A 2021 Collegiate Duals meeting between Chris Foca (Cornell; left) and Carter Starocci (Penn State) (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickPhoto.com)Monday morning on "The First Word," Willie Saylor announced the teams that will participate in the 2022 National Collegiate Duals. The site of this year's location was also revealed to be New Orleans, Louisiana, which is a change from the 2021 event in Destin, Florida. The dates for the event will be December 19th and 20th. Since New Orleans is typically a hot tourist destination, but not one used often for wrestling, it will be interesting to see the potential fan turnout.
The teams for the Collegiate Duals, by conference, with InterMat's Preseason Dual rankings are:
ACC: #12 NC State, #19 North Carolina
Big 12: #13 Iowa State, #14 Northern Iowa
Big Ten: #1 Penn State, #4 Ohio State
EIWA: #5 Cornell, #21 Lehigh
MAC: Central Michigan, Lock Haven
Pac-12: #28 Cal Poly, Oregon State
Pools will be created so that teams in the same conference do not meet and schools that are already slated to wrestle in dual competition do not cross paths, either.
The format will be the same as last year's event. Four, three-team pools will be created. After wrestling the other two teams in a pool, teams will crossover to another pool to wrestle a team with a similar record.
Based off of current national rankings, this event will feature 9 top-30 teams and three of the top-five nationally. Five 2022 NCAA champions are expected two compete, along with two others from 2021.
The 2021 Collegiate Duals were the site of one of the season's best duals with Iowa edging NC State, so with these types of teams in attendance, something similar could happen again.
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