his past wins over #1 (61) Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) and Mutaliev, but doesn't rise higher because of his loss to Mutaliev in the quarters. Abdurakhmanov is ranked #17 for beating Aleksey and Petr Kopylov (RUS) after Petr had beaten U-23 Russian Nationals champion Ramazan Abdurakhmanov (RUS) in the round of 16. Abdurakhmanov also has a win to his name over 2021 Russian Nationals runner-up #10 (61) Nachyn Mongush (RUS) from the 2020 Russian Junior National championships. The end of the year saw the final national championships go down for Turkey, Japan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Muhammad Karavus (TUR) won the Turkish national championships over Ahmet Karavus (TUR). Bronze medalists were Mehmet Yuce (TUR) and Ahmet Peker (TUR). 61 KG world bronze medalist #3 Toshihiro Hasegawa (JPN) made the cut down to 57 KG to win the Emperor's Cup over Yuto Takeshia (JPN), while 2019 Junior world champion Toshiya Abe (JPN) finished bronze. Hasegawa takes the #15 spot in the rankings. #5 Gulomyon Abdullaev (UZB) won the Uzbekistan national championships. 2019 Dan Kolov champion Beka Bujiashvili (GEO) won the Georgian National Championships over Roberti Dingashvili (GEO) with a 10-0 tech fall. 2021 European bronze medalist Afghan Khashalov (AZE) won the Azerbaijan national championships over U-23 world champion #17 Aliabbas Rzazade (AZE) to return to the rankings at #18. Muhammad Abdullaev (AZE) and Tofik Aliyev (AZE) took bronze. #4 Reza Atri (IRI) lost by tech fall to 61 KG world champion #1 (61) Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) in the finals of the Iranian Club Cup at 61 KG. 61 KG There was a ridiculous amount of shake-ups for this month, so it's best to address the big shift in the top ten first and foremost. 2020 57 KG Russian Nationals bronze medalist #13 (57) Akhmed Idrisov (RUS) is now #2 after winning the Shamil Umakhanov tournament over 2019 57 KG Russian Nationals champion #10 (57) Ramiz Gamzatov (RUS). Idrisov being ranked #2 ahead of current world runner-up in Daton Fix (USA) seems strange, but the reason for this is that, when you compare H2H wins and resumes, Idrisov and Gamzatov beat out Fix. Idrisov's wins since 2019 over #9 (57) Abubakar Mutaliev (RUS), #10 (57) Azamat Tuskaev (RUS), 3x European champion Giorgi Edisherashvili (AZE), 2x U-23 world champion Reineri Andreu Ortega (CUB), 2x world bronze medalist #14 (57) Bekhbayar Erdenebat (MGL), #3 Ramiz Gamzatov (RUS) and 2021 world bronze medalist #7 (57) Aryan Tyutrin (BLR) far outweigh Daton's resume of a win over an inconsistent #2 (57) Thomas Gilman in 2019, Reineri Andreu Ortega (CUB) in 2019 and then beating #6 Arsen Harutyunyan (ARM) and #9 Ravinder Ravinder (IND) at world's. 2019 world champion #7 Beka Lomtadze (GEO) moved up to 65 KG for the Georgian national championships, where he beat Edemi Bolkvadze (GEO) 2-1 in the finals. He has been removed from the rankings. 2021 U-23 European champion Taimuraz Vanishvili (GEO) won the Georgian national championships by forfeit over Otari Gogava (GEO). 2021 Asian champion Jahongirmirza Turobov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals and is back in the rankings at #7 as is Asian Championships runner-up Adlan Askarov (KAZ) at #8. Why they're able to come back in is because of the exit of a lot of the top 10 guys and because of 3x World/Olympic medalist #12 Nurislam Sanayev (KAZ) had beaten Turobov back in June of 2021 at the Ziolkowski and when Sanayev was upset by #14 Taras Markovych (UKR) later in June, it bumped down Turobov and Askarov in the rankings a major way until they were out altogether. The bronze medalists of the Umakhanov tournament were Bashir Magomedov (RUS) and Rakhman Mintullaev (RUS). Bashir Magomedov debuts in the rankings at #12 for beating #14 Taras Markovych (UKR) and 2020 Russian Nationals bronze medalist Zhargal Damdinov (RUS). 2021 57 Grand Prix of Deglane runner-up Islam Bazarganov (AZE) won the Azerbaijan national championships over Tural Huseynov (AZE), with Intigam Valizada (AZE) and Murad Kagverdiyev (AZE) taking bronze. 2021 International Ukrainian Tournament champion #8 Akhmednabi Gvarzatilov (AZE) has been removed from the rankings as he moved up to 65 KG, where he finished as the runner-up at the Azerbaijan national championships to 2021 65 KG Junior world runner-up Ziraddin Bayramov (AZE). Ryuto Sakai (JPN) earned the biggest win of his career, when he upset 2016 57 KG Olympic silver medalist Rei Higuchi (JPN) in the finals of the Emperor's Cup. Kodai Ogawa (JPN) finished with bronze. 2021 world bronze medalist #3 Toshihiro Hasegawa (JPN) moved down to 57 KG, where he won the Emperor's Cup over Yuto Takeshita (JPN) and was removed from the 61 KG rankings. #10 (57) Ramiz Gamzatov (RUS) takes the #6 spot in the rankings after his runner-up finish at the Umakhanov tournament to #2 Akhmed Idrisov (RUS). Gamzatov is able to take the #6 spot off the strength of wins over #9 (57) Abubakar Mutaliev (RUS), Islam Bazarganov (AZE) and #16 (57) Muslim Sadulaev (RUS). #1 Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) went 2-0 competing at the Iranian Club Cup, beating #4 (57) Reza Atri (IRI) and Reza Momeni (IRI). Two-time 57 KG world medalist #12 (57) Suleyman Atli (TUR) won the Turkish national championships over Nebi Uzen (TUR) with Recep Topal (TUR) and Ahmet Tash (TUR) taking bronze. Atli makes his return to the 61 KG rankings at #15 while Nebi Uzen (TUR) takes the #16 spot over two-time European bronze medalist #17 Recep Topal (TUR). 65 KG 2021 Junior world champion Shamil Mamedov (RUS) had an absolutely huge December to put himself in the top 10 of 65 KG. Mamedov first beat 70 KG U-23 world bronze medalist #14 (70) Nicolai Grahmez (MDA) at Wolnik 7 and followed it up with a Umakhanov title at 65 KG over #10 Murshid Mutalimov (RUS) and #14 Ibragim Abdurakhmanov (RUS). Mamedov's big December culminates with him debuting in the rankings at #8. The other results of note from the Umakhanov tournament was U-23 world runner-up #14 Ibragim Abdurakhmanov (RUS), finishing runner-up to #8 Shamil Mamedov (RUS) with Gadzhimurad Omarov (RUS) and #10 Murshid Mutalimov (RUS) finishing in bronze. Omarov, who took 5th at the 2021 Russian Nationals, returns to the rankings at #15 after beating 2021 Ali Aliyev runner-up Ramazan Ferzaliyev (RUS) in his opener and for his wins from 2021 Russian Nationals over #14 Ibragim Abdurakhmanov (RUS) and 2019 Russian Nationals bronze medalist Julian Gergenov (RUS). 2019 61 KG Junior world champion Kaiki Yamaguchi (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Ryoma Anraku (JPN), with Yujiro Ueno (JPN) finishing with bronze. 2021 Junior world runner-up Ziraddin Bayramov (AZE) won the Azerbaijan national championships over 2021 61 KG International Ukrainian Tournament champion Akhmednabi Gvarazatilov (AZE) with Seymur Dzhabrailov (AZE) and Kanan Geybatov (AZE). 2019 61 KG world champion Beka Lomtadze (GEO) won Georgian nationals over Edemi Bolkvadze (GEO). Muenir Recep Aktas (TUR) won the Turkish national championships over Hamza Alaca (TUR) with Mensur Bayoglu (TUR) and Ertugrul Kahveci (TUR) taking bronze. U-23 world bronze medalist #14 Cavit Acar (TUR) has been removed from the rankings for his upset loss in the round of 16 to Mehmet Soyler (TUR). There were two big matches at Wolnik 7 with #7 Akhmed Chakaev (RUS) beating #16 Nachyn Kuular (RUS) and #11 Ismail Musukaev (HUN) beating Ramazan Ferzaliev (RUS). 2021 world champion #5 Zagir Shakhiev (RUS) went 1-1 at the Iranian Club Cup beating Hasan Moradgoli (IRI) and losing to Tokyo Olympian Morteza Ghiasi Cheka (IRI), who takes the #12 spot for his win over Shakhiev. Abbos Rakhmonov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals. 2019 world runner-up #11 Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ) has retired and was removed from the rankings. 70 KG Two-time Russian Nationals bronze medalist #5 Kurban Shiraev (RUS) won the Umakhanov tournament over #13 Viktor Rassadin (RUS). Bronze medalists at the Umakhanov were Anzor Zakuev (RUS) and Alan Kudzoev (RUS). #8 (65) Shamil Mamedov (RUS) beat #14 Nicolai Grahmez (MDA) in a showcase match at Wolnik 7. Levan Kelekhsashvili (GEO) won Georgian Nationals over 2019 U-23 world champion Mirza Skhulukhia (GEO). Begijon Kuldashev (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals. Selahattin Killicsallyan (TUR) won Turkish nationals over Budak Cuneyt (TUR) with Servet Coskun (TUR) and Sefa Aksoy (TUR) taking bronze. 2019 U-23 world bronze medalist Daud Ibragimov (AZE) enters the rankings at #20 after winning Azerbaijan nationals over Asker Mamadaliev (AZE) with Ali Rahimzade (AZE) and Murad Evloev (AZE) finishing bronze. Taishi Narikuni (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Hikaru Tokada (JPN) with Ryosuke Kera (JPN). Two-time 70 KG world champion #8 (74) Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov went 2-0 at the Iranian Club Cup down at 70 with wins over #17 Erfan Elahi (IRI) and Farhad Nuri (IRI). 2021 Junior world runner-up #18 Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (AZE) moved up to 74 KG, where he was the Azerbaijan national runner-up to Turan Bayramov (AZE) and was removed from the rankings. 74 KG #1 Zaurbek Sidakov (RUS) won a rematch of the 2021 Olympic finals against #2 (79) Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (BLR) 6-1 at the Alrosa Cup to maintain his spot on the top. #2 (79) Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (BLR) had a busy December, competing at the Alrosa Cup against #1 Zaurbek Sidakov (RUS), where he lost 6-1 and then going to Iran for the World Club Cup where he went 1-1 up at 79 KG and beat world runner-up #6 Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (IRI) but lost to U-23 world bronze medalist #15 Ali Savadkouhi (IRI). Kadimagomedov is now ranked #2 up at 79 KG behind reigning world champion #1 Jordan Burroughs (USA). 2021 world bronze medalist #6 Timur Bizhoev (RUS) went 2-0 competing at the Iranian Club Cup, beating Jamal Safar (IRI) and 2016 70 KG world bronze medalist Mostafa Hosseinkhani (IRI). Daichi Takatani (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup of Kirin Kinoshita (JPN), with Masaki Sato (JPN) taking bronze. Turan Bayramov (AZE) beat Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (AZE) in the finals of the Azerbaijan national championships, with Joshgun Azimov (AZE) and Namus Orudzhev (AZE) taking bronze. 2021 70 KG Asian championships runner-up Sirojiddin Khasanov (UZB) won Uzbekistan Nationals. 2019 U-23 world bronze medalist Giorgi Sulava (GEO) won Georgian nationals. Jason Nolf (USA) got the biggest win of his career when he dominated former world champion Khetag Tsabolov (SRB) at Wolnik 7. Two-time World/Olympic medalist #17 Soner Demirtas (TUR) moves up two spots in the rankings to #15 after winning Turkish nationals over Samet Ak (TUR). Ak makes his debut in the rankings #17 for upsetting world bronze medalist #15 Fazli Eryilmaz (TUR) in the semifinals with Eryilmaz falling three spots to #18 after his 5th place finish. Bronze medalists at Turkish nationals were Ismet Ciftci (TUR) and Tarik Gur (TUR). There were some shake-ups on the back-end of the rankings after the Umakhanov tournament. Mohamad Nasirkhaev (RUS) debuts in the rankings at #11 after winning gold over #12 Akhmad Shakhbanov (RUS) in the finals. Bronze medalists at the Umakhanov were #20 Islambek Orozbekov (KGZ) and #16 Magomed Dibirgadzhiev (RUS). So Nasirkhaev gets #11 in the rankings for beating #16 Magomed Dibirgadzhiev (RUS) and #12 Akhmad Shakhbanov (RUS) after Shakhbanov had upset 2021 Yarygin champion #12 Aznaur Tavaev (RUS) to make the finals. Islambek Orozbekov (KGZ) makes the rankings at #18 for beating Tavaev 4-4. 79 KG 2021 74 KG Olympic runner-up #2 (74) Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (BLR) made the move back up to 79 KG, where he went 1-1 competing at the Iranian Club Cup, beating 2021 world runner-up #6 Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (IRI) and losing to U-23 world bronze medalist #15 Ali Savadkouhi (IRI). Kadimagomedov slots in at the #2 slot in the rankings based off wins over #2 (74) Kyle Dake (USA), #3 (74) Taimuraz Salkazanov (SVK), #4 (74) Frank Chamizo (ITA), #8 (74) Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov (RUS) and #5 (86) Magomed Ramazanov (RUS). Ali Savadkouhi (IRI) moves up six spots in the rankings to #9 behind U-23 world champion Magomed Magomaev, who beat him at the 2021 U-23 world championships. #13 Atsamaz Sanakoev (RUS) skyrocketed himself into the top 5 by beating past Russian National champions #5 Akhmed Usmanov (RUS) and #10 Malik Shavaev (RUS) to make the finals of the Umakhanov tournament before beating 2020 Asian champion #14 Arsalan Budazhapov (KGZ) for gold. Sanakoev's title run at the Umakhanov puts him firmly in the #5 spot behind Russia's 2021 world bronze medalist #4 Radik Valiev (RUS). Other important results from the Umakhanov saw #3 Gadzhi Nabiyev (RUS) move up to 86 KG, where he lost in his opening match to Ada Bagomedov (RUS) along with #5 Akhmed Usmanov (RUS) taking bronze over #10 Malik Shavaev (RUS) in a rematch of the 2021 Russian Nationals finals and 3x Russian Nationals medalist Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS) take bronze over Iusup Aidaev (RUS). Khubezhty returns to the rankings at #14 Arsalan Budazhapov (KGZ), who beat him in the semifinals. The other important results were #10 Malik Shavaev (RUS), upsetting #7 Amanulla Gadzhimagomedov (RUS) and Magomednabi Magomedov (RUS) upsetting #19 Azret Ulimbashev (RUS) in repechage. Muhammet Akdeniz (TUR) captured gold at the Turkish national championships over Nuri Temur (TUR), with Abdulla Aslan (TUR) and Shamil Ozak (TUR) taking bronze. 2017 70 KG U-23 European champion Gadzhimurad Omarov (AZE) won the Azerbaijan national championships over 2011 74 KG world bronze medalist Ashraf Ashirov (AZE) with Soslan Tigiev (AZE) and Sabuhi Amiraslanov (AZE) taking bronze. Yudai Takahashi (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Kosuke Yamakura (JPN) with Takahiro Murayama (JPN) finishing with bronze. Vladimieri Gamkrelidze (GEO) won Georgian nationals over Evsem Shivelidze (GEO). Jasurbek Usmonokhunov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals. 86 KG Khabil Khashpakov (RUS) and #16 Alan Zaseev (RUS) made a huge impact on the rankings after their standout performances at the Umakhanov tournament. Khashpakov upset 2021 Yarygin champion #8 Magomedsharif Biyakaev (RUS) to make the finals, while Zaseev beat 2021 Russian Nationals bronze medalist #6 Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov (RUS) to make the finals. In their finals match, Khabil was able to use a clutch last-second takedown to take the victory over Zaseev. Khashpakov fills in the #6 spot in the rankings while #16 Alan Zaseev (RUS) moves up nine spots in the rankings to #7. Bronze medalists at the Umakhanov were Gadzhimagomedov (RUS) and #12 Magomedsharif Biyakaev (RUS). The other big mover from the Umakhanov was three-time Russian Nationals bronze medalist #19 Arsenali Musalaliev (RUS), who moves up nine spots to #10 for beating #7 Javrail Shapiev (UZB) in his opening round match. Shapiev falls four spots to #11 behind Musalaliev. The Turkish national championships saw 2018 world runner-up Fatih Erdin (TUR) reclaim his spot at the top with a win over Batukhan Kish (TUR) in the finals. Most importantly, Erdin picked up an 8-5 win over Tokyo Olympian #12 Osman Gocen (TUR) in the semifinals to return to the rankings at #15. Taking bronze at the Turkish national championships was #16 Osman Gocen (TUR) and Sezay Arsalan (TUR). Shota Shirai (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Taisei Matsuyuki (JPN), with Yajuro Yamasaki (JPN) taking bronze. Orkhan Abasov (AZE) won the Azerbaijan national championships over Muhammad Abdulkhalikov (AZE) with Kamran Tagiyev (AZE) and Gadzhimurad Magomedsaidov (AZE) finishing with bronze. 74 KG Tokyo bronze medalist Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals up at 86 KG. Tarsan Maisuradze (GEO) won Georgian nationals over Bagrati Gagnidze (GEO). 2021 World and Olympic bronze medalist #3 Artur Naifonov (RUS) went 2-0 competing at the Iranian Club Cup, beating Hadi Vafaeipour (IRI) and Alireza Saberian (IRI). 92 KG #20 Alan Bagaev (RUS) made a huge run through the Umakhanov tournament to catapult himself into the top 10. Bagaev's back-to-back last-second victories over #17 Soslan Ktsoev (RUS) and #7 Azamat Zakuev (RUS) let him move up thirteen spots in the rankings to #7. Finishing as runner-up at the Umakhanov was #8 Azamat Zakuev (RUS) while Ashkaab Sadulaev (RUS) and #20 Soslan Ktsoev (RUS) finished with bronze. 2019 97 KG Junior world bronze medalist Feyzullah Akturk (TUR) made his presence known at 92 KG with a Turkish national title over Ahmet Bilici (TUR). Akturk's #11 spot in his debut in the rankings comes off the strength of a semifinal win over #10 Erhan Yaylaci (TUR). Finishing with bronze at the Turkish national championships was #12 Erhan Yaylaci (TUR) and Samet Ozarslan (TUR). Miriani Maisuradze (GEO) debuts in the rankings at #18 after beating 2019 world bronze medalist #16 Irakli Mtsituri (GEO) in the Georgian national finals. Sosuke Takatani (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Takuma Otsu (JPN), with Yuto Izudtsu (JPN) finishing with bronze. Abduljalil Shabanov (AZE) won the Azerbaijan national championships over Fuad Mailov (AZE) with Javad Galandarov (AZE) and Fazil Hasanov (AZE) taking bronze. 2019 Junior Asian Championships runner-up Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals. 97 KG 2021 Olympic and World runner-up #2 Kyle Snyder (USA) had a strong showing in his trip to Russia, winning gold at the Umakhanov over 2021 Junior European runner-up Ali Aliyev (RUS). Bronze medalists at the Umakhanov were Aslanbek Sotiev (RUS) and Ashkab Boltukaev (RUS). Changes from the Umakhanov were Aliyev debuting in the rankings at #17 for beating Ashkab Boltukaev (RUS) and Maxim Tolmachev (RUS) and two-time Russian Nationals runner-up Aslanbek Sotiev (RUS) returning to the rankings at #15 for beating #15 Shamil Musaev (RUS) for bronze. #1 Abdulrashid Sadulaev (RUS) was dominant in a showcase match at the Alrosa Cup, beating 2019 world bronze medalist Magomedgadzhi Nurov (MKD) confidently. 2019 Russian Nationals champion #9 Vladislav Baitsaev transferred to Hungary. 2018 world bronze medalist #7 Elizbar Odikadze (GEO) won Georgian nationals over Givi Matcharashvili (GEO). 2019 125 KG world bronze medalist Khasanboy Rakhimov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals at 97 KG. Takashi Ishiguro (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Keivan Yoshida (JPN), with Shohei Yamasaki (JPN) taking bronze. 2021 Yarygin champion Magomedkhan Magomedov (RUS) took part in the Azerbaijan national championships due to them being an open competition and took gold over 2018 92 KG U-23 world champion Shamil Zubairov (AZE) with Zafar Aliyev (AZE) and Islam Ilyasov (AZE) finishing with bronze. Burak Shahin (TUR) won Turkish nationals over Mustafa Sessiz (TUR) with Oktay Ciftci (TUR) and Ibragim Bolukbasi (TUR) taking bronze. 125 KG Tokyo Olympian #8 Sergey Kozyrev (RUS) won by pin over 2021 world bronze medalist Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (MGL) at the Alrosa Cup. #4 Zelimkhan Khizriev (RUS) won the Umakhanov tournament over Kazbek Khubulov (RUS). Bronze medalists were #11 Dzianis Khramiankov (BLR) and Tamerlan Kumyshev (RUS). One important chain of results was #11 Dzianis Khramiankov (BLR) beating 2020 Russian Nationals champion #14 Alan Khugaev (RUS) and then being beaten by #4 Zelimkhan Khizriev (RUS). Georgian heavyweight Giorgi Meshvildishvili (GEO) won the Azerbaijan national championships over Rakhid Kamidli (AZE) with Javid Sadigov (AZE) and Aydin Akhmedov (AZE) finishing with bronze. Yunus Emre Dede (TUR) won the Turkish national championships over Salim Erkan (TUR) with Hamza Ozkaradeniz (TUR) and Younes Bandirma (TUR) taking bronze. Taiki Yamamoto (JPN) won the Emperor's Cup over Hiroto Ninomiya (JPN) with Kai Shutto (JPN) taking bronze. Solomon Manashvili (GEO) won Georgian nationals. Sardorbek Kholmatov (UZB) won Uzbekistan nationals. Pound for Pound The final top ten pound-for-pound in 2021 are Zaurbek Sidakov (RUS), Abdulrashid Sadulaev (RUS), Zavur Uguev (RUS), Takuto Otoguro (JPN), Gadzhimurad Rashidov (RUS), Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (BLR), Kyle Dake (USA), Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI), David Taylor (USA) and Taimuraz Salkazanov (SVK).

Northern Iowa's national qualifier Austin Yant (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Eastern Time (Local Time in Parentheses) Saturday 01/08 Oklahoma State at Little Rock, 8:30 PM (7:30 PM) Sunday 01/09 Northern Iowa vs. Wyoming at South Dakota State, 12:00 PM (11:00 AM) Wyoming at South Dakota State, 1:30 PM (12:30 PM) Northern Iowa at South Dakota State, 3:00 PM (2:00 PM) Binghamton vs. West Virginia at Virginia Tech, 2:00 PM West Virginia at Virginia Tech, 4:00 PM Best Event: Wyoming and Northern Iowa at South Dakota State Starting at 12 Eastern,you have three big duals between a few of the Big 12's top teams. It's not Missouri-Oklahoma State that everyone is already highly anticipating for next month, but these are three very good programs that have all been jockeying for position just behind the Oklahoma States of the conference the past few years, and all should have a lot of competitive and exciting matches in these duals. While Wyoming and South Dakota State both have some talented upperweights that should hit, all three have solid, balanced lineups. Best Single Dual: Iowa State vs. Arizona State This one has been canceled!

Louisville, Kentucky – It's been over nearly 3,000 days since Grand View University lost a dual meet. It's been over 4,000 since the school lost a dual to another NAIA school. Grand View continued its college wrestling record win streaks on Friday night at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville at the 2022 NWCA Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championships. Results & Brackets Men's Divisions Brackets | Women's Divisions Brackets The Vikings improved to 7-0 on the season and continued the school's dominance at the National Duals, winning its 10th consecutive title. Grand View topped rival Life University 21-10 in the finals for the third straight year. Coach Nick Mitchell got creative in the early going, bumping up four-time All-American Justin Portillo up to 133 pounds, opening the door for Esco Walker to knock off returning NAIA national champion Brandon Orum in the dual's opening match. Walker, an NAIA runner-up last year at Cumberland University at 133 pounds, fell behind early, but used a set of nearfall points and a late takedown to set the tone early for the Vikings. Portillo, ranked second at 125 pounds, picked off Hunter Sparks 3-2 at 133 pounds. Sickness played a role as both Grand View 133-pounders were fighting a bug, causing Mitchell to get creative “We've got to make a change here (at 133) and Portillo clearly fought his butt off,” said Mitchell. “You realistically think going into it, you're going to split those matches, but Esco coming out and gets that late takedown after getting ridden, then Portillo, that's what you love about him, he fights.” That momentum, combined with winning three matches by three points or less were key to the Vikings' 10th title in a row. It wasn't all bad news in the finals for Life University as a whole, though. The Running Eagles' women's team came away victorious in the NAIA women's division, getting a fall from Gabrielle Hamilton at 191 pounds to win the school's first National Duals title in any division with a 26-19 win over top-seeded Campbellsville. “That moment for Gabby, this was her first tournament coming back after a torn ACL and she worried she wasn't good enough,” explained Life head coach Ashley Flavin. “She was worried that she couldn't do it anymore and the team couldn't rely on her anymore. For her, it showed her where she's at. To see Gabby battle back through everything and for her to look at me and say ‘no, I want to do it, I can do it.' It's incredible.” The dual's most festive match came at 116 pounds where a pair of past NAIA women's champions met. The match could only be described as bonkers. Prussin built an 8-0 lead and was about to finish a takedown to earn a 10-point technical superiority, but Campbellsville's McKayla Campbell threw Prussin to her back for four points and then built a 14-11 lead before Prussin rallied to score eight straight to end with a 19-14 marathon of freestyle wrestling. For Flavin, the journey to this moment was full-circle. “Back in 2008, I was the first OW of the women's tournament and now I'm the first female to win a national title of any kind … is kind of a lot. For me as a person, it's incredible. From a personal standpoint, from a professional standpoint being able to do it with my husband is amazing. (Life assistant coach) Christian is such an important part of our program and to be able to coach with him is more than I could have ever dreamed and for our team, it's been slow but fast. We started at the bottom and now we're here. They've put in the time and they've put in the work. We were off for 10 days due to Covid, we gave up a forfeit in every dual and (the team) battled back and did it anyway. It's a testament to them really.” When the NWCA added Division II and Division III to the mix in 2002, Central Oklahoma won the inaugural Division II dual meet title. They hadn't won one since – until Friday. On a day where St. Cloud State set a new NCAA record for consecutive dual meet wins at 77, Central Oklahoma ended the hours-old record with a 19-14 win over the Huskies in the finals, snapping St. Cloud State's National Duals title run at four in a row as well. The Bronchos started the dual with a crucial victory at 125 pounds as Paxton Rosen beat St. Cloud State's Paxton Creese 6-1, but the dual hinged on two Broncho overtime wins. UCO's Brik Filippo and Hunter Jump picked up takedowns in sudden victory at 149 pounds and 165 pounds that helped give UCO its first title in over 20 years. “Our guys have been gritty all year,” said Central Oklahoma head coach Todd Steidley. “We had three starters out and two were going to wrestle, but they were throwing up before we went on the mat, so we put backups in and they went out there and did a great job. That's been the strength of our team all year – our depth has helped us a lot. The moment wasn't too big for us. Our guys really wrestled hard and yesterday, I was concerned about being too conservative.” “The things you circle are the Midwest Classic, National Duals, Regioanls and the National Tournament,” said Steidley. “The National Duals keeps you going, we're proud to be apart of the National Duals. It's a great event.” In Division III, UW-La Crosse won its first National Duals crown, topping Wabash 31-9. The Eagles put space between them and the Little Giants early, winning the first five bouts, including Brandon Murphy's overtime victory over All-American Carlos Champagne at 125 pounds. “I'm so happy for our guys as we don't have any superstars on this team just a bunch of guys that believe in each other and believed they can win this tournament from the day they stepped in the arena,” said UW-La Crosse head coach Dave Malecek. “It was a goal was just to get the opportunity to wrestle in Kentucky as we didn't get the opportunity to wrestle at the NCAA‘s or the NWCA championships last year so we took full advantage of being able to compete for the National Duals title.” King University's women's team returned to the top of the podium for the first time since 2017, knocking off rival McKendree 25-19 to win the NCAA women's division. Crucial wins by King's Ashlynn Ortega at 155 and Cheyenne Bowman at 170 pounds pushed King to the title down the stretch. McKendree 114-pounder Felicity Taylor did pick up a victory in one of the dual's most anticipated matches, beating King freshman Sage Mortimer 10-0. For King head coach Jason Moorman, it was nice to be back at the top. “Everyone's dealing with some adversity with Covid and I've felt like we've always tried to be the best with everyting we've faced,” said Moorman. “We have a special group – great freshmen and they competed so well. Great seniors – great sophomores and juniors in between.” “We talked all week about this not falling in your lap, you have to go take it,” said Moorman. “It was a simple message right before the finals and I couldn't be more prouder.” “It's been McKendree and Simon Fraser the last couple years, so we have to find our way to stay hungry and improve and we have a great culture and we bring people in that add to that great culture,” said Moorman. Rochester Community & Technical College captured the championship in the NJCAA division, sweeping four duals in a round-robin format among non-scholarship schools in the division. The Yellowjackets won the school's first-ever title after previously finishing second in 2020. RCTC was dominant in its 45-0 opening win against Garrett and followed with solid wins over Joliet Junior College (34-15), Niagara (29-20) and Jamestown 29-15. The 2022 U.S. MARINE CORPS/NWCA Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championships was presented by ARMS Software, Capitol Construction & Defense Soap and was hosted by NUWAY. FINALS DIVISION II CENTRAL OKLAHOMA 19, ST. CLOUD STATE 14 125 – Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma) over Paxton Creese (St. Cloud State) Dec 6-1 133 – Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) over Daniel Valeria (St. Cloud State) Dec 6-0 141 – Joey Bianchini (St. Cloud State) over Peter Rolle (Central Oklahoma) TF 18-3 149 – Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) over Jake Barzowski (St. Cloud State) SV-1 3-1 157 – Ty Lucas (Central Oklahoma) over Anthony Herrera (St. Cloud State) Dec 9-8 165 – Hunter Jump (Central Oklahoma) over Devin Donovan (St. Cloud State) SV-1 3-1 174 – Dominic Murphy (St. Cloud State) over Anthony Des Vigne (Central Oklahoma) TB-1 2-1 184 – Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) over Cade Linn (St. Cloud State) Maj 13-5 197 – Noah Ryan (St. Cloud State) over Alex Kauffman (Central Oklahoma) Dec 5-1 285 – Kameron Teacher (St. Cloud State) over Braden Morgan (Central Oklahoma) Dec 6-2 DIVISON III UW-LA CROSSE 31, WABASH 9 125 – Brandon Murphy (UW-La Crosse) over Carlos Champagne (Wabash) SV-1 5-3 133 – Sawyer Sarbacker (UW-La Crosse) over Blake McGee (Wabash) Dec 3-0 141 – Tyler Shackle (UW-La Crosse) over Andrew Sinkovics (Wabash) Fall 1:21 149 – Jake Mandt (UW-La Crosse) over TJ Driessens (Wabash) SV-1 8-6 157 – Nolan Hertel (UW-La Crosse) over Tyson Nisley (Wabash) Maj 12-3 165 – Kyle Hatch (Wabash) over Seth Brossard (UW-La Crosse) Dec 9-2 174 – Luke Clark (UW-La Crosse) over Raymond Arebalo (Wabash) Dec 5-0 184 – Kayln Jahn (UW-La Crosse) over Charles Baczek (Wabash) Fall 1:42 197 – Jack Heldt (Wabash) over Isaac Lahr (UW-La Crosse) Fall 3:59 285 – Ben Kawczynski (UW-La Crosse) over Isaiah McWilliams (Wabash) Dec 7-1 NAIA MEN GRAND VIEW 21, LIFE 10 125 – Esco Walker (Grand View) over Brandon Orum (Life) Dec 6-4 133 – Justin Portillo (Grand View) over Hunter Sparks (Life) Dec 3-2 141 – Shea Ruffridge (Grand View) over Jacob Ruiz (Life) Dec 3-1 149 – Denver Stonecheck (Life) over Trevor Anderson (Grand View) Dec 5-2 157 – Giovanni Bonilla (Grand View) over Jack Bass (Life) Dec 5-2 165 – Sid Ohl (Life) over Marty Margolis (Grand View) Maj 10-2 174 – Casey Randles (Grand View) over Asher Eichert (Life) Dec 8-2 184 – Ben Lee (Grand View) over Myles Starke (Life) Dec 2-1 197 – Zane Lanham (Life) over Owen Braungardt (Grand View) Dec 6-5 285 – Greg Hagan (Grand View) over JJ Perez (Life) Dec 5-3 NCAA WOMEN KING 25, MCKENDREE 19 101 – Jaclyn McNichols (King) over Lizette Rodriguez (McKendree) Dec 3-3 109 – Samara Chavez (King) over Pauline Granados (McKendree) Fall 2:46 116 – Felicity Taylor (McKendree) over Sage Mortimer (King) TF 10-0 123 – Cheyenne Sisenstein (King) over Caitlyn Thorne (McKendree) Fall 2:02 130 – Montana Delawder (King) over Cameron Guerin (McKendree) Dec 9-6 136 – Ana Luciano (King) over Skye Realin (McKendree) Dec 7-4 143 – Alara Boyd (McKendree) over London Houston (King) Fall 1:34 155 – Ashlynn Ortega (King) over Kayla Marano (McKendree) Dec 5-1 170 – Cheyenne Bowman (King) over Joye Levendusky (McKendree) Dec 5-2 191 – Sydnee Kimber (McKendree) over Nia Crosdale (King) Fall 0:27 NAIA WOMEN LIFE 25, CAMPBELLSVILLE 19 101 – Mia Diaz (Campbellsville) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 109 – Kory Phillips (Life) over Kelsey Bilz (Campbellsville) Dec 9-8 116 – Peyton Prussin (Life) over McKayla Campbell (Campbellsville) Dec 19-14 123 – Salyna Shotwell (Life) over Jacqueline Ghent (Campbellsville) Fall 1:41 130 – Katlyn Pizzo (Campbellsville) over Briana Kellin (Life) Inj 0:41 136 – Olivia Mottley (Life) over Randi Robison (Campbellsville) Dec 4-3 143 – Emma Walker (Campbellsville) over Angie Prado (Life) Fall 1:49 155 – Destinee Rivera (Life) over Brelane Huber (Campbellsville) Dec 7-1 170 – Jordan Nelson (Life) over Leilani Martinez (Campbellsville) Dec 9-0 191 – Gabrielle Hamilton (Life) over Liliana Vergara (Campbellsville) Fall 5:35 NJCAA FINAL (dual between first and second-place finishing teams) ROCHESTER 29, NIAGARA 20 125 – Tony Kuhn (Niagara) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 133 – Cael Bartels (Rochester) over Cole French (Niagara) Dec 12-8 141 – Parker Dobrocky (Rochester) over Zachary Ash (Niagara) TF 20-5 149 – Nikalis Voelker (Niagara) over Owen Pharo (Rochester) Dec 4-2 157 – Frankie Gissendanner (Niagara) over William VonRuden (Rochester) TF 18-3 165 – Zach Wells (Rochester) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 174 – Walker ingham (Rochester) over Cortez Henderson (Niagara) Fall 0:50 184 – Justin McDougald (Niagara) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 197 – Colton Krell (Rochester) over Warren Mcdougald (Niagara) Dec 5-2 285 – Armani Tucker (Rochester) over Maurice Jackson (Niagara) Fall 1:10 Questions related to historical polls can be sent to Jason Bryant at jason@bryantwrestling.com

Purdue's national qualifier Gerrit Nijenhuis (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Friday's Dual Results Penn State 46 Maryland 0 125 - Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State) fall Zach Spence (Maryland) 1:38 133 - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) tech King Sandoval (Maryland) 16-1 141 - Nick Lee (Penn State) tech Danny Bertoni (Maryland) 18-1 149 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) fall Michael North (Maryland) 4:48 157 - Tony Negron (Penn State) maj Lucas Cordio (Maryland) 11-2 165 - Creighton Edsell (Penn State) dec Gaven Bell (Maryland) 7-1 174 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec Dom Solis (Maryland) 8-3 184 - Aaron Brooks (Penn State) maj Kyle Cochran (Maryland) 19-7 197 - Max Dean (Penn State) tech Kevin Makosy (Maryland) 20-5 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) tech Zach Schrader (Maryland) 18-3 Lehigh 24 Binghamton 14 125 - Jaret Lane (Lehigh) fall Nick Curley (Binghamton) :48 133 - Malyke Hines (Lehigh) dec Anthony Sobotker (Binghamton) 8-4 141 - Ryan Anderson (Binghamton) dec Drew Munch (Lehigh) 6-4 149 - Nick Lombard (Binghamton) dec Jimmy Hoffman (Lehigh) 5-0 157 - Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) tech Tyler Martin (Binghamton) 16-0 165 - Brian Meyer (Lehigh) dec Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 4-3 174 - Jacob Nolan (Binghamton) dec Jake Logan (Lehigh) 6-4SV 184 - AJ Burkhart (Lehigh) maj Sam DePrez (Binghamton) 12-4 197 - Louie DePrez (Binghamton) tech Eli Grape (Lehigh) 24-5 285 - Jordan Wood (Lehigh) dec Joe Doyle (Binghamton) 3-2 Iowa 22 Minnesota 10 125 - Patrick McKee (Minnesota) dec Drake Ayala (Iowa) 8-6 133 - Austin DeSanto (Iowa) dec Jake Gliva (Minnesota) 7-5 141 - Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) dec Jake Bergeland (Minnesota) 6-2 149 - Max Murin (Iowa) dec Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) 3-1 157 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota) dec Kaleb Young (Iowa) 4-3 165 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa) dec Cael Carlson (Minnesota) 6-5 174 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa) dec Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) 9-2 184 - Abe Assad (Iowa) maj Sam Skillings (Minnesota) 12-4 197 - Jacob Warner (Iowa) dec Michial Foy (Minnesota) 6-4 285 - Gable Steveson (Minnesota) maj Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) 17-7 Rutgers 29 Indiana 7 125 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) maj Jacob Moran (Indiana) 13-2 133 - Brock Hudkins (Indiana) dec Devon Britton (Rutgers) 6-0 141 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) maj Cayden Rooks (Indiana) 19-5 149 - Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) dec Graham Rooks (Indiana) 6-2 157 - Robert Kanniard (Rutgers) dec Derek Gilcher (Indiana) 9-7 165 - Andy Clark (Rutgers) dec Sammy Cokeley (Indiana) 3-0 174 - Jackson Turley (Rutgers) tech Sean Grim (Indiana) 20-2 184 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) dec Donnell Washington (Indiana) 4-2 197 - Greg Bulsak (Rutgers) maj Nick Willham (Indiana) 9-1 285 - Jacob Bullock (Indiana) maj Boone McDermott (Rutgers) 9-1 Purdue 18 Nebraska 15 125 - Devin Schroder (Purdue) tech Jeremiah Reno (Nebraska) 17-0 133 - Matt Ramos (Purdue) dec Alex Thomsen (Nebraska) 3-1 141 - Parker Filius (Purdue) maj Tucker Sjomeling (Nebraska) 12-2 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec Trey Kruse (Purdue) 10-3 157 - Jevon Parrish (Nebraska) dec Cooper Noehre (Purdue) 5-3SV 165 - Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) dec Hayden Lohrey (Purdue) 3-1 174 - Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue) dec Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) 6-4 184 - Max Lyon (Purdue) dec Taylor Venz (Nebraska) 7-2 197 - Eric Schultz (Nebraska) dec Thomas Penola (Purdue) 5-2 285 - Christian Lance (Nebraska) dec Michael Woulfe (Purdue) 11-4 Wisconsin 19 Northwestern 15 125 - Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) dec Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) 9-5 133 - Chris Cannon (Northwestern) dec Kyle Burwick (Wisconsin) 4-0 141 - Frankie Tal-Shahar (Northwestern) dec Joe Zargo (Wisconsin) 5-4 149 - Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) dec Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) 8-6 157 - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) dec Garrett Model (Wisconsin) 8-3 165 - Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) maj Erich Byelick (Northwestern) 13-1 174 - Andrew McNally (Wisconsin) dec Troy Fisher (Northwestern) 3-1 184 - Chris Weiler (Wisconsin) maj Jon Halvorsen (Northwestern) 8-0 197 - Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) tech Brendan Devine (Northwestern) 20-5 285 - Lucas Davison (Northwestern) dec Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) 4-3

Tony Cassioppi (left) and Gable Steveson in the 2021 NCAA semifinals (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) InterMat's Big Ten Spotlight Matchup 285 lbs: #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #6 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) How to Watch: January 7th, Big Ten Network (9pm EST) You may not have realized it yet, but we're in the midst of a golden era of heavyweights in college wrestling. Eight different 285 lbers have represented the United States of American at an age-group World Championship event and returned with a medal of some sort. Five of them are world champions. Friday night, on the Big Ten Network, two of those champions are set to clash as traditional superpowers #1 Iowa and #13 Minnesota do battle. These storied programs have combined to win eight NCAA team titles since the year 2000, with only three other programs (Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State) winning during that span. The most recent team championship winner was Iowa, who still looms as the returning champions and are top-ranked in a dual format. The Hawkeyes are looking to make a statement, in this, the first match since the announcement that two-time Hodge Trophy winner, Spencer Lee, would miss the remainder of the 2021-22 season. A traditional dual meet starts at 125 lbs and works its way up weight-by-weight to bigger competitors. Having a great heavyweight is like having the proverbial “ace in the hole.” Competitive duals end up coming down the final match and knowing you have a significant advantage at 285 lbs is a bit of a security blanket. Both coaching staffs for Iowa and Minnesota typically start duals with the feeling that their respective big man will chip in with at least a win, but is often good for bonus points. Friday will be different, as both teams typically have a presence from a dominant big man. The homesteading Hawkeyes will send out #6 Tony Cassioppi; while the Gophers will counter will top-ranked #1 Gable Steveson. With Spencer Lee out of the picture this year, the biggest star in college wrestling is the man Lee shared the 2021 Hodge Trophy with, Steveson. Within a six-month period, Steveson won his first NCAA title, followed by a Pan-American Championship and an Olympic gold medal. In doing so, Steveson unseated two of the world's most dominant heavyweights, Taha Akgul (Turkey) and Geno Petriashvili (Georgia). The two had previously accounted for every gold medal won at 125 kg at a World or Olympic event since 2014. Not only did Steveson win, but he did so with style. He thrashed Akgul in the semifinals, before staging a surreal comeback against Petriashvili in the gold medal bout. Since Tokyo and the Olympics, Steveson has signed an NIL deal with the WWE and is a central figure in their “Next in Line” program. He's made no secret of his desire to join WWE and many thought he'd strike while the iron was hot and try his hand at “sports entertainment” after winning Olympic gold. The changes to NIL have made it possible for Steveson to capitalize on his likeness, while returning to Minneapolis to try and win another NCAA title, while competing alongside his Gopher teammates. So far this season, Steveson has only appeared in two matches. However, both contests featured ranked opponents #24 AJ Nevills (South Dakota State) and #31 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State). The Gopher superstar majored Surber (20-7) and teched Nevills (22-6). He heads into Friday with a 36-match winning streak and a 70-2 career mark. Despite the hefty credentials on Steveson's behalf, don't expect Tony Cassioppi to back down. The Hawkeye big man was an NCAA third-place finisher in 2021 and has a 38-7 career record, himself. Cassioppi, a double Pan-American Junior champion in 2017 and 2018, stepped up to the U23 level this fall and became a world champion. Cassioppi clinched his gold medal with a fall in the world finals, his second of the tournament. Throughout his career, Cassioppi has proven to be one of the more dangerous pinners in his weight class. Last season, he had five in only 13 wins after posting seven as a freshman. Cassioppi is coming off a Collegiate Duals tournament that saw him paired off with two past All-Americans in pool competition, before beating an upstart Tyrie Houghton (NC State) and clinching a team win over #5 NC State. Cassioppi and Steveson are no strangers; they have squared off four times at the collegiate level. In 2019-20, Cassioppi managed to hold Steveson to regular decision wins in both their dual meet and the Big Ten Tournament. Last year, Steveson extended his margin of victory to nine points in dual competition and ten in the NCAA semifinals. Will the Olympic champion continue to assert his dominance against the great heavyweight from Iowa or can Cassioppi start to cut into his lead? The rest of the card: 125 - Jesse Ybarra/Drake Ayala (Iowa) vs. #7 Patrick McKee (Minnesota) How will the Hawkeyes officially start life after Lee (at least for 2021-22)? Ybarra has gotten the call in dual competition and is 5-1, while blue-chip true freshman Ayala just placed third at the Southern Scuffle. Both of his losses this year, have come to…..Patrick McKee. The 2021 NCAA third-place finisher McKee is 13-1 and was a champ at the Scuffle. 133 - #3 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) vs. #24 Jake Gliva/Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) Austin DeSanto has been a consistent cog in the Iowa lineup, winning all ten of his 2021-22 matches, with bonus points in eight of those outings. Jake Gliva appeared to have sewn up the starting role with a 9-4 start, but Aaron Nagao made a surprising run to the Scuffle finals last weekend. 141 - #2 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) vs. #19 Jake Bergeland (Minnesota) The Collegiate Duals saw Jaydin Eierman pushed twice in three matches and both were relatively unexpected. Does he return to his dominant ways at home? Bergeland has been a steadying influence at a weight that appeared unsettled for Minnesota, as the season began. 149 - #12 Max Murin (Iowa) vs. #25 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) If Minnesota pulls the upset, team-wise, it likely happens because of a big win here from Michael Blockhus. The Iowa-native returns to his home state and is looking to knock off veteran Max Murin. Conversely, the home crowd could propel Murin to turn in his best performance. 157 - #12 Kaleb Young (Iowa) vs. #4 Brayton Lee (Minnesota) Kaleb Young is looking to get back on the winning track after a 1-2 showing at the Collegiate Duals. Unfortunately, he has a formidable competitor awaiting in All-American Brayton Lee. Although Lee is ranked higher and unbeaten, he did drop two of three to Young in 2021. 165 - #1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. #19 Andrew Sparks/Cael Carlson (Minnesota) 133/141 and 165 are spots where Iowa could conceivably tally bonus points, which could come in handy with Steveson looming at 285 lbs. Alex Marinelli currently sits atop a weight class that may be the deepest, in terms of legit title contenders. He'll have to contend with the tandem of either Sparks or Carlson. Sparks only saw action in one match at the Scuffle, while Carlson defeated a returning Big 12 champion on his way to third place. 174 - #2 Michael Kemerer/Brennan Swafford (Iowa) vs. #23 Bailee O'Reilly/Jared Krattiger (Minnesota) The delayed return of NCAA finalist Michael Kemerer and an injury to Nelson Brands have forced Tom Brands to take Brennan Swafford out of redshirt. Swafford has been solid at 12-6 and was sixth at the Scuffle. This will be his Carver-Hawkeye debut. One of the wrestlers to defeat Swafford at the Scuffle was Bailee O'Reilly, who was a 5-2 winner and finished in third. He or Jared Krattiger should get the call here. Signs out of Iowa indicate we could see Kemerer make his season debut. 184 - #18 Abe Assad (Iowa) vs. #28 Isaiah Salazar/Sam Skillings (Minnesota) The Collegiate Duals were where Abe Assad got back into dual competition for Iowa for the first time since February of 2020. Assad shined as a true freshman and was the 11th seed at the NCAA Championships. Minnesota is expected to counter with second-year freshmen Sam Skillings. He is 2-1 this season. #28 Isaiah Salazar defaulted out of the Scuffle, in sixth-place and was not listed on the Gophers probables. 197 - #5 Jacob Warner (Iowa) vs. #30 Michial Foy (Minnesota) Before getting to the main event, we have a match that will probably be closer than it appears on paper. Jacob Warner continues to be a possible title contender at a deep 197 lbs weight class. The two-time NCAA All-American is 6-1 this season picked up a clutch win that helped put the Hawkeyes in position to defeat #5 NC State. Michial Foy is a Harper College transfer that has grabbed hold of an uncertain weight for Minnesota. In only his second dual, Foy upset a then, top-ten opponent in South Dakota State's Tanner Sloan.

Harvard's #12 ranked Phil Conigliaro (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Friday 1/7 Army @ F&M Open - Lancaster, PA (all day) Binghamton @ Lehigh (#21) - Bethlehem, PA (7PM) Brown @ F&M Open - Lancaster, PA (all day) Franklin & Marshall @ F&M Open - Lancaster, PA (all day) Harvard @ F&M Open - Lancaster, PA (all day) Navy @ F&M Open - Lancaster, PA (all day) Sacred Heart @ F&M Open - Lancaster, PA (all day) Saturday 1/8 Bucknell vs. LIU - Brookville, NY (12PM) Hofstra vs Bucknell - Hempstead, NY (3:30PM) Cornell (#9) @ Lehigh (#21) - Bethlehem, PA (2PM) Princeton @ Rider - Lawrenceville, NJ (11AM) Sunday 1/9 Binghamton vs Virginia Tech (#10) & West Virginia - Blacksburg, VA (12PM & 2:30PM) Army vs Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA (12PM) Columbia vs LIU - New York, NY (1PM) Princeton vs. North Carolina State (#5) - Princeton, NJ (1PM) *ALL STARTING TIMES ARE LISTED IN EST* What I'm Most Excited For: There is a healthy contingent of EIWA schools at the F&M Open on Friday. I am intrigued to see how many inter-conference matchups we will see. I have not seen some of these schools compete in person yet this season, so that's an added bonus to catch some of these teams in action. This open typically has a fine portion of stud redshirts and other non-starters from various schools. The Lehigh vs Cornell match might be the biggest EIWA match-up of the season. I feel these are the top two teams in the conference. I want to see Vito vs Lane, Fernandes vs Wood, and more great matchups. They may be somewhere in the middle tier of the EIWA, but Bucknell and Hofstra looks to be a pretty solid, evenly matched dual. Let's see if they both have full lineups. If so, this should be a fun one to watch. Where you'll find me: Friday I'll be at the F&M Open during the later rounds. Saturday you can find me in my old stomping grounds of the great Lehigh Valley. Lehigh vs Cornell will be a fantastic match! Finally, Sunday I will be at the Princeton vs NC State match. NC State is fun to watch! Oh, and Ed Scott vs Quincy Monday? Yeah, I'm down for that one.

2021 MatMen Open champion Josh Heil (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) It's kinda starting to happen again and I don't like any part of it. The past few days have seen several teams have to cancel and/or postpone duals scheduled for this weekend. Chances are, this Outlook will be outdated in the next few hours as more and more schools cancel their duals and we, the fans, will be left having to do house projects this weekend instead. Whether you are on one side or the other of the Covid situation, the powers that be will most likely still continue to cancel your regularly scheduled programming and put yet another National Wrestling Tournament in jeopardy. We could chance it and try to continue on with the regular season as is, with cancellation after cancellation popping up every few days. Or, the NCAA can take a nationwide "pause." Think about it. What two sports drive basically ALL the rules and regulations in NCAAs? That's right, Football and Basketball. Why? Because they are the money makers. The NCAA is going to do whatever it takes to keep March Madness alive and, to me, the best option is to put a nationwide athletics pause. After the College Football Championship game, of course. It will be framed as a precaution for "all athletics," but it is really to protect one of the favorite kids in the NCAA family (and to protect their wallets too). Taking a pause (two to four weeks) could potentially let the new wave pass by, allow for a couple weeks of competition to get "back up to speed," and head right into the postseason. It's risky, but I think that is what's going to happen. More importantly for the NCAA, it still allows for March Madness ($$$). I should note that I am not a doctor (just a son of one), and maybe the "pause" holds no medical merit. Just one schmuck's opinion. It does pose an interesting question in season makeup, the future of bracketed tournaments, and really how the sport will change in the next few seasons. That will be a better topic for next week… after a few more duals are canceled. On to week 10. This week is going to be risky, as well as the next few weeks too. Any school at any time could cancel their scheduled competition, so make sure you're staying on top of the news and notifications (set those alerts to @FantasyD1Wrestl) so you can change your lineup quickly. We have one main tournament going down this week in Lancaster, PA, at the F&M Open on Friday, January 7th. Almost all entrants at this time are D1 wrestlers, so points a-plenty could be had, if you choose wisely. Got a question? Got a Recommendation? Let me know and message me @FantasyD1wrestl. Wrestlers I Like This Week Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score] *organized by tournament name first, then by school name* 125: Braxton Brown (Maryland)- F&M Open Jacob Allen (Navy)- F&M Open Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech)- F&M Open Brody Teske (UNI)- Vs South Dakota State, Vs Wyoming (@SDSU) [+8] Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+7] Eric Barnett (Wisconsin)- Vs Northwestern, Vs Rutgers [+7] Anthony Molton (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+6] Joey Fischer (Clarion)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Joe Manchio (Columbia)- Vs Long Island [+4] Vito Arujau (Cornell)- @ Lehigh [+4] Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] Tristan Daughtery (Buffalo)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+3] Jake Ferri (Kent State)- Vs Cleveland State [+3] Malik Heinselman (Ohio State)- @ Michigan State [+3] 133: Jared Van Vleet (Air Force)- F&M Open Joshua Koderhandt (Navy)- F&M Open Kurt Phipps (Bucknell)- Vs Hofstra, Vs Long Island (@HOF) [+8] Austin DeSanto (Iowa)- Vs Minnesota, Vs Purdue [+8] Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+8] Kai Orine (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+6] Chris Cannon (Northwestern)- @ Wisconsin, @ Minnesota [+6] Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech)- Vs Binghamton, Vs West Virginia [+6] Derek Spann (Buffalo)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+5] Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+5] Angelo Rini (Columbia)- Vs Long Island [+4] Rayvon Foley (Michigan State)- Vs Ohio State [+4] 141: Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina)- F&M Open Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina)- F&M Open Zach Redding (Iowa State)- F&M Open Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)- Vs Minnesota, Vs Purdue [+10] Shannon Hanna (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+8] Nick Lee (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+8] Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)- Vs Indiana, @ Wisconsin [+8] Darren Miller (Bucknell)- Vs Hofstra, Vs Long Island (@HOF) [+7] Ryan Jack (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+7] Domenic Zaccone (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+7] Clay Carlson (South Dakota State)- Vs UNI, Vs Wyoming [+6] Chad Red (Nebraska)- Vs Purdue [+4] Carter Young (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+3] 149: PJ Ogunsanya (Army)- F&M Open Cam Robinson (Iowa State)- F&M Open Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia)- F&M Open Josh Heil (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+10] Tariq Wilson (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+8] Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech)- Vs Binghamton, Vs West Virginia [+8] Beau Bartlett (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+7] Ridge Lovett (Nebraska)- Vs Purdue [+5] Brent Moore (Clarion)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Matt Kazimir (Columbia)- Vs Long Island [+4] Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)- @ Lehigh [+4] Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)- @ Michigan State [+4] Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] John Arceri (Buffalo)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+3] 157: Nathan Lukez (Army)- F&M Open Andrew Cerniglia (Navy)- F&M Open Jake Keating (Virginia)- F&M Open AJ Kovacs (NC State)- F&M Open Matthew Dallara (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+8] Josh Humphreys (Lehigh)- Vs Binghamton, Vs Cornell [+7] Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)- @ Wisconsin, @ Minnesota [+7] Robert Kainnard (Rutgers)- Vs Indiana, @ Wisconsin [+7] Connor Brady (Virginia Tech)- Vs Binghamton, Vs West Virginia [+7] Jacob Wright (Wyoming)- Vs UNI, Vs South Dakota State (@SDSU) [+7] Kolby Ho (Clarion)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Chase Saldate (Michigan State)-Vs Ohio State [+4] Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] Michael Petite (Buffalo)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+3] 165: Dalton Harkins (Army)- F&M Open Zach Hartman (Bucknell)- Vs Hofstra, Vs Long Island (@HOF) [+9] Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin)- Vs Northwestern, Vs Rutgers [+9] Alex Marinelli (Iowa)- Vs Minnesota, Vs Purdue [+8] Tanner Cook (South Dakota State)- Vs UNI, Vs Wyoming [+7] Peyton Hall (West Virginia)- Vs Binghamton, Vs Virginia Tech (@VT) [+7] Troy Nation (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+6] Tommy Bullard (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+6] Joshua Ogunsanya (Columbia)- Vs Long Island [+4] Carson Kharchla (Ohio State)- @ Michigan State [+4] Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] Julian Ramirez (Cornell)- @ Lehigh [+3] Bubba Wilson (Nebraska)- Vs Purdue [+3] 174: Alex Faison (NC State)- F&M Open Justin Phillips (Virginia)- F&M Open Hayden Hidlay (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+10] Austin Murphy (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+9] Carter Starocci (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+9] Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)- Vs Binghamton, Vs West Virginia [+8] Andrew McNally (Wisconsin)- Vs Northwestern, Vs Rutgers [+7] Cade DeVos (South Dakota State)- Vs UNI, Vs Wyoming [+6] Michael Labriola (Nebraska)- Vs Purdue [+4] Ethan Smith (Ohio State)- @ Michigan State [+4] Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] Chris Foca (Cornell)- @ Lehigh [+3] 184: Ethan Ducca (Edinboro)- F&M Open Caleb Hopkins (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+9] Trent Hidlay (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+8] Aaron Brooks (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+8] Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)- Vs Binghamton, Vs West Virginia [+8] Parker Keckeisen (UNI)- Vs South Dakota State, Vs Wyoming (@SDSU) [+7] Abe Assad (Iowa)- Vs Minnesota, Vs Purdue [+6] John Poznanski (Rutgers)- Vs Indiana, @ Wisconsin [+6] Jonathan Loew (Cornell)- @ Lehigh [+4] Charles Small (Hofstra)- Vs Bucknell [+4] Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] Taylor Venz (Nebraska)- Vs Purdue [+3] Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)- @ Michigan State [+3] 197: Max Shaw (North Carolina)- F&M Open Lou DePrez (Binghamton)- @ Lehigh, Vs Virginia Tech, Vs West Virginia (@VT) [+11] Levi Hopkins (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+9] Jacob Warner (Iowa)- Vs Minnesota, Vs Purdue [+8] Greg Bulsak (Rutgers)- Vs Indiana, @ Wisconsin [+7] Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming)- Vs UNI, Vs South Dakota State (@SDSU) [+7] Max Dean (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+6] AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+5] Will Feldkamp (Clarion)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Jacob Cardenas (Cornell)- @ Lehigh [+3] Ben Smith (Cleveland State)- @ Kent State [+3] Trey Rogers (Hofstra)- Vs Bucknell [+3] 285: Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force)- F&M Open Issac Reid (Lock Haven)- F&M Open Ryan Catka (Navy)- F&M Open Quinn Miller (Virginia)- F&M Open Taye Ghadiali (Campbell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Presbyterian (@PC) [+9] Gable Steveson (Minnesota)- @ Iowa, Vs Northwestern [+9] Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)- @ Maryland, Vs Indiana [+8] Tyrie Houghton (NC State)- @ Princeton @ Rider [+6] Colton McKiernan (SIU-Edwardsville)- @ Buffalo [+6] Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech)- Vs Binghamton, Vs West Virginia [+6] Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)- Vs Northwestern, Vs Rutgers [+6] Zachary Knighton-Ward (Hofstra)-Vs Bucknell [+4] Luke Surber (Oklahoma State)- @ Little Rock [+4] Tate Orndorff (Ohio State)- @ Michigan State [+3] Christian Lance (Nebraska)- Vs Purdue [+3] Think I missed someone? Disagree with someone on the list or their projection? Want to know our thoughts on a matchup? Let me know! Win the week!

Drake Ayala (left) at the Southern Scuffle (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Quite the start to 2022, eh? Injury troubles in Iowa. Flo-Kartgate in Austin. Some want death to America. Some just want death just to Willie. Some old faces in new places and as of press time some old faces back in old places. Just as the full dual meet season is here, Covid, Omicron, Rubicon, and CJ Cron are playing hell with the schedule. Look folks, I don't know what to tell you. Prepare for the worst. Until then, watch every match you can. We know what it's like to lose it and I don't think I can go through that again. To the wrestlers and coaches, I wish you the best of luck and good health and would just like to ask for you to take care of yourselves, do your part, and maybe not contact the outside world for the next two months. We can get through this with some minor bumps in the road and some sacrifices, but we can get to March. Alright, this kind of talk depresses me. To my bag! Rank InterMat staff from least cool to coolest. @Pelikanhead Well, at the top of the list is Earl Smith. You ever do a video call with him? The guy moves so little you think the screen froze. He's like Paulie from Goodfellas. Just a rock of a man exuding respect with the tiniest of expressions. The conference correspondents are pretty cool if you're into that whole 70's newsroom thing. Seriously, you should see Robbie Wendell with his fedora and little notepad. He somehow pulls it off. And Duckworth, I creep around his office sometimes just to hear that Oklahoma drawl order lunch. All the way at the bottom is me, Seth Petarra, and Richard Mann. We don't even get invited to Poor Richard's for drinks. Speaking of my uncool friend... What other Senior-level wrestlers do we want to pull a Provisor? @RichardAMann I think @StacyBehr hit the nail on the head with Kamal Bey. Maybe we'll see it after a 2024 Olympic run. How excited are you for the 2025 D1 NCAA Championships being held in Philly? @WrestlingPhilly Possible Spencer Lee-Daton Fix final at 133? God willing, I'll be in the arena to see it. Would you pull Drake Ayala's redshirt and if so, when? @Rhino184 This might be the most talked-about story for the next few weeks, so let's dive deep into it. Spencer is clearly out for the foreseeable future. Yes, the entire team that won it last year returned for a second trophy, but they are no longer that team. Not without their ace. Now Nelson Brands is on the shelf and he was already replacing Kemerer, who we have no idea about. It's difficult for any coach to admit defeat, least of all the Brands brothers. But sometimes, you have to look at the big picture. Penn State just filled two spots with AA contenders in Hildebrandt and Berge to go along with the rest of their loaded lineup. Michigan has fans buzzing with the thought of five possible finalists. I think it all hinges on Kemerer's status. Without him and Spencer, repeating seems unlikely at best. On the other hand, you still have a dynamic squad if you get Kem-Dawg back, throw in a complete wild card like Ayala, and get a few big performances from your other veterans; a repeat is definitely on the table. Bottom line, I think we will be waiting on this one for a few more weeks until things are more settled. Not to mention the possibility of a canceled season and I don't see the NCAA giving out free years again. Patience is best in Iowa City right now. Well that's a wrap on the first mailbag of the new year. I hope you all entered 2022 happy and healthy, you probably blew your resolutions already, but that's ok because there's always next year, as Washington Football Team fans say.

Oregon State's Devan Turner (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The final week of the calendar year brought in a torrent of wrestling for the Pac-12, as conference competitors laced up their wrestling shoes against the field all over the country. #16 Cal Poly sent a few of their horses to the inaugural MatMen Open in Illinois, as did Oregon State, while #21 Stanford, Little Rock, and CSU Bakersfield sent their squads to the Southern Scuffle. Meanwhile, #23 Oregon State and #6 Arizona State each traveled to neutral-site “dual-meets” against the Wolverines of Utah Valley and #4 Michigan, respectively. (Quotes are used here as the emergence of society out of the holiday break brought a wave of COVID-related cancellations of which the Pac-12 was not immune. The hyped dual between Arizona State and Michigan was whittled down to four matches, while #23 Oregon State had duals against Penn and Drexel “postponed,” as did Cal Poly, who was set to face Northern Colorado. Oh, and Arizona State's home-dual against Iowa State. Lovely.) Illinois MatMen Open (December 29th & 30th) A humble, but talented, group of Pac-12 wrestlers took the mat at the inaugural MatMen Open, with a handful of #16 Cal Poly and Oregon State wrestlers finding themselves in the thick of the competition. At 125lbs, #30 Antonio Lorenzo (Cal Poly) split ranked, sudden victory matches on the top-side of the bracket, topping #26 Gage Curry (Pitt), 7-5, before losing to eventual champion, #29 Justin Cardani (Illinois), 3-1. Lorenzo would bounce back in the consolation for 3rd-place, topping Penn's Blair Orr and a red-hot Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh, behind #14 Jaret Lane), who had notched wins over #26 Curry and #25 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) earlier in the tournament. Fellow Cal Poly Mustang Brawley Lamer (157lbs) finished in 5th-place, splitting a pair of ranked matches en route to the quarterfinals. Lamer defeated #29 Robert Kanniard (Rutgers), 6-2, to set a quarterfinal match with #28 Elijah Cleary of Pitt, a bout that resulted in Cleary advancing, 5-4. Lamer rattled off two wins in the consolations before being sent to 5th-place by way of an 11-5 defeat to #33 Alex Carida (Bloomsburg). The 197lbs weight class offered two Pac-12 entrants, with Ryan Reyes (Oregon State) leading the way. Reyes advanced to the semifinals on two victories to set up a meeting with #2 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt). The returning NCAA runner-up proved a formidable test, as Reyes fell by a 10-2 major decision. He would default out of the consolations. For his efforts, Trent Tracy (Cal Poly) went 3-2. #6 Bernie Truax (Cal Poly) and #16 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) both entered a star-lined 184lbs bracket, which saw #2 Myles Amine (Michigan) square-off against post-grad Mark Hall in the tournament finals. In his first matches since the Michigan State Open, Truax looked to be in full-form, as he earned two victories (including a fall in the 3rd-place bout) over #19 Zac Braunagel (Illinois), in addition to an important victory over conference foe Munoz of Oregon State, 3-1, in the consi-semis. The meeting between Truax and Munoz was a tactical affair, with Truax preventing Munoz from scoring a couple promising attacks during the course of the bout. A second-period takedown was enough for the Mustang to emerge victoriously. Truax's only loss was to Mark Hall, 7-3, in the semifinals. The aforementioned Munoz was knocked into the consolation by #7 Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois) via a 2-1 quarterfinal decision. Munoz would recover well, defeating #24 Chris Weiler (Wisconsin) in the round of 12 and avenging the loss to Wilson with a 12-7 victory for 5th-place. Southern Scuffle (January 1st & 2nd) An individual title from #7 Real Woods at 141lbs paced not only the Stanford squad, but the Pac-12 contingent at the “Scuffle.” The Cardinal would leave the event in 11th-place with two medals, with #28 Tyler Eischens (174) finishing in 8th-place. Also sending their squads to UT-Chattanooga were CSU Bakersfield and Little Rock, who each had a few wrestlers a match or two away from the tournament top-eight. Finishing their tournament in the round of 16 for the Trojans were Jayden Carson (125), Tanner Mendoza (184), and Josiah Hill (285). Of note, Josiah Hill earned a conference victory over Bakersfield's Jake Andrews via first-period fall in the consolations. Finally, the Little Rock Trojans just missed a medal, with Tyler Brennan (165) falling in the round of 12. The Roadrunners' #22 Angelo Martinoni (141) lost in the round of 16, while Josh Brown (149) and Albert Urias (174) just missed the podium with round of 12 finishes. Stanford's #29 Jackson DiSario (133) ended the tournament in the round of 16, alongside Charlie Darracott (157) and heavyweight Peter Ming. 197lber Nick Stemmet was just outside of the top-eight in the round of 12. Scuffle Champion Real Woods reaffirmed to the national landscape that he is, indeed, “for real” on his path to the championship. Steadily advancing through the bracket, Woods defeated Marcos Polanco (Minnesota), 4-0, Andrew Bloemhof (Oklahoma State), 6-0, and Ethen Miller (Maryland), 3-1, to set up an intriguing semifinal match against #8 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado). The highly-talented Alirez gave Woods all he wanted, as the Golden Bear scored the first takedown in the opening period. Woods, however, was unphased, getting an escape in roughly 11s, ending the period with a takedown of his own to lead 3-2 into the second period. A quick escape after choosing down made the score 4-2 for Woods. In the third, Alirez took his opportunity on the bottom. After putting on a nearly one-minute ride, Woods had seemingly collected his riding-time point, but Alirez wasn't done competing. A sudden reversal made the score knotted at four apiece and erased riding time. On the first reset, with roughly a minute remaining in the bout, Alirez opted to go optional-start, cutting Woods to give him the 5-4 lead, and the chase was on. With short-time, Alirez found himself on a low-single, built up and hunted down a match-winning takedown - but Woods was game. Dodging a back-trip and sitting through a cradle attempt, Woods narrowly avoided Alirez's final offense to advance to the finals, 5-4. In the championship final, Woods squared off against #15 Allan Hart (Missouri) and used a workmanlike performance to win, 4-0, on the strength of an escape, an in-transition 2pt nearfall, and a riding time point. #23 Oregon State vs. Utah Valley (January 2nd) Starting at 133lbs, Oregon State pulled away from Utah Valley early, spurred on by an upset by #16 Devan Turner over #15 Haiden Drury, 5-3. Drury had previously beaten Turner at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite in the consolation finals on a late comeback, 6-4SV. Falls at 141 and 149 by #12 Grant Willits and #29 Cory Crooks provided a sizable cushion, as Oregon State went on to take eight of ten bouts. Perhaps most importantly, the Beavers defeated three of four ranked Wolverines. In addition to the victory over Drury, #26 Mateo Olmos defeated #32 Kekana Fouret, 5-3. To close out the dual, #15 Brandon Kaylor continued his hot-streak with a 5-3 upset over #5 Taylor LaMont – a victory that knotted their collegiate series at one-match apiece and settled the dual at 31-6 Oregon State. #6 Arizona State vs. #4 Michigan (January 3rd) Despite an unfortunate turn of events leading to the original dual-meet being reduced to four match-ups, the wrestling matches that did occur delivered in full. Fielding their #4-ranked lightweights, Arizona State's Brandon Courtney got the evening started with an exciting 5-4 bout against #19 Jack Medley at 125lbs. Pushing ahead with two takedowns in the first period, Courtney stayed in the fire with the steady and workmanlike Medley, conceding three escapes and a short-time stall point. Following up Courtney's performance was a red-hot Michael McGee at 133lbs. In a top-eight match-up, McGee showed no fear as he unloaded an offensive arsenal on #8 Dylan Ragusin. Although Ragusin was undeterred early, McGee's pace and confidence would envelop the Michigan stand-out, as McGee scored a takedown per period, to go alongside a two-point nearfall, an escape, and nearly five minutes of riding time to emerge victorious, 10-0. Then, Michigan unveiled their Olympians. At 141lbs, #3 Stevan Micic took the mat against a very game Julian Chlebove. Chlebove currently sits behind #17 Jesse Vasquez, but that was not a deterrent as Chlebove fought Micic in every situation. Entering the third, down 7-3, Chlebove earned a quick escape and immediately got himself to a lefty high-c that evolved into a forty-second scramble to a takedown. With the match winding down, Chlebove cut Micic and worked hard to run the Olympian down to force overtime, but the veteran slipped away, 8-6. In the closing match of the evening, it was Olympic Bronze, #2-ranked 184lber Myles Amine of Michigan facing Josh Nummer of Arizona State. Although Nummer did not concede to Amine, the Olympian was clearly on another level, scoring eight points in the first period before pouring on another nine in the second for the match-terminating, 17-2 technical fall. Altogether, the four bouts each brought unique flair and captivating action, and nearly made up for “what could have been.” As the aforementioned cancellations continue to roll in, we will stay optimistic that our Pac-12 teams will return to competition sooner rather than later.

2021 MatMen Open champion Elijah Cleary (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) I apologize for the delay in getting this recap out to all the ACC fans. Virginia decided that it was time to switch from summer to winter and go from 70 to a foot of snow overnight, so I've been without power and internet most of the week. We had a solid week of matches for almost all the teams in the conference and are coming into the conference dual season with a lot of good things happening. Duke: The Blue Devils traveled to the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga and left with both Finesilver brothers bringing home hardware. #7 Josh Finesilver made history for Duke, becoming only the second-ever Southern Scuffle champion for the Blue Devils, joining two-time All-American Jacob Kasper. Josh had a stellar tournament at 149 and beat some high-quality opponents to get to the top of the podium. He opened with a pin over Zac Cowan of Bellarmine and followed with a major decision of Rudy Lopez of Northern Colorado before a decision win over high school phenom Cody Chittum in the quarterfinals. Finesilver then beat Oklahoma State's Victor Voinovich in the semifinals before taking an 11-10 decision over #22 Josh Edmond from Missouri in an incredibly entertaining final. He is now 21-1 on the season. #8 Matt Finesilver made it to day two of the Scuffle without allowing a point. He pinned Marty Larkin of Michigan State and won 8-0 major decisions over both Bailee O'Reilly of Minnesota and Benjamin Haubert of The Citadel. Finesilver was up in his semifinal match before a wild scramble allowed #13 Peyton Mocco of Missouri to catch Finesilver and secure the pin. He then lost his consolation quarterfinal in sudden victory to Austin Brenner of North Dakota State. Matt was able to come back to finish on a positive note, beating Brennan Swofford of Iowa in a 14-0 major decision to claim a fifth-place finish. Finesilver is now 21-2 on the season. North Carolina: The Tar Heels were scheduled to compete in the Southern Scuffle, but withdrew due to COVID precautions within the program. North Carolina State: The Wolfpack sent a limited squad of six wrestlers to the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga and brought home four podium finishes. AJ Kovacs placed 6th at 157 and went 5-3 over the tournament, with all five wins by decision. #19 Thomas Bullard started strong, winning three matches, including a 3-2 decision over Alex Facundo of Penn State, before losing a one-point match to Will Formato of Appalachian State in the quarterfinals. Bullard then beat teammate Jacob Null to guarantee a podium finish, before medically forfeiting his final two matches to finish in 8th place. The last two podium finishes were at heavyweight, where Tyrie Houghton took a 3-2 overtime victory over teammate Owen Trephan to finish in fifth place. NC State sent three wrestlers at heavyweight, also Deonte Wilson, to help determine the starter moving forward as all three have shown great potential at different points in the season. Pittsburgh: The Panthers arguably had the best finish of the winter break, taking home the team title at the MatMen Open. Pitt finished with 121.5 points while runner-up Penn scored 118 in a team race where every point was crucial. At 125, #26 Gage Curry went 3-2 to finish in 7th place, while Colton Camacho went 2-2 and was one win short of placing. #6 Micky Phillippi won his first three matches to make it to the finals against All-American #7 Lucas Byrd. Phillippi fell in a tight 5-4 match to finish as the runner-up. #24 Cole Matthews lost a close 5-4 bout in the quarterfinals, but came back with pins in back-to-back matches, to finish the tournament in 3rd place. At 149, Dan Mancini finished 2-2 and Luke Kemerer finished 0-2. #28 Elijah Cleary put together his best performance of the year at 157 to win the championship over #20 Doug Zapf of Penn. I can't speak highly enough about what we saw from Cleary at this tournament. He was aggressive on offense and incredibly tough to score on with his always stellar defense. Cleary took a one-point win over #10 Kendall Coleman in the semifinals to face Zapf. This tournament could be a major momentum swing for Cleary moving into conference competition. #8 Jake Wentzel started the tournament with a major and a decision before falling in a 1-0 decision to #14 Philip Conigliaro of Harvard. He came back with wins over #29 Lucas Revano of Penn and #18 Izzak Olenjik of Northern Illinois to finish in 3rd place. Hunter Kernan went 0-2 at 174. #31 Gregg Harvey opened with a win before losing by decision to some guy named Mark Hall… He picked up another win in the consis before falling to #19 Zac Braunagel. He finished on a high note, beating #32 Neil Antrassian of Penn to finish in 7th place. #2 Nino Bonaccorsi went tech fall, major, major to make the finals opposite #12 Greg Bulsak of Rutgers. In a tight match, Bulsak pulled out the 3-2 decision to beat the previously undefeated Bonaccorsi. Finally, at heavyweight, Jake Slinger picked up a 49-second pin and a decision win before falling to #5 Trent Hilger in the semis. Slinger then lost his two consolation matches to finish in 6th place. Virginia: When the cancellation of The Midlands was announced, the Hoos scheduled a tri with #24 Northwestern and SIUE in place of the tournament. The biggest news on the day was the return of #16 Jay Aiello, who has been out to start the season after bringing home a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships. UVA opened the day with a 34-3 win over SIUE. Patrick McCormack picked up the only bonus-point win for the Hoos with a major decision. #14 Brian Courtney (133) and #16 Justin McCoy (165) both received forfeits to pick up bonus points for the team. #16 Jay Aiello won 11-6 at 197 in his first match back and looked solid in the process. The Hoos controlled this dual from the whistle and only had one match that was within two points. The dual against Northwestern was outstanding. The Wildcats got off to a hot start and the Cavaliers picked up a couple big wins in the middle of the lineup to make the dual come down to the last match to determine the team winner. Dylan Cedeno lost a decision at 141 to open the dual, followed by a controversial pin call against Jarod Verkleeren in a match against All-American Yahya Thomas at 149. Denton Spencer lost a 4-0 decision at 157 to put the Hoos down 12-0. At 165, #16 Justin McCoy earned a ranked win over #33 David Ferrante in a 10-5 decision. Justin Phillips followed up with an upset win over #20 Troy Fisher to swing the momentum for UVA. Michael Battista put on an offensive display in a 12-4 major decision at 184, followed by #16 Jay Aiello earning a 5-3 decision over #30 Andrew Davison to give the 13-12 lead to the Hoos. #27 Quinn Miller dropped a 9-4 decision to #14 Lucas Davison to give the lead back to the Wildcats going into the final two matches. Patrick McCormack picked up his second big win of the day at 125 to bring the team score to 16-15 UVA going into the final match. 133 was probably the match of the day between #14 Brian Courtney and #9 Chris Cannon. It was a back and forth match with the lead switching multiple times. Courtney was up 7-6 going into the final seconds when Cannon was able to get a last-second takedown to win 8-7, making the team score 18-16 in favor of Northwestern. Jay Aiello also picked up a pin in an extra match to bring his season record to 3-0. Also competing in his first action of the year, Jake Keating jumped in the field at the MatMen Open. He won his opening match before losing by decision to drop to the consolation bracket. There he won four matches in a row to finish in 3rd place in his first competition of the year. Keating and Aiello being back in the lineup is a huge boost for the Hoos moving forward into conference competition. Virginia Tech: The Hokies sent eight to the Scuffle in a mix of attached and unattached wrestlers. Their best finish came from #14 Hunter Bolen at 184. He went 3-0 on day one with a major and two decision wins. Bolen fell to a red hot #32 Kyle Cochran of Maryland 6-4 in the semifinals. He then won by injury default to face #15 Jeremiah Kent of Missouri in the third-place match. Bolen was much more offensive in this match and won 3rd with a 9-4 decision. Andy Smith was also in action for the Hokies at 197. He went 5-2 over the two days and finished in 5th place--both of his losses were to #20 Cam Caffey of Michigan State. Competing unattached for the Hokies, Eddie Ventresca went 3-3 at 125 to finish in 8th place.

2022 Southern Scuffle champion Wyatt Hendrickson (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) While one of the traditional mid-season tournaments needed to go through some last-minute permutations, the Southern Scuffle was able to kick off the 2022 calendar year. As always, the tournament featured a mix of returning contenders as well as some newcomers to the college season who are still on redshirt. The following looks at some of the top statistical performers from the tournament and some odd occurrences. Point Differential It might be an understatement to call this year's heavyweight division stacked. The field returns multiple age-group World medalists and the reigning Olympic champion. Even though No. 7 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) saw his season end last year in the Round of 12, he put on an All-American worthy performance at the Southern Scuffle. Hendrickson won all five of his matches on the way to the heavyweight title, including three falls, a technical fall and a major decision. Despite all the quick finishes, he still managed to score 49 match points. At the same time, he allowed his opponents to only score four points across his five matches. On a per-minute basis, those numbers equate to 2.70 points per minute and 0.22 points against per minute. That left Hendrickson with a dominant +2.48 point differential, which was far and away, the highest of the tournament. The next closest wrestler in terms of point differential was No. 20 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota), who only wrestled one match before defaulting out of the field. While point differential is not always a predictor of success, it was in this tournament as all of the top six outside of Sparks at least made the finals. Top Point Differentials 285: Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) +2.48 165: Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) +1.86 197: Rocky Elam (Missouri) +1.66 133: Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) +1.55 125: Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) +1.47 165: Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) +1.40 Points per Minute With a point differential that high, it should not be a shock that Hendrickson also had the highest points per minute rate. His 2.70 rate was tops in the tournament, but coming in second was an interesting name. Heavyweight David Szuba (Rider) is a true freshman who joined the Broncs after winning a New Jersey state championship last year. He certainly had his highs and lows at the Southern Scuffle and eventually saw his tournament come to an end in the consolation bracket against No. 32 Michael McAleavey (The Citadel). However, he certainly racked up the points when he was on the mat. Szuba scored 15 or more points in all three of his victories and finished with a 2.28 points per minute rate. Heavyweight can be a tough weight for newcomers to the college scene. However, Szuba's ability to put points on the board is likely a good omen for his future prospects in the division. Top Points per Minute Rates 285: Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) 2.70 285: David Szuba (Rider) 2.28 165: Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) 2.20 165: Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) 2.14 149: Alek Martin (SDSU) 2.07 Points Against per Minute Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) came into the Scuffle with a 1-2 career record, and the California state champion went all the way to the finals at 133 before coming up short against No. 11 Rayvon Foley (Michigan State). Nagao relied heavily on his defense and only fell by a 2-0 score. In fact, it was his defense that carried him throughout the tournament. He allowed only four points through his five matches and shut out three opponents. His 0.14 points allowed per minute rate was tied for the best in the tournament. If Nagao can continue to present that kind of defense, he might be able to pull a few key upsets during the Big Ten season. Equally, the defensive performance on Nagao was the 141 champion No. 6 Real Woods (Stanford). He allowed five points in the tournament and finished with a 0.14 points against per minute rate. Four of those points came in his semifinal victory over No. 8 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado). Even in that match, Woods' defense was key as he held off a takedown at the end to pull out the victory. The Stanford sophomore finished in the round of 12 last year and looked poised for a run at All-American status. Top Points Allowed per Minute Rates 133: Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) 0.14 141: Real Woods (Stanford) 0.14 157: Chase Saldate (Michigan State) 0.19 285: Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) 0.22 285: Austin Harris (Oklahoma State) 0.22 Match Point Differential by Team Hendrickson's performance at heavyweight helped Air Force finish with the best match point differential as a team at +0.75. Tournament champion Missouri finished with a +0.50 match point differential, which was the second-highest. Top Team Match Point Differentials Air Force +0.75 Minnesota +0.55 Missouri +0.49 Northern Iowa +0.49 North Carolina State +0.27 Comeback Falls As everyone knows, a lead in wrestling is never entirely safe until the match is over. The trailing wrestler can always turn things around with a quick fall. At the Southern Scuffle, six wrestlers were able to collect fall victories despite trailing in the match. None of those victories were as surprising as the one pulled off by Chattanooga's Jackson Hurst. He was trailing Daniel Manibog (Oklahoma State) by a whopping 12-1 score before securing the fall and the victory. Come From Behind Falls Jackson Hurst (Chattanooga) vs. Daniel Manibog (Oklahoma State) trailing 12-1 Aaron Ibarra (CSU-Bakersfield) vs. Jake Rotunda (The Citadel) trailing 11-5 Garrett Joles (Minnesota) vs. Owen Pentz (NDSU) trailing 6-4 John Mcclimon (Iowa) vs. Mike Wilson (Rider) trailing 3-2 Cael Carlson (Minnesota) vs. William Formato (App State) trailing 7-6 David Szuba (Rider) vs. Deonte Wilson (North Carolina State) trailing 4-3 Highest Scoring Matches The highest-scoring match came at 165, where No. 3 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) just missed out on the technical fall over Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) and settled for the 26-12 major decision. Hendricks actually scored the first takedown of the match seven seconds in. However, O'Toole then took over, and Hendrick scored nothing but escapes the rest of the way. The Missouri wrestler scored six takedowns in the final period alone, but he needed one more for the technical fall. Top Five Highest Scoring Matches 165: Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) 26-12 major decision over Devin Hendrick (Bellarmine) 285: David Szuba (Rider) 25-10 technical fall over Peter Ming (Stanford) 165: Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 25-10 technical fall over Tyler Kocak (George Mason) 141: Clay Carlson (SDSU) 25-8 technical fall over Luis Ramos (CSU_Bakersfield) 125: Drake Ayala (Iowa) 23-7 major decision over Alex Cottey (Chattanooga) Match Results by Type As one might expect, the heavyweight division produced the most falls in the tournament with 13. It is somewhat interesting that the 125 weight class produced the least regular decisions by a pretty significant margin. Most Overtime Matches Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) made a surprising run at 133 for the host school. He finished third, but he certainly had to put in the work. Not only did he wrestle eight matches, which was tied for the most in the tournament, but four of those matches went to overtime. No other wrestler in the tournament went to extra time more than twice. Palmer went 3-1 in overtime with victories over Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb), Sean Carter (App State) and Cullan Schriever (Iowa). His only loss of the tournament came against Dom Lajoie (Cornell) in sudden victory. In total, Palmer wrestled for 61 minutes and 18 seconds, which was the most in the tournament.

2021 MatMen Open runner-up Ryan Miller (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Below is a recap of last week's EIWA action, with individual highlights worth noting. Notable News Penn showed they are a Top 3 school in the state of Pennsylvania. Cornell placed 5th at the Scuffle with half of their starters missing Lehigh has some serious depth, as 4 non-starters placed at the Matmen Open American – no action last week Army – no action last week Binghamton – no action last week Brown The Bears competed at the Matmen Open in Chicago. Timothy Levine (141) had 3 wins during his tournament, with a loss against Carmen Ferrante (#32) of Penn. He had the most wins for the Bears. At 149lb, Ricky Cabanillas went 2-2 on the weekend while Blake Saito wrestled to a 1-2 mark. Cade Wilson was 2-2 at 197lb. Although they had no place winners, there is some silver lining to be found here. Brown had a handful of wrestlers lose in the blood round. This is an accomplishment for a young team at a tough event like this. I am excited to see where this team is once dual meets start this week. Bucknell The Bison traveled to Chicago to compete in the Matmen Open. They walked away with two place winners. At 133lb, Kurt Phipps came away with 8th place. His most notable win was over Michael Colaiocco (#13) of Penn. He had a nice weekend. Zach Hartman earned a fifth-place finish. He beat Lucas Revano (#29) twice. His lone losses were to Dean Hamiti (#17) of Wisconsin and Izzak Olejnik (#18) of NIU. Brandon Seidman was 2-2 on the weekend. His latest loss was to Gage Curry (#26) of Pitt by 2-0 decision. At 157lb, Nick Delp had a nice win over Robert Kanniard (#29) of Rutgers Mason McCready won three of his five matches at 197lb. I like how the Bison performed. Phipps continues to impress. Delp just had a win over a ranked opponent, while Depron had one just a week ago. We did not see Miller compete, who currently holds a spot at 18th in the rankings. This team is looking strong from 133 to 165. I am expecting them to wrestle very well second semester. Columbia – no action last week Cornell (#9) The Big Red sent a bunch of wrestlers to the Southern Scuffle, but there were some star-studded names who did not make the trip. They still walked away with six placewinners. Greg Diakomihalis placed 7th at 125lb. He avenged a loss to Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech in his final match. At 141lb, Josh Saunders lost first round and rallied off four straight wins, including one over Angelo Martinoni (#22) of CSU-Bakersfield. Due to injury, Saunders finished 8th place. Hunter Richard (157lb) had a great turnout, ending his performance with fourth place. Both of his losses came to Jarrett Jacques (#23) of Missouri. Richard's key win was over returning All-American Brock Mauller of Missouri. Andrew Berreyesa earned himself a 7th place finish at 174lb. His record on the weekend was 5-2. At 184lb, Jonathan Loew (#13) defeated Isaiah Salazar (#29) of Minnesota in the semi-finals by major decision. He was upset by Kyle Cochran (#32) of Maryland in the finals. At heavyweight, Lewis Fernandes (#18) had quite a weekend with two falls, a major, and six-point victory. He ultimately dropped his finals match to Wyatt Hendrickson (#7) of Air Force. The Big Red still finished in 5th place as a team at the Southern Scuffle, without the fire power of half their starters. Ranked wrestlers like Vito, Yianni, Ramirez, Foca, and Cardenas all missed action. A 5th place finish just shows the depth of this team. Like I mentioned in the last recap, they are the EIWA favorites at the moment. Drexel The Dragons sent a half-full line up to the Southern Scuffle. Tyler Williams (149) secured the most wins by a Dragon, going 2-2 on the day. At 165lb, Evan Barczak (#30) had a 1-2 showing, losing to Facundo of Penn State 3-1. Also at 165lb, Jack Janda also wrestled to a 1-2 record, losing both matches by decision. Josh Stillings went 1-2 on the day as well The Dragons are a little dinged up still. Plus, some sickness over the holidays led to the less-than-full roster they had at the Scuffle. This may not be the showing the Dragons wanted, but with the way this year has been going, it was good to get some of the non-starters quality matches at this event. They will be back to full strength in a few weeks, just in time to end the season on a positive note. Franklin & Marshall The Diplomats traveled to Chicago to compete in the Matmen Open. At 125lb, Gio Diaz went 1-2 on the day. Wil Gil (141lb) secured two wins, while losing two decisions. His final loss came to Parker Filius (#14) of Purdue Chase McCollum (157lb) and Noah Fox (174lb) each had a single win in his performance. At 174lb, John Crawford ended his day with a 2-2 record, dropping two decisions. The Diplomats were without a few starters also. The injury bug has been hitting everyone this season. The Dips will be back, as they still have a few guys who can scrap – this hasn't changed. They have a long list of conference duals coming up. This will give us a better idea of where this team stands within the EIWA conference. Harvard The Crimson saw action in Chicago at the Matmen Open. Philip Conigliaro (#14) earned a silver medal. On his way to the finals, he defeated Izzak Olejnik (#18) of Northern Illinois and returning NCAA runner-up Jake Wentzel (#8) of Pitt. At 125lb, Diego Sotelo made it to the bloodround before losing in overtime to Sheldon Seymour of Lehigh. Kenny Herrmann at 141lb, went 2-2 in the event. At 149lb, Lukus Stricker walked away with a 6th place finish. He had a 2-1 loss to Anthony Artalona (#27) of Penn Mike Doggett lost in the bloodround at 174lb to Nick Incontrera (#21) of Penn . Also, at 174lb, Josh Kim (#29) earned 8th place. Harvard took a huge blow in December losing their highly ranked heavyweight for the year with an ACL injury. Conigliaro put the team on his back and stepped up and upset the returning NCAA runner-up in the semifinals. It was good to see Stricker come away with a podium placement, along with Kim. I feel like this team is getting better. They'll need some guys to step up to gain the points lost with the injury to Slavikouski at heavyweight. Hofstra – no action last week Lehigh (#21) The Mountain Hawks took a short-handed team to the Matmen Open, as most competitors competed unattached. Sheldon Seymour earned a 4th place finish at 125lb. In the process, he had ranked wins over Dylan Shawver (#25) of Rutgers and Gage Curry (#26) of Pitt. At 133lb, Carter Bailey finished sixth place after pinning Sammy Alvarez (#12) of Rutgers in the quarterfinals. Max Brignola walked away with a 5th place finish at 149lb. He had a close loss to Anthony Artalona (#27) of Penn. At 285lb, Nathan Taylor lost to Luke Luffman (#17) of Illinois twice to earn 4th place in his bracket. It's safe to say Lehigh has a lot of depth to their lineup. The four place winners at Matmen are non-starters for this team. Whatever the coaching staff is doing there, needs to be recognized. The jumps the younger wrestlers are making in that room are incredible. The Mountain Hawks will be in the running for the EIWA team title this year, and in the upcoming years. Long Island – no action last week Navy – no action last week Penn The Quakers sent their full line-up to the Matmen Open. The team walked away with 2nd place, overall. Ryan Miller (#33 – 125) had himself a nice tournament. His semifinal win was over Dylan Shawver (#25) of Rutgers. He then lost to Justin Cardani (#29) of Illinois in the finals. Also, at 125lb, Blair Orr walked away with 6th place. He had a loss to Shawver in his final match. Carmen Ferrante (#32 – 141) also earned himself a 6th place finish. CJ Composto had himself a coming-out party with a 2nd place finish at 141lb. He majored Parker Filius (#14) of Purdue, before upsetting Cole Matthews (#24) of Pitt in the semifinals. At 149lb, Anthony Artalona (#27) earned 3rd place in his bracket. His lone loss came to Austin Gomez (#11) of Wisconsin. Doug Zapf (#20) was the runner up at 157lb. He beat Alex Carida (#33) of Bloomsburg. His loss in the finals was to Elijah Cleary (#28) of Pitt. Lucas Revano (#29 - 165) wrestled to a 6th place finish. He had two losses to Zach Hartman (#15) of Bucknell, and one to NCAA runner-up Jake Wentzel (#8) of Pitt. At 174lb, Nick Incontrera (#21) ended up with a 7th place finish. He lost to eventual champion Edmond Ruth 4-3. His big win was over Joshua Kim (#29) of Harvard. Neil Antrassian earned 8th place at 184lb. His losses include Myles Amine (#2) from Michigan, Trey Munoz (#16) of Oregon State, and Gregg Harvey (#31) of Pitt. He had a nice win over Chris Weiler (#24) of Wisconsin. Cole Urbas walked away with 5th place at 197lb. He had a loss to Braxton Amos (#26) of Wisconsin. At 285lb, Ben Goldin had a loss to Luffman (#17) of Illinois. His 7th place match was a win over McDermott (#26) of Rutgers. It's no secret that I've been on #TheMovement bandwagon for quite some time. We all know they've been red-hot on the recruiting trail, and we expect them to challenge for the EIWA title in a few years. But they are making their way to the top of the EIWA right now. Why wait? The team finished as the runner-up at the Matmen Open. The real question mark on this team is the 141lb weight class. Ferrante has had a great year so far, earning himself a spot in the national rankings. Recently, CJ Composto went on tear to finish in 2nd place at Matmen. Whoever ends up with this spot, the Quakers will be in good shape – either way. Princeton The Tigers sent a handful of wrestlers to the Matmen Open in Chicago. At 133lb, Nick Kayal, Nick Masters, and Sean Pierson all each had one win. Jacob Mann wrestled to a 2-2 record at 141lb, one coming via fall. At 149lbs, Marshall Keller made the quarter finals, then lost in the blood round. His record was 1-2. Jake Marsh, Blaine Bergey and Grant Cuomo both competed at 165lb. Bergey and Marsh both lost in the bloodround. Nate Dugan upset All-American Jackson Turley (#16) of Rutgers to make the quarters. He lost in the bloodround at 174lb. At 184lb, Kendall Elfstrum went 2-2 on the day. Aiden Conner wrestled 197lb, posting one win on the day. Jack DelGarbino also had one win at heavyweight. The Tigers rested a bunch of their starters, including everyone listed in the rankings. Many of the wrestlers who wrestled, competed well. The Tigers will be back in action soon, with all of their fire power. Look for them to be in the trophy hunt at EIWA's once back to full strength. Sacred Heart – no action last week

2020 NWCA DII National Dual Champion St. Cloud State NWCA Division II National Duals January 6th & 7th Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville Kentucky Mat 5 Mat 6 Mat 7 Mat 8 First Match 9:00 AM EST The field is finally set and the wrestling is about to commence. I, for one, am ready to see how this sprint to the podium will play out with the addition of wrestlers coming out of "retirement." We have already seen the appearance of some of these #SuperSeniors and now we have a chance to see even more of them take the last first step of their career. Two teams seem poised to make the biggest jump in the standings as they add firepower to their lineups. The University of Nebraska-Kearney has spent the first semester fielding a lineup missing three All-Americans. The team that defeated them at the last NCAA tournament, and the two before that as well, St. Cloud State University is poised to add their returning national champion at heavyweight to an already loaded lineup. They are on a collision course in the national dual semifinals. The winner will face the team that is currently the favorite to win it all, according to my rankings anyways, the University of Central Oklahoma. It has been 15 years since the Broncs held the NCAA championship trophy, and in that time, Kearney and St. Cloud have taken home the hardware eight times. The first step to ending that drought would be beating one of them in the finals of the NWCA National Duals finals. Right now, the winner of this dual tournament has been Covid-19. From the original entrants, we are down to 11. Just last night, Colorado Mesa University became the last victim as weather and the pandemic teamed up to derail their journey. It is most unfortunate that after the fight to expand the tournament field, we are missing out on some very good teams being able to compete. There will be no Lindenwood or West Liberty. Were you looking forward to seeing Notre Dame College? Sorry. If you were wondering how Gannon University would match up against the teams they are trying to run down in March? You are going to have to wait until then. New coaches Nick Becker of Wisconsin-Parkside and Chayse Jackson Southwest Minnesota State will have to earn an invite in 2023 to make their debuts at the NWCA dual tournament. Even the south fell victim to the blight, Limestone College will miss out. We can talk about quality over quantity though, of the 11 teams, 10 are currently ranked in the top-25. Seven of the wrestlers currently ranked first in their weight classes are on rosters set to compete. There are 16 wrestlers who are ranked in the top three that we could see wrestle over the next two days. This dual tournament is not just deep; it is top-heavy. Besides the top-ranked athletes, you can expect to see seven 2021 national finalists competing. That is half of the athletes who were wrestling on the big stage in St Louis last season on hand for a dual tournament. We can talk about duals mattering; it is pretty clear that at this tournament, they do. Two years ago, the longest active dual winning streak in Division II nearly came to an end in the finals. The University of Central Oklahoma pushed St. Cloud State to the limit but fell just short of the "upset." St. Cloud State took the dual and the tournament 17-16 and has not looked back. Their push for a national championship was stolen from them in 2020 and in 2021, once again, it was won at heavyweight that saw them finish atop the podium as a team. That time it was the NCAA tournament. This is their chance to put Division II on notice that they are stronger than ever. #1 The University of Central Oklahoma #2 St Cloud State University #4 The University of Nebraska-Kearney #5 McKendree University #9 Ashland University #10 The University of Findlay #13 The University of Indianapolis #18 Mercyhurst University #21 Tiffin University #25 King University Round One Central Oklahoma will start their march to the finals against Findlay in a matchup featuring two top-five battles. The University of Findlay will be favored in both of the bouts. Third-ranked Branson Proudlock (141) and top-ranked James Wimer (157) will be trying to stave the shutout. They face off against fifth-ranked Nate Keim and third-ranked Tyler Lucas. Lucas and Wimer missed each other at the Midwest Classic last month when Lucas missed the tournament with an illness that hit UCO hard just days before. Proudlock already has a win over Keim and will look to lock down a high seed at the NCAA tournament. Upper Iowa University and Tiffin University will meet in one of the best potential first-round duals. Tiffin has risen up the tournament rankings while Upper Iowa has fallen as it appears they will be without returning All-American 197 Zac Ryg for an extended period of time. It also means we will not see him take on Tiffin'sTiffin's Nicholas Mason, Mason made a rankings jump after a strong Midwest showing. This dual is full of toss-up matches that will make it very exciting. Newberry College had me all excited when Isiah Royal earned a win earlier this week in his return to the lineup. The 2021 NCAA champion was a surprise addition to the lineup and had me looking forward to certain potential matches. Unfortunately, he is not listed on the roster and neither is ZeBrandon Gant. Football season is over, and I, for one, just want to see the Wolves put out the lineup we know they are capable of fielding. Newberry will face a tough challenge in McKendree University. The Bearcats rocketed up the team rankings after crowning two individual champions at the Midwest Classic. Christian Mejia (125) and Ian Kuehl (Hwt) were both surprise champions to me, but they put the rest of Division II on notice that come March, James Kisgen's squad is going to chase a trophy. They will have too much firepower for the Wolves and will set up a quarterfinals showdown with the winner of Tiffin and Upper Iowa. Ashland University is one of the teams that could be a surprise semifinalist. They match up well against a Nebraska-Kearney squad that will be trying to knock the rust off a few athletes in the quarterfinals. The Eagles will need to take care of business in round one against Fort Hays State, but the depth of their lineup will almost certainly be too much for the Tigers. We should get to see seventh-ranked Martin Verhaeghe (Fort Hays State) take on eighth-ranked Aidan Pasiuk (Ashland) at 184, though. The University of Indianapolis has a very good wrestling team, but it is very hard to win duals when you are already down 12 points. That is the hole the Greyhounds will have to dig out of against UNC-Pembroke. We will see some weight class shuffles for them, though, that could have them fill those gaps; they have two wrestlers listed at 133 and 174. That would still leave them with a forfeit at 125, but it is much easier making up six instead of 12 points. Keep an eye on Breydan Bailey, he is listed as one of the two wrestlers at 133 pounds, and last season he was the starter at 141. The Braves have lineup questions of their own, they do not have a 174 listed and they are missing their 16th-ranked 149, Jake Piccirilli. This could be a nail-biter with the depleted Greyhounds relying on reserves and the Braves trying to juggle their own starting 10. Indianapolis has to be wary of the upset, but they should have enough firepower to get past. They need to be careful though, the Braves will be favored at the final two weights. Reigning champion St. Cloud State is going to be heavily favored against King to start off their title defense. When I say "heavily," I mean that St. Cloud State could shut them out. No Christian Small for King at 141 removes their best shot at taking a weight against the St Cloud starters. With 17 wrestlers making the trip from Minnesota for the Huskies, expect to see a few back-ups in this dual. Unfortunately, their backups are nearly as capable as the starters and would have a good shot at placing at this tournament on their own. Quarterfinals The good news for Mercyhurst University is that they will be well-rested going into their afternoon showdown with Central Oklahoma. The bad news is, their afternoon showdown is against top-ranked and top-seeded Central Oklahoma. Mercyhurst will be able to send out ranked wrestlers at 133, 141, 174, 184, and heavyweight. The bad news once again is that at three of those weights, the Broncs will be heavily favored. Eric Bartos (133) will face Tanner Cole, Alexis Soriano (141) has Nate Keim, and Luke McGonigal (184) will take on the best wrestler in Division II, Heath Gray. Dillon Walker (174) and Jacob Robb will enter their matches favored, and Walker will have a match against whichever 165 is bumped up to face him. Jacob Robb will also be the Laker'sLaker's best shot at earning bonus points, but I am afraid it will be too little too late. Honestly, when you look at the top teams at this tournament; Central Oklahoma, St. Cloud State, and Nebraska-Kearney all stand out because they are bringing such complete squads. McKendree has a solid lineup featuring quite a few wrestlers listed at 174. That means we will see some shuffling as they look to fill in for missing 184 All-American Corey Peterson and the lack of a 197 on the travel roster. That should not pose too much of a problem though, they are going to match up very well with an Upper Iowa team that will be coming off a battle in the first round. The Peacocks will need big wins at 149 and 157 to stay in this dual and they have to avoid the upset at 133, where 15th-ranked Ryan Ripplinger will be trying to move up the rankings against #11 Kaden Anderlik. In the end, the Bearcats just have too many wrestlers expected to win and I expect they will move on to face their Super Regional IV neighbor Central Oklahoma. The dual to watch in the quarterfinals will be Ashland taking on the third-seed Nebraska-Kearney. Why could Ashland pull the upset? They will have a first-round match and their wrestlers will have the chance to get the jitters out of the way. Nebraska-Kearney could send out six wrestlers currently ranked in the top-16. They will be favored at 125, 174, and 197. At 141, we have a toss-up as #7 Nick James (Kearney) will take on #8 Luke Wymer (Ashland). And there is another toss-up at 184 as #6 Austin Eldredge (Kearney) will face #8 Aidan Pasiuk (Ashland). The recipe for an Eagles win is to win the matches they are supposed to and then win the two toss-ups. That puts them in a 5-5 dual against a team that could have Wesley Dawkins (133) and Jacob Wasser (157) wrestling their first matches of the 2022 season. What a place to knock off the rust! What is the University of Indianapolis'Indianapolis' reward for what should be a hard-fought win over UNC-Pembroke in the first round? A date with the returning champion St. Cloud State Huskies, of course. The Greyhounds will only be favored at 149 and 174 pounds when #8 Logan Bailey (149) wrestles Jake Barzowski and #5 Andrew Sams (174) takes on #6 Dom Murphy. Indianapolis has too many holes and not enough bonus point opportunities. Mark this prediction down, 2019 All-American Jake Barzowski finds a way to win a close match against Logan Bailey at 149. I really like Bailey, but Barzowski is just one of those guys who make people wrestle his type of match and then find a way to win. Semifinals (Friday, 11 AM - Mat 5 & 7) #1 The University of Central Oklahoma vs. #5 McKendree University This dual will start with a preview of the Super Regional IV finals at 125 when top-ranked Christian Mejia (McKendree) takes on fourth-ranked Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma). These two did not meet at the Midwest Classic after Rosen was upset by Dawson Collins (Mesa) in the semifinals. Mejia went on to defeat Collins in the finals and move himself to the top of the lightweight rankings. McKendree will have three very good shots to put up points after having a chance to build an early lead. They can hope for seventh-ranked Corey Peterson (165) to avoid an upset against 16th-ranked Anthony DesVignes. At 174, Josh Jones puts his #10 ranking on the line against whoever the Broncs send out there with a shot at earning bonus. And if the dual somehow comes down to the big men, they send out Ian Kuehl, their second-ranked heavyweight who is coming off a #BeastMode run at the Midwest Classic. The Bearcats will probably be doomed from 141 through 157 as the Broncs send out top-five ranked wrestlers at each weight. If they are still in the fight come 184, returning national champion Heath Gray could crush their hopes with six points or his partner in crime Dalton Abney could do the same at 197. Abney has looked the part of the top-ranked 197 in the country this season and a McKendree lineup without Ryan Vasbinder leaves him licking his chops. Central Oklahoma is on a mission to take back all the championship trophies from the Huskies and that run starts tomorrow. #2 St. Cloud State University vs. #3 The University of Nebraska-Kearney The returns of Wesley Dawkins (Kearney), Jacob Wasser (Kearney), and Kam Teacher (St. Cloud State) mean this dual features two teams that will absolutely be fighting for an NCAA championship come March. Three All-Americans have arrived to bolster their respective lineups and when you realize all three are #SuperSeniors, it gets even crazier. These three are all back for one more shot, one more run at the podium. For Dawkins and Wasser, that means another shot at knocking off the Huskies. For Teacher, it is a chance to put the doubters to rest as he can get his shot at 2019 national champion Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) and show that his own championship in 2021 does not deserve an asterisk after Kutztown sat out the season. Just to show how absolutely crazy this dual is, I can honestly envision a scenario where five wrestlers currently ranked in the top-five lose to a wrestler ranked either lower than them or simply not currently in the rankings. At 125 pounds, freshman Paxton Creese (St Cloud) puts his #5 ranking on the line against a four-time national qualifier and three-time All-American #11 Josh Portillo. Unranked Wesley Dawkins (Kearney) has somehow never faced #2 Garrett Vos despite their multiple trips to nationals. Dawkins has finished 4th and 2nd while Vos is coming off his own runner-up finish and previously finished 6th. This is a battle of styles, with Dawkins having the big-move ability and Vos being one of the best position wrestlers in the country. The Huskies could score their own big upset at 149 when Jake Barzowski can go from unranked to an All-American threat just by doing what he does, win matches. He takes on top-ranked Sam Turner, who has only seen limited action this year. Turner has been a wrestler known for wrestling close matches, which is precisely what Barzowski likes to do, that could be a recipe for disaster. Second-ranked Colby Njos (St. Cloud) defeated Jacob Wasser 4-3 at the national tournament last season. Could Wasser find a way to score that last takedown this go around and jump right back into the All-American conversation after missing the first semester? Normally, Kearney is feeling great with the dual in doubt going into heavyweight. They have third-ranked and returning All-American Lee Herrington to anchor their lineup. On any other day, they would have to feel great. On Friday, it could be deja vu all over again though for the Lopers as they could see their championship dream die a the hands of St Cloud State big man Kam Teacher. The 2021 national championship came down to Kearney versus Kam Teacher and the Huskies big man won his own title and clinched the team race for St Cloud State. He enters this dual tournament unranked after sitting out semester one, so technically this would be an upset. Listen, be in your seat and ready to watch some crazy action on Friday. Finals (Friday, 3 PM - Mat 5) #1 The University of Central Oklahoma vs. #2 St. Cloud State University 125: #4 Paxton Rosen vs #5 Paxton Creese 133: #1 Tanner Cole vs. #2 Garrett Vos 141: #2 Nate Keim vs #1 Joe Bianchini 149: #5 Brik Filippo vs Jake Barzowski 157: #3 Tyler Lucas vs. #2 Colby Njos 165: #16 Anthony DesVignes vs. #14 Devin Donovan 174: Hunter Jump vs. #6 Dom Murphy 184: #1 Heath Gray vs. #5 William Pitzner 197: #1 Dalton Abney vs. #2 Noah Ryan Hwt: Christian Arriola vs. Kam Teacher What do you call a dual that features three different matches between the top-two ranked wrestlers at their weights? How about one that six different battles between two wrestlers ranked in the top five? We can raise the bar and say that there are five different national finalists in these lineups. How about 13 athletes who have earned All-American honors before? At the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals, we call this a Friday afternoon. This is a dream matchup that pits the champion against the challenger. This is absolutely a five-five dual on paper with toss-ups at nearly all the weights. I look at St. Cloud State as being the big favorite at two weights, 174 and heavyweight. Central Oklahoma is going to have to send out someone at 174 who will need to stay off their back against a very, very, very good Dom Murphy. Murphy is coming off a first-period pin of #7 Job Ayala (Parkside) and has looked the part of an All-American all season. And we all know about Kam Teacher at heavyweight. Despite the matchups looking close at 184 and 197, I would say that Heath Gray and Dalton Abney are comfortable favorites at those weights. I think this dual is going to be all about the momentum swings; if a team is able to win back-to-back matches, they will swing that pendulum hard in their direction. If someone can find a way to win three in a row, I think that is the difference. But can either team manage that? The best chance could be right off the back for St. Cloud State. Paxton Creese (St Cloud) already has a big upset this season and it is the reason he is ranked 5th in the country right now. A win over Paxton Rosen would catapult him into the national title debate. At 133, Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) is coming off a big Midwest Classic tournament and is undefeated in Division II. That all sounds great, but he is taking on second-ranked Garrett Vos, a returning national finalist who has done nothing but win since entering the Huskies lineup. Vos is one of the three wrestlers in Division II to beat two-time returning national champion Tyler Warner (West Liberty). If the Huskies win at 125 and 133, Joe Bianchini could put the dual out of reach quickly as the top-ranked wrestler takes on fifth-ranked Nate Keim. Bianchini has lost just two matches since the 2020 season, and one of them was in the national finals to Isiah Royal (Newberry). Keim is very good, but he is not Royal. Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) needs to be on upset alert against Jake Barzowksi. And then we jump to another top-three fight between #2 Colby Njos (St Cloud State) and #3 Tyler Lucas (Central Oklahoma). If a team can head into the halfway point up four matches to one, this dual is over. And the scary thing is, both of these teams are capable of doing that. Coming out of "intermission" there is another toss-up as #14 Devin Donovan (St Cloud State) will take on #16 Anthony Desvignes (Central Oklahoma). You can argue that Desvignes has the best win out of their records while they both have taken losses to athletes ranked in the top-six. We go from toss-up to St Cloud being a big favorite as they send out #6 Dom Murphy at 174. I am not sure who will get the call, but if I am the Broncs, I try to win one of two between these weights and that means that Desvignes has to stay at 165. You just have to hope that Murphy is not able to steamroll Hunter Jump and put six up on the board for the Huskies. The Broncs have a chance to either climb back in or put the dual away as they send out the ""Bash Brothers"" at 184 and 197. Top-ranked Heath Gray and Dalton Abney are a big part of the reason that Central Oklahoma is the #1 ranked tournament team right now. They are not just good; they have been dominant. Heath Gray has been doing it for a couple of years now and Dalton Abney was great last season against everyone not named Ryan Vasbinder. St. Cloud State has an Ace in the hole, though. Kam Teacher is a three-time All-American and returning national champion who has already delivered one championship trophy to St Cloud State. The #SuperSenior has not lost since March of 2019. He has not been a prolific pinner, only earning nine over his last three seasons, but he has scored bonus in better than 40% of his wins in his career. If the dual is in reach when he heads out there, it will be up to whichever Bronc big man that gets the nod to keep the match and the dual safely in hand. It is so hard to bet against a team like the Huskies. They have been so close to losing over their current championships streaks that you have to start wondering if anyone can really beat them. But all good things must have an end so that we can look back and appreciate them for what they were. Unfortunately for Central Oklahoma, I am afraid they will need to wait until March to dethrone the St. Cloud State Huskies. Prediction: St. Cloud State University, 2022 NWCA Division II National Duals Champions

2021 MatMen Open runner-up Ethan Laird (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) MatMen Open: Three MAC schools came away from the MatMen Open with placewinners: Bloomsburg, Northern Illinois, and Rider. Alex Carida (157) of Bloomsburg fell short in the third-place match-up against Jake Keating of Virginia by a decision of 5-3, placing fourth on the podium. Northern Illinois had four placewinners, including one finalist, leading the MAC conference in total points at the MatMen Open. Mason Kauffman (174) fell short to Edmond Ruth in the final bout, 3-2 in TB, securing the second-place spot on the podium. Izzak Olejnik (165) placed fourth, dropping a 3-0 decision to Jake Wentzel of Pittsburgh. Brit Wilson (184) finished sixth after dropping a 12-7 decision to Trey Munoz of Oregon State. Lucian Brink (125) rounded out the Northern Illinois placewinners by taking eighth, falling short to Gage Curry of Pittsburgh by a 4-2 decision. Rider placed two wrestlers on the podium at the MatMen Open. Ethan Laird (HWT) lost a hard-fought battle to Trent Hillger of Wisconsin in the final bout with a 2-0 decision. McKenzie Bell was sixth after falling short to Parker Filius of Purdue, 9-6. Southern Scuffle: Three MAC schools each placed one wrestler on the podium at the Southern Scuffle, George Mason, Rider, and Buffalo. Alex Madrigal (149) of George Mason lost by medical forfeit to Chris Sandoval of Northern Colorado, placing sixth. Quinn Kinner (141) of Rider finished seventh after defeating Josh Saunders of Cornell by medical forfeit. John Arceri (149) of Buffalo was victorious over Jeff Boyd of West Virginia by 3-1 in sudden victory.

2021 MatMen Open champion Dean Hamiti (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) While the annual Midlands tournament was canceled for the second-straight year, the first MatMen Open was able to fill the void. Pittsburgh was able to capture the tournament title thanks in large part to unlikely champion in No. 28 Elijah Cleary. Outside of that surprise, the final 10 champions were a group of rising prospects and returning veterans. The following takes a look at the top statistical performances among the 10 tournament winners. Most match points In some ways, the inaugural MatMen Open might be remembered as the coming-out party for Illinois native No. 17 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin). On his way to the title, he knocked off No. 15 Zach Hartman (Bucknell), No. 21 Danny Braunagel (Illinois) and No. 14 Philip Conigliaro (Harvard). Hamiti's victory over Conigliaro in the finals was extra impressive, considering the Harvard wrestler was coming off an upset win over returning NCAA runner-up No. 8 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh). In addition to those ranked wins, Hamiti also finished with 59 match points, which was, by far, the most among champions. The next closest tournament champion, in terms of match points, was the 141-pound champion No. 4 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers), who finished with 49 points. Rounding out the top three is 133-pound champion No. 7 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) with 36 points. Fewest Match Points Allowed No. 2 Myles Amine (Michigan) picked up a bronze medal in the Olympics over the summer, and he has returned to college wrestling looking for an elusive NCAA title. Not only did he defeat rival Mark Hall, who he had failed to best in five previous college matches, but he also displayed the type of defense that could easily take him to the top of the podium. Through four matches, Amine allowed only three match points. Neil Antrassian (Penn) scored an escape against the Michigan wrestler in the quarterfinals, and Hall hit a reversal in the finals. Other than those two scores, Amine did not allow any points in the tournament. Amine entered last year's NCAA tournament up at 197 pounds. He finished this with his only defeat coming against eventual champion AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State). However, he allowed 22 points across his six matches. If his defense and riding ability keeps his opponents off the scoreboard, he could be headed towards a finals match against No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State). Another champion with a strong defensive performance was No. 10 Josh Heil (Campbell). He allowed only four points on his way to the title. Heil allowed three escapes during his trip through the bracket and a single stall point in the finals against No. 11 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin). Heil's style might be a bit conservative for some, considering he only scored 13 match points through four matches. However, he clearly had a gameplan and stuck with it. In his four bouts, there was a total of one point scored in the first period, that single-stall point allowed against Gomez. First-Period Points While Heil was willing to slow down his matches and win close, Rivera had a different strategy entirely. While his 49 match points were second behind Hamiti, he had the most points scored in the first period among champions. Rivera had 18 first-period points consisting of six takedowns and six points coming via near fall. Takedowns As the high scorer among champions, it is not surprising that Hamiti also had the most takedowns. He finished with 15 takedowns, which edged Rivera's 14 for most in the tournament. Byrd and the 157-pound champion No. 28 Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) tied for third with 10 takedowns each. Hamiti was also able to score the most near-fall points among champions. He finished with 20 near-fall points, with 16 coming via four-point scores and another four after the referee counted only two swipes. Riding Time The only tournament champion to collect the riding time point in all four of his matches was No. 5 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin). He averaged 10.66 points per match prior to his 2-0 finals defeat over Ethan Laird (Rider). However, Hillger still made it a point to work from the top position and collect riding time. While the top of the heavyweight division is stacked, Hillger has looked outstanding to start the season. He is undefeated through 10 matches and has picked up bonus points in seven of those matches. In his four previous years for Wisconsin, including his redshirt year, he has never had a bonus rate higher than 40%. While 197-pound champion No. 12 Greg Bulsak (Rutgers) was not able to earn the riding-time point in the finals against No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh), he did score the extra point in his three other matches. In fact, his work from the top position was a vital element of his 6-2 decision over junior World champion No. 26 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin). After a scoreless first-period, Amos took bottom. Not only did Bulsak ride out the period, but he was also able to score a four-point turn. That turned out to be the difference in the match.

Stanford's 2x Southern Scuffle champion Real Woods (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Championship Finals 125 - Patrick McKee (Minnesota) MedFFT Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) 133 - Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) dec Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) 2-0 141 - Real Woods (Stanford) dec Allan Hart (Missouri) 4-0 149 - Josh Finesilver (Duke) dec Josh Edmond (Missouri) 11-10 157 - Jared Franek (North Dakota State) dec Chase Saldate (Michigan State) 6-3 165 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) maj Peyton Hall (West Virginia) 13-4 174 - Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) dec Peyton Mocco (Missouri) 3-2 184 - Kyle Cochran (Maryland) dec Jonathan Loew (Cornell) 4-1 197 - Rocky Elam (Missouri) InjDef Michael Beard (Penn State) 285 - Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) fall Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) 1:33 Third Place Matches 125 - Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec Noah Surtin (Missouri) 14-10 133 - Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) dec Cullan Schriever (Iowa) 4-2SV 141 - Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) MedFFT Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) 149 - Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State) fall Gaven Sax (North Dakota State) 5:41 157 - Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) dec Hunter Richard (Cornell) 6-4 165 - Cael Carlson (Minnesota) fall Will Formato (Appalachian State) 6:15 174 - Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) dec Austin Brenner (North Dakota State) 5-4 184 - Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech) dec Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) 9-5SV 197 - Cameron Caffey (Michigan State) dec Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) 8-6 285 - Brandon Metz (North Dakota State) dec Aaron Costello (Iowa) 4-1 Fifth Place Matches 125 - Caleb Smith (Appalachian State) MedFFT Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) 133 - Trey Crawford (Missouri) dec Codi Russell (Appalachian State) 9-7SV 141 - Wyatt Henson (Iowa) MedFFT Vince Cornella (Spartan Combat) 149 - Chris Sandoval (Northern Colorado) MedFFT Alex Madrigal (George Mason) 157 - Brock Mauller (Missouri) dec AJ Kovacs (NC State) 8-4 165 - Luke Weber (North Dakota State) MedFFT Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 174 - Matt Finesilver (Duke) maj Brennan Swafford (Iowa) 14-0 184 - Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) MedFFT Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) 197 - Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) MedFFT Alan Clothier (Northern Colorado) 285 - Tyrie Houghton (NC State) dec Owen Trephan (NC State) 2-2TB Seventh Place Matches 125 - Greg Diakomihalis (Cornell) dec Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) 5-3SV 133 - Ethan Fernandez (Spartan Combat) maj Ethan Oakley (Appalachian State) 16-4 141 - Quinn Kinner (Rider) MedFFT Josh Saunders (Cornell) 149 - John Arceri (Buffalo) dec Jeff Boyd (West Virginia) 3-1SV 157 - Jalin Harper (Oklahoma State) dec Alex Hornfeck (West Virginia) 2-1 165 - RJ Mosley (Gardner-Webb) MedFFT Thomas Bullard (NC State) 174 - Andrew Berreysea (Cornell) MedFFT Tyler Eischens (Stanford) 184 - Gavin Stika (Oklahoma State) dec DJ Parker (North Dakota State) 7-3 197 - Jaron Smith (Maryland) Fall Garrett Joles (Minnesota) 1:31 285 - Austin Harris (Oklahoma State) dec Michael McAleavey (The Citadel) 8-1 Team Scores 1) Missouri 175.5 2) North Dakota State 109.5 3) Michigan State 94.5 4) Minnesota 85.5 5) Cornell 85

Maryland's 184 lber Kyle Cochran (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) 125 lbs Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) maj Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) 8-0 Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) dec Caleb Smith (Appalachian State) 8-6 Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec Noah Surtin (Missouri) 9-3 Patrick McKee (Minnesota) maj Tristan Daugherty (Buffalo) 9-1 Semifinal Matchups Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) vs. Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) Drake Ayala (Iowa) vs. Patrick McKee (Minnesota) 133 lbs Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) dec Dom LaJoie (Cornell) 9-3 Cullan Schriever (Iowa) dec Derek Spann (Buffalo) 3-2 Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) fall Trey Crawford (Missouri) :56 Codi Russell (Appalachian State) dec Brandon Meredith (Penn State) 9-2 Semifinal Matchups Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) vs. Cullan Schriever (Iowa) Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) vs. Codi Russell (Appalachian State) 141 lbs Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) dec Quinn Kinner (Rider) 9-4 Allan Hart (Missouri) fall Wyatt Henson (Iowa) 6:35 Real Woods (Stanford) dec Ethen Miller (Maryland) 3-1 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) maj Jordan Hamdan (Michigan State) 10-1 Semifinal Matchups Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) vs. Allan Hart (Missouri) Real Woods (Stanford) vs. Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) 149 lbs Josh Finesilver (Duke) dec Cody Chittum (HS) 8-3 Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State) dec Zach Price (South Dakota State) 5-3 Alex Madrigal (George Mason) dec Chris Sandoval (Northern Colorado) 9-5 Josh Edmond (Missouri) dec John Arceri (Buffalo) 8-5 Semifinal Matchups Josh Finesilver (Duke) vs. Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State) Alex Madrigal (George Mason) vs. Josh Edmond (Missouri) 157 lbs Brock Mauller (Missouri) dec Alex Hornfeck (West Virginia) 8-5 Chase Saldate (Michigan State) maj Joe Lee (Penn State) 9-1 Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) dec Hunter Richard (Cornell) 8-6 Jared Franek (North Dakota State) dec Dazjon Casto (The Citadel) 5-3 Semifinal Matchups Brock Mauller (Missouri) vs. Chase Saldate (Michigan State) Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) vs. Jared Franek (North Dakota State) 165 lbs Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) dec Cael Carlson (Minnesota) 11-4 Will Formato (Appalachian State) dec Thomas Bullard (NC State) 3-2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) dec Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 6-4SV Luke Weber (North Dakota State) dec RJ Mosely (Gardner-Webb) 2-1TB Semifinal Matchups Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) vs. Will Formato (Appalachian State) Peyton Hall (West Virginia) vs. Luke Weber (North Dakota State) 174 lbs Matt Finesilver (Duke) maj Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) 8-0 Peyton Mocco (Missouri) dec Tyler Eischens (Stanford) 5-2 Brennan Swafford (Iowa) dec Riley Habisch (North Dakota State) 9-6 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) maj Albert Urias (CSU Bakersfield) 13-4 Semifinal Matchups Matt Finesilver (Duke) vs. Peyton Mocco (Missouri) Brennan Swafford (Iowa) vs. Cade Devos (South Dakota State) 184 lbs Jonathan Loew (Cornell) dec Gavin Stika (Oklahoma State) 8-2 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) dec Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) 11-9SV Kyle Cochran (Maryland) dec Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) 5-0 Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech) dec DJ Parker (North Dakota State) 9-2 Semifinal Matchups Jonathan Loew (Cornell) vs. Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) Kyle Cochran (Maryland) vs. Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech) 197 lbs Rocky Elam (Missouri) tech Nick Casperson (South Dakota State) 17-2 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) dec Garrett Joles (Minnesota) 6-1 Cam Caffey (Michigan State) dec Alan Clothier (Northern Colorado) 6-2 Michael Beard (Penn State) dec Jaxon Smith (Maryland) 9-4 Semifinal Matchups Rocky Elam (Missouri) vs. Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) Cam Caffey (Michigan State) vs. Michael Beard (Penn State) 285 lbs Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) tech Zach Schrader (Maryland) 19-1 Brandon Metz (North Dakota State) dec Tyrie Houghton (NC State) 5-2 Aaron Costello (Iowa) dec Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech) 3-1 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) dec Michael McAleavey (The Citadel) Semifinal Matchups Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) vs. Brandon Metz (North Dakota State) Aaron Costello (Iowa) vs. Lewis Fernandes (Cornell)

3x NCAA Champion Spencer Lee (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) InterMat has learned that 3x NCAA champion Spencer Lee will not be available for the Iowa Hawkeyes for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. Lee, now famously, admitted after winning his most recent title that he had no ACL in either knee. In the near future he'll undergo surgery, which will sideline him for the rest of the year. The Iowa staff announced in the preseason that they would use caution with Lee and he would be on a limited schedule. His only appearance of the year was at the Collegiate Wrestling Duals in late-December. There he wrestled in all three of the Hawkeyes duals and went 3-0. Though he was undefeated, Lee was clearly not in prime form. After teching Brock Bergelin (Central Michigan) in his first bout, Lee majored Jaret Lane (Lehigh) 8-0 and was held to a regular decision by Jakob Camacho (NC State). In his absence, Iowa will most likely turn to true freshman Drake Ayala. MatScouts labeled Ayala as the #4 overall recruit in the Class of 2021 after winning three Iowa state titles and a pair of Junior National freestyle championships in Fargo. Ayala is off to a solid start while competing unattached, with a 7-1 record.. He is currently competing at the Southern Scuffle and is 2-0 with a 17-6 major decision over NCAA qualifier Reece Witcraft in his most recent bout. Jesse Ybarra has started at 125 lbs in Lee's absence and is 5-1. He was beaten 8-2 by Iowa State's #23 Kysen Terukina in his most recent outing. At this point, it's unclear whether or not Lee will appear in a Hawkeye singlet again. Having only competed in one date this year, Lee would likely receive a medical redshirt for the 2021-22 season. Looking at the long-term picture, he has to be focused on getting close to 100% for a run at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Gabe Arnold at the 2021 Walsh Ironman (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The University of Iowa has added to their already impressive recruiting Class of 2023 after they received a commitment from the #6 overall recruit Gabe Arnold (Wyoming Seminary, PA). Arnold made his announcement on USA Wrestling's Mat Chat podcast. Arnold is currently ranked fifth in the nation at 170 lbs and projects at 174 for the Hawkeyes. A Georgia native, Arnold has won a pair of National Prep titles while competing for Wyoming Seminary. So far this season, Arnold has placed sixth at the Walsh Ironman and the Powerade. Over the summer, Arnold won Fargo's 16U freestyle tournament after placing in both styles (5th/GR, 7th/FS) at the Cadet World Team Trials. With Gabe's commitment, Iowa now has verbals from four wrestlers in the Class of 2023; #4 Nate Jesuroga, #13 Ben Kueter, #54 Ryder Block.

Ohio State's Kaleb Romero (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Week 9 is still going on, but we Fantasy Wrestling Coaches are well aware that Week 10 start EARLY with teams locking on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday before the jam-packed weekend and start of the back half of the season appropriately known as "Dual-a-palooza" (maybe that's just me). Teams locking early in Week 10: Locking Monday: American, Arizona State, Michigan, and Ohio State Locking Tuesday: Indiana and Ohio Locking Thursday: Brown, Franklin & Marshall, and Iowa State (against non-D1 but has a dual on Sunday 1/9) Hopefully, Indiana is able to wrestle their scheduled match with Ohio on January 4th as they had to drop out of the Matmen Open due to Covid concerns. I am going to operate as if they are, until told otherwise (even though the dual with Penn State REALLY hurts their guy's FCW stock this week). Again, these "Early Lock" articles are short and sweet to help with your decision-making with early locking wrestlers on your roster. I've added a little discussion at the end of each weight as there are some high-ranked names not listed. Keep an eye out for the Week 10 Outlook article and an ear for the #FCWpodcast later this week. Got a question? Got a Recommendation? Let me know. I can be reached @FantasyD1wrestl. Wrestlers I Like This Week Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score] *Organized by tournament name first, then by school name* 125: Pat Phillips (Franklin & Marshall)- Vs Brown, Vs Presbyterian, F&M Open [+6] Malik Heinselman (Ohio State)- @ American, @ Michigan State [+7] Jacob Moran (Indiana)- @ Ohio, @ Penn State [+3]* (if Hildebrandt doesn't wrestle) The unveiling of Nick Suriano in the maize and blue singlet? Quite possibly. Do I have confidence that he will win if he wrestles? I guess I should; he's only lost 7 matches in his career, two of them by 2 or more pts (6-4 to DeSanto in 2019 and 5-1 to Spencer Lee in the Finals of the 2018 NCAAs). BUT, we haven't seen him on a folkstyle mat since 2019 and his opponent, Brandon Courtney, is coming off of a week where he outscored his opponents 37-14 (11-3 score before pinning Acevedo), including a major of Jakob Camacho. Courtney also has a dual against Iowa State on Sunday, January 9th, which he is heavily favored. 133: Michael McGee (Arizona State)- Vs Michigan, Vs Iowa State [+6] Yeah, McGee is coming off a loss from Roman Bravo-Young but then again, who hasn't recently? Ragusin is coming off a CKLV title where he beat then #6 Chris Cannon. I'll give the advantage to McGee in this one. Before Indiana had to cancel their entry to the Matmen Open, Brock Hudkins was one of my deep dive picks to make a run. His Matchup with Mario Guillen is tough to call as Guillen has only wrestled once this season. Either way, I don't think the match will be bonus enough to offset the more than likely loss to RBY on Sunday 1/9. 141: Wil Gil (Franklin & Marshall)- Vs Brown, Vs Presbyterian, F&M Open [+7] Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State)- @ American, @ Michigan State [+7] Stevan Micic (Michigan)- Vs Arizona State [+4] He's listed on ASU's review to be wrestling, but Jesse Vasquez looked to have tweaked something at the National Collegiate Duals in his match against Nick Lee. Now, it could be nothing and maybe he's 100%. Even though Stevan Micic is in the same boat as Nick Suriano of not being on a folkstyle mat since 2019, I like the matchup against Vasquez better to have the confidence in picking him to win. Wil Gil of Franklin & Marshall met Bierdumpfel earlier this year and walked off the mat with a 10-7 Decision. But aside from having two winnable matches this week, Gil offers great fantasy plays for the next few weeks, too, if you have room to stash him. 149: Blake Saito (Brown)- Vs Franklin & Marshall, Vs Presbyterian (@F&M), F&M Open [+8] Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)- @ American, @ Michigan State [+8] Kyle Parco (Arizona State)- Vs Michigan, Vs Iowa State [+6] I'm assuming Kanen Storr is going to be wrestling, but he had what looked to be a bad knee injury at CKLV. That was a month ago, so hopefully, he's back to competitive health, but whether it's Storr at 75%, Lamer off redshirt, or someone else, I am giving the edge to Parco and feel confident rolling with him against Degen as well (2-0 against him last NCAAs) 157: Jack Bokina (Brown)- Vs Franklin & Marshall, Vs Presbyterian (@F&M), F&M Open [+8] Will Lewan seems to like keeping matches close, as shown by his current record, having half his matches (win or loss) finish with two points. In their last meeting in March 2021, Jacori Teemer came away with the 4-2 SV win in the Round of 16. The only problem is, he is scheduled to face David Carr on Sunday sooooo… 165: Anthony Valencia (Arizona State)- Vs Michigan, Vs Iowa State [+8] Carson Kharchla (Ohio State)- @ American, @ Michigan State [+7] Anthony Valencia is heavily favored against Iowa State's Austin Kraisser for their dual on Sunday 1/9/2022, but has a battle of a match on Monday 1/3/2022 against Cam Amine. Cam absolutely has the ability for an upset, but I have to go with the hot hand. Besides, even if Cam wins, Valencia can still net positive for the week. 174: Ethan Smith (Ohio State)- @ American. @ Michigan State [+8] Logan Massa (Michigan)- Vs Arizona State [+4] The Super Senior vs the third-year freshman. This starts a two-weight gap for ASU where Michigan can take advantage for bonus point opportunities. This is assuming, of course, that ASU doesn't pull Cael Valencia's redshirt, which would make me think is closer to a tossup with the edge to Massa. 184: Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)- @ American [+7] Myles Amine- Vs Arizona State [+5] Marcus Coleman (Iowa State)- @ Arizona State [+4] Coming off his Matmen title where he finally beat Mark Hall (albeit after he graduated) where he looked pretty dominant (7-0 win over 2021 6th place AA Brit Wilson). Another weight where ASU will probably give up bonus points given the current run Amine is on. Donnell Washington is 9-0 on the season… with eight pins. I don't expect a pin in this match for Washington; I actually expect it to be a closer to a decision. Which does not help in making a case to start him because he's also scheduled to face Aaron Brooks a few days later (outlook: not good). 197: Kordell Norfleet and Pat Brucki are neck-and-neck in every ranking from InterMat to WrestleStat. They have records of 10-2 to 6-2 and bonus rates of 66% and 63%, respectively, and both have lost by Decision to Jake Woodley this season. This is a toss-up match which has me questioning like Larry David on who I think will win. 285: Vincenzo Pelusi (Franklin & Marshall)- Vs Brown, Vs Presbyterian, F&M Open [+7] Tate Orndorff (Ohio State)- @ American [+6] Mason Parris (Michigan)- Vs Arizona State [+3] We didn't get to see the Cohlton Schultz-Kerviliet match we all were waiting for a couple weeks ago due to a "Coach's Decision," which would have given me a better idea of how to judge this coming match with Mason Parris. Parris didn't wrestle at CKLV and has only been to one tournament (Cleveland State Open) where he dominated with two pins, one tech, and two majors against unranked opponents. I want to pick Parris all day long (and not just because he's on my #MatScoutsDynasty team), but I think this might be closer than some think. I had higher expectations for Righter this season, not to say he hasn't been producing, but he hasn't been able to get over the hump of beating a ranked opponent. I don't think it starts with Orndorff, so I'm picking the Buckeye with a possibility of bonus too. Think I missed someone? Disagree with someone on the list or their projection? Let me know!

Oklahoma State's NCAA champion AJ Ferrari (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Since we're about to wrap up 2021, I thought I'd throw a little different angle on my story this week for the Big 12 conference. I'm going to look at all the schools and what I view as the top events for each of them from 2021. Missouri-Return to the Big 12. Missouri was a core Big 12 member when the conference was formed in 1994. Their exit to the SEC in 2012 shocked some and left them without a home for wrestling as the SEC does not sponsor the sport. After a nine-year hiatus where they hung out in the MAC, they've now returned to the Big 12. The level of success upon their return remains to be seen, but they remain a top program nationally and will certainly add some excitement to the team race at the Big 12 tournament in Tulsa this year. Oklahoma State-The 665 Pound Deadlift The Cowboys were on a five-year drought of individual NCAA champions, and with the kind of history this program has, that's a long time. AJ Ferrari, their true freshman 197 pounder who famously told the world at the NCAA tournament that he deadlifts 665 pounds, ended that drought in 2021. Taking only one loss all season, Ferrari ran through the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments knocking off a who's who of stars in a tough bracket to become just the second Cowboy ever to win an NCAA title as a true freshman. Oklahoma-Big 12 Co-Champions In what many would say is the biggest win of the Lou Rosselli era at Oklahoma, the Sooners won a share of the Big 12 conference crown this year when they tied their rival Oklahoma State in Tulsa last March. Bonus point win after bonus-point win in the consolation bracket for OU pulled them into the lead heading into the finals of the conference tournament. OSU tied things up with wins by Daton Fix, Boo Lewallen, and AJ Ferrari in the finals, but OU snagged a share of the conference crown for the first time since 2002. Air Force-Wyatt Hendrickson wins a Junior National Title The standard-bearer for the Air Force program of late has been Wyatt Hendrickson. The heavyweight out of Kansas has been a star for the Falcons in his young career and this summer, he won the 125 KG Junior World Team Trials and represented the United States in Russia on the team. If there's a guy that could get Air Force an individual Big 12 title and potentially an NCAA tournament podium finish, Hendrickson is the guy. Cal Baptist-Joins the Big 12 Cal Baptist still has some time before they officially start competing in the conference, but in February, it was announced that they'll be joining in 2022-23. This program has a lot of tradition, but it's all been in Division 2. This association with a big-time wrestling conference will put their brand next to some of the biggest names in the sport and put a huge spotlight on the school and program. South Dakota State-Facility Upgrades South Dakota State announced facility upgrade plans at the end of 2020, but the process has been rolling into 2021. This was a monumental announcement for the school. They will have some of the best facilities in the country soon and will undoubtedly have the best in the Big 12. Absolutely massive for their recruiting, athletes, coaches, and their program. Northern Colorado-Breaks into the top 25 In wrestling, there is so much shine on the top schools that it's difficult to see what's going on at some of the more under-the-radar programs. It is hard to build on a program that has not made the top 25 in 50+ years. Last season for the first time in 51 years, the Bears made it into the top 25 of the coach's poll. Northern Iowa-Parker Keckeisen Finishes Third at NCAA Tournament Northern Iowa continues to be one of the best programs in the country at the 184-pound weight class. Parker Keckeisen took one loss on the season to eventual NCAA champion Aaron Brooks, but looks poised to potentially win a National title in his career as he did this as a freshman and with the covid year could have as many as four more shots to reach the top of the podium. Utah Valley-LaMont and Romero All-American Utah Valley has two very good wrestlers in Taylor LaMont and Demetrius Romero. Both showed that at the NCAA tournament last season with top-eight finishes. Oklahoma State was the only program in the Big 12 with more All-American finishes than Utah Valley last season. Iowa State-Carr wins a National Title David Carr was the Big 12 wrestler of the year and 157-pound NCAA champion. He's still young and will continue to rack up accolades for the Cyclones as he moves forward in his career, but this was the first NCAA title win for Carr in a career that is certain to go down as one of the greats at Iowa State. Wyoming-Buchanan finishes as an All-American All-American finishes at the NCAA tournament aren't easy to come by. Especially after having to battle the gauntlet of a weight class that is 197 in the Big 12 every week. Stephen Buchanan did that in March and finished 8th at the NCAA tournament. He's back with a shot to finish a bit higher on the NCAA podium this March. North Dakota State-Weber wins the Big 12 All last season, everyone around wrestling and the Big 12 declared Travis Wittlake as a lock to win the Big 12 at 165. Luke Weber shocked the world when he knocked off Wittlake in the semifinals of the tournament and went on to win the conference title. He fell short of an All-American finish at the NCAA tournament, but a better break in his bracket and he's sure to make the podium this year. West Virginia-Killian Cardinale finishes as an All-American Cardinale went on a great run at the NCAA tournament to finish seventh at 125. You could argue that this weight class in the Big 12 was a bit overlooked for most of the season nationally, but Cardinale and LaMont answered the call in March and both helped change that narrative a bit with top-eight finishes.