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Monday and Tuesday of this week featured one of the best new traditions in the wrestling world, the Collegiate Duals. Arranged by Journeymen Wrestling, the Collegiate Duals have taken place in a Southern city without collegiate wrestling for each of the last three years. Frank Popolizio and crew have been able to nab the top teams in the nation and put them together in dual competitions. Looking at the current NCAA dual rankings via InterMat, eight of the current top-ten teams in the country have participated in at least one of the three Collegiate Dual events. This year’s event took place in Nashville, Tennessee at the Montgomery Bell Academy. For those that have attended all three Collegiate Duals events, the facilities at this school were the best year. But back to the actual wrestling. Here are some general thoughts about the action on the mat (and a little off the mat) from the 2023 Collegiate Duals. The Big Red Elephant in the Room In what has been an all-too-familiar situation, the wrestling community was in an uproar after the first day of the Collegiate Duals. The final round of the three-dual competition on Monday saw then-#3 Cornell face then-#7 Iowa State. It was a rematch of the 2022 Collegiate Duals, which ended up being one of the best duals of the season. Although it was expected to be a star-studded affair, the 2023 version was memorable for all of the wrong reasons. The Cyclones prevailed 26-15 spurred by big wins from Anthony Echemendia (141 lbs) and Yonger Bastida (285 lbs), but the talk of the dual centered around who wasn’t in the lineup for Cornell. Four of the Big Red’s regular starters were not in the starting ten after competing in the previous two duals. #5 Brett Ungar (125), #2 Vito Arujau (133), #15 Meyer Shapiro (157), and #3 Julian Ramirez (165). Cornell actually won the 125 lb contest; however, they lost the other three and gave up bonus points in two of those. So why the controversy? In each of the four matches that Cornell eschewed, they featured a higher-ranked wrestler who was slated to meet a lower-ranked wrestler from Iowa State. At the same time, the only ranked-versus-ranked matches that took place featured a lower-ranked wrestler from Cornell taking on a higher-ranked wrestler from Iowa State. Basically, those were matches where Cornell had nothing to lose. Later that evening, an email from Cornell head coach Mike Grey made its way to social media: The email says everything you’d expect it to say, and frankly, you can’t argue with anything that Coach Grey wrote. I take that back, maybe you could reason that since Iowa State was the highest-ranked opponent and everyone knew when the duals would take place, wrestlers could have been rested in rounds one or two, if that’s what was needed. In Cornell’s defense, I’m sure their wrestlers were banged up. We’re just about two months into the season; most, if not all, wrestlers have some sort of ailment that could keep them from competing. The way that our sport is currently constructed, all that matters is March and the individual tournament. As stated in the email, Coach Grey is doing what he and his staff feel is in the best interest of their wrestlers. Personally, I’ll give Coach Grey the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure his wrestlers are dinged up and maybe something in their first two matches aggravated those particular issues. That being said, the optics are horrible. It appears really fishy when all of one team's higher-ranked wrestlers don’t compete against other high-quality wrestlers. At the same time, that same team sends out wrestlers who could unseat someone above them in the rankings. Maybe it’s just all a coincidence and terrible luck. We’ll probably never know for sure. And for the wrestling community. We’ve been burned time and time again, anticipating we’ll see a great match and then getting the rug pulled out from under our feet. Again and again, for years and years. This is not necessarily a “Cornell issue” but a larger problem in our sport. Cornell happened to be the team wrestling on Monday night, with no other action going on and the eyes of the wrestling community focused on a pay-per-view event on a subscription-based website. It’s easy to see why the hypothetical torches and pitchforks were pulled out on Twitter (X) and the message boards. Especially, when we’ve been Charlie Brown with the football pulled away by Lucy hundreds of previous times. And before I move on, I’m going to stand up for the general wrestling fanbase. Whenever this happens, people associated with the program in question come out in defense of their school and its coaches. That happened this time; which is understandable. I’ll speak for the vast majority of wrestling fans when I say that nobody wants wrestlers to get injured. Nobody wants them to wrestle injured. This isn’t gladiator combat and we don’t expect wrestlers to fight to the death. There are plenty of factors that could prevent a college-aged wrestler from competing in a match. Fans don’t know everything. At the same time, the college wrestling fan base isn’t that, that big. There are a lot of fans who wrestled in college. They understand the types of mental and physical roadblocks that could hinder a wrestler's performance. This isn’t NFL football where a large chunk of the fanbase didn’t even play in high school. Wrestling fans are knowledgeable. They also understand rankings, seeding, and NCAA qualification and how not-wrestling a particular match might help in all of those areas. And another comment I typically hear is that college athletes aren’t doing this for your enjoyment and entertainment. That’s true. I salute them for putting their bodies on the line in a sport like wrestling. At the same time, you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you. At some point, after being burned time and time again, fans will just not care. They won’t tune in to the matches or spend time and money traveling in person. We don’t have that large of a fanbase to alienate people by playing mental games with the opposition or protecting NCAA seeds. For anyone offended by the social media uproar from wrestling fans when they’ve accused your team of “ducking,” I’d recommend stepping back from the situation. You’re probably too close to it. Think about how you’d feel if your biggest rival “ducked” a handful of matches against a top-ten team. You’d probably roll your eyes, shake your head, and think it’s “typical” of those guys. Is Navy a Top-Ten Dual Team? Duals lead themselves to some unusual results. That’s what makes them fun and we should have some sort of a DI National Dual tournament or decide the team championship via dual. But, I’ll leave that soapbox alone for now. In Tuesday’s nightcap, Ohio State edged NC State 21-20 on the strength of pins from their first three wrestlers. Not only did the Buckeyes pin NC State’s 125-141 lbers, but all of those Wolfpack wrestlers held top-five rankings at the time of the match. I have no idea whether something like that has ever been done before, and frankly, I have no idea where to search for such information. So, bear with me as I play the transitive game. NC State lost to Ohio State who lost to Pittsburgh who lost to Navy. Navy’s a top-ten team right? Maybe not, yet, as the transitive property doesn’t necessarily work for wrestling rankings. But it can be fun! Had Little Rock held on to beat Pittsburgh, we really could have had some fun with it. Now a comparison I’m willing to make is that Iowa State, and Iowa, are better than we may have thought preseason. Judging by what Iowa State has done at CKLV and in dual competition, the Hawkeye are similar to what we’ve come to expect from a Tom Brands-led team. More 125 lbs Chaos! In maybe the least surprising news of the week, 125 lbs continued to be a mess at the Collegiate Duals. In the ten bouts that featured a ranked 125 lber, half of them ended with the lower-ranked (or unranked) wrestler winning. Jakob Camacho entered Nashville as the top-ranked wrestler at the weight. He left with three losses courtesy of Anthony Noto, Brendan McCrone, and Trever Anderson. After yesterday’s rankings update, Noto has been elevated to the top spot. Looking ahead to the next week-plus, the field for the Midlands could be pretty loaded with 125 lbs and the Soldier Salute is smaller, yet has some high-quality lightweights. The parity should continue in the near future and there’s a chance that no one really establishes themselves as “the guy to beat” at the weight. Little Rock is Tough! Earlier this season, I was casually chatting with a DI head coach. His squad had recently wrestled Little Rock. His take on Little Rock was “They’re underrated. Those guys compete really hard. Neil’s (Erisman) done a really good job.” With that in the back of my mind, Little Rock was one of the teams I was most excited to see compete at the Duals. Partly because I’d already seen six of the eight squads wrestle in person this season, but also because of their young, relatively untested talent. How would they handle a gauntlet that includes Cornell, Iowa State, and Pittsburgh in back-to-back-to-back duals? That’s three of the top-17 teams in the nation. Very ambitious for even the best team in the nation, not to mention one that’s currently unranked a features a bevy of freshmen/sophomores. It sounds like an overused cliche, but the final score of Little Rock’s duals didn’t really do justice to how they actually competed. The bouts were more competitive than the final score indicated. After losses to the Big Red (32-8) and Cyclones (31-9), Pittsburgh needed criteria to edge the Trojans 22-21. That dual was highlighted by Brennan Van Hoecke’s victory over 2022 All-American Cole Matthews at 141 lbs and Triston Wills pinning a top-15 opponent in Reece Heller at 184 lbs. Perhaps the most talked about performance from Little Rock came from their 133 lber, true freshman, Nasir Bailey. Bailey started the day by giving returning national champion Vito Arujau a tough fight in his 4-0 loss to the world champion. There were also some post-match fireworks between the two, which I always enjoyed, provided no one crossed the line (and they didn’t). In match two, Bailey needed less than two minutes to rack up a tech fall on CKLV finals Evan Frost. He’d finish the day with a back-and-forth win over Vince Santaniello, giving him two wins over ranked opponents on the day. With the two quality wins and a weird, inexperienced field outside of the title contenders at 133 lbs, Bailey has crept into the top eight at 133 lbs. That has helped Little Rock earn a spot in InterMat Tournament Rankings for the first time in program history. The potential of this team and the way that they compete leads me to believe that there will be plenty of “firsts in program history” in the near future for Erisman’s team.

It was a big dual week in the conference, as Iowa State and Northern Iowa competed at the Collegiate Duals. Every team outside of Oklahoma and Utah Valley had duals, while those two and Wyoming competed at Reno’s Tournament of Champions. All three schools finished in the top four, despite Utah Valley not bringing a full lineup. There’s not a ton of action coming up this week, but tournaments like the Southern Scuffle, Soldier Salute, and Midlands are right around the corner. Air Force (Overall: 2-2; Conference: 0-2): Dual Results Air Force went on the road to wrestle Big 12 champs Missouri and lost a 38-3 dual. Their lone win was a big one however, as #8 Sam Wolf beat #6 Clayton Whiting in overtime 4-1. Giano Petrucelli made things fun against O’Toole late, scoring two takedowns in the third while O’Toole was pushing for the tech. The team was short Wyatt Hendrickson for the dual, as he went 5-0 at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Hendrickson scored four pins in five minutes of wrestling, then finished it off with a 15-4 major decision over Josh Heindselman of Oklahoma. Next Up: Air Force has the F&M Open in Lancaster, PA on January 5th to start the new year. California Baptist (Overall: 3-4; Conference: 0-1): Dual Results (NIU) | Dual Results (SIUE/Kent State) California Baptist had a busy weekend, going 1-2 in duals in Illinois. They lost to NIU 19-15, SIUE 20-15, but got a 29-19 win over Kent State. Chris Island at heavyweight was unfortunately injured in their first dual against NIU, and the Lancers had to give up six points in all three duals. Hunter Leake was the only wrestler to go 3-0 on the weekend. Mateo De La Pena at 165 was 2-0, but suffered an injury against Kent State. Next Up: The Lancers have the Midlands Tournament on December 29th as their next event. Iowa State (Overall: 6-1; Conference: 0-0): Collegiate Dual Results Iowa State went undefeated at the Collegiate Dual event, beating Pitt 21-14, Little Rock 31-9, and Cornell 26-15. Anthony Echemendia, Cody Chittum, and Yonger Bastida went 3-0, with David Carr going 2-0. Bastida actually took out three ranked opponents, the only Cyclone to do so. Casey Swiderski and Julien Broderson were both dinged up and didn’t compete, with Zach Redding actually bumping up and getting two wins at 149. There were some upsets against them, Kysen Terukina, Evan Frost, and Will Feldkamp all took losses against lower ranked wrestlers. The biggest storyline may have been in the match that didn’t happen, as Cornell did not send out Julian Ramirez against David Carr. Ramirez beat Carr at CKLV, and had actually gone 2-0 earlier that day against Little Rock and Pittsburgh. While there was a lot of discussion about resting vs “ducking”, it will be interesting to see if/how it affects seeds in March. Cornell also did not send out Vito Arujau, Meyer Shapiro, or Brett Ungar. It just so happens that Cornell is ranked higher at those weights as well. Between the CKLV title and the undefeated showing, Iowa State continues to look like trophy contenders. Next Up: The team takes a break until 2024, taking on future conference opponent Arizona State on the road on January 5th. Missouri (Overall: 4-0; Conference: 3-0): Dual Results Another dominant conference win for the Tigers with the 38-3 win. Of their nine wins, the team scored seven bonus point wins. Noah Surtin notched an impressive 17-1 tech fall over Tucker Owens. Kade Moore got another start and this time scored a major decision. Peyton Mocco and Zach Elam both took injury time in their matches, but finished the match with tech falls. Clayton Whiting was the upset loss, unable to score a takedown against Sam Wolf. Colton Hawks wrestled at 197 lbs for the second time this year and got another win, this time 4-1 over Calvin Sund. Even with Mocco and Zach Elam finishing the matches, their injury status will be something to keep an eye on with a short turn around to competition. Next Up: The Tigers will wrestle Illinois in St.Louis at the Stifel Theater on December 21st in a UFC Fight Pass dual. North Dakota State (Overall: 1-6; Conference: 0-1): Dual Results NDSU competed at Campbell’s Camel Duals, going 1-2. The Bison scored their first win of the year, taking out Purdue 22-17. The team lost to Campbell 30-13 and Stanford 26-17. A big part of that is that NDSU is short a 125lber, and gave up forfeits in all three duals. Gaven Sax stayed hot, going 3-0 including a win over Austin Murphy. Kellyn March made his return to the lineup, but lost a 4-1 decision against Campbell’s Justin Rivera. Meanwhile Max Petersen started the other two duals and went 2-0. Brendan Howes got a big win against ranked Stoney Buell of Purdue, and Fernando Barreto scored a win over Stanford’s Dom Lajoie who may end up in the rankings. While the Bison are in a bit of a rebuild, they are getting wins in a lineup with six freshmen getting strong wins. Next Up: NDSU’s schedule doesn’t get easier, as they’ll next compete at the Southern Scuffle on January 1st. Northern Colorado (Overall: 7-1; Conference: 0-1): Dual Results The Bears hosted the UNC Quad Duals and beat Otero Junior College, North Idaho, and Northwest Kansas Tech. The school went 30 for 30, including 21 bonus point wins. While no significant results came from these duals, Travis Mastrogiovanni did make his debut for UNC at 174lbs. Next Up: The team is another Big 12 team set to compete at the Southern Scuffle on January 1st. Northern Iowa (Overall: 1-3; Conference: 0-0): Collegiate Dual Results Northern Iowa was the other Big 12 team to compete at Collegiate Duals where they went 1-2. They beat Lock Haven 35-3 while they dropped to NC State 16-25 and Ohio State 7-26. Even in losses, there were some big results. Parker Keckeisen went 3-0, Julian Farber went 2-1, including an upset over Nic Bouzakis. Trever Anderson had a huge win over Jakob Camacho. Jared Simma pinned Alex Faison and Tyler Stoltzfus in back to back matches. Evan Yant got the start in two duals at 165, but went 0-2 while RJ Weston beat his Lock Haven opponent. The team still has four top 10 opponents on the schedule, and showed here that they can be competitive. Next Up: The Panthers have the Soldier Salute next on the schedule on December 29th. Oklahoma State (Overall: 4-0; Conference: 2-0): Dual Results It was Cowboys vs Cowboys this week as Oklahoma State took out Wyoming 31-9. OK State scored bonus points in four of their eight wins. Troy Spratley struggled on bottom against Jore Volk and dropped a 5-1 decision. Jersey Robb bumped up to 197 after winning two open tournaments at 184lbs and nearly had the upset over fellow true freshman Joey Novak. Daton Fix made his return against former teammate Cooper Birdwell and got an 8-2 decision. True freshman phenom Cael Hughes got his first start, and scored a major decision over Stockton O’Brien. Jordan Williams got his first ranked win of the season as he took out Gabe Willochell in a wild 13-11 match. Next Up: OK State’s schedule picks up in the second semester, starting with NC State on January 5th. Oklahoma (Overall: 4-2; Conference: 2-2): Reno TOC Brackets The Sooners took home the title in Reno, putting eight in the finals and getting four champions. KJ Evans won at 141 lbs, an impressive and intriguing result for the true freshman. Mosha Schwartz hasn’t wrestled since an injury against West Virginia, so Evans could get some opportunities in the lineup. Jared Hill won at 157 lbs, outplacing teammate John Wiley who finished 4th. The two have gone back and forth, but Hill winning this bracket could give him the opportunity. Tate Picklo could have established himself as the starter, beating teammate Gerrit Nijenhuis in the finals. Finally, Stephen Buchanan dominated his way to a title, beating Wyoming’s Joey Novak in the finals. Next Up: The Sooners have the Southern Scuffle next, their third tournament of the year. South Dakota State (Overall: 3-2; Conference: 0-0): Dual Results The Jackrabbits took on a top Big Ten opponent in Nebraska and dropped a 21-17 dual. Derrick Cardinal continues to look like one of the most improved wrestlers from last season, with a 6-1 decision over Kyle Burwick. He’s already surpassed his 11 wins from last season, sitting at 13-3 this season. Tanner Jordan, Cael Swensen, Tanner Cook, and Bennett Berge dropped losses to higher ranked opponents. Cade DeVos, Tanner Sloan, and Luke Rasmussen also got wins. Rasmussen actually took on Silas Allred, last year’s Big Ten champ who bumped up from 197lbs for the dual. Unfortunately Allred had to default with a head injury. Next Up: SDSU has the Soldier Salute on December 29th next. Utah Valley (Overall: 1-0; Conference: 0-0): Reno TOC Brackets Utah Valley competed at the Reno TOC and came away with one champ and a fourth place finish. Jacob Armstrong went 4-0 to win the title at 184 lbs. Haiden Drury made the finals at 141 lbs, his first time at that weight this season. Caleb Uhlenhopp and Mahonri Rushton finished 5th, while Chase Trussell was 6th. The team did not have any wrestlers at 125, 133, or 197. Next Up: The Wolverines take some time off, taking on Iowa State for their first Big 12 dual on January 12th. West Virginia (Overall: 7-1; Conference: 2-1): Dual Results West Virginia hosted Division II school Fairmont State, and got a 56-0 victory. While not a significant win, it had some significant historical results. The team has started 7-1 in consecutive seasons, the first time since 1960-1961. The team put up over 50 points for the first time since 2009. The team scored bonus points in every match, including two forfeits and five pins. True freshman Ty Watters is now tied for fifth with 8 falls already this season. Next Up: West Virginia will host Fairmont State on December 19th for a dual. Wyoming (Overall: 3-2; Conference: 1-1): Reno TOC Brackets | Dual Results Wyoming had a busy week, finishing second at the Reno tournament before a dual against Oklahoma State. They impressed at Reno, starting with Jore Volk taking a title over Richie Figueroa. Joey Novak also made the finals, and dropped a match to Stephen Buchanan. Cooper Birdwell and Garrett Ricks both made the podium at 133 lbs, both taking out top seed Jace Koelzer. Birdwell finished fifth while Ricks was fourth. Sloan Swan, Gabe Willochell, Stockton O’Brien finished third, while Quayin Short was fourth, and Cooper Voorhees and Kevin Zimmer were fifth. Against OK State the team got two wins with Jore Volk and Joey Novak. Volk won a controlled match over Troy Spratley while Novak had a comeback win, putting Jersey Robb on his back while down 5-3. Sloan Swan made his dual debut, dropping a 6-2 decision to Teague Travis. The team bumped up from 165-184 and were missing typical starter Cole Brooks at 141lbs. Next Up: Wyoming competes at the Soldier Salute on December 29th.

Hear from all of the champions across all three styles from Senior Nationals 2023: Men's Freestyle 57 kg: Spencer Lee 65 kg: Andrew Alirez 74 kg: Quincy Monday 86 kg: Alex Dieringer 97 kg: Kollin Moore 125 kg: Dom Bradley Women's Freestyle 50 kg: Sage Mortimer 53 kg: Vayle Baker 57 kg: Amanda Martinez 62 kg: Jacarra Winchester 68 kg: Mallory Velte 76 kg: Precious Weiser Men's Greco-Roman 60 kg: Ildar Hafizov 67 kg: Alex Sancho 77 kg: Kamal Bey 87 kg: Spencer Woods 97 kg: Alan Vera 130 kg: Cohlton Schultz