Leaderboard

This week is headlined by Cliff Keen Las Vegas with one of the best regular-season tournament fields we've seen in a while. The storylines there are innumerable and we hit on some of them below while sprinkling in some other not-so-obvious hot spots as well. Here's what I'm zoning in on for Week 4. 5. What Will Lehigh Do With McGonagle? Lehigh has a good problem on their hands. They have two of the undisputedly best 133lbers in the country. And I could say this every week until it gets resolved, but will we learn anything in their dual with Penn State this weekend? Who will start at 133? Can Malyke Hines move up to 149 creating a space for Crookham or McGonagle at 141? 4. SIU-Edwardsville Put Together a Heck of A Field While everyone is sure to be glued to CKLV, SIUE’s Cougar Clash is a must-follow, too. I have three things to really zero in on here: Can Missouri’s lightweights contribute - namely Noah Surtin, Zeke Seltzer, and Josh Edmond. Little Rock’s Promising Freshmen - Nasir Bailey, Kyle Dutton, and Stephen Little Minnesota Veterans: Pat McKee, Michael Blockhus, Andrew Sparks and Isaiah Salazar 3. The Mess That is 125 Nationally (At CKLV) 125 nationally has been a glorious mess with no definitively staking the claim as top dog and too many conflicting results to make sense of. The field at CKLV only has three former All-Americans - Matt Ramos, Michael DeAugustino, and Brandon Kaylor. But the weight is loaded with up-and-comers and guys that have been knocking on the door. Will the top seeds hold serve or will the revolving door at 125 continue? 2. How Good Can ISU Be This Year? Iowa State is coming off a heartbreaking loss to rival Iowa. But while they may have lost that battle, there are plenty of reasons to walk away optimistic. Evan Frost (133) and Casey Swiderski (149) beat proven veterans Brody Teske and Victor Voinovich. Anthony Echemendia (141) and Cody Chittum (157) took All Americans to the brink. The Cyclones are flirting with a Top 10 NCAA tournament projection and any uptick in performance from these four guys could push them into podium contender status. 1. CKLV Team Race Nebraska has only entered the last five CKLV tournaments. It was interesting timing as that is exactly when CKLV became the best regular-season tournament in the country, surpassing Midlands and Southern Scuffle. And they won it the last three years - and this tournament is objectively the toughest of those five. And while this field is the greatest in tournament history, it might be to Nebraska’s benefit. But how can that be? Because the deeper a tournament is, the more valuable the upper echelon is. And Nebraska has the most sure things with #4-Hardy, #1-Ridge, and #3-PRobb will all be top 2 seeds. The depth of the tournament actually helps Nebraska this year. And they lead the field with seven Top 6 seeds. Cornell, who is missing Vito Arajau for this tournament, has five in the Top 7 plus Meyer Shapiro who is regarded as the best incoming freshman in the country. Iowa State is another threat. They don’t have a lot of high seeds but they have six in the Top 8 and three new faces - Anthony Echemendia, Casey Swiderski, and Cody Chittum who are more than capable of reaching the podium both here and at NCAA’s.

We are a month into the season and we’ve had so much incredible action already. Let’s take a look at the top 5 takeaways from the month of November as we get ready to turn the page to the second month of the season. Ohio State Starts Season Strong The Buckeyes have had a great start to the 2023-24 season. With four dual meets under their belt, they’ve come out on top in each and have only lost four dual meet matches going 36-4. After getting their first win on the road to kick off the season against Virginia Tech, who was favored in the matchup, they won the next three without relinquishing a match beating Edinboro 53-0, Columbia 49-0, and Hofstra 51-0. They also brought home 4 titles from the season-opening Clarion Open resulting in a Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honor for Freshman Rocco Welsh. In the midst of all the winning, Coach Tom Ryan went over the 200-win mark for his career. Now they will look to carry that momentum into the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational this weekend. Penn State Flexes to Open Season The Nittany Lions haven’t had a dual meet just yet, but they’ve been showing out. Specifically, as they played host for the All-Star Classic, they put on a show winning four of the five matches where they were represented in the classic with the biggest performance coming in the finale as Greg Kerkvliet beat Wyatt Hendrickson by 18-2 technical fall in their rematch of the 2023 NCAA Championship semifinals. Not to be outdone, the pair of three-time NCAA Champs – Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197) – each claimed major decision wins. Starocci shutout #2 Mekhi Lewis with an emphatic 11-0 result and Brooks followed two bouts later with an 11-2 major over #3 Tanner Sloan. Shayne Van Ness got the Nittany Lions rolling with an action-packed 5-1 win over #3 Kyle Parco at 149. Before the Classic they claimed a number of titles at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic and the Army Black Knight Invite. Certainly, all of this is expected by the reigning and defending champs, and with their dual meet season about to get started this weekend when they host Lehigh, we will get our first glimpse of their full lineup with their newest additions. Maryland Takes Hard-Fought Loss to Pitt The Terrapins hosted Pittsburgh in College Park Maryland last week where they dropped a close dual to the 18th-ranked Panthers. Despite getting “upset” wins at 133 and 141 from Braxton Brown and Kal Miller, respectively, they weren’t able to keep it together with most of the upper weights. Coach Clemsen said, “Felt like we let one slip away. To win big matches you have to secure bonus point opportunities and not give them up on the other side. Credit to Pitt, they did a better job there”. The dual came down to the wire, and in a battle of ranked heavyweights, Pitt got the 4-3 win to seal the dual. Duals provide the best drama. Win or lose, this was an awesome one to watch. Maryland will be splitting their team up this weekend, as several head to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, while others will head to the George Mason Open. Coach Clemsen had this to say about the upcoming weekend: “All but 2 or 3 healthy bodies are competing this weekend. Really excited for that. To get better you have to test yourself and see where you are and then get back in the lab and work. We will keep doing that until someone comes up with a better way.” Purdue Has Seen Some Highs and Lows Already Matt Ramos pulled a Lloyd Christmas and totally redeemed himself with an NWCA All-Star Classic win over top-ranked Anthony Noto of Lock Haven. Noto is a proven commodity at the weight, and though this was an exhibition, it’s still a nice win for a guy whose season hasn’t started the way he probably envisioned. Other impressive moments from the Boilermakers have been Joey Blaze, who has looked solid, and is now ranked in the top 15 at 157 as a true freshman. As a whole, this team looks to be coming together. They are 3-1 on the season, with wins over Army and Northern Illinois, and their lone loss being to the Wolfpack of NC State. These guys have shown growth and it’s still early in the season. Their young contingent of wrestlers will be traveling to Las Vegas this weekend looking to see where they stack up against the nation's best. Iowa’s New Look Lineup Living Up to Hawkeye Standard Brands and Co. did it again. For the 19th consecutive year, they won the CyHawk dual and this time in dramatic fashion on the road in front of a sold-out crowd in Ames, IA. There are a lot of things that have been said about a number of things like the officiating, reaction time, riding time, and time on the clock, that could have had an impact on the results of the dual. But what is lost in the shuffle, and should get more recognition, is that they had the confidence and wherewithal to bump Gabe Arnold up to 184 for the dual. They had the insight to know that they needed six wins to get this done, and the pieces to make those decisions to get it done. Arnold has been everything we expected, and then some. The only questions I have regarding Arnold at this point are: why does he wear his knee pad backward? Should I be doing that? Should we all be doing that? These are questions we need answers to. Up next they travel to Philadelphia where they take on the Quakers of Penn on Friday at 6pm EST on ESPN+. Bonus Points: To get ready for CKLV, check out the conversation with our conference correspondents Ryan Holmes, Austin Sommer, Kevin Claunch, and Robbie Wendell as they chat about the potential field and who they are excited to see.

Friday marks the start of one of the tentpole events of the collegiate regular season, the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Typically, the CKLV has an argument for being the toughest in-season tournament in the country. This year there’s no argument. Seven of the top-ten tournament teams in the country will attend. Going further, the field includes 14 of the top-20 teams. From an individual standpoint, five weights have a wrestler that ranked either number one or number two at their respective weights. It’s no exaggeration when someone says that this is like a mini-National Tournament. Last year’s tournament featured six wrestlers who went on to wrestle in the NCAA finals. With an even stronger field expected, that number could rise in 2023. Here’s a weight-by-weight look at the CKLV. In each weight, we’ve noted the ranked wrestlers that are expected to compete, along with analysis, new faces to watch, potential spoilers, and picks for the semifinals and finals. Since this tournament (and the preview) is so large, we’ll break it into two parts. Part one will focus on 125-157 and part two hits the upperweights. Part two will be released later today. 125 lbs Ranked Wrestlers: #2 Matt Ramos (Purdue), #5 Michael DeAugustino (Michigan), #8 Brett Ungar (Cornell), #9 Caleb Smith (Nebraska), #11 Jore Volk (Wyoming), #14 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State), #16 Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State), #18 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) #20 Nico Provo (Stanford), #21 Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State), #22 Tucker Owens (Air Force), #23 Brendan McCrone (Ohio State), #24 Nick Babin (Columbia), #25 Diego Sotelo (Harvard), #27 Spencer Moore (North Carolina), #31 Dominic Mendez (Cal Poly), #32 Eli Griffin (California Baptist) Right off the bat, we’ve got an extremely deep field at 125 lbs. Half of the placewinners from the 2022 tournament are back, led by Matt Ramos, the runner-up a year ago. Ramos is fresh off a huge win at the All-Star Classic and is looking to establish momentum. The remaining 2022 placers that are expected to compete are Brandon Kaylor (4th), Tanner Jordan (6th), and Brett Ungar (7th). This weight class has already established itself as unpredictable and loaded with talent. For those reasons, it’s easy to see the brackets exploding as lower-seeded wrestlers pull what appears to be an upset, on paper. The only placewinner from pre-2022 is Michael DeAugustino who used this tournament to announce his presence when he took third as a redshirt freshman in 2019 for Northwestern. Now at Michigan, DeAugustino will look to throw his name into the national title discussion with a win in Vegas. However this weight class unfolds, the quarterfinal matchups should be unreal. Wrestlers like Kaylor, Jordan, and Kysen Terukina could end up holding the six-through-eight seeds. New face(s): Oklahoma State comes to Vegas for the first time in recent memory and they have a redshirt freshman, Troy Spratley, who could shake things up. Spratley is five-for-five this year in logging tech falls, though he’s yet to face a ranked opponent. Potential spoiler: Spencer Moore has been very impressive during the first month of the season. Moore hit the mat in 2021-22 as an undersized, young true freshman and generally held his own. After a redshirt season, Moore is doing more than holding his own. He already owns a win over All-American and Vegas placer Brandon Kaylor. This deep field will present him with the opportunity to have more wins of that caliber and fly up the rankings. Semifinal Projection: Matt Ramos (Purdue) vs. Jore Volk (Wyoming); Michael DeAugustino (Michigan) vs. Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) Finals Pick: Matt Ramos (Purdue) over Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) 133 lbs Ranked Wrestlers: #1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State), #4 Kai Orine (NC State), #8 Evan Frost (Iowa State), #10 Julian Chlebove (Arizona State), #11 Angelo Rini (Columbia), #12 Brendan Ferretti (Navy), #14 Dom Zaccone (Campbell), #15 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State), #23 Haiden Drury (Utah Valley), #26 Caden McCrary (North Carolina), #26 Gabe Whisenhunt (Oregon State), #27 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska), #29 Richie Koehler (Rider), #31 Ethan Oakley (Appalachian State) Unfortunately, we won’t get to see a Vito Arujau/Daton Fix rematch as Vito is not expected to enter. That’s ok, because there’s still some intrigue around this weight. This is a weight that largely has young and/or unproven wrestlers (at the collegiate level) after your top contenders. That should allow us to get a better grasp on who is truly a podium threat at 133 lbs. Someone at this weight who has proven himself time and time again is four-time All-American Daton Fix. Fix has won just about everything this is to win at the collegiate level; however, since OSU hasn’t been to Vegas, this could be a first for him. Fix has only seen action in one dual this year and prevailed with a fall over national qualifier Kurt Phipps of Bucknell. The other returning All-American at this weight is Kai Orine. Orine went 2-2 at this tournament in 2022, but bounced back to pull a couple of upsets and win the ACC title. He later would make the NCAA podium for the first time finishing eighth. The biggest jumper in this week’s rankings is Evan Frost, who moved up to number eight after a huge third period against Iowa veteran Brody Teske. That win now puts a bulls-eye on Frost’s back as one of the guys to beat this week and going forward. We’ll see how he responds. New face(s): There are quite a few of them here. We’ve already mentioned Frost. Perhaps the highest-profile freshman in this weight is U20 world bronze medalist Nic Bouzakis. During his first competition, Bouzakis suffered a loss to Columbia’s Angelo Rini. I’m sure, however the brackets break, he wouldn’t mind another crack at the Lion senior. Lingering near the bottom of the rankings are Gabe Whisenhunt and Jacob Van Dee. Both are redshirt freshmen who have shown some promise in the early going. Van Dee was a runner-up at the Navy Classic and Whisenhunt downed Caden McCrary (also in the field) and won the Southeast Open during the first week of the season. Potential Spoiler: Utah Valley’s Haiden Drury will be lurking in that eight-to-ten range as a seed. There’s a potential Round of 16 match between him and Bouzakis if everyone stays in the bracket. Drury was a 2022 national qualifier and looks back to that form after a finals appearance at the Keystone Classic. Semifinal Projection: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. Julian Chlebove (Arizona State), Kai Orine (NC State) vs. Evan Frost (Iowa State) Finals Pick: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) over Kai Orine (NC State) 141 lbs Ranked Wrestlers: #3 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina), #4 Brock Hardy (Nebraska), #5 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), #7 Ryan Jack (NC State), #9 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa), #12 Kal Miller (Maryland), #14 Vince Cornella (Cornell), #18 Josh Koderhandt (Navy), #19 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State), #21 Cleveland Belton (Oregon State), #24 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State), #29 Jason Miranda (Stanford), #32 Sergio Lemley (Michigan), #33 McKenzie Bell (Rider) What a weight class we have at 141 lbs. The top-four finishers from the 2022 are all back and have entered. That iteration of the tournament saw Brock Hardy prevail over Cael Happel, while Ryan Jack defeated Josh Koderhandt for third place. Hardy went on to make the Big Ten finals before finishing sixth at his first NCAA tournament. In the consolations, he suffered a loss to Lachlan McNeil, who has started the year ranked ahead of him and is expected to receive the top seed. McNeil recently scored a controlling victory over Koderhandt at the All-Star Classic. Even though McNeil is a high NCAA placewinner (4th), he has yet to defeat Ryan Jack, a conference foe that he might see in the semifinals. Though Jack defeated Hardy early in the 2022-23 season, Hardy did get revenge in Vegas. Another name to add to the list of title contenders is Jesse Mendez. Mendez is up at 141 lbs after finishing sixth in the nation as a true freshman. He’s 6-0 this season with a title at the Clarion Open and nothing but bonus points on his resume. One of the stories of last year’s 141 lb bracket was Cael Happel making the finals after starting with the 11th seed. Happel’s only action of the year thus far took place at the Daktronics Open, where he captured a title with three bonus point-filled matches. New face(s): Once again, we have a redshirt freshman from Oklahoma State who is capable of shaking things up at 141 lbs. This one is Tagen Jamison. In his last outing, Jamison captured a title at the Lindenwood Open after defeating teammate Sammy Alvarez, a past national qualifier for Rutgers. From the ranks of the true freshmen comes Sergio Lemley. So far, Lemley is 5-1 this young season. Before the Thanksgiving break, he notched a tech fall victory against past national qualifier McKenzie Bell. Potential Spoiler: On Sunday we saw Anthony Echemendia push top-ranked Real Woods to the brink in the Cyclone's loss to Iowa. Now, Echemendia will head to Vegas with a seed somewhere between seven and ten. Provided the weight cut goes well, he could likely outwrestle whatever his seed ends up being. Semifinal Projection: Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) vs. Ryan Jack (NC State); Brock Hardy (Nebraska) vs. Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) Finals Pick: Brock Hardy (Nebraska) over Ryan Jack (NC State) 149 lbs Ranked Wrestlers: #1 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska), #3 Kyle Parco (Arizona State), #4 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech), #5 Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State), #6 Jackson Arrington (NC State), #7 Chance Lamer (Cal Poly), #9 Jaden Abas (Stanford), #11 Ethen Miller (Maryland), #12 Quinn Kinner (Rider), #13 Casey Swiderski (Iowa State), #14 Jordan Williams (Oklahoma State), #25 Cody Bond (Appalachian State), #32 Gabe Willochell (Wyoming) This is another excellent weight with six of the top-seven wrestlers in the nation expected to do battle. Ridge Lovett was a 2022 NCAA finalist who redshirted last year. He has twice finished third in Vegas and is looking to get over that semifinal hump. In his last appearance at the CKLV, Lovett gave Yianni Diakomihalis all he could handle in that aforementioned round. Chasing Lovett are four All-Americans in Kyle Parco, Caleb Henson, Dylan D’Emilio, and Jaden Abas along with talented sophomores Jackson Arrington, Chance Lamer, and Ethen Miller. Last year, Parco was a runner-up with Arrington taking fifth and Lamer seventh. D’Emilio also got on the medal stand; he was eighth at 141 lbs. Maybe more so than most weights in this tournament, 149’s rankings next will really be turned on their head by the results here. Nine of the top ten seeds enter this tournament unbeaten, so something has to give! Only D’Emilio comes in with a loss and he was beaten by Henson in a dual meet the second week of the season. 149 is also one of only four weights in this tournament where the potential top-three seeds all come from different conferences. That can be fun as we may end up seeing some potential matches that won’t take place in dual meets or at a conference tournament. New face(s): This may be a recurring theme and it wasn’t planned this way, but look out for yet another Oklahoma State redshirt freshman. Here it’s Jordan Williams. Williams bonused his way through the Lindenwood Open with his most significant win coming over teammate and two-time national qualifier Carter Young. Potential Spoiler: Look out for the veteran from Rider Quinn Kinner. In his first bout of the season, Kinner turned in a one-sided upset of 2023 Round of 12 finisher Graham Rooks of Indiana. That same weekend he defeated another national qualifier in SIU Edwardsville’s Caleb Tyus. With the top-ten being so heavily represented, Kinner may receive a seed that is lower than you might expect. Even if that’s the case, I don’t see it negatively impacting him. Semifinal Projection: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) vs. Quinn Kinner (Rider); Kyle Parco (Arizona State) vs. Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) Finals Pick: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) over Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) 157 lbs Ranked Wrestlers: #3 Peyton Robb (Nebraska), #4 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State), #5 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech), #6 Will Lewan (Michigan), #8 Ed Scott (NC State), #9 Daniel Cardenas (Stanford), #10 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern), #13 Cael Swensen (South Dakota State), #15 Joey Blaze (Purdue), #16 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State), #18 Cody Chittum (Iowa State), #19 Peyten Kellar (Ohio), #20 Tommy Askey (Appalachian State), #21 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell), #29 Chris Earnest (Campbell), #31 Legend Lamer (Cal Poly), #32 RJ Weston (Northern Iowa) This is by far my favorite weight of the tournament. In addition to five returning All-Americans, there is a trio of talented freshmen that could shake the bracket up. The returning champion, Peyton Robb, is back and assumes the top seed. By looking at Robb’s results this season, you’d have no idea that he suffered a severe leg infection at the 2023 NCAA Championships that nearly cost him the limb. Robb is 7-0 with a tournament title at the Navy Classic and has bonus points in six of those bouts. One of the indelible images from the 2022 national tournament was Robb and Jacori Teemer lying next to each other, completely spent, at the conclusion of their consolation semifinal bout. If seeds were to hold, we could have another meeting between the two in the finals. In Teemer’s only bout of the season, he had to default out after suffering an apparent head injury. Since he’s entered and other ASU studs are not, it’s safe to say it’s not as serious as it could’ve been. But it’s always something to monitor in this tournament. Now, this weight is way too deep to be projecting a Robb/Teemer final just yet. The ACC contingent has a pair of All-Americans in Bryce Andonian and Ed Scott. Both are dangerous and throw the kitchen sink at you for seven straight minutes. Andonian leads the career series between the two; however, Scott was victorious in the most recent bout (2023 NCAA’s). Will Lewan represents the other returning All-American in the bracket. Not only has Lewan gotten on the NCAA podium in each of the last two years, but he’s also placed fourth at the two most recent CKLV tournaments. This bracket is full of different stylistic matchups as Lewan is the opposite of Andonian/Scott and is very deliberate with his attacks. In addition to the All-Americans, there are two returning NCAA bloodround finishers in the mix with Daniel Cardenas and Cael Swensen. Cardenas was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and an InterMat All-Freshman team member after winning his conference and going 24-3 overall. He was prevented from earning All-American honors by Scott in sudden victory in the Round of 12. Swensen was fifth in the Big 12 last season before putting together a very strong NCAA tournament. He lost to Lewan in the Round of 12. Swensen is looking to get back on the winning track after an overtime loss to Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) on Sunday. We’ve done all this talking and still haven’t gotten around to Big Ten studs like Trevor Chumbley and Paddy Gallagher. Both are ranked in the top-16 nationally. New face(s): Oh, we’ve got some good ones to talk about with freshmen Joey Blaze, Cody Chittum, and Meyer Shapiro. Blaze is currently ranked the highest as he already has a win over a returning All-American (Ed Scott). Before his win over Scott, at WrangleMania, Blaze also knocked off returning qualifier Nate Lukez of Army. Chittum was seen by a national audience getting oh-so-close to upsetting #2 Jared Franek in Sunday’s Cy-Hawk Dual. Franek tends to wrestle close matches so, we’ll see how he fares against other top contenders at this weight - which he’ll undoubtedly face in Vegas. Maybe the most anticipated Vegas debut is Shapiro the U17 and U20 world champion who was tabbed the number one overall recruit in the Class of 2023. Shapiro has been utterly dominant thus far, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to face any of the top wrestlers at this weight….yet. Looking at preseeds, a trip to the finals from Shapiro would require him to potentially beat Andonian (Round of 16), Cardenas (Quarterfinals), and Teemer (Semifinals). Tournaments like this are important to really get a feel for a freshman’s standing in the rankings. It’s one thing to get a good win in a dual, but beating this type of competition in back-to-back-to-back matches, potentially on the same day, is a different animal. Potential Spoiler: We’ve mentioned most of the top contenders and this weight is so top-heavy it’s hard to imagine too many others playing spoiler, but we should probably mention Peyten Kellar. Kellar is 6-0 with falls in three of his five matches while winning the Southeast Open. Semifinal Projection: Peyton Robb (Nebraska) vs. Ed Scott (NC State); Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) vs. Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) Finals Pick: Peyton Robb (Nebraska) over Meyer Shapiro (Cornell)

Below is a recap of last week’s EIWA action, with individual news and highlights worth noting. Key Takeaways American defeats George Mason in the “Turkey Tussle” dual Carter Baer of Binghamton wins the Mat Town Open Cornell dominates by winning 6 weights at the Mat Town Open American The Eagles squared off against George Mason on Tuesday before Thanksgiving in the ‘Turkey Tussle.” American won six of ten bouts, and Maida had the only bonus point victory for American. American 21 George Mason 15 141 - Cael McIntyre (AU) dec. Dom Hargrove (Mason), 4-2 (AU 3-0) 149 - Kaden Cassidy (Mason) tech. fall Gage Owen (AU), 15-0, 1:38 (Mason 5-3) 157 - DJ McGee (Mason) dec. Jack Nies (AU), 7-6 (Mason 8-3) 165 - Evan Maag (Mason) major dec. Kaden Milheim (AU), 12-2 (Mason 12-3) 174 - Lucas White (AU) dec. Paul Pierce (Mason), 4-0 (Mason 12-6) 184 - Connor Bourne (AU) dec. Sean Coughlin (Mason), 5-2 (Mason 12-9) 197 - Carsten Rawls (AU) dec. Ruben Karapetyan (Mason), 4-1 SV (Tied 12-12) 285 - #31 Chad Nix (Mason) dec. Will Jarrell (AU), 9-7 (Mason 15-12) 125 - #14 Jack Maida (AU) pinned JB Dragovich (Mason), 3:33 (AU 18-15) 133 - Maximilian Leete (AU) dec. Shawn Nonaka (Mason), 4-2 (AU 21-15) Next up for American is a dual on Saturday against Davidson. Army The Black Knights were off for the holiday week. They will return after Thanksgiving and compete at the Cougar Clash at SIUE. Binghamton The Bearcats had a few wrestlers compete at the Mat Town Open in Lock Haven. Carter Baer took home gold at 157 lbs. Carson Wagner had a nice win over Kurt McHenry of PSU. He went on to place second. Dimitri Gamkrelidze took silver at the 174 lb bracket, as Will Ebert was fourth, in a bracket loaded with Cornell wrestlers. At 133lbs, Ryan Hartung was fourth. There was an interesting match-up for third place at 141 lbs. Nate Lucier defeated his teammate Ivan Garcia 7-3. It looks as if this may have been a wrestle-off for the starting spot. Charlie Tibbits earned third place in the heavyweight bracket. Overall, it was a successful day for BU. They will compete at the Cliff Keen Invite in Las Vegas this weekend. Brown The Bears of Brown University will be off for a few weeks. They do not compete until right before the Christmas Holiday. Bucknell The Bison were off for the break. They have a dual at #29 Wisconsin on Sunday. Columbia The Lions will travel to Sin City for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite. Cornell The Big Red had much success at the Mat Town Open. Greg Diakomihalis won the 125 lbs bracket via three bonus point victories. Josh Saunders won his bracket at 149 lbs with wins over teammates Nate Wade and Ethan Fernandez. Chris Foca cruised to a gold medal at 184 lbs, as did Lewis Fernandes at 285 lbs. Ethan Qureshi, at 133lbs, was second in the bracket. At 157 lbs, Benny Rodgers was a runner-up and Gage McClenehan was third. Cornell had nine wrestlers in the 174 lbs bracket, Benny Baker walked away the highest placer with a third-place finish. At 197 lbs, Jacob Cardenas and Eric Carlson tied for first after a no-contest in the finals. Cornell will be at the Las Vegas Invite this weekend. Drexel The Dragons took the week off for the holiday. See them in action for the Dragon Duals on Sunday, December 3rd. Franklin & Marshall The Dips will be off for Thanksgiving. They have four duals at home on Sunday against Michigan State, VMI, Presbyterian, and Bloomsburg. Harvard The Crimson, like most teams, will be on break during the Thanksgiving holiday. Catch them in action in Las Vegas. Hofstra The Pride will also be at the Las Vegas Invite after a week off for the holiday. Lehigh The Mountain Hawks enjoyed a break over the holiday before they face #1 Penn State on Sunday on the road. Long Island The Sharks took off for the holiday break and will compete at the tough Cliff Keen Invite. Navy Navy will also be at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite. It’s the toughest tournament of the regular season. Penn The Quakers will host #3 Iowa on Friday for a dual. They will send some wrestlers to the Patriot Open on Sunday, hosted by George Mason. Princeton The Tigers took off for Thanksgiving. They host Indiana at home to a dual on Sunday. Sacred Heart The Pioneers will be at the Cliff Keen Invite this weekend.