InterMat Staff

Wyoming Seminary

What has become a preseason staple for us at InterMat, counting down the top 50 wrestlers for the upcoming season, is back for 2023-24. With a large chunk of sixth and seventh-year seniors gone, there is plenty of turnover from last year’s list to this one. That makes for a lot of fun and perhaps some spirited debates. Like last year, the third iteration of this feature will show five wrestlers at a time, counting down from #50 to #1. For each wrestler, we’ll have some basic information along with career highlights, and a brief analysis of their career (with an emphasis on last season), followed by an outlook for the upcoming season. Here are #11-16 #16-20 #21-25 #26-30 #31-35 #36-40 #41-45 #46-50 10) Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) Weight: 285 lbs College Achievements: 3x All-American (7,4,2) 2022 Top-50 Ranking: #19 Greg Kerkvliet turned his best collegiate season to date in 2022-23 when he finished as a runner-up at the Big Ten and NCAA Championships and maintained a 63% bonus point percentage. Kerkvliet’s only three losses throughout the year came to the same opponent, Hodge Trophy winner Mason Parris (Michigan). Five of Kerkvliet’s 19 wins came over wrestlers who would finish the year on the NCAA podium. One of the notable ones came over Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) to preserve the Nittany Lions win over Iowa. Another came in the NCAA semifinals against future U23 world champion Wyatt Hendrickson. The victory over Hendrickson snapped an 18-match winning streak for the star from Air Force. 2023-24 Outlook: For the first time in his career, Kerkvliet might not have the eventual Hodge Trophy winner in his weight class. That being said, the presence of Gable Steveson is still looming over the 285 lb bracket this season. For now, Kerkvliet is the favorite. He might get a chance to assert himself in an unofficial early-season scrap against Hendrickson. The two are slated to square off at the All-Star Classic; however, Hendrickson appeared to be banged up in his U23 final. Kerkvliet has steadily improved his NCAA finish in each year he’s competed, so can he take the next step and finish on top of the podium in Kansas City? 9) Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) Weight: 184 lbs College Achievements: 3x NCAA All-American (2,3,3), 3x Big 12 Champion 2022 Top-50 Ranking: #17 After back-to-back third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships, Parker Keckeisen brought through and made his first NCAA finals in 2023. Keckeisen came up just a bit short in the championship match against nemesis Aaron Brooks (Penn State). Brooks has been responsible for three of Keckeisen’s five career losses. His only one during the 2022-23 season came against another frequent opponent, Trent Hidlay, in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational finals. Keckeisen avenged that loss with a dramatic pin in the final dual at the Collegiate Duals. One match earlier, Keckeisen defeated Kaleb Romero, who ended up taking third at nationals. After winning his third consecutive Big 12 title, Keckeisen was awarded the top-seed in Tulsa. 2023-24 Outlook: With Brooks moving up to 197 lbs, Keckeisen starts the year ranked number one at 184 lbs. He’s aiming to become UNI’s second NCAA champion since 2019 at 184 lbs. One of Keckeisen’s early challenges will come at the All-Star Classic, when he takes on second-ranked Bernie Truax (Penn State), Brooks’ replacement. Truax is the only opponent not named Brooks or Hidlay to defeat Keckeisen officially in college. The two traded wins at the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Just over a week later, most of the key contenders could be in attendance at the CKLV Invitationals. Wrestlers ranked #3-#6 have teams that have signed up. 8. Real Woods (Iowa) Weight: 141 lbs College Achievements: 2x NCAA All-American (2,6), 3x Conference Champion (2x Pac-12, 1x Big Ten) 2022 Top-50 Ranking: #28 After spending four years at Stanford, Real Woods transferred to Iowa for the 2022-23 season and thrived in his new home. Woods missed the first month of the year, but won a gritty decision against Casey Swiderski in the much-anticipated Iowa/Iowa State dual for his Hawkeye debut. Woods went on to win his first 20 matches in an Iowa singlet before falling to Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) in the NCAA finals. Along the way, Woods grabbed his third conference championship and first in the Big Ten after edging Brock Hardy (Nebraska) 2-1. A Big Ten title and a perfect record were enough to warrant the top-seed at the 2023 NCAA Championships. It marked the third time that Woods had received a seed in the top-four at nationals. To lock up a spot in the national finals, Woods this time majored Hardy, 11-1. 2023-24 Outlook: With so much uncertainty surrounding the Iowa program this season, Woods is one constant. A few weeks ago, news surfaced that returning champion Andrew Alirez planned to take an Olympic redshirt for the 2023-24 campaign. That bumped Woods up to the top spot in the latest rankings. I’m sure he’d rather have another shot at Alirez, but for now, Woods is that man to beat at 141 lbs. This weight class does have a pair of wrestlers with past wins against Woods; however, those are a few years in the past at this point. The move to Iowa has brought out the best in Woods and he seems to be a different wrestler from those previous seasons (when he was really good too). 7) Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) Weight: 133 lbs College Achievements: 4x NCAA All-American (4,2,2,2), 4x Big 12 Champion 2022 Top-50 Ranking: #7 Heading into the 2022-23 season, I’m sure Daton Fix wanted to avoid ending his year with a loss in the NCAA finals; something that happened in each of the previous three seasons. That ended up happening, but not in the manner he anticipated. Fix wasn’t able to return to the NCAA championship match for the first time in his career, losing to Vito Arujau (Cornell), 11-3. He’d stumble again in the third-place bout against Arizona State’s Michael McGee. Fix entered the national tournament with an unbeaten record for the third consecutive year. Throughout his career, he’s never been seeded lower than second at nationals (first 2x, second 2x). Before nationals, Fix captured his fourth Big 12 title making him the 10th Oklahoma State wrestler to achieve the feat. 2023-24 Outlook: Daton Fix enters his final year at Oklahoma State with a 103-6 career record. Obviously, three of those losses have come in the national finals. He’ll obviously want to avoid the distinction of being one of the best wrestlers never to win a national title. Fix starts the year ranked second in the nation behind Arujau. While it’s conceivable that Arujau could beat him again, it’s hard to fathom it being via major decision again. There’s a shot that the two tangle at the CKLV, as OSU is making the rare trip out to Vegas. 6) Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) Weight: 141 lbs College Achievements: 2023 NCAA Champion, 2x Big 12 Champion 2022 Top-50 Ranking: Not Ranked 2023 was a banner year for Andrew Alirez and Northern Colorado. The hometown boy became the school’s first NCAA All-American under Troy Nickerson and the first at UNC since 2010. His national title was the first by a Northern Colorado wrestler since 1962. Alirez capped off a perfect 28-0 record with an exciting 6-4 victory over Real Woods in the national finals. Along the way, Alirez claimed a title at the Southern Scuffle and finished the year with a bonus point percentage of over 71%. That was almost double his mark from the previous season (37%). 2023-24 Outlook: Alirez’s outlook is much easier to forecast than the other wrestlers we’ve profiled. He’s slated to take an Olympic redshirt this season. Alirez has always been excellent in freestyle dating back to his breakout spring in 2018 when he made the finals of the Junior World Team Trials before his senior year of high school. This year, Alirez traveled to the Ziolkowski Memorial in Poland and, not only won, but destroyed three-time world champion Haji Aliyev (Azerbaijan) in the process.

A top 10 finish. An NCAA finalist. And a serious comeback story. And a history-making alum coming back to join the coaching staff. That’s the story for Nebraska. This season the Huskers have to replace a few All-Americans while they get another one – an NCAA finalist – back in the lineup. And they also return some serious horses while inviting some newcomers to join the squad. Top Returners After finishing as a runner-up at the 2022 NCAA Championships, Ridge Lovett took a redshirt year where he only competed at the Wyoming Cowboy Open and went 4-0. He will return this year at 149 pounds and look to improve upon his second-place finish from a few seasons ago. Lovett isn’t the only high-caliber competitor in the chamber. He will be between All-Americans Brock Hardy and Peyton Robb, who return at 141 and 157, respectively. Hardy, who finished sixth at NCAAs last year in Tulsa, OK, recently claimed bronze at 65kg at the U23 World Championships. Robb, who is an early candidate for Comeback Wrestler of the Year returns at 157. After last season’s national tournament, Robb endured a horrific and life-threatening infection in his leg that had him hospitalized. Thankfully he has recovered and is bringing the same tenacity back to the mat with the scars in tow. The Huskers will also have NCAA qualifiers Bubba Wilson (165), Lenny Pinto (184), and Silas Allred (197) back this year as well. Allred was the Big Ten Champion at 197 last season before coming up short at NCAA after making the quarterfinals to finish his season. Wilson and Pinto both have fifth-place Big Ten conference tournament finishes on their resumes, but so far have come home empty-handed from NCAAs. Key Departures NCAA runner-up Mikey Labriola finished his career as the first five-time All-American in school history. He notched huge wins as a career 174-pounder. Additionally, Liam Cronin, a multiple-time NCAA qualifier and last year’s fifth-place finisher at 125 pounds finished his career last season as well. Newcomers With All-Americans Labriola and Cronin now gone, there’s some new blood in the mix. Starting at 125, we will see App. State transfer Caleb Smith at 125. Smith was a Southern Conference Champion a season ago, but was unable to notch any wins at NCAAs. At 133, there is a pair of guys that could make a possible appearance. First is Kyle Burwick, who transferred from Wisconsin before last season. And second is the Huskers’ redshirt wrestler of the year Jacob Van Dee. He only had five matches last year, but is vying for the spot here. Along with Wilson at 165, redshirt freshman Antrell Taylor could make an appearance here as well. Taylor is also a 2023 Pan Am Champion at 70kg. Wrestlers to watch Maybe I should have titled this section "biggest questions" since that’s more so what it is for the Huskers here. Replacing an NCAA finalist is never easy and this will be the case here. Right now whoever is going to fill the spot at 174 vacated by Labriola is still to be determined. It’s possible that Christopher Minto or Adam Thebeau could see time here this season until they sort out who will fully take over. Both guys are limited on experience. The guy on the roster with the most experience who could fill the spot is Elise Brown Ton. As a redshirt freshman, he was 10-6 and wrestled in a few open tournaments. The last question is who will be filling the spot at heavyweight. The most likely candidate is Harley Andrews, a redshirt freshman from Oklahoma who had a 7-2 record during his redshirt year a season ago. Top out-of-conference dual The Huskers will kick off the new year by hosting a pair of Big 12 foes in Wyoming and UNI on Jan 6.

North Point

Thompson Valley

Decatur

Summit

Winter Springs

Tioga Central

Sam Houston

Poway

Tioga

Reidsville

Timberland

Hastings

A new season begins. Like most endeavors, the first couple weeks will be a “honeymoon period” where you get excited and put a lot of time and effort into your research to get the optimal lineup. It’s going to be in about weeks four through seven where you’ll either see or be part of a large participation dropoff in your league. Stay strong, and keep up with your Weekly FCW Outlooks and #FCWpodcast (returning soon!). We enter the first week of the #FCW24 season with many duals scheduled and several teams opting for the Dual & Tournament weekend combo. The majority of teams are participating in one of either the Clarion Open, Princeton Open, or Southeast Open. Some other non-D1 tournaments will be sparsely attended by D1 teams (like the Menlo Open or Maryville Open), but remember, only points can be scored against D1 competition. The first Weekly Outlook of the season is usually one of the more difficult to evaluate due to there usually being more questions than answers. Intrasquad scrimmages and wrestle-offs sometimes have outcomes “not by the book.” Take for instance last year at the Ohio State wrestle-offs where Bryce Hepner beat assumed starter Carson Kharchla. Questions quickly swirled over: who would be the starter? Would they put off making the decision until after some tournaments? Did the result not matter? In the end, Hepner used his available Redshirt and Kharchla continued as the starter. This season, we see some similar results around the sport, like Northern Illinois’ 125 Blake West losing in the scrimmage to teammate Nathaniel Genobana (either one is a good play this week, but who, will the starter be?). We are too far out to gauge what teams are sending what wrestlers to what tournament and just slightly out of reach of the weekly team press release for the upcoming dual(s). Keep the notifications on and check back often to the article comments for updates to tournament entries and confirmed starters! A reminder of some important rules: Wrestlers entered at a weight must compete at that weight or else their results will not be counted. Wrestlers in the “Floater” spots can compete at ANY weight and accumulate Fantasy points. A wrestler will LOCK on your roster at 12pm ET on the day of their first competition for the week. (refer to the SHP’s Week Preview) Only results against D1 competition (starters, backups, and redshirts) will count towards Fantasy Points. Check your league settings to know how many add/drops are permitted per week. Have a question, concern, suggestions, or just want to chat about Fantasy Wrestling? Hit us up on Twitter or head over to the InterMat Forums where we have a Fantasy Wrestling dedicated Forum page! Wrestlers I Like This Week Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score]* *probable entrant to tournament 125: Brandon Kaylor (ORST)- @ North Carolina, Vs Queens, Southeast Open [+7]* Nico Provo (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+5]* Ethan Berginc (ARMY)- @ Campbell, Princeton Open [+3]* Dean Peterson (RUT)- @ Cal Poly, Vs Duke [+10] Jakob Camacho (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+9] Blake West (NIU) or Nathaniel Henobana (NIU) - Vs Lindenwood [+6] Eric Barnett (WISC)- Vs Lindenwood [+6] Caleb Smith (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+4] Braxton Brown (MARY)- @ American [+3] 133: Jackson DiSario (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+3]* Domenic Zaccone (CAMP)- Vs Army, Southeast Open [+3]* Kai Orine (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+7] Dylan Shawver (RUT)- @ Cal Poly, Vs Duke [+7] Brody Teske (IOWA)- @ California Baptist [+3] 141: Jason Miranda (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+4]* Shannon Hanna (CAMP)- Vs Army, Southeast Open [+3] Mitch Moore (RUT)- @ Cal Poly, Vs Duke [+9] Lachlan McNeil (UNC)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Queens [+8] Ryan Jack (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+8] Brock Hardy (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+4] Real Woods (IOWA)- @ California Baptist [+4] 149: Chance Lamer (CP)- Vs Duke, Vs Rutgers, Menlo Open [+7]* Jaden Abas (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+5]* Caleb Tyus (SIUE)- @ Illinois, Maryville Open [+3] Jayden Scott (UNC)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Queens [+8] Jackson Arrington (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+8] Javion Jones (NIU) - Vs Lindenwood [+5] Ethen Miller (MARY)- @ American [+4] Ridge Lovett (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+4] Joseph Zargo (WISC)- Vs Lindenwood [+4] Victor Voinovich (IOWA)- @ California Baptist [+3] 157: Daniel Cardenas (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+5]* Ed Scott (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+9] Jared Franek (IOWA)- @ California Baptist [+4] Peyton Robb (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+4] Luke Mechler (WISC)- Vs Lindenwood [+4] Michael North (MARY)- @ American [+3] 165: Matthew Olguin (ORST)- @ North Carolina, Vs Queens, Southeast Open [+7]* Hunter Garvin (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+4]* AJ Kovacs (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+8] Dean Hamiti (WISC)- Vs Lindenwood [+6] Michael Caliendo (IOWA)- @ California Baptist [+5] David Carr (ISU)- @ Cleveland State [+5] Bubba Wilson (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+3] 174: Travis Wittlake (ORST)- @ North Carolina, Vs Queens, Southeast Open [+8]* Edmond Ruth (ILL)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville, Vs Navy [+7] 184: Trey Munoz (ORST)- @ North Carolina, Vs Queens, Southeast Open [+8]* Caleb Hopkins (CAMP)- Vs Army, Southeast Open [+4]* Brian Soldano (RUT)- @ Cal Poly, Vs Duke [+10] Dylan Fishback (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+7] Lenny Pinto (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+4] 197: Nick Stemmet (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+4]* Levi Hopkins (CAMP)- Vs Army, Southeast Open [+3]* Max Shaw (UNC)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Queens [+9] John Poznanski (RUT)- @ Cal Poly, Vs Duke [+9] Trent Hidlay (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+8] Zac Braunagel (ILL)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville, Vs Navy [+7] Jaxon Smith (MARY)- @ American [+4] Silas Allred (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+4] 285: Boone McDermott (ORST)- @ North Carolina, Vs Queens, Southeast Open [+8]* Taye Ghadiali (CAMP)- Vs Army, Southeast Open [+4]* Peter Ming (STAN)- Vs Duke, Menlo Open [+3]* Owen Trephan (NCST)- @ Presbyterian, @ Appalachian State [+8] Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT)- @ Cal Poly, Vs Duke [+7] Yonger Bastida (ISU)- @ Cleveland State [+4] Seth Nevills (MARY)- @ American [+3] Harley Andrews (NEB)- @ North Dakota State [+3] Peter Christensen (WISC)- Vs Lindenwood [+3]

EIWA Preview Part One: Click Here Harvard University Projected Lineup 125 Diego Sotelo (#26) 133 Coleman Nogle or Jameson Garcia 141 Michael Jaffe* or Jaden Pepe or Dante Frinzi 149 Jack Crook or Kenny Herrmann 157 Joe Cangro or Cael Berg or Jimmy Harrington 165 Joshua Kim (#26)* or Evan Gleason 174 Phil Conigliaro (#12)* or Luke Rada 184 Leo Tarantino* or Alex Whitworth 197 Max Agresti HWT Jeff Crooks Overview The Crimson return three NCAA qualifiers from a season ago. Phil Conigliaro has made multiple trips to the NCAA Championships, just falling short of All-American status each time. He was new to the 174 lbs weight class last year - so expect improvement this year with a full season under his belt after moving up from 165 lbs. Diego Sotelo and Joshua Kim are the other returning qualifiers. Coach Jay Weiss is entering his 30th season as head coach of the team - which is currently one of the longest tenures in NCAA wrestling. Expect to see some new faces sprinkled into this line-up as well. Note: expect to see upper classmen like Jaffe, Conigliaro, Kim, and Tarantino wrestle in the second semester only. The first semester lineup will vary because of this. New Faces At 133 lbs, we will see a new face in either Coleman Nogle or Jameson Garcia. Garcia is an Illinois native with multiple state medals. Nogle comes from Mt. St. Joe’s Prep in Maryland, where he had a standout high school career. His solid 194th overall ranking is very respectable, while Garcia’s ranking was 101st. With both wrestlers being true freshmen, expect this to be a season-long battle to claim the starting spot. 141l bs freshman, Jaden Pepe, may see some action. His career was sound enough for a 146th overall senior recruit, as he was a Pennsylvania state medalist on numerous occasions. Expect Jaffee to man this spot once he returns or the second half of the season. Max Agresti was the 102nd ranked pound-for-pound senior in the class of 2023 MatScouts rankings. He had a decorated high school career, topping it off with a Beast of the East title. Look for him to improve as the year goes on at the 197 lbs weight class. Key Dates 11/19 – Keystone Classic, hosted at the University of Penn 12/1 – 12/2 – Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas will be a good early season test with some of the top wrestlers in the nation 12/29 – 12/30 – The Midlands is back and is as competitive as ever. A medal here puts you in the driver’s seat for a high-ranking heading into the second semester Find the entire schedule here Hofstra University Projected Lineup 125 Dylan Ryder or Dylan Acevedo-Switzer 133 Chase Liardi or Joe Sparacio or Ryan Arbeit 141 Justin Hoyle or Alex Turley or Cameron Ice 149 Noah Tapia or Dylan Zenion 157 Jurius Clark or Joe McGinty or Frank Volpe or Eric Shindel or Mike Leandrou 165 Clark/McGinty/Volpe/Shindel/Leandrou or Joe Russo or Jake Slotnick or Greyson Harris or Matt Rogers 174 Ross McFarland or Matt Waddell 184 Will Conlon or Ericson Velasquez 197 Nik Miller or Gavin Proffitt HWT Keaton Kluever or Danny Church or Adrian Sans Overview The Pride have a laundry list of potential starters at multiple weights. Hofstra typically takes their time in solidifying a lineup, which is not all that rare this day in age. Giving multiple guys a chance on the mat will only help improve depth at each weight thanks to the experienced mat time they receive. Hoyle has seen the EIWA podium multiple times and looks ready to make the next step to the NCAA tournament. Expect great results from McFarland, coming off a great redshirt season last year. New Faces Former NCAA qualifier for the Pride, Charles Small, is now officially on staff as an assistant. His experience and ability to be a training partner will be beneficial to the upper weights. Codi Russell is new to staff this year as well. He was a competitor at Appalachian State, where he was a four-time NCAA qualifier. He will be a key piece in the room for the lightweights, replacing long-time assistant Jamie Franco. An old, new face in Dylan Ryder is back with the program after last competing with The Pride in 2021. He was an EIWA placer in 2020, where the bracket was absolutely loaded with talent. He’s back and ready to go while being a leader heading into his sixth-year of eligibility. Another name worth mentioning is at heavyweight. Keaton Kluever comes from Minnesota. Entering his sixth year as a college athlete, look to him to step up as a leader. He has a 43-33 record, including redshirt seasons. Being in the same room and weight class as the one and only Gable Steveson may pay dividends in the long run. There are a lot of new faces in the potential lineup. In the interest of time, it may make sense to touch on who Hofstra lost this season. Last season’s NCAA Qualifiers Jacob Ferreira (184 lbs) and Trey Rogers (197 lbs) are out of eligibility. Long time heavyweight, Zachary Knighton-Ward, was a multiple time NCAA qualifier as well - exhausting his eligibility last season too. Hofstra will have an interesting year, as the final lineup could see up to seven or eight fresh faces from a season ago. We may need to give this team some time to develop into its full potential. Key Dates 11/19 – Ohio State (#7) visits Hofstra, where tOSU’s Tom Ryan began his coaching career 12/1 – 12/2 – The Las Vegas Invite is one of the toughest tournaments during the NCAA season 12/10 – Hofstra will travel to Penn State (#1) for a dual 1/7 – NC State (#6) will take on Hofstra in another tough home dual Find the entire schedule here Lehigh University (#24) Projected Lineup 125 Sheldon Seymour 133 Connor McGonagle (#8) or Ryan Crookham or Luke Stanich 141 Malyke Hines (#13) or Kimo Leia or Kelvin Griffin or Carter Bailey or McGonagle/Crookham 149 Owen Reinsel or Drew Munch or Richie Grungo or Matt Repos or Hines/Leia/Griffin 157 Max Brignola (#26) or Luca Frinzi or Richie Grungo 165 Jake Logan or Connor Herceg or Luca Frinzi 174 Thayne Lawrence or Jake Logan or Jared Schoppe or Connor Herceg 184 Caden Rogers or JT Davis or Jared Schoppe 197 Michael Beard (#10) HWT Nathan Taylor (#19) Overview The Mountain Hawks have a lot of talent – and a lot of depth. They still have a logjam in the lower weights, mainly at 133 lbs. Two potential top-eight studs will both be vying for the weight class. McGonagle got the nod last season, as Crookham was competing as a redshirt. It will be interesting to see how this plays out this season. Could Either one bump to 141 lbs? Then, what would happen to Hines – will he bump up to 149 lbs? The Hawks have what is described as “a good problem” depth wise – but can they fit all of the top talent into a competitive dual meet lineup? At the moment, the team only has five ranked wrestlers. Expect that number to jump up quickly once competition starts. The Mountain Hawks had the #16 recruiting class in the NCAA in the 2022 season. It’s time for those big recruits to step into the lineup. At the moment, it does not appear they have the horsepower to overcome Cornell in the conference, but Lehigh has been a steady top-three contender annually. New Faces Owen Reinsel made an appearance in a single dual meet last season. We may see him more regularly this season at 149lbs. In addition to him at the weight we could see first-year guys like Grungo of New Jersey, or Repos of Central Dauphin, PA. They are both multiple time state medalists. The 165 lbs weight class will have a skinny Jake Logan after holding down the 174lbs class for a few years. He decided to make the cut this season. Expect him to take a few weeks to adjust, as usual with guys dropping a weight class. Herceg has seen action in duals, as has Frinzi. Frinzi was an NCAA Qualifier in the COVID-shortened 2021 season. Lawrence has not seen the starting line-up since he began his time at Lehigh. This may be the year we see him breakthrough into the lineup as a starter and shine like he did in high school. He was ranked inside the top-5 at the 160 lbs weight class his senior year of high school. Hopefully, some consistency in the lineup will assist him in finding his true potential. If Lawrence develops like he can, the top half of the lineup will be very solid. Mountain Hawk fans are excited for Caden Rogers at 184 lbs. Coming off a redshirt year due to an injury, expect him to help solidify the top of the lineup. He is tough, and scrappy. Plus, he can be dangerous from upper body positions. It may help that he has a great wrestling pedigree. His father was a two-time All-American as a competitor at Lock Haven and is the current head coach at Franklin & Marshall. Key Dates 12/3 – Traveling to take on Penn State (#1) 12/8 – On the road again, traveling to Oklahoma State (#12) for a dual 2/24 – They head to the western U.S. to dual at Arizona State (#11) Find the entire schedule here Long Island University Projected Lineup 125 Robby Sagaris 133 Kaelan Francois 141 Devin Matthews 149 Drew Witham 157 Rhise Royster 165 James Johnston 174 Blake Bahna 184 Joe Lopresti 197 John Dusza HWT Aeden Begue Overview The Sharks of LIU are the newest members of the EIWA. After re-instating the program in 2014, it returned as D2 school. They’ve made the jump to D1, and have been in the EIWA since the 2019-20 season. Last year’s results may not be flashy. But, if you followed this team throughout the season, it was evident to see the improvement they collectively went through from start to finish. They lost a lot of close matches at EIWAs, closing the gap on many of them from earlier in the season. This program will see more improvements this year with a very similar looking lineup from a year ago. Another year of experience is always a good thing. It won’t be too much longer until we start seeing an LIU Shark at NCAAs every year. New Faces With Blake Bahna bumping up one weight to 174 lbs, we will probably see James Johnston fill in at the 165 lbs void. He appeared in one outing last season and suffered an injury. He was a state runner-up in Michigan coming out of high school. Johnston will have a tough conference in terms of depth. We can expect a lot of NCAA qualifiers at this weight. This is a good thing for a wrestler like James. One upset or injury can propel him onto the podium, and likely an NCAA appearance. Key Dates 1/5 – Lancaster Open will give the Sharks wrestlers an opportunity for some wins 1/21 – They dual Morgan State, Clarion, and Kent State in quad dual setting. This should give them a chance to earn some dual wins. 2/9 – Traveling to VMI for a dual against the Keydets and Bellarmine for a chance for more dual wins Find the entire schedule here Naval Academy Projected Lineup 125 Evan Tallmadge 133 Brendan Ferretti (#22) or Garrett Totten 141 Josh Koderhandt (#28) 149 Nicholas Vafiadis or James Latona 157 Jonathan Ley or Tyler Sagi 165 Andrew Cerniglia (#27) or Geno Quodala 174 Danny Wask (#32) 184 David Key (#17) or Cael Crebs 197 Jake Lucas (#33) HWT Grady Griess (#13) Overview Cary Kolat’s Navy Midshipmen will be looking to improve upon their tied-for-fourth place team finish at the 2023 EIWAs. With only one of the six returning place finishers not coming back, the expectation for improvement is there. Navy is a fun team to watch, as they fight hard for the entire match. Cerniglia will try his luck up a weight class, after battling some injuries at 157 lbs during the first years of his career. Ferretti came on strong at EIWAs and built more confidence with his NCAA tournament appearance. Grady Griess is looking to repeat as EIWA champion, in hopes of being joined by another teammate or two in the process. Josh Koderhandt is always reliable to be standing high on that EIWA podium too. This year’s team will be an entertaining one to watch! New Faces Evan Tallmadge was a two-time NJ state champion in high school. He’s expected to fill in at 125 lbs this season. His high school career was obviously a successful one, but he’s also proven he can compete at the college level with wins over some elite NCAA wrestlers on the freestyle scene. Look for him to be in the mix in this loaded weight class across the conference. At 149 lbs, the new face in the expected lineup is Nick Vafiadis. He was at the Navy Prep school a season ago wrestling in opens at 157 lbs. He was 19-6 on the year including a bunch of wins over D1-rostered wrestlers. Expect good results from him. Expect one or two new faces at 157 lbs for Navy. Jonathan Ley was 13-2 last season at 165lbs, wrestling in opens for the Navy prep school. He was high school National Prep runner-up, and Beast of the East champion in 2021-22 season. His class ranking in 2022 was 86th. Tyler Sagi is a true freshman and was a New Jersey state fourth place finisher a season ago. He will have his first collegiate action this year. Danny Wask may be the most anticipated new starter in the lineup. The Blair Academy prep was a standout wrestler, obtaining numerous prestigious accomplishments. Coming out of high school, he was the 18th ranked pound-for-pound senior in high school. Wrestling unattached in the Midlands last season, he wrestled to a fourth-place finish upsetting some NCAA qualifiers on the way. Wask has a very high ceiling, and Navy fans should be excited to see him perform. If Navy continues to climb the ladder in the EIWA, do not be shocked if Wask is one of the main forces behind it. Key Dates 11/4 – An early road test at Illinois (#18) 11/18 – Navy Classic is an annually tough event for many schools 12/1 - 12/2 – The Las Vegas Invite is a grind of an early season tournament. 1/28 – Coach Kolat returns to North Carolina (#26) for a January dual Find the entire schedule here University of Pennsylvania (#19) Projected Lineup 125 Ryan Miller (#20) or Max Gallagher 133 Michael Colaiocco (#7) or Alex Almeyda 141 CJ Composto (#7) 149 Jude Swisher or Andy Troczynski 157 Lucas Revano (#30 @ 165lbs) or Swisher 165 Cole Spencer or Kaya Sement 174 Nick Incontrera (#14) 184 Maximus Hale 197 Cole Urbas (#22) or Martin Cosgrove HWT John Stout Overview The Penn Quakers have been a fascinating team to watch climb the EIWA ladder in such a short time. Everything from recruiting, scheduling, training, and analytics has been an important emphasis during the process. The culture and belief of the squad may be the most impressive aspect. The team’s second place finish at EIWAs in 2022, and third place finish in 2023 is only helping motivate them to be on top. This lineup projections have many veterans, mixed in with some young talent. CJ Composto is a returning All-American from two seasons ago - he missed last year with an injury. It’s time to finally see how the 20th ranked recruiting class from 2022 pans out, which included two top-100 recruits in Cosgrove (#26) and Troczynski (#62). New Faces We saw Coach BJ Futrell leave the Quakers for an opportunity at Northwestern. We’ll see PRTC athlete Tyler Berger replace him on the coaching staff. Tyler was a three-time All-American at Nebraska, including a runner-up finish in 2019. The middle weights are in good hands. We may see Max Gallagher get some reps at 125lbs. He was a New York state champion last year while also capturing medals at Fargo and Super32. He was ranked as high as 3rd in the nation as a senior in high school. Alex Almeyda will likely see some mat time at 133lbs. The St Joseph Regional standout was a four-time New Jersey place finisher, plus earned medals at numerous national folkstyle and freestyle events. He will be ready to fill in for seasoned veteran, Colaiocco, as needed. Jude Swisher will be in the middle of the lineup somewhere, either at 149lbs or 157lbs. The freshman was 20-7 last season wrestling unattached in opens. The Bellefonte, PA native is three-time state medalist. The discussion around him has been very positive. Another talented new face at 149lbs is Andy Troczynski. He was a two-time state champ in New Jersey. With no college wrestling results yet, the predictions of his success could be based on his high school career. Based on that, expect him to make some noise in this weight class. In another weight class change in the conference, we will see Lucas Revano down at 157lbs after spending three years at 165lbs. He is a multiple time place winner at EIWAs, and qualified for NCAAs once. If he can manage the weight cut, expect him to be in the mix at his new weight class. Replacing Revano at 165lbs, we may see Kaya Sement. He has collegiate results in opens, down at 149lbs. He’ll bring his 22-7 career record into the starting lineup after years of waiting in the wings behind studs like Doug Zapf and Anthony Artalona. Kaya, along with Spencer, will look to be regulars in the lineup now. Spencer has seen dual results in the past, so this is not too foreign for him. Looking to challenge returning NCAA Qualifier, Cole Urbas, at 197 lbs is Martin Cosgrove. Cosgrove was a two-time New Jersey state champ from Camden Catholic. During his unattached campaign last season, he showed great results. This weight class’s future is bright. John Stout will look to be the big guy in the line-up. He’s spent four years at 184 lbs, so expect a physically larger John Stout next time you see him on the mat. Key Dates 11/19 – Keystone Classic hosted by the PRTC, held at University of Penn 12/1 – Iowa (#8) comes to Philadelphia for a dual 12/29 – 12/30 – Midlands will be an exciting, tough test for the Quakers over the holiday season 1/6 – Rutgers (#14) will make a trip to dual Penn Find the entire schedule here Princeton University Projected Lineup 125 Drew Heethuis 133 Anthony Clark or Sean Pierson or Nick Kayal 141 Chris Martino or Tyler Vaquez 149 Drew Lang or Eligh Rivera 157 Rocco Camillaci or Blaine Bergey 165 Holden Garcia or Luca Pontone 174 Mikey Squires or Nate Stefanik 184 Nate Dugan (#32) 197 Luke Stout (#14) HWT Matt Cover or Sebastian Garibaldi Overview Princeton has some big shoes to fill after NCAA Champion, Patrick Glory, has graduated. In addition to Glory, another 2X All-American has also graduated in Quincy Monday. With long-time head coach, Chris Ayres, moving out west to Stanford - this almost seems like somewhat of a rebuild for Princeton on paper - as I’m sure new head coach, Joe Dubuque, and the Tiger faithful would disagree. This lineup will test the waters for Princeton’s last two recruiting classes, which have been in the top-25 over the past two seasons. Expect a lot of new faces, especially in the lower and middle weights. One key injury to note is former Cadet World Champion, Marc-Anthony McGowan at 125lbs. He was slated to be the probable starter but will miss the season due to injury. New Faces Quincy Monday finished his career as a two-time All-American as a Princeton Tiger. He will take on a new role as an assistant coach on the staff. He’s not exactly a new face, but his infectious smile can be seen in fashionable attire on match day, in lieu of a singlet. Drew Heethuis will be the proposed starter at 125lbs. The true freshman is a three-time Michigan state champion. This led him to be ranked 111th in the pound-for-pound rankings of this year’s class by MatScouts. As mentioned, he has huge shoes to fill. He has the credentials to become an All-American, at minimum, for The Tigers. A potential starter at 141lbs was also on the MatScouts Big Board rankings. Clocking in at number 83, Tyler Vazquez was a two-time New Jersey state champ and multiple-time Beast of the East placer - including a title in 2022. There are some high expectations for Vazquez, based on a superb high school career. Moving into the next weight class, we find another Big Board pound-for-pound recruit. Eligh Rivera finished the 2023 season as the 72nd overall recruit. The Lake Highland Prep standout was a multiple-time NHSCA finalist, and two-time National Prep Champion. He’s another highly-skilled freshman who is expected to make some noise in this line-up. The final potential new face in the line-up will be Holden Garcia. He was ranked 80th in the pound-for-pound rankings mentioned previously. The district 11 native was a three-time place finisher at the PA state championships – including a title in 2022. He’s expected to produce at a high level, along with the rest of this fantastic first year class. Key Dates 11/5 – The Princeton Open opens up the season for many teams of multiple divisions 12/3 – Indiana comes to town. Head Coach Dubuque won two NCAA titles there as a wrestler 12/8 – Rutgers (#14) will host Princeton in an all New Jersey battle 12/29 – 12/30 – The Midlands will be a tough test for this young line-up to prove themselves Find the entire schedule here Sacred Heart University Projected Lineup 125 Jake Ice or Mikey Manta 133 Andrew Fallon 141 Chris Naegele 149 Mike McGhee 157 Brandon Teresa 165 Scott Jarosz 174 Ryan Bolletino 184 Hunter Perez 197 Jake Trovato HWT Marc Berisha Overview The Pioneers of Sacred Heart are one of the smaller schools in the conference, in terms of student population. They, however, have the largest roster with over fifty student athletes. They will be extra motivated this year to reverse last season’s EIWA results. They finished with zero medalists at the conference championships, and Coach Clark knows they are poised for a better year. Only five of the eleven projected starters competed at the EIWA championships - which makes the line-up a little inexperienced. Also because of this, along with their large roster size, expect a few guys to self-motivate and find a way onto the EIWA podium - and ultimately - a trip to the NCAA Championships. New Faces Technically, all of the listed starters have had a collegiate match in some sort of official form. Some have only had a couple of career matches while others have had a couple dozen. With a handful of events in the first semester where they can enter multiple wrestlers, this line-up will be probably be changing before we get to the second semester. This is worth revisiting in a few months to see if anyone makes some noise and separates themselves from the pack. Key Dates 11/11 – Journeymen Classic with duals LIU and Bloomsburg for an early chance to get in the win column 1/5 – F&M Open is a tough open to begin the second semester 1/14 – Duals against Queens (D2) and VMI for more opportunities to win some matches Find the entire schedule here

The backend of the Badgers lineup is going to look a bit different in 2023-24. We’ll get to it in the meat of this preview, but there will be some new big boys anchoring Coach Bono’s lineup this year. Listen to what Coach Bono had to say about this year’s team here. Top Returners A pair of multiple-time All-Americans are returning for Wisconsin this season. At 125, Eric Barnett, who claimed spots on the podium in both 2021 and ’22, comes back after falling short in the Round of 12 in Tulsa, OK. He will be joined by Dean Hamiti who finished in 6th place in each of the last two seasons at NCAAs. Also, two-time qualifier Joey Zargo is back again this year looking for his first AA finish. The Junior from Bergen Catholic, New Jersey will be making the move up to 149 this year after going 0-2 last year to end his season. Key Departures As I said in the open, the backend of the Badgers lineup is going to look different this year. First off, Braxton Amos, who had a horrible injury that ended his season last year, will be taking an Olympic redshirt to focus on his Greco training. I got a chance to talk with Amos about his decision and you can listen to that here. Secondly, the presence that the Badgers had for six straight seasons at heavyweight has moved on. Trent Hillger finished his career as the first Wisconsin heavyweight in school history to become a four-time AA. Then at 133 and 149, there will be some holes left by All-American Taylor LaMont, who qualified at 133 last year, and Austin Gomez, who was also an AA during his career that we had thought had come to an end, but seems to have new life at Michigan. Gomez also had one of the biggest wins of the year a season ago when he defeated eventual four-time NCAA Champ Yianni Diakomihalis. Newcomers As Coach Bono mentioned when we spoke, this year’s recruiting class is one of the best that he’s been around. In the offseason, 11 new Badgers joined the team with 7 freshmen and 4 transfers coming in. Looking to fill the void left by Hillger, there are a few guys vying for the spot. They have six heavyweights listed on the roster, but Coach Bono specifically mentioned Peter Christensen, Brooks Empey, Gannon Rosenfeld, and Isaac Klarkowski. Christensen, who has the most experience of these guys and was Hillger’s main training partner, was the #2-ranked 195-pounder in the country coming out of high school in 2019. Now he’s put on some size and will be looking to fill that spot at HWT. An interesting storyline here is Klarkowski, the transfer from Rice. After walking on to the football team there, he worked his way up to become a starter. He comes back to wrestling after donning a helmet for the last few years. The last time he was on a wrestling mat he finished third at the Wisconsin state tournament. Rosenfeld is a guy that we could see emerge to take the reins here. Coach Bono described him as a “raw athlete” that can “surprise some people.” The HWT spot will probably come down to Christensen and Rosenfeld. Two other weights that will need to be filled are 133 and 197. At 133, Nicolar Rivera will be the guy stepping in. As a true freshman, he got some good experience with 15 matches on the year and notched an 8-7 record. At 197, with Amos taking an Olympic Redshirt, it will come down to Dylan Russo and Michael Tal-Shahar. Of the two, Tal-Shahar has more experience, but truly, it’s anyone’s game here. Wrestlers to Watch A pair of transfers that Coach Bono mentioned during our conversation are Max Maylor and Shane Liegel. Maylor, a graduate transfer, is coming back to his home state of Wisconsin after spending a few years at Michigan where he was in the lineup at 174 last season for the Wolverines. Liegel, who is also a grad transfer, will come in at 184. He was a four-time AA and 2021 National Champion for Loras College before joining Bono and Readers’ squad. Top out-of-conference dual An early season test is coming on Nov. 19th when Wisconsin heads to Ames, IA to take on #10-ranked Iowa State. Last year these two met in Jacksonville, FL where the Cyclones dominated, 26-6. This year there’s no neutral site so they will have to deal with a hostile environment and the tall task of taking on a very experienced squad.

Don Bosco

Fort Dodge

Warrior Run

Independence

Iowa City West

We’re only a couple days away from the start of the 2023-24 wrestling season. With every new season comes a new crop of freshmen who are eager to build upon their dreams of wrestling collegiately. Advances in training methods, RTC’s, more international opportunities, and plenty of other factors have made it more commonplace for true freshmen to have success immediately in college. From 1990 until 2003, only eight freshmen (true or redshirt) won national titles. Over the last 14 years, 15 freshmen have won national titles. Seven were true freshmen. So, who’s next? Which wrestlers from the Class of 2023 will jump in and contend for national titles and spots on the podium this season? Below we have 11 true freshmen that have the potential to win in bunches, right away. The ones we’ve listed have a path to a starting role or we’ve heard from their respective coaching staffs that they are in line to start. Next to each wrestler is their final Big Board ranking from MatScouts. #1 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) The top prospect in the high school Class of 2023, Meyer Shapiro will immediately step into the Cornell lineup at 157 lbs. Shapiro wowed international fans over the summer with a U20 World Championship at 70 kg. It was his second world title in as many tries; he won a U17 title in 2021. Shapiro has already proven that he can handle collegiate competition as he captured titles at three open tournaments in 2022-23. Just a high school senior, Shapiro earned bonus points in all of his matches at the Clarion and Mat Town Open’s. Cornell has a great track record for judging the “readiness” of true freshmen. Not only will Shapiro be competitive right away, but he will likely become an All-American contender (if not more) sooner rather than later at 157 lbs. #5 Brayden Thompson (Oklahoma State) With two-time All-American Dustin Plott moving up to 184 lbs, it created an opening for true freshman Brayden Thompson at 174. Prior to his junior year in high school, Thompson earned a spot on the U20 freestyle team, which is rather unusual. Though he’s slated to compete at 174 lbs, Thompson won a Walsh Ironman title at 190 lbs early in his senior season. One of his strengths is his defensive prowess, a trait that probably transfers immediately and keeps him in most matches. Oklahoma State is coming off a program-worst 18th-place finish at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Inserting a true freshman like Thompson combined with transfers and redshirt freshmen, could bring John Smith’s team closer to an NCAA team trophy than 18th place. #11 Sergio Lemley (Michigan) Michigan has some options in the 133/141 range, so whether Sergio Lemley is “the guy” for the Wolverines is something that will be determined in the coming weeks/months. All-American Chris Cannon transferred in at 133 lbs and starter Dylan Ragusin has been very good for Michigan at the weight. Ragusin has a redshirt available so we could see a lineup that features Cannon at 133 and Lemley at 141 lbs. Lemley was a Super 32 champion and two-time top-three finisher at the Walsh Ironman. The Wolverines have never been shy about letting true freshmen go if they’re the best guy available. I’d expect for various wrestlers to get a shot at 141, while trying to preserve Lemley’s redshirt status. #16 Dylan Gilcher (Michigan) Some of what we said about Lemley could be applicable to his teammate Dylan Gilcher. Michigan had a freshman national qualifier at 149 lbs last year, so the staff likely expected that they wouldn’t have to worry about that slot for the next few seasons. That didn’t totally happen as Chance Lamer transferred in the offseason and there’s some uncertainty around the weight in 2023-24. True freshman Dylan Gilcher will certainly get a shot to win the spot this year. Gilcher was a three-time Super 32 placewinner who won the title during his last chance in 2022. With the pre-existing roster and All-American transfers, if one or two members of the second-ranked recruiting class of 2023 are ready to contribute in year old, Michigan could be an NCAA team trophy favorite. #17 Joey Blaze (Purdue) I wasn’t certain whether or not to include Joey Blaze in this article because there’s still some uncertainty surrounding his competition status in his first year in West Lafayette. But, after this weekend, and his showing at Purdue’s wrestle-off’s. Blaze competed twice and, in each instance, won via tech fall over William Edwards and Isaac Ruble. I have no scientific data to back me up but it seems like true freshmen may be more tentative than normal against teammates in their first wrestle-off. Even ones that have good first seasons. That obviously wasn’t the case for Blaze. Now beating teammates and competing day-in and day-out in the Big Ten is a different animal. Blaze would compete at a 157 lb weight class that features nine of the top 16 wrestlers in the nation. I’d keep an eye on the Clarion Open to see how Blaze fares against outside competition. That may end up making the decision easier (or more difficult) for the Purdue staff. In high school, Blaze’s most notable achievement was winning the Super 32 as a senior. #19 Gabe Arnold (Iowa) This is another “wait and see” situation but for a different reason than the others we’ve mentioned. Should the current gambling-related suspensions be overturned, 2023 All-American Nelson Brands might be available at some point in 2023-24 for the Hawkeyes. If not, there’s no clear starter at 174 lbs. That’s where Gabe Arnold comes in. Arnold was a 2023 UWW Junior Open champion who has really jumped levels within the last year after moving to Iowa City to finish his high school career. He’s probably capable of coming in and making an impact from day one. Another note to consider is that generally, during Tom Brands’ tenure, he’s been very conservative about letting true freshmen wrestle right away. #21 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) After a bunch of freshmen we think may (or may not) get the call in 2023-24, here’s one we’re relatively confident about. Nasir Bailey slots in at 133 lbs and is the highest-ranked signee in the short history of Little Rock wrestling. Bailey earned such high rankings by winning Fargo and the Ironman in 2021 and at Who’s #1 in 2022. With Bailey in the lineup and many of the redshirt freshmen who helped the Trojans earn a top-20 recruiting ranking for 2022, Little Rock could be a tough squad this season. Bailey has joined his older brother Bilal, who went 6-6 at 157/165, for Little Rock. #32 Ty Watters (West Virginia) Judging by wrestle-off results, here’s another true freshman that could start right away. Initially, it looked like West Virginia would have Jordan Titus at 141 lbs and Sam Hillegas at 149. Maybe that’s still the case, but Hillegas was listed with the Mountaineers 141 lbers in their pre-event social media graphics. From the limited wrestle-off results, it didn’t appear as if Hillegas wrestled at 141, though. Watters did compete and tallied two falls on the day. Before WVU, Watters was a two-time Pennsylvania state champion and a Super 32 finalist. Should he be ready to roll in 2023-24, West Virginia could be a tough out this season. #49 Mac Church/#85 Hunter Mason (Virginia Tech) So here’s the situation. Virginia Tech has an incumbent at 141 in Tom Crook, who wrestled last year as a true freshman and made it to Tulsa. Ultimately, Crook goes up to 149 lbs. With a pair of highly regarded freshmen in the mix, the Hokies could redshirt Crook so that he could prepare for the move to 149. For that to happen, someone would need to distinguish themselves between Mac Church and Hunter Mason. Church is a two-time PA champion and a three-time Ironman finalist (1x champion), while Mason got on the podium in Fargo and was a top-three finisher at the Beast on two occasions. One thing to consider here is Virginia Tech’s team composition. With five returning All-Americans, the Hokies should be in the thick of the NCAA team race. They’ll need the best chance at possible NCAA points in 2024 in the starting lineup. With two true freshmen in the mix, the Hokie staff could use five dates for both before making a final decision. #109 Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) After the top-50 recruits there is less certainty about whether or not certain true freshmen will earn starting roles during the 2023-24 season. So we’ve gone down to #109 to find Noah Mulvaney, a freshman from Bucknell. Mulvaney was someone who made huge leaps during his senior year of high school. Had recruiting rankings been dragged out longer than they were, he probably would have been a bit higher. That’s because Mulvaney went out to the UWW Junior Open and took sixth place in April. A few months later, he earned a stop sign by winning Junior Nationals in Fargo. Since Bucknell rarely is able to use redshirts, their freshmen have to be ready to go in year one. Should Mulvaney improve in the Bucknell room at the pace he did during his final months of high school, he could be someone who takes the EIWA by storm.

Iowa - There’s certainly a lot going on in Iowa City. That much can’t be denied. Whether you’re talking about some of the things yet to be decided (NCAA decisions on possible gambling violations mostly), or things yet to be seen (incoming freshmen or transfers and their immediate impact), there will certainly be a lot of eyes on Iowa. That’s usually the case, and usually, it goes pretty well for the Hawkeyes. This year though I feel like there are going to be a lot more haters than normal. Sad to say haters, but I feel like Brands and Co. thrive off of your negative vibes. They get stronger with every negative thought about Iowa, and they are masters at motivating their athletes when it’s them against the world. But that all seems too negative. Let’s focus on the positives. This group returns an NCAA finalist, some All-American caliber talent, and brought in a couple podium guys as well. Not to mention a couple blue-chip recruits to slide in as well. Per usual, the depth at Iowa is wild and I expect their talent to continue to develop. This staff gets the best out of their talent, which generally seems to be why talent goes there. All that plus Carver-Hawkeye always adds an extra element of chaos to their duals. For every Iowa hater, there is an Iowa Wrestling superfan who already has season tickets to every home dual, and has had season tickets for the last 20+ years. There’s a lot to get to with this squad, so let’s get to it. TOP RETURNERS Brody Teske, who transferred in from Northern Iowa and got the nod at B1Gs and NCAAs last year. He is entering his final year of eligibility and I suspect will likely get the nod to finish his career, especially with Schriever’s uncertain status. He’s already qualified for NCAAs three times, and won the Big 12 in 2021, so when healthy his ceiling is really high. Also, a full year in the lineup and getting some of that confidence back would be a benefit as well. With RBY graduating, and a handful of other studs graduating, changing weight classes, or redshirting, it might be the perfect time and place for Teske to finish his career in black and gold on the podium. Real Woods is the aforementioned NCAA runner-up returning, but I suspect if you’re reading this you already knew that. He is also the highest returning placewinner, now that Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado has announced that he’s taking his Olympic Redshirt season, so conventional wisdom leaves Real as the favorite to win it all. He’s beaten everyone remaining in his path, he’s won two conferences (Pac-12 twice and B1G last season), and he’s already a three-time All-American. The last thing he has left to accomplish on this level is the NCAA title. Leave no stone unturned in your quest Real. Drake Ayala patiently took his redshirt season last year as Spencer Lee finished out his eligibility. The stud recruit also willingly stepped into the lineup as a true freshman as Spencer Lee got double knee surgery, where he was an NCAA Qualifier and had a fairly solid showing. He was 13-1 last season, with his only loss being to his teammate, Spencer Lee. That happens to the best of us, Drake. Either way, you’ve got to be happy for a guy who has been lurking in the shadows waiting for his chance, to finally get it. Iowa hasn’t had many question marks at 125 for a while now, and I suspect this year will be no different. KEY DEPARTURES Spencer Lee didn’t finish his final season the way he would have wanted, but regardless of the ending, it’s important for us all to remember the journey. That was so much fun watching Spencer compete over the last several seasons. He was as electric a wrestler as we could have asked for, and he sacrificed a lot to give us that show. I hope that he can remain healthy enough to continue competing on the Senior level and give us the world championship performances we’ve missed from Spencer over the last couple of seasons. Max Murin finally did it! Hawkeye fan or not, you have to be happy to see a guy who has competed so hard for Iowa to finally get on the podium. In my few chances to speak with Max, you learn quickly that he was a funny dude, and seemed genuinely appreciative and excited to compete in the black and gold. On the mat, he seemed like a psychopath ready to leave his blood, sweat, and tears out on the mat in pursuit of getting his hand raised. He never quit and never surrendered, and never gave anything less than everything he had. That sort of effort is fun to watch, and will be hard to match. Jacob Warner, like Max and Spencer, was another long-time contributor to this Iowa lineup. Not just to the lineup though, these three guys were real leaders of this program. Sometimes you lose talent, and that’s hard to replace, but losing three leaders like this has got to be even tougher. I feel like when Warner was in the lineup he wasn’t appreciated, and now that he’s gone, he will be so sorely missed. We won’t be hearing Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” anymore as he comes out to compete in Carver-Hawkeye, and that loss is going to be glaring, to say the least. Iowa has a couple of options at 197 as far as production goes, but time will tell from a leadership perspective just what will be missed. NEWCOMERS Jared Franek is the first and eldest of the two North Dakota State transfers. He comes in as a four-time NCAA Qualifier, Big 12 Champion, and fourth-place finisher at last year's NCAA Championships. His accomplishments speak for themselves and he would have been an upgrade at the weight without any of the NCAA gambling issues going on, but regardless they found themselves looking for answers at a couple weights, and Jared Franek is a great answer. His punishing style of wrestling should fit right in with this group, and I expect him to jump levels just by jumping into a deeper room. Michael Caliendo is the younger of the two North Dakota State transfers. Michael is only a sophomore and was seventh at 165 (arguably the deepest weight in the country) in his first attempt at it. Like Jared, he’s now in a deeper room than he was in before, and with the gambling violations finds himself in a position to jump immediately into the lineup. I doubt he will want to relinquish this spot under any circumstances, so Iowa will have some figuring out to do with their guys and maintaining some eligibility once the NCAA decides what will ultimately be the fate of the six wrestlers involved in the scandal. More on that coming up. Victor Voinovich III is a transfer from Oklahoma State who will likely see time in the lineup right away and fill the void that Max Murin left at 149. Murin got the win over the freshman last season, but it was close, and you’d like to think that Victor will develop into a better wrestler in the long run just based on the pedigree. He was a huge recruit for Oklahoma State, and for whatever reason didn’t seem to have the year that he hoped to have. He seemed to have some better results near the end of last season, but ultimately ended up 2-2 at NCAAs and missing the podium. I have high hopes for VV3, and suspect that he’ll end up on the podium in March. Gabe Arnold comes in with tremendous upside. It’ll be interesting to see what Iowa does at 174 with Nelson Brands being in the middle of the NCAA investigation on gambling, but if Iowa wanted to throw Gabe into the mix right away, he could handle it. I suspect they’ll use some of the five dates allowed to see what Gabe can do, and maybe he’ll be a place filler until Brands can come back, but he’s more than capable, and getting experience like that as a freshman will be more beneficial than not. Ben Kueter, the dual sport athlete (he’s playing football for Iowa currently), who won the U20 World Championships between his Junior and Senior years of High School, is a super exciting addition to the Hawkeyes. Like Arnold, it all kind of depends on what happens with the gambling investigation by the NCAA, but there are rumors that Ben would be able to step in at Heavyweight and take Cassiopi’s place if he loses the season. I suspect Ben has the frame, athleticism, and everything else you’d need to compete at that weight, but time (and the NCAA) will tell. In the meantime, Tom Brands said at his press conference that he knows Ben needs to be fully committed to football for now, and that Ben will commit to wrestling when his football season is finished. That’s honestly refreshing to know that’s the perspective on this. WRESTLER TO WATCH NCAA gambling-affected athletes are certainly worth mentioning, right? Tom Brands referenced this in his media day on 10/26 and shared that we will know more on November 8th regarding potentially reinstating some or all of the six affected wrestlers. He credited the NCAA leadership for trying to get it right, along with their administration, and I tend to agree. In the end, Iowa did a great job getting in front of a lot of this with the transfer portal and should be able to compete without losing too much production at those weights. What does suck though is that some of these guys still may not get another chance to compete. Abe Assad and Nelson Brands have spoken publicly about their involvement in this situation. Others have not, but you can read between the lines regarding the others who have not been public based on Iowa’s transfer portal activity and potential freshman starters. I’ve said it over and over in this preview, that time will tell what ends up happening, but I don’t know what else to say. I think the fact that it’s being reviewed and reconsidered is a positive, I think that it indicates that these guys will likely not lose a full season, and I think that it means that Iowa will have some figuring out to do with these weights and lineups as a result. November 8th will determine a whole heck of a lot regarding the immediate, and long-term, future of this program. TOP OUT-OF-CONFERENCE DUAL If you’ve read my other previews you know that I am not great at landing on just one dual. This will be the exact same. I can’t decide if Iowa State or Oklahoma State are bigger duals. On one hand Iowa State and Iowa have had crazy close and superheated duals over the last couple of seasons. From the moment Kevin Dresser arrived in Ames it seems like it’s been more intense than in recent memory. Iowa has dominated this rivalry over the last several years, but that doesn’t mean that the matches aren’t chippy and that the fan bases aren’t talking some serious trash. Iowa State and Iowa face off early this season on November 26th, and will be on ESPN for all to enjoy. To close the season you’ll get to see Iowa travel to Stillwater to take on the Cowboys of Oklahoma State on February 25th. Assuming health and prosperity for all parties involved, we’ll get to see VV3 take on his old team at 149 pounds, which should be super fun. Both are huge rivalries filled with plenty of exciting history. Can’t wait for both. You decide which one matters most to you, and that’ll be the top one.