Daton Fix of Oklahoma State is expected to face a pair of NCAA finalists this weekend (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Note: All times listed are Eastern (ET).
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, but that still leaves college coaching staffs one additional weekend to pick up a few wins before releasing their wrestlers on Thanksgiving break.
Aside from the Lindenwood Open, Navy Classic, Roadrunner Open, and Wolfpack Wrestling Club Open, this weekend's schedule is loaded with exciting dual meets.
Friday
No. 5 Lehigh at No. 6 Michigan (7 p.m.)
Eleven of InterMat's top-25 teams will be in action on Friday night, and three duals will feature a pair of top-15 teams.
One top-10 dual that wrestling fans should have on their radar will take place on Friday night when coach Pat Santoro leads the fifth-ranked Lehigh Mountain Hawks to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on the sixth-ranked Wolverines at Cliff Keen Arena.
Friday's meeting will be the third time these teams have met in the past three seasons, with each side owning one win a piece. These teams met in early 2017 when the Wolverines grabbed six of the 10 matches and knocked off the then top-10 Mountain Hawks 24-13. Most recently (November 2017), Lehigh won eight of ten bouts and grabbed the 27-8 victory at the Leeman-Turner Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Friday night's rubber match could include several intriguing matchups. However, the Mountain Hawks are battling injuries and may be without some starters in the first half of their lineup.
A matchup to keep an eye on is at 174 pounds where Michigan's two-time All-American and third-ranked Myles Amine will face All-American and No. 7 Jordan Kutler. The two wrestlers split matches last season, with Amine winning the last one.
No. 12 Virginia Tech at No. 10 Missouri (8 p.m.)
Another Friday night dual to highlight is happening in Columbia, Missouri, when the 12th-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies travel to Columbia with hopes of stopping the red-hot Missouri Tigers from winning their 22 consecutive dual meet.
This dual meet was scheduled to feature five matches where ranked wrestlers will square off, but Virginia Tech's two-time All-American and fifth-ranked David McFadden is competing for Team USA at the U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania. This means the matchup between McFadden and Missouri's three-time All-American and fourth-ranked Daniel Lewis at 174 pounds has been placed on hold.
McFadden's absence holds significance because it's a potential nine-point swing in the dual meet. How so? Daniel Lewis has the most dangerous cradle in the country, and to go from a McFadden win to a Lewis fall could crush the Hokie's hopes of coming out of Columbia with a win.
Potential top-20 matchups:
133: No. 16 Korbin Myers vs. No. 10 John Erneste
149: No. 13 Ryan Blees vs. No. 4 Grant Leeth
174: No. 5 David McFadden vs. No. 4 Daniel Lewis
184: No. 14 Canten Marriott vs. No. 5 Zack Zavatsky
285: No. 20 Zach Elam vs. No. 8 Billy Miller
Other ranked teams in action:
No. 20 Rutgers at Hofstra (6 p.m.)
No. 7 Cornell at Binghamton (7 p.m.)
Princeton at No. 4 Iowa (8 p.m.)
No.15 Wisconsin at No.11 Nebraska (9 p.m.)
No. 3 Ohio State at Cal Baptist (10 p.m.)
No. 22 North Dakota State at Fresno State (10 p.m.)
Saturday
Navy Classic (10 a.m.)
Fifteen teams are expected to arrive in Annapolis, Maryland, for this weekend's Navy Classic. The tournament is expecting 16 top-20 wrestlers and could see a pair of top-10 finals matchups at 125 and 197.
At 125, three guys could make it to finals, but the favorites are Oregon State's returning All-American and third-ranked Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State) and Michigan State's RayVon Foley, who is currently ranked No. 9 in the nation.
The third potential finalist at 125 is No. 16 Shakur Laney (Ohio).
Another weight class where a top-10 matchup could be brewing is at 197 pounds where current No. 2 and last year's NCAA third-place finisher Kyle Conel (Kent State) could go toe-to-toe with Oregon State's Corey Griego, who is ranked No. 9 in the land.
Other top-level guys that are scheduled to compete at the Navy Classic are No. 9 Larry Early (Old Dominion, 157), No. 6 Sa'Derian Perry (Old Dominion, 141), No. 12 Josh Terao (American, 133), No. 10 Matt Voss (George Mason, 285) and No. 12 Cole Weaver (Indiana, 141)
No. 2 Oklahoma State at South Dakota State (7:30 p.m.)
Though South Dakota State is not ranked, this dual has arguably this week's most exciting wrestling match in the country. It'll be at 133 pounds where reigning NCAA champion and current No.1 Seth Gross will meet Oklahoma State's talented young superstar Daton Fix.
For Fix to knock off the reigning NCAA champion, he has to chain-wrestle and put multiple attacks together on his feet. Gross is defensively-sound and extremely difficult to score on, so Fix cannot allow Gross to dictate the pace of the match by getting stuck underneath on his shots. Quick finishes are going to be key in this bout.
Other ranked teams in action:
No. 21 North Carolina at No. 8 Arizona State (2 p.m.)
Sunday
Wrestling fans can clear their Sunday schedule, as there's a pair of top-10 duals slated for noon and 4 p.m.
No. 3 Ohio State at No. 8 Arizona State (2 p.m.)
First up, it'll be coach Tom Ryan and the Buckeyes traveling west to take on coach Zeke Jones and the Sun Devils in Tempe, Arizona.
Ohio State will be without All-Americans Myles Martin and Kollin Moore. Like McFadden, both will be competing at the U23 World Championships this weekend.
Arizona State's reigning 174-pound NCAA champion Zahid Valencia will take on Ohio State's Te'Shan Campbell who is currently ranked No. 11. There is a chance the Buckeyes could send out Ethan Smith too. Smith defeated Campbell last weekend.
Potential top-20 matchups:
149: No. 3 Micah Jordan vs. No. 11 Josh Maruca
174: No. 11 Te'Shan Campbell/Ethan Smith vs. No.1 Zahid Valencia
No. 2 Oklahoma State at No. 9 Minnesota (5 p.m.)
The second top-10 dual of the day will take place when the Golden Gophers welcome Coach John Smith and the Oklahoma State Cowboys to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a Big Ten vs. Big 12 clash of titans.
This dual is scheduled to pit ranked wrestlers against each other in seven of the 10 bouts.
At 133 pounds, the Cowboy freshman Fix will wrestle his second NCAA finalist of the weekend. As previously mentioned, he'll take on reigning NCAA champion Seth Gross on Saturday, and then will have Minnesota's 2017 NCAA runner-up Ethan Lizak on Sunday.
On Saturday we get to see what Fix has to offer from an offensive stand point, and on Sunday we get to see how good his mat wrestling is when he wrestles Lizak, one of the most top wrestlers in the nation.
Aside from Fix, another freshman superstar who will have all eyes on them will be Gophers big-man Gable Steveson. The three-time age-level world champion has stated that he's interested in competing for the Gophers this year, but Minnesota has not officially pulled his redshirt.
If Steveson gets what he wants and the Gophers pull his redshirt, his first official college match will be against third-ranked Derek White.
Potential top-20 matchups:
125: No. 4 Nick Piccininni vs. No. 5 Sean Russell
133: No. 9 Daton Fix vs. No. 6 Ethan Lizak
141: No. 5 Kaid Brock vs. No. 8 Mitchell McKee
149: No. 5 Boo Lewallen vs. No. 18 Tommy Thorn
157: No. 17 Andrew Shomers vs. No. 11 Steve Bleise
174: No. 8 Chandler Rogers vs. No. 20 Devin Skatzka
285: No. 3 Derek White vs. No. 5 Gable Steveson
Other Sunday ranked duals:
No. 12 Virginia Tech at No. 17 Northwestern (3 p.m.)
No. 24 Utah Valley at No. 15 Wisconsin (3 p.m.)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now