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    Photo: Wyoming athletics

    Unique Dual Venues for the 2024-25 Season

    With the collegiate wrestling season ready to kick off fans are once again excited to fill up the iconic arenas throughout the country such as Carver Hawkeye Arena, Hilton Coliseum, Rec Hall, or Gallagher-Iba Arena. However, it is becoming more and more common for high-level duals and other competitions to take place in other non-traditional venues. Could it be possible that these events outside of traditional campuses allow matches to air on more and more streaming services? The answer is likely yes. It also can create a different environment and hopefully stir up interest around the competition. Whatever the reason, it has led to matches taking place in some interesting spots. In the end, you only really need to roll out a mat and set up a scoring table for a collegiate wrestling match. The following looks at some of the unique venues that will host NCAA Division I wrestling this season.

     

    October 31st –  The “Dual at the Daddy” Wyoming vs. Campbell

    Campbell has been at the forefront of avant-garde venues in the collegiate wrestling world. During the 2022-2023 season, the Fighting Camels wrestled Michigan and North Carolina in an airplane hangar at the military base formerly known as Fort Bragg. At one point it rained, and a match had to be delayed while they repositioned an aircraft and closed the hangar doors.

    Last year, they faced off against Wyoming in the aptly named “Battle in the Barn,” which, you guessed it, took place in a barn. Of course, it was a very nice barn at the Deerwood Ranch in Laramie, Wyoming. Per the website, the wedding venue features “rehearsal, ceremony and reception spaces” as well as a “bridal suite that features a queen bed, full bathroom and plenty of space to get ready!”

    Campbell and Wyoming are back at it this year with the “Dual at the Daddy.” I initially envisioned a match hosted by Alex Cooper of “Call Her Daddy” podcast fame, but apparently, this is not the case. The daddy in question here is, per the press release, “Frontier Park, the home of Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Daddy of 'em All.” For the uninitiated, the Cheyenne Frontier Days is the “World’s Largest Outdoor Rodeo and Western Celebration” and was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2008.

    An outdoor rodeo sounds like a pretty awesome venue for a wrestling match. The event will air live on UFC Fight Pass. Speaking of UFC, I wonder if the MMA/rodeo reporter who wanted Dana White to help brand her will be in attendance. 

     

    November 1st - Chattanooga vs. Virginia Tech at Roanoke College

    The Southeast Open has become one of the premier events of the opening weekend of the collegiate season. A few years ago, it moved to the campus of Roanoke College - which is about 40 miles away from Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus. Since most of the Hokies will be in town for the open, they figured you may as well have a dual, too. 

    Roanoke is a DIII program that is led by former Virginia Tech assistant coach Nate Yetzer. 

     

    November 8th – Throwdown on the Yorktown (Army West Point, Gardner-Webb, The Citadel, Virginia)

    The USS Yorktown is an aircraft carrier that was built during World War II for the U.S. Navy. The ship participated in several campaigns during the war and served as the recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission. Despite the long service, the ship was parked in Charleston in 1975 and eventually declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

    In a few weeks, the carrier will host eight collegiate teams for six duals: The Citadel vs Army, The Citadel vs Virginia, Gardner-Webb vs Army, Gardner-Webb vs Virginia, Lander v Newberry, Presbyterian vs Campbellsville (women’s match).

    However, this will not be the first attempt to host a collegiate sporting event on the Yorktown. In 2012 Marquette was scheduled to face off against Ohio State in a basketball game. The massive ship managed to hold over 8,000 spectators, but the game was ultimately canceled due to slippery conditions 

    Hopefully, something can be done to keep the mats dry. Wrestlers are, by nature, resilient folk, but competing on a slick surface is exceedingly difficult. Perhaps Jordan Burroughs could provide the athletes with some pointers considering he pulled out a victory over rival Frank Chamizo on a slippery Manhattan pier at the 2018 Beat the Streets event.

     

    November 15th - Campbell vs. Nebraska at Jim Perry Stadium

    Campbell appears on the list again as the Camels will host Nebraska in a dual that takes place on their baseball field. This is something we’ve seen from Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech in recent years. Aside from wrestling, baseball is one of the most successful programs at Campbell and current major leaguers Zach Neto and Cedric Mullins both starred on the diamond for the Camels. 

     

    November 16th – American vs. Maryland at Bullis School

    The annual DMV battle between American and Maryland will take place this year at The Bullis School, a private K-12 school in Potomac, Maryland (DMV stands for DC, Maryland, and Virginia, but it has been mislabelled as Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia by Bill Walton and Clay Sauertieg). Here are some interesting facts about Bullis. First, it was the high school home of Cadet world champion Meyer Shapiro before he transferred to Wyoming Seminary. It is the current school of Olympic gold medalist sprinter Quincy Wilson. I once wrestled so poorly at Bullis summer camp that a coach told me “Stalling is no way to go through life.” 

     

    November 17th – Jersey Jostle (Long Island, NC State, Princeton Rutgers) at RWJBarnabas Health Arena

    InterMat’s Friday columnist Jagger and I absolutely love to come up with alliterative names for wrestling events. We often spend hours simply throwing out names like “Rumble at the Roulette Table,” “Combat in the Cab Line” or “Brawl at the Breakfast Buffet,” but I am not sure even we could come up with the name Jersey Jostle.

    Speaking of names, RWJBarnabas Health Arena is actually the fourth name of the nearly 3500-seat venue in Toms River, New Jersey. It was originally called the Ritacco Center after then-superintendent of Toms River Regional Schools Michael Ritacco. However, it was changed to the Poland Spring Arena after Ritacco got caught up in a bribery scandal and was arrested by the FBI in 2010. 

     

    November 16th – Missouri vs. Northern Iowa at Arrowhead High School

    Arrowhead is one of the top high school wrestling programs in the state of Wisconsin. Per the school district website, the “Warhawks have claimed numerous individual and team conference titles throughout the years. At the state level, Warhawk wrestlers have boasted countless state qualifiers with many claiming medals, 31 state finalists, and 21 Individual state champions.”

    It is also the alma mater of Missouri’s two-time NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole, who will be having a homecoming of sorts later this month. Thanks to the Ben Askren pipeline, Missouri has had a lot of success recruiting from Arrowhead. Northern Iowa’s national champion Parker Keckeisen is also an Askren product and will also have his own set of fans. 

     

    November 22nd - Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech at Moss Arts Center

    The Moss Arts Center dual is one of those that started this trend of wrestling in unique environments. The duals in this venue take place on a stage and feature acoustics and lighting options that typically aren’t available in typical wrestling gyms. Virginia Tech tends to have at least one dual per season in the Moss Arts Center. A dual in this environment is fun regardless, but having an opponent of Rutgers’ caliber makes it even better. 

     

    December 15th – Cal Baptist vs. West Virginia at Oak Glen High School

    O’Toole won’t be the only current wrestler returning to their high school for a collegiate dual. West Virginia’s Peyton Hall, a two-time All-American, will also get that opportunity as the Mountaineers will wrestler Cal Baptist at Oak Glen High School.

    The West Virginia school, which sits about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh, has an enrollment of less than 600 students, and Hall is likely one of the most famous alumni. However, there is another grappler from Oak Glen who might be more well-known to the masses. Current WWE professional wrestler Joaquin Wilde also spent his high school days at the school before moving on to West Virginia for college. 

     

    December 20th and 21st – Journeymen Collegiate Duals (Iowa State, Lock Haven, North Carolina, Ohio State, Binghamton, Little Rock, Missouri, Penn State) at the Ensworth Frist Campus

    For the last few years, the Journeymen Collegiate Duals was one of the top regular season events, and this year looks to be no different. I was actually all set to attend last year in New Orleans before realizing I bought flights and booked a hotel room for the wrong weekend. This year; the event heads to Nashville and will take place on the Frist Campus of The Ensworth School.

    While the school was originally only kindergarten to eighth grade, it expanded to a high school in 2004. The addition of the new grades resulted in the construction of the new Frist Campus. Since the school is in Nashville, it would be safe to assume it is named after Frist family, which includes former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist who represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2007. While in Washington, Frist had a son who wrestled on the high school level and even faced off against my high school teammate in the DC-is-not-actually-a-state state tournament. 

     

    January 10th and 11th – Virginia Duals (Bucknell, Iowa State and Rider) at the Hampton Coliseum 

    This year will be the 44th annual edition of the Virginia Duals. It might not have very much high-level Division I star power, but there will still be the smaller college division and the multiple high school divisions. The Hampton Coliseum might not be the most up-to-date arena, but it is very rich with history. Dusty Rhodes wrestled 12 times in the venue and even successfully defended the NWA world heavyweight title over Roddy Piper in 1981. Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and Grateful Dead all recorded live albums in the venue. (InterMat site editor Earl Smith took his now-wife, then-girlfriend to a Nickelback concert at the Coliseum). 

    The Hampton Coliseum will always be special to me since I actually competed in the Virginia Duals when I was in college. Of course, when I say competed, I mean, I did my best to run the riding time clock while my team pulled out a 22-15 dual victory over the Apprentice trade school in the seventh-place match of the eight-team American College Division. 

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