2024 Collegiate Duals: Day Two Preview

The Journeymen Collegiate Duals kick off tomorrow from Nashville, Tennessee, and will feature two days' worth of high-quality dual action. Today we’re focusing on the second day of competition - one that will see #1 Penn State, #15 Missouri, #16 Little Rock, and Binghamton do battle in dual action. Each team will meet the other three throughout the day. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the ranked versus ranked bouts in each dual—along with a few others that might be intriguing. If we are confident that the match won’t happen, then it wasn’t listened to, even if ranked wrestlers were involved (i.e., any potential bout that includes Rocky Elam). You can watch the action live on Rokfin! #1 Penn State vs. Binghamton 125 lbs: #12 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. #33 Carson Wagner (Binghamton) 174 lbs: #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. #12 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 184 lbs: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #23 Will Ebert (Binghamton) 285 lbs: #2 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #17 Cory Day (Binghamton) #15 Missouri vs. #16 Little Rock 157 lbs: #32 J Conway (Missouri) vs. #20 Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) 165 lbs: #16 Cam Steed (Missouri) vs. #21 Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) 174 lbs: #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs. #33 Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) 184 lbs: #10 Colton Hawks (Missouri) vs. #16 Brock DelSignore (Little Rock) 197 lbs: UR Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri) vs. #5 Stephen Little (Little Rock) #15 Missouri vs. Binghamton 174 lbs: #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs. #12 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 184 lbs: #10 Colton Hawks (Missouri) vs. #23 Will Ebert (Binghamton) 285 lbs: #19 Seth Nitzel (Missouri) vs. #17 Cory Day (Binghamton) #1 Penn State vs. #16 Little Rock 133 lbs: #10 Braeden Davis (Penn State) vs. #5 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) 149 lbs: #2 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. #16 Jordan Williams (Little Rock) 157 lbs: #4 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. #20 Matt Bianchi (Little Rock) 165 lbs: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. #21 Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) 174 lbs: #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. #33 Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) 184 lbs: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #16 Brock DelSignore (Little Rock) 197 lbs: #7 Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. #5 Stephen Little (Little Rock) #16 Little Rock vs Binghamton 174 lbs: #33 Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) vs. #12 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 184 lbs: #16 Brock DelSignore (Little Rock) vs. #23 Will Ebert (Binghamton) #1 Penn State vs. #15 Missouri 141 lbs: #3 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. #16 Josh Edmond (Missouri) 157 lbs: #4 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. #32 J Conway (Missouri) 165 lbs: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. #16 Cam Steed (Missouri) 174 lbs: #2 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. #1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) 184 lbs: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #10 Colton Hawks (Missouri) 197 lbs: #7 Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. UR Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri) 285 lbs: #2 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #19 Seth Nitzel (Missouri) What can we expect from Missouri? We started the written portion of yesterday’s preview asking the same question about Iowa State. It applies to Missouri, as well. The Tigers are typically a ridiculously tough dual team, but they’ve run into a bit of bad luck. Recently, 125 lber Noah Surtin announced he would have to retire due to ongoing medical issues. Four-time All-American Rocky Elam has yet to wrestle a match. Promising 165 lber Cam Steed was injured during the Illinois dual. The hits keep on coming. In addition to those, 184 lber Colton Hawks and heavyweight Seth Nitzel were recently nicked up. There’s a chance that neither is in action tomorrow. Also, we may not see Logan Gioffre at 149 lbs. With all of these injuries, it’s tough facing quality opponents, but on Sunday Missouri is set to take on top-ranked Penn State. They would be an imposing task for a completely healthy Tiger team. The Duals would mark the last time that Aeoden Sinclair could compete and maintain his redshirt. If he wrestles, he could have his hands full with a pair of top-ten opponents #5 Stephen Little and #7 Josh Barr. Speaking of true freshmen, I’d expect Gage Walker to get the nod going forward at 125 lbs. He has gotten four starts while filling in for Surtin and has proven to be capable himself. #1 vs #2 The individual highlight for Sunday is the potential matchup of #1 and #2 at 174 lbs when national champions Keegan O’Toole and Levi Haines are set to square off. This fall, the two met in freestyle at the World Team Trials and Haines won 6-0. Freestyle can be a bit different, but it’s something to consider when trying to break down this match. Both moved up to 174 lbs in the offseason - Haines from 157 and O’Toole from 165. Neither has seemed to have an issue with the size of their opponents. Something has to give as both wrestlers have defeated all of their 2024-25 opponents via bonus points. Haines comes in after pinning his last four foes. O’Toole has majored top-20 opponents in two of his last three matches. This matchup could have significant NCAA seeding implications. The winner holds the #1 spot in the rankings (for now) and the loser might have to go through #3 Dean Hamiti in the NCAA semis. Of course, O’Toole and Hamiti will likely meet twice before then, so there’s a lot of wrestling between now and NCAA seeding time. Ebert Watch One of the pleasant developments from the first month of the season was the emergence of Binghamton’s Will Ebert. In his season debut, Ebert stunned Big Ten champion and All-American Edmond Ruth. A day later, he picked up some quality wins at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Unfortunately, Ebert went 2-2 in Vegas - even though neither loss could be classified as “bad.” In his last outing, Ebert was knocked off by Long Island’s Anthony D’Alesio. Things don’t get any easier in Nashville as Ebert could face #1 Carter Starocci, #10 Colton Hawks, and #16 Brock DelSignore. That being said, a win or two could be all the momentum he needs for the remainder of the season. The Champs Top-ranked Penn State comes in with a 3-0 dual record and they’ve only lost two individual matches during their three duals. They’ve outscored the competition 131-6. Looking at the potential matchups, it’s hard to envision Binghamton, Little Rock, or Missouri being able to keep things competitive with the Nittany Lions. Of their ideal starters, only one has a loss so far this season. Dual to Watch: Penn State vs Little Rock. Circling back to the previous paragraph, I don’t see anyone on Sunday giving Penn State a run for their money or anything close to it. That being said, the Little Rock dual has a few intriguing matches - two of which the Trojans are currently favored in the rankings. At 133 lbs you have returning NCAA fourth-place finisher Nasir Bailey against Big Ten champion Braeden Davis. Bailey lost a tight bout at the All-Star Classic to Lucas Byrd and recently was stunned by Chattanooga’s Blake Boarman. Was there an injury in play? Was Bailey looking ahead to this weekend and Penn State? Davis has only three matches of experience this year at 133 lbs, so there isn’t much to judge him on. A meeting with Bailey would help where he fits in the pecking order of this wild weight class. Davis does have a loss on his resume as he dropped a close match to Lehigh’s top-ranked Ryan Crookham. The other highlighted matchup from this dual takes place at 197 lbs with #5 Stephen Little and #7 Josh Barr. Little took the country by surprise last year and ended up on the NCAA podium as a freshman. He isn’t sneaking up on anyone this year but currently holds a 6-0 record with five bonus-point wins. Barr was expected to wrestle 184 for the Nittany Lions this year, but bulked up as Starocci moved up. Barr showed what he was capable of during the Lehigh dual when he dismantled two-time All-American Michael Beard. That win sent him shooting up the rankings. Could he climb even higher after Sunday? In addition, there are several other matches with interesting storylines. At 149 lbs, second-ranked Shayne Van Ness will face #16 Jordan Williams. Earlier this week, Williams made his official debut with Little Rock - after previously competing unattached. Williams was a massive recruit coming out of high school for Oklahoma State. During his redshirt freshman season (2023-24), Williams was solid, but a bit inconsistent. With his talent and pedigree, if Williams can put it all together, he is someone who could challenge the likes of Van Ness. At 165 lbs, with #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink and #21 Joey Bianchi, you have a pair of wrestlers who are Wisconsin natives and set to do battle in Nashville.

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2024 Collegiate Duals: Day Two Preview

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