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Here are some of the notable happenings from the last week in the MAC. George Mason over Virginia On Saturday, George Mason did something that hasn’t been done by the Patriot wrestling program since 1991, when they snapped a 10-match losing streak against the University of Virginia, 18-17. GMU handed Virginia their first loss of the season in a neutral-site dual at St. Christopher’s High School in Richmond, VA. These two teams tangled almost a year ago, to the day, at the same venue and Virginia prevailed 26-6. The dual didn’t appear as if it was going GMU’s way as they lost the first three bouts and found themselves in a 10-0 hole. The Patriots middleweights helped turn the tide with three consecutive wins by Kaden Cassidy, DJ McGee, and Evan Maag at 149-165 lbs. Virginia extended their lead to 14-9 after a major decision at 174; however, 184 lber Malachi Duvall struck the biggest blow of the contest when he pinned UVA’s Griffin Gammel late in the first period to give the Patriots their first lead of the day (15-14). At 197 lbs, Tyler Kocak extended that advantage with a 15-10 win over Colden Dorfman. Though Virginia won the heavyweight contest, it was via a regular decision and the Patriots held on to win 18-17. The Duvall pin led to him earning MAC Co-East Wrestler of the Week honors from the conference. His fall was the only bonus point win for George Mason. George Mason will be back in action this weekend with a pair of home duals. They’ll host MAC rival Edinboro on Saturday and Hofstra in a non-conference tilt on Sunday. The Hofstra dual will feature marquee matches at 149 lbs and heavyweight. Those have been Hofstra’s two best weights and they are strengths for GMU, as well. SIU Edwardsville Picks Up Two Conference Wins The Friday/Sunday swing saw SIU Edwardsville notch a pair of conference wins as they downed Edinboro 23-9, before beating Buffalo 24-9. Both of which occurred on the road. Six Cougar wrestlers earned wins in both duals. Davian Guanajuato (125), Marcel Lopez (133), Eric Almarinez (141), Brock Woodcock (157), Deron Pulliam (184), and Bryson Buhk (285) all went 2-0 on the weekend. Woodcock won via tech fall in the Edinboro dual and received a forfeit at Buffalo. Almarinez, a redshirt freshman, was named the MAC Co-West Wrestler of the Week after his 2-0 showing. His 15-3 major decision over the Bulls Caleb Brooks gave Almarinez the team lead with 15 wins on the season. The Cougars will be back in action on Sunday at home against Lindenwood. Tyler Klinsky over Dean Peterson All year we’ve lamented the chaos that is 125 lbs, nationally. The MAC did their part contributing to that topsy-turvy weight class when Tyler Klinsky defeated then-number two ranked Dean Peterson on Sunday. Peterson came into the bout a perfect 6-0 and had beaten Penn’s national qualifier Ryan Miller the night before. Down 5-1 after the first period, Klinsky used a reversal, then a takedown to even the score at six a-piece during the second stanza. He would add three more in the final period to win 9-6. The win brings Klinsky’s season record to an even 9-9. Though he recently went 1-2 at the Midlands, Klinsky did knock off Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) who was ranked at the time. With the unexpected being the norm at 125 lbs this season, Klinsky could be rounding into form at the right time and has the potential to make some noise at the MAC Tournament. Before then, Klinsky has matches with Princeton’s Drew Heethius and Edinboro’s Caleb Edwards on the docket. During the last week of January, he’ll face top-ranked Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) and attempt to notch his second top-five upset of the year. Last year the two met twice and wrestled close bouts in both instances. At the 2023 MAC Championships, the pair met in the quarterfinals and Noto prevailed, 3-2.

Below is a recap of last week’s EIWA action, with individual news and highlights worth noting. Key Takeaways DePrez and Nolan of Binghamton win F&M Open Harvard’s Conigliaro wins F&M Open at 174 lbs Penn’s Swisher wins F&M Open at 157 lbs Cerniglia of Navy wins F&M Open at 165 lbs American The Eagles were split between a dual at Michigan State and the F&M Open. Only three Eagles had wins over Michigan State: Max Leete at 133 lbs via fall, Lucas White at 174 lbs, and #16 Jack Maida at 125 lbs. The Eagles had a bunch of wins at the F&M Open also. Gage Owen was 4-2 at 149 lbs. Caleb Campos made his season debut with a 4-2 record at 174 lbs. Ryan Zimmerman won three matches on the day at 149 lbs. Michigan State 28 – American 12 133 - Maximilian Leete (AU) pinned Andy Hampton (MSU), 1:50 (AU 6-0) 141 - Jordan Hamdan (MSU) dec. Raymond Lopez (AU), 8-4 (AU 6-3) 149 - Braden Stauffenberg (MSU) dec. Ethan Szerencsits (AU), 5-2 (Tied 6-6) 157 - #21 Chase Saldate (MSU) pinned Devon Capato (AU), 6:08 (MSU 12-6) 165 - #14 Caleb Fish (MSU) major dec. Breon Phifer (AU), 8-0 (MSU 16-6) 174 - Lucas White (AU) dec. Marty Larkin (MSU), 3-2 (MSU 16-9) 184 - #21 Layne Malczewski (MSU) major dec. Connor Bourne (AU), 12-2 (MSU 20-9) 197 - #31 Kael Wisler (MSU) tech. fall Liam Volk-Klos (AU), 17-2 (MSU 25-9) 285 - Josh Terrill (MSU) dec. Will Jarrell (AU), 6-3 SV (MSU 28-9) 125 - #16 Jack Maida (AU) dec. #32 Tristan Lujan (MSU), 2-1 (MSU 28-12) American will travel out to the West Coast this weekend for duals with Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Central Michigan, and Campbell. Army Army had a strong contingent at the F&M Open. Matt Williams was the only champion on the day. He won the 149 lbs bracket over Dunnigan of Penn. At 165 lbs, Dalton Harkins was runner up to #24 Cerniglia of Navy. Dakota Morris was 3rd in that bracket after a win over #16 Cassella of Binghamton. Rich Treanor earned 5th place at 141 lbs with a conference win over Phillips of F&M. Dillon Sheehy was 5th at 174 lbs. Wolfgang Frable was 5th at 197 lbs and Austin Kolhofer was 5th at a loaded heavyweight bracket. Army is back to dual meet action this weekend, hosting Drexel and Columbia. Binghamton Leading the way for the Bearcats at the F&M Open were Jacob Nolan (#22 @ 184 lbs) and Lou DePrez (#14 @ 197 lbs). Nolan’s win in the finals match came over #17 Conway of F&M. DePrez was dominant with four of five matches being bonus point wins. Cory Day’s lone loss came to #2 Hendrickson of Air Force. The 285lbs wrestler had a nice win over #13 Griess of Navy. At 133lbs, Micah Roes was 2-2 on the day, but his win over #25 Ferretti of Navy was a quality one. At 157 lbs, Binghamton had two place winners in Carter Baer and Fin Nadeau. Baer was 4th, while Nadeau was 5th/6th due to match limits. Walking away in 5th/6th at 165lbs was #16 Brevin Cassella. At 174lbs, Dimitri Gamkrelidze was also 5th/6th with one loss in overtime to #21 Wask of Navy. The Bearcats have three duals this weekend. They will travel to #28 Lehigh on Friday, then host Drexel and Buffalo on Saturday. Brown The Bears had off this past weekend. Friday, they will be in Davidson with duals against Davidson, Presbyterian, and The Citadel. These are the first dual meets of the season for the Bears. Bucknell The Bison took some time off after the Southern Scuffle. Next is an away dual with LIU on Sunday. Columbia Columbia’s dual with #23 West Virginia was located in Atlantic City. They came up short by a point losing 22-21. Nick Babin started the dual off at 125 lbs with a pin. Lennox Wolak (#24 @ 174 lbs) earned a tech fall while Aaron Ayzerov won by major at 184 lbs over #24 Dennis Robin. Kai Owen and #28 Jack Wehmeyer each won by decision at 141 lbs and 197 lbs, respectively. Columbia is right on the cusp being a top 30 team. #23 West Virginia 22 – Columbia 21 125: Nick Babin (COL) def. Jace Schafer (WVU) | Fall, 5:57 133: Jett Strickenberger (WVU) def. Yanni Vines (COL) | Fall, 5:46 141: Kai Owen (COL) def. Sam Hillegas (WVU) | Dec., 10-8 149: #11 Ty Watters (WVU) def. Richard Fedalen (COL) | MD, 10-1 157: Alex Hornfeck (WVU) def. Jaden Le (COL) | Dec., 8-4 165: #12 Peyton Hall (WVU) def. Andrew Garr (COL) | MD, 17-3 174: #24 Lennox Wolak (COL) def. Jack Blumer (WVU) | TF, 23-7 184: Aaron Ayzerov (COL) def. #27 Dennis Robin (WVU) | MD, 12-2 197: #28 Jack Wehmeyer (COL) def. Austin Cooley (WVU) | Dec., 4-3 HWT: Michael Wolfgram (WVU) def. Billy McChesney (COL) | TF, 15-0 The Lions will start EIWA competition on Sunday with an away dual at Army. #8 Cornell Cornell had two tough duals against #6 Ohio State and #11 Virginia Tech. It was a tougher task than originally planned with Vito Arujau sidelined due to injury. Meyer Shapiro had a great performance against Ohio State, winning by tech fall over #12 Gallagher. Unfortunately, #8 Andonian of Virginia Tech had to injury default in a hyped rematch from CKLV. Chris Foca won via fall over All-American #14 Hoffman versus Ohio State. He had a major over #18 Howard of VT. Jacob Cardenas (#9 @ 197 lbs), Chris Foca (#8 @ 184 lbs), and Julian Ramirez (#3 @ 165 lbs) were all undefeated in their duals as well. Ohio State 21 - Cornell 20 125: No. 14 Brett Ungar def. No. 22 Brendan McCrone 7-1 by decision 133: No. 13 Nic Bouzakis def. Ethan Qureshi by fall (1:48) 141: No. 3 Jesse Mendez def. No. 17 Vince Cornella 14-4 by major decision 149: No. 5 Drew D'Emilio def. No. 24 Ethan Fernandez 8-1 by decision 157: No. 15 Meyer Shapiro def. No. 12 Paddy Gallagher 15-0 by fall 165: No. 3 Julian Ramirez def. Bryce Hepner 6-4 by decision 174: Rocco Welsh def. Benny Baker 20-4 by technical fall 184: No. 8 Chris Foca def. No. 14 Gavin Hoffman by fall (1:48) 197: No. 7 Jacob Cardenas def. No. 23 Luke Georg 8-2 by decision HWT: No. 18 Nick Feldman def. No. 19 Lewis Fernandes 6-4 by decision #8 Cornell 24 – #11 Virginia Tech 13 125: No. 14 Brett Ungar lost to No. 9 Cooper Flynn 4-3 by decision 133: Ethan Qureshi lost to No. 12 Sam Latona 14-3 by major decision 141: No. 17 Vince Cornella def. No. 18 Tom Crook 4-2 by decision 149: No. 24 Ethan Fernandez lost to No. 2 Caleb Henson 9-2 by decision 157: No. 15 Meyer Shapiro def. No. 8 Bryce Andonian by injury default 165: No. 3 Julian Ramirez def. No. 23 Connor Brady 10-0 by major decision 174: Benny Baker lost to No. 2 Mehki Lewis 9-3 by decision 184: No. 8 Chris Foca def. No. 18 Cody Howard 12-4 by major decision 197: No. 7 Jacob Cardenas def. No. 26 Andy Smith 11-1 by major decision 285: No. 19 Lewis Fernandes def. Jimmy Mullen 6-3 by decision (overtime) Cornell’s tough schedule continues this week with an away dual at #28 Lehigh. Drexel The Dragons sent mostly non-starters to the F&M Open. Jasiah Queen led the way for the team with a 4th place finish. He had a major decision over previous NCAA Qualifier Burkhart of Kent State and took losses from #12 Conigliaro of Harvard and #21 Wask of Navy. At 133 lbs, John Hildebrandt was just shy of placing, but had a ranked win over #27 Leiphart of F&M. Both Gabe Onorato and Tyler Williams went 3-2 on the day at 141 lbs and 157 lbs, respectively. This week’s schedule includes a dual at Binghamton and Army West Point. Franklin & Marshall In case you didn’t hear, the Dips hosted their annual open. It was a huge turn out with plenty of tough competition. #27 Mason Leiphart took a loss early and won four in a row to reach his match limit – ending the day in 5th/6th at 133 lbs. At 141 lbs, Pat Phillips ended the day in 6th place capturing a handful of wins along the way. #17 James Conway was runner up at 184 lbs due to a loss to #22 Nolan of Binghamton. John Crawford’s (#32 @ 197 lbs) 3rd place performance was solid, as he was outplaced by higher ranked opponents. The Diplomats will have a week off before getting into the dual meet part of the season in two weeks. Harvard The Crimson had a partial line up at the F&M Open. They crowned one champion in Phil Conigliaro at 174 lbs. His 12th national ranking proved to be a dominant performance with four of five wins coming by major decision. His lone decision was in the finals to #26 Murphy of Campbell. Josh Kim (#26 @ 165 lbs) ended the day with a 4th place finish. His loss in the semifinals came to #24 Cerniglia of Navy. His 3rd place bout was a loss to Morris of Army. The final place winner for Harvard was at 184 lbs where Leo Tarantino was 6th. Harvard is on the road this week with two duals at Davidson against Davidson and Lock Haven. Hofstra The Pride continued with their treacherous schedule when they hosted #7 North Carolina State. The dual was lost 43-5. Noah Tapia (149 lbs) was the lone victor winning via tech fall. It’s safe to say NC State was out for vengeance following a loss to #11 Oklahoma State two days prior. North Carolina State 43 - Hofstra 5 197: Brock DelSignore (NCST) major dec. Nikolas Miller (Hofstra), 17-9 (4-0) 285: #16 Owen Trephan (NCST) major dec. #21 Keaton Kluever (Hofstra), 11-3 (8-0) 125: Jarrett Trombley (NCST) major dec. Dylan Acevedo (Hofstra), 9-0 (12-0) 133: Jacob Cox (NCST) wins by forfeit, (18-0) 141: #4 Ryan Jack (NCST) tech fall Alex Turley (Hofstra), 20-4 (5:33) (23-0) 149: Noah Tapia (Hofstra) tech fall Trevor Kantor (NCST), 20-3 (3:59) (23-5) 157: #6 Ed Scott (NCST) wbf. Jurius Clark (Hofstra), 1:30 (29-5) 165: #20 Derek Fields (NCST) tech fall Matt Rogers (Hofstra), 19-4 (4:21) (34-5) 174: #32 Alex Faison (NCST) tech fall Eric Shindel (Hofstra), 21-5 (3:50) (39-5) 184: Dylan Reinert (NCST) major dec. Will Conlon (Hofstra), 11-3 (43-5) This weekend, The Pride will square off with VMI and George Mason #28 Lehigh The Mountain Hawks had a handful of wrestlers at the F&M Open, as this was not an official date on their schedule. At 141 lbs, Carter Bailey had a huge win over #9 Miller of Maryland to advance to the semis after beating his teammate Connor McGonagle. He walked away as the runner-up after dropping a match to Henson of Lock Haven. At 149 lbs, both Matt Repos (unattached) and Kelvin Griffin finished in the 5th/6th place bout after match limits were reached. Each had one loss to the finalists in the bracket. Lehigh will be in dual meet action against Binghamton and Cornell this weekend, both matches at home. They will look to earn their first dual win of the season. Long Island The Sharks were in attendance at the F&M Open as well. The team had two grapplers reach the quarterfinals. At 141 lbs, Devin Matthews lost to All-American #27 Matthews of Pitt in the quarters on his way to a 3-2 day. John Dsuza was in the quarters at 197 lbs, where he fell to #20 Hopkins of Campbell. He also went 3-2 on the day. LIU saw a bunch of wins from Rhise Royster at 157 lbs, Corey Connolly at 174 lbs, and Anthony D’Alesio at 184 lbs. The Sharks will have a dual this weekend against Bucknell in a home EIWA matchup. #15 Navy The Midshipmen sent a full squad to the F&M Open. The lone champ was Andrew Cerniglia (#26 @ 165 lbs) in dominating fashion. He won five of his six bouts by bonus points. At 174 lbs, #21 Danny Wask was a 3rd place finisher with a loss to #26 Murphy of Campbell. At 285 lbs, Navy had two podium finishers in Grady Griess (#13) with a 4th place finish and Jamier Ferere was 5th/6th reaching his match limit. There were another nine wrestlers who won at least two matches on the day. Navy will be at the Virginia Duals this weekend with duals against #18 Oklahoma, #13 South Dakota State, and #30 Wisconsin. This is a tough weekend in order to stay undefeated. #20 Penn The Quakers had an eventful weekend with plenty of wrestlers at the F&M Open on Friday. They hosted a dual against #14 Rutgers. Jude Swisher led the way for the Quakers at F&M with a title at 157 lbs. He had a ranked win over #31 North of Maryland. At 149 lbs, Kelly Dunnigan had a very nice day finishing as runner-up with a very quality win over #13 Miller of Maryland in overtime in the semi-finals. Also at 149 lbs, Sean Seefeldt and Hunter Gandy were top 8 after winning a handful of matches. Martin Cosgrove was a 6th place winner in his bracket racking up four wins on the day. Against Rutgers, #25 Revano reversed a win from two weeks ago over #33 Clark at 157 lbs. At 184 lbs, #16 Hale had a win over #19 Soldano. #14 Rutgers 22 – #20 Penn 14 149 – Michael Cetta (Rutgers) def. Andy Troczynski (P), 9-3 DEC – Rutgers leads 3-0 157 – #25 Lucas Revano (P) def. #33 Andrew Clark (Rutgers), 10-7 DEC – Tied 3-3 165 – Kaya Sement (P) def. Luke Gayer (Rutgers), 10-4 DEC – Penn leads 6-3 174 – #11 Nick Incontrera (P) def. Shane Cartagena (Rutgers), 21-4 TF – Penn leads 11-3 184 – #16 Maximus Hale (P) def. #19 Brian Soldano (Rutgers), 4-2 DEC – Penn leads 14-3 197 – #8 John Posnanski (Rutgers) def. #21 Cole Urbas (P), 18-1 TF – Penn leads 14-8 285 – #7 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) def. #33 John Scott (P), 21-4 TF – Penn leads 14-13 125 – Dean Peterson (Rutgers) def. Ryan Miller (P), 10-4 DEC – Rutgers leads 16-14 133 – #9 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) def. #7 Michael Colaiocco (P), 9-8 DEC – Rutgers leads 19-14 141 – #14 Mitch Moore (Rutgers) def. #11 CJ Composto (P), 5-0 DEC – Rutgers wins 22-14 Next week’s travel includes a dual at #27 North Carolina. Princeton The Tigers had a bunch of wrestlers at the F&M Open. Drew Heethius led the way with a 5th place finish at 125 lbs. He was the lone placer, as many starters were not in action. At 133 lbs, both Nick Kayal and Sean Pierson won a handful of matches each. Sebastian Garibaldi won four of his matches on the day at heavyweight. The Tigers return to full action this weekend with duals against Rider and Morgan State. Sacred Heart The Pioneers competed before Christmas and are off until this week’s duals with Queens and VMI. It’s a great opportunity for them to pick up some wins.

Key Takeaways from NWCA National Duals National Duals over the weekend were filled with nonstop exciting wrestling moments for fans of both NAIA and NCAA schools. Teams brought strong lineups to compete for a coveted team title, and these wrestlers showed out. Here are some big moments from the weekend across the two competitions. NAIA 1. Life Reclaims Top Spot The #1 Life University Running Eagles went on a run to claim the team title at the tournament winning over #2 Menlo in the finals. This dual had several exciting ranked matchups, including an upset at 101 lbs when Menlo’s #10 Kayla McKinley-Johnson took out #4 Devyn Gomez in a 4-1 decision. Life had a quick response at 109 lbs when Diana Gonzalez got a quick pin to cap off her impressive tournament showing. Fans also saw Menlo’s #11 at 123 lbs Ajayzee Zaballos, move down a weight for this dual and win a slow-starting match with three second-period takedowns to win against #6 Ariana Martinez at 116 lbs. A pin from Menlo’s #8 Alana Vivas at 123 lbs had the two teams tied after the first 5 bouts. However, at 130 lbs, #2 Sarah Savidge continued her impressive tournament with a first-period pin. From there, the three McBryde sisters all earned impressive wins to lock up the dual for the Running Eagles. Not to be dismayed, Menlo ended their day with two ranked wins in the final two matches including freshman #3 Kalila Shrive getting the tech against #4 Margaret Graham and #1 Tavia Heidelberg-Tillotson getting the win over #6 Madeline Welch. Throughout the day, we saw big matches at 101 lbs where #4 Devyn Gomez had a tough draw wrestling against the #1, #7, and #10 wrestlers at the weight and losing in each of these matches. Similar to the ups and downs of 125 lbs in men’s college wrestling right now, this 101lb weight class is anyone’s game. Gomez will certainly see these wrestlers again in March and could certainly change the results as she has previously - she beat #7 Quezaire at last year’s Grand View Open. Gomez is typically an aggressive and high-scoring wrestler with a number of tech falls over opponents. It seemed like a bit of an off day, but could also speak to the depth of talent at this weight. The driving force for Life’s success over the weekend definitely came from the center of the lineup led by Sarah Savidge and the McBryde sisters. Savidge went 3-0 with two techs and a pin. The McBryde sisters won 10 out of 12 matches including winning all 3 ranked matchups they had against a tough Menlo team. 2. Texas Wesleyan Battles Back Texas Wesleyan earned the 3rd place finish at the tournament after being seeded at #6. In their second matchup in the tournament, they pulled the upset over the No. 3 seed Grand View. Starting with an upset win from unranked Julie Lucas for Texas Wesleyan over #13 Jalen Bets, the Rams followed it up with a fall and tech fall from #6 Jasmine Howard and #3 Camille Fournier. The Rams dropped their first match at 123 lbs, but #3 Elizabeth Duvall quickly got those points back and then some with a tech of her own. After dropping 136 lbs, the Rams’ #4 Mea Mohler gets another pivotal decision followed by the same from #6 Tayden Khamjoi. Even after dropping the last two matches of the dual, the Rams had the points to send them forward in the tournament. The semifinal dual between Texas Wesleyan and Menlo was possibly the most exciting dual of the entire weekend. Almost every matchup was ranked, with just one upset coming at 130 lbs when #4 Louisa Schwab of Menlo defeated #3 Elizabeth Duvall of Texas Wesleyan. This match truly came down to one more win for Menlo than Texas Wesleyan as they each exchanged pins, techs, and decisions. In the third-place match, the Rams won eight out of ten matches with seven pins and one tech fall to make the final score a dominant 39-10 victory over the University of Providence. All that to say, Texas Wesleyan is showing themselves to be a force far beyond their powerhouse competitors like #3 Camille Fournier and #4 Mea Mohler. I expect to see most of the wrestlers they send to the individual tournament return as All-Americans. This is a team of individuals who have what it takes to compete at a high level throughout a tournament. NCAA Hawkeyes Crowned in Cedar Falls The Iowa Hawkeyes claimed the NCAA Championship at this year’s National Duals over the #1 seed North Central with a 21-20 final team score. Iowa forged their path to the finals in dominant fashion with a 49-1 win over Adrian College, 39-4 win over #13 Presbyterian, and 31-8 win over #3 King University. In the finals, almost every matchup was ranked and the atmosphere when these two teams were competing was electric. #2 Sterling Dias got things started with a big tech fall 11-0 over #4 Madison Avila of North Central. At 109 lbs, Jaslynn Gallegos got the start against #2 Ava Bayless instead of teammate Kendra Ryan, who has a recent win over Bayless. This match is one of the ones that could have easily swung the dual the other way, as it ended 5-5 with Bayless having criteria over her opponent. It’s unclear if Gallegos knew she needed to score or assumed she had the criteria instead. North Central returned in a big way with five straight wins at 116 lbs, 123 lbs, 130 lbs, 136 lbs, and 143 lbs. Probably the biggest win from these matches was Alara Boyd over #1 Reese Larramendy by a 9-4 decision. The Hawkeyes came back with a pin from #1 Marlynne Deede over London Houston at 155 lbs and a super exciting win from #1 Kylie Welker over the three-time champ Yelena Makoyed who is back for her final semester. In the final match at 191 lbs, Traeh Haynes had control of the match over Jaycee Foeller of Iowa, but gave up a shot clock point in the second period to give Iowa a single point in that loss. It is hard to say that any single match was the deciding factor, as Iowa scored at least one point in every single match. A tie would have gone to North Central given their total number of matches, but that just shows how important scoring points even in matches you lose can be for team score. It speaks to the discipline and grittiness of this new Iowa squad. While not the flashiest dual win as we’ve seen against other teams, they did exactly what they needed to do to get the win. The North Central squad they competed against is so tough this season. They had a surprisingly lopsided semifinals match against former champs McKendree, and were so close to closing this gap and overtaking the Hawkeyes. You can see a pretty clear path where many of these matches could be finals matchups at NCWWCs in March. #1 vs #1 Later This Month Fans do not have to wait long to watch #1 Life vs #1 Iowa in a dual meet after their dominant performances over the weekend. The two will compete at the Iowa duals at Carver-Hawkeye on January 21. Results this week in major NCAA, NWCA, and NAIA competitions NWCA National Duals VIEW BRACKETS NUWAY Combat Women’s Open VIEW BRACKETS Upcoming Events January 11: Central Methodist vs William Penn January 12: Southern Oregon vs Menlo January 12: Cumberlands vs Siena Heights January 12: Cumberlands vs Lourdes January 13: York Open January 13: Golden Bear Open January 14: Tornado Open January 14: Presbyterian vs Campbellsville January 14: Lakeland Scramble

It’s not a super busy week in the ACC, but there are some high-level duals on tap within the conference. Duke and UNC are off this week and Pitt has sent some starters to the F&M Open. UVA will “host” a tri with Gardner-Webb and George Mason at the ARMS Duals at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond on Saturday--I will preview some matches to watch once I get the final lineups. The biggest matchups will be on Friday and Sunday with two top-10 duals. On Sunday, the Hokies (#11 Dual #10 Tourney) will travel to New York to face Cornell (#8 Dual #8 Tourney); we will break that dual down later this weekend. The big one on tap for this evening will be NC State (#7 Dual #2 Tourney) hosting Oklahoma State (#10 Dual #6 Tourney) to open their home slate at Reynolds Coliseum. If we see both teams at full strength, there could be 10 ranked versus ranked matchups, including top-10 matchups at 133, 141, and 184. Though this time of year between injuries and illnesses, we seem to have several “OR”s listed on the probable lineups. Regardless of the final lineups, this dual will have fireworks from the opening whistle. 125: #17 Jakob Camacho OR Jarrett Trombley v #20 Troy Spratley OR Sam Smith Camacho is looking to bounce back from a rough showing at the Collegiate Duals and a scrappy Troy Spratley would be a good place to start. 133: #5 Kai Orine v #3 Daton Fix OR Reece Witcraft Orine has looked better every time he has stepped onto the mat this year. Fix only has two matches this season, but as we well know, he is one of the best wrestlers in the country. I would love to see these two get after it, it has absolute fireworks potential. 141: #4 Ryan Jack v #7 Tagen Jamison OR Sammy Alvarez Jack has quietly put together an impressive season, as has Jamison. Contrasting styles but this will be an important bout for the Pack to get some momentum. 149: #3 Jackson Arrington v #19 Jordan Williams Arrington continues to impress. He has incredible poise and mat presence for being a true sophomore. Williams can be explosive and dangerous, but I think Arrington is able to avoid being phased by that. 157: #5 Ed Scott v #23 Teague Travis After a slower start to the season, Ed Scott has been on a tear. He is looking to continue that run against Teague Travis. 165: #18 Derek Fields OR AJ Kovacs v #2 Izzak Olejnik OR Joey Sanchez A double “OR” at 165. I’m hopeful we get to see Olejnik, he is so fun to watch and will be a very tough test for whoever the Pack sends out. 174: #31 Alex Faison v #28 Brayden Thompson This is a big toss-up match and could have major implications on how this dual shakes out. The Pack will be looking to the veteran Faison for a big win in his home debut this season. 184: #5 Dylan Fishback OR Brock Delsignore v #3 Dustin Plott This is the match I have had circled. Fishback has put together an incredible redshirt freshman campaign but will face a very tough and experienced Dustin Plott. I actually like the style matchup in favor of Fishback, he is relentless, but Plott can be tough to score on and finds ways to win tight matches. 197: #4 Trent Hidlay v #12 Luke Surber OR Jersey Robb The soon-to-be mayor of Raleigh, Trent Hidlay, will be looking for a big win to open his final season at home for the Pack. We have come to expect Hidlay to be in the hunt for bonus points in every bout, I don’t see this one any differently. 285: #16 Owen Trephan OR Isaac Trumble v #11 Konnor Doucet I wondered if this one would be listed as an option for the Pack. Isaac Trumble has been in redshirt, opening 197 for Hidlay for his final season. Trumble has been wrestling on the freestyle circuit--winning a U23 World Championship at 97kg. He is coming off winning the Midlands title at 285 last week. As it stands, he is still in redshirt… The Pack has a solid starter in Trephan who was an ACC Champion and NCAA qualifier last year. I like this matchup for Trephan and it could be a big win for him if he is able to take out Doucet. I’m very pumped for this dual, the atmosphere at Reynolds is always amazing and they will have a sell-out crowd tonight. I’m about to hit the road to Raleigh myself so I can see this one in person.