InterMat Staff

2021 NCAA finals(Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) DI wrestling is back and will be in full-force this weekend as 31 duals and a host of open tournaments are on the slate. Since it can be difficult to figure out where and when to watch all of these events, InterMat has put together a list of all of the live-streamed events occurring this weekend. Below are the dates/times and how to watch each match. All times Eastern Thursday, November 18: Army West Point at Penn State, 7:00 PM BTN+ George Mason at American, 7:30 PM ESPN+ Friday, November 19: Michigan at Columbia, 7:00 PM ESPN+ West Virginia at Davidson, 7:00 PM Northern State at South Dakota State, 7:00 PM FloWrestling Ohio State at Virginia Tech, 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra CSU Bakersfield vs. Utah Valley at California Baptist, 8:00 PM Princeton at Iowa, 8:00 PM BTN+ Air Force at Missouri, 8:00 PM Augustana (S.D.) at South Dakota State, 8:30 PM FloWrestling Oklahoma at Arizona State, 9:00 PM Pac-12 Network Utah Valley at California Baptist, 9:30 PM CBU YouTube Saturday, November 20: Illinois, Missouri, SIU Edwardsville at Lindenwood Open, 10:00 AM Clarion, Long Island at Shorty Hitchcock Memorial Open, hosted by Millersville, 10:00 AM American, Bloomsburg, Bucknell, Cleveland State, Edinboro, Kent State, Lock Haven, Michigan State, Navy, Ohio, The Citadel, VMI at Navy Classic, 10:00 AM Campbell at Virginia, 1:00 PM ACC Network Extra Gardner-Webb at Virginia Tech, 1:00 PM ACC Network Extra San Francisco State at Cal Poly, 6:00 PM Stanford at Cornell, 6:30 PM ESPN+ Oklahoma State at Minnesota, 8:00 PM Big Ten Network Sunday, November 21: Appalachian State, Drexel, Franklin & Marshall, George Mason, Harvard, Penn, Rider, Sacred Heart at Keystone Classic, 9:00 AM ESPN+ Bellarmine vs. Duke at Purdue, 9:00 AM Brown vs. Northern Illinois at Purdue, 9:00 AM Minnesota, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State at Daktronics Open, 10:00 AM FloWrestling Stanford at Binghamton, 11:00 AM ESPN+ Brown at Purdue, 11:00 AM BTN+ Duke vs. Northern Illinois at Purdue, 11:00 AM Michigan at Buffalo, 1:00 PM California Baptist, CSU Bakersfield, Utah Valley at Roadrunner Open, 1:00 PM FloWrestling West Virginia at NC State, 1:00 PM ACC Network Extra Bellarmine vs. Northern Illinois at Purdue, 1:00 PM Duke at Purdue, 1:00 PM BTN+ Pittsburgh at Lehigh, 2:00 PM FloWrestling Bellarmine vs. Brown at Purdue, 3:00 PM Northern Illinois at Purdue, 3:00 PM BTN+ Oklahoma at Northern Colorado, 4:00 PM FloWrestling Campbell at North Carolina, 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra

Nebraska 157 lber Peyton Robb (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Wrestling returned to the Big Ten Network in a big way on Tuesday as a pair of top-15 teams met to kick off the network's year of collegiate coverage. #15 North Carolina traveled to #9 Nebraska for an exciting dual that will surely shake up the national rankings next week. While there were some individual upsets, the balanced Husker lineup cruised past their ACC counterparts, 27-6. 141 through 157 lbs featured three matches between ranked competitors. In each instance, the lower-ranked wrestler ended the match by getting his hand raised. The most notable of which came at 157 lbs, as returning national champion, #2 Austin O'Connor (North Carolina), was knocked off by #16 Peyton Robb (Nebraska). Both are wrestling at different weights from the 2021 season, as O'Connor has moved up from 149 and Robb was at 165 last season. Facing a 2-1 deficit early in the third period, O'Connor decided to cut Robb for an escape rather than trying to ride for an entire period to earn a tying riding time point. With just over a minute remaining in the bout, Robb sucker dragged out of a front headlock attempt by O'Connor to notch his second takedown of the match. Shortly thereafter, O'Connor escaped bringing the margin to 5-2. He would push for another score but never got it. The Husker faithful exploded in the waning second of the match, as Robb registered the biggest win of his collegiate career. The win has forced Robb into the conversation as one of the key contenders at 157 lbs. This may not be surprising as the Husker star just recently returned from a stint at the U23 World Championships, where he finished 11th at 74 kg. He handed O'Connor his first loss since December 29th, 2019, when the Tar Heel was edged by Pat Lugo (Iowa) at the Midlands. The upset-filled night started at 141 as #13 Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina) took out #5 Chad Red Jr (Nebraska) in sudden victory, 3-1. Aside from a late flurry in the third period, neither wrestler made a serious attempt at a leg attack throughout most of regulation. In sudden victory, Red Jr appeared to be on the verge of scoring; however, Clarke kept his balance after getting elevated with a leg attack. The new Tar Heel then pushed the pace and finally broke through with a double leg for the win. A match later, it was Nebraska turning the tables with an upset of their own. A third period escape from #14 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) propelled him past returning All-American, #6 Zach Sherman (North Carolina), in a back-and-forth tilt that could have been worthy of “Match of the Night” status in an ordinary dual meet. While the first seven matches featured competitive bouts, the Husker flexed their muscles from 184-285 lbs. The final three members of Nebraska's vaunted lineup (Taylor Venz, Eric Schultz, and Christian Lance) all put away their UNC opponents via major decision. Nebraska 27 North Carolina 6 125 - Liam Cronin (Nebraska) dec Spencer Moore (North Carolina) 3-1 133 - Jaime Hernandez (North Carolina) dec Alex Thomsen (Nebraska) 10-4 141 - Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina) dec Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska) 3-1SV 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec Zach Sherman (North Carolina) 4-3 157 - Peyton Robb (Nebraska) dec Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) 5-2 165 - Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) dec Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) 3-2 174 - Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) dec Clay Lautt (North Carolina) 3-2 184 - Taylor Venz (Nebraska) maj Hunter Queen (North Carolina) 15-2 197 - Eric Schultz (Nebraska) maj Mark Chaid (North Carolina) 16-3 285 - Christian Lance (Nebraska) maj Brandon Whitman (North Carolina) 17-6

Appalachian State 125 lber Caleb Smith (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) This weekend there was a lot of #SoConWR, with plenty of dual meet and tournament action to fill up our calendars. Appalachian State University: The second-annual Mountaineer Invitational was held in Varsity Gym this weekend, hosting Air Force, Arizona State, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Indiana, and Kent State, with other programs competing in the Open Division (Life University and VMI). The Invitational finals resembled a dual meet for the Mountaineers, who sent six to the finals. Caleb Smith (125), Anthony Brito (141), Jonathan Millner (149), Cody Bond (157), Will Formato (165), and Mason Fiscella (197) were all runners-up for the weekend. Third placers for App State included Thomas Flitz (174) and Michael Burchell (HWT) in the Invitational. The Mountaineers will resume action next weekend at the Keystone Classic. Bellarmine University: The Knights attended George Mason's Patriot Duals, where they took three tough losses to Averett (22-16), Bucknell (39-2), and George Mason (36-3). Notable performances of the weekend were seen from Cole Nance (157) and Eric Beck (174), both picking up wins during their matchups against Averett, while Beck picked up a hard-fought 5-4 win over Bucknell's Nolan Springer, and Nance pulled out a 6-4 decision over George Mason's Avery Bassett. Coach Shuck and company will face off next at the Purdue Duals on November 21, with matchups against Duke, Brown, and Northern Illinois. Campbell University: Taye Ghadiali had a fantastic showing at the Wolfpack Open this weekend, bringing home the heavyweight championship title with wins over ACC champion Deonte Wilson and national qualifier Hunter Catka. Twelve other Camels placed at the Wolfpack Open, with top-four finishes as follows: 2nd - Korbin Meink (125), Caleb Hopkins (184); 3rd - Domenic Zaccone (133), Shannon Hanna (141); 4th - Troy Nation (165) and Levi Hopkins (197). Next weekend Campbell will be facing ACC opponents back-to-back on Saturday at UVA, and UNC on Sunday. Chattanooga: The Chattanooga Mocs had a weekend full of dual-meet action at Davidson's Quad, picking up an 18-16 win over Davidson, then dropping losses to Clarion (22-16) and #12 Rutgers (39-3). Fabian Gutierrez (125) had the fastest pin in his career over Davidson's Hale Robinson in 1:41. Chattanooga's biggest win of the day over Clarion was a major decision at 133, Brayden Palmer over Alex Blake. It is all the sweeter as the win came over Palmer's former team. For the final matchup of the day against Rutgers, the sole victory for the Mocs was at 165, Weston Wichman taking a decision over Andrew Clark. Chattanooga will be back in action on December 11, at a tri-meet versus Illinois and SIU Edwardsville. The Citadel: The Citadel went up against Presbyterian College at the Low Country Brawl, held outside on a beautiful Saturday at McKissick Field in Summerville, SC. The Bulldogs won the dual meet 42-3, dropping their lone loss at 149 by a 3-1 decision. Dazjon Casto (157) and Ben Stemmet (197) both pinned their opponents, with Cole Burke (174) pulling through a 9-1 major decision. Coach LeBlanc will lead the Bulldogs to the Navy Classic this weekend for their next competition. Davidson College: The Wildcats hosted their first-ever Quad Meet over the weekend, dropping three duals to Chattanooga (18-16), Rutgers (34-6), and Clarion (29-12). Gavin Damasco (141) and Bryce Sanderlin (157) had sudden-victory overtime wins against Chattanooga's Colton Landers and Weston Wichman, respectively, while heavyweight Mitchell Trigg took a major decision over Mattias Ervin. Sanderlin (157) clinched a 3-1 decision over Clarion's Trevor Elfvin, picking up his second win of the day alongside Trigg (285), who battled it out against Austin Chapman in overtime to receive a 5-1 victory. The ‘Cats will host West Virginia University this Friday at the Baker Sports Complex at 7:00pm. Gardner-Webb University: The Runnin' Bulldogs made the trek to Boone over the weekend for the Mountaineer Invitational, bringing two fourth place and two sixth-place finishes back to Boiling Springs. Jha'Quan Anderson (184) and Anthony Perrine (197) placed fourth, both winning matches by decision over Duke's Vincent Baker and Luke Chakonis. Sixth-place finishers Evan Schenk (174) and Peyton McComas (285) picked up wins over Conor Becker (Duke, 174) and Jacob Sartorio (Appalachian State, HWT). Gardner-Webb will suit up against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at 1:00pm this Saturday. Presbyterian College: The Blue Hose faced off against The Citadel for the Low Country Brawl, losing 42-3. Their lone win of the day came from Reid Stewart (149), who took a 3-1 decision over Ethan Willis. Presbyterian will return to competition on December 8 against Truett McConnell University at home. Virginia Military Institute: The Keydets were at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, bringing home nine top-four finishers in their pools to cap off a weekend of #SoConWR action. Second-place finishers include freshmen Sam Congleton (125), Justin Hart (184), Josh Evans (HWT), and Max Gourley (184). Zach Brown (184), Luke Hart (149), and Jake Waldron (157) placed third, while Freddy Junko (141) and Joel Diaz (174) placed fourth in their pools. VMI will join The Citadel for the Navy Classic this Saturday for their next bout of competition.

2021 NCAA champion Shane Griffith (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors) This Past Week A weekend filled with match-ups pitting Pac-12 teams and wrestlers against ranked opponents started off with the Little Rock Trojans taking the mat against a solid, #18 Wisconsin squad on Friday, November 12th. The Wisconsin contingent fielded a nine-wrestler line-up, forfeiting at 125, including five of their seven ranked wrestlers against the ever-improving Trojans. The bright spots for Little Rock included two heartbreakers and two match victories. At 133lbs, Jaylen Carson picked up a narrow 5-4 victory over Wisconsin's Ethan Rotundo on the strength of an enduring, gutsy effort. After a first-period reversal and early second-period escape, Carson had kept the match locked at 3-3 despite consistent pressure from Rotundo on their feet. Rotundo did his part, escaping to lead with a minute remaining in the final period. With short time in the third, Carson committed hard to straight-on single-leg, hustling to a standing finish and scored a literal last-second takedown on the edge to steal a win for Little Rock. 5-4 Carson! Joey Bianchi, at 149lbs, wrestled a high-octane match against #18 Austin Gomez. Leading in the third period, 7-6, after Gomez opted to go optional, Bianchi found himself in front of a charging Gomez and could not parry the over-under ties. Holding a left-side underhook, Bianchi was thrown for an eventual fall off a lateral throw. At 165lbs, Tyler Brennan faced #25 Dean Hamiti, and nearly notched the victory but was unable to escape in the third, losing 4-3 on riding time. Triston Wills (174) earned an emphatic 10-0 major for the Trojans over UR Kevin Meicher, earning the Trojans a bonus point for the evening. Of note, the Badgers did not field their #9-ranked, Andrew McNally, at 174. Altogether, the Trojan effort was taken by Head Coach Neil Erisman as indicative of the progress his roster has made in its young history. “​​The result wasn't acceptable, but it was encouraging because we did some things we worked hard on. We did well, we just got beat in the hustle and a little bit of the attack-mentality side,” Erisman told campus media. Saturday, November 13th, saw Stanford play host to #2 Oklahoma State as well as #23 Oregon State squaring off with #3 Penn State in advance of the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. The Cardinal held their own against nine-ranked Cowboys, despite notching only two match-victories on the day, falling 29-7. The Cardinal All-Americans came through for the home crowd, with #7 Jaden Abas putting an impressive 15-6 major decision on #22 Kaden Gfeller at 149lbs followed soon after, by defending national champion at 165lbs, #1 Shane Griffith shutting out #6 Travis Wittlake, 4-0. Griffith's complete match, characterized by an escape, takedown, and third-period rideout, earned him Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week honors. In loss, #21 (at 125lbs) Jackson DiSario managed to hold #2 Daton Fix to a 7-3 decision at 133lbs. Similarly, at 157, UR Charlie Darracott held off #14 Wyatt Sheets, 6-3. Finally, #31 Tyler Eischens scrapped with #16 Dustin Plott, falling 7-6. The Beavers had a few impressive moments in their 32-7 loss against a very strong Penn State squad featuring four national champions among more All-Americans. #29 Brandon Kaylor (125) and #15 Hunter Willits (157) took advantage of unranked match-ups, with Kaylor chasing a major at the end of his bout and Willits chasing a technical fall before settling for a major. Strong efforts from UR Jason Shaner, against #1 Roman Bravo-Young, and #10 Grant Willits, against #2 Nick Lee, helped Oregon State avoid bonus-point defeats at 133 and 141, respectively. At 149lbs, #24 Cory Crooks was upset by the talented, UR Beau Bartlett. After earning an escape in the second, Bartlett put on a two-minute rideout to top the ranked Crooks, 1-0. Sunday, November 14th brought tournament action from #3 Arizona State and #23 Oregon State, at the Mountaineer (App State) Invitational and the Journeyman Collegiate Classic, respectively, as well as a dual-meet between CSU Bakersfield and #6 Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Roadrunner staff traveled their team to Michigan with the intent of getting stiff competition, and that's what they found on Sunday, earning just one victory from their nine-wrestler squad in a 39-3 defeat. The lone victory stemmed from #21 Angelo Martinoni, who endured a 10-8 match over UR Patrick Nolan of Michigan at 141lbs. UR Augustine Garcia represented himself well against returning All-American, #11 Cameron Amine in a 5-2 decision loss at 165lbs. In tournament action, Arizona State put on a dominant display in a seven-team field. The All-American laden Sun Devils earned eight tournament titles in the invitational bracket, highlighted by a huge fall from #6 Kyle Parco at 149lbs, as he caught All-American, #9 Jonathan Millner riding too high on top. At 133lbs, #7 Michael McGee took home the tournament crown, but the story for the Sun Devils was 3rd-place finisher, UR Julian Chlebove, who topped #17 Jared Van Vleet (Air Force), 9-7, to open his day, before dropping a 4-2 decision to #23 Brock Hudkins (Indiana) in the semi-finals. Hudkins would forfeit the final to McGee. The Sun Devils' other titlists included #4 Brandon Courtney (125), UR Jesse Vasquez (141), #4 Jacori Teemer (157), #7 Anthony Valencia (165), #7 Kordell Norfleet (197), and #4 Cohlton Schultz (285). At the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, the Beavers of Oregon State walked away with some lessons after a respectable amount of ranked match-ups. At 133lbs, #20 Devan Turner split ranked match-ups on his day, topping #24 Malyke Hines (Lehigh) in a 4-3 decision before dropping a 4-0 decision to #15 Michael Colaiocco (Penn). #10 Grant Willits had one blemish on his day, that being a 12-7 loss to #13 Dresden Simon of Central Michigan. #24 Cory Crooks took another “bad” loss on his weekend, taking another unranked loss -- this time to Central Michigan's Corbyn Munson, 8-5. #15 Hunter Willits was also upset by a CMU Chippewa, losing 4-2 to #28 Johnny Lovett at 157lbs. Finally, #24 “Gas Tank” Gary Traub weathered a brutal early-season slate, having lost to #5 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) on Saturday, #12 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) and #10 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) on Sunday. In the case of Wood, it was the second time Traub had lost to the Mountain Hawk in as many weeks. With the upcoming week off from competition, the Oregon State Beavers will return home to recover and recuperate as they shore up their defenses in preparation for a November 27th dual against #1 Iowa.

Navy 157 lber Andrew Cerniglia (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Below is a recap of last week's EIWA action, with individual highlights worth noting. American The Eagles traveled to the Bearcat Open hosted by Binghamton. At 184lb, Connor Bourne secured a 4th place finish, losing to Deprez of Binghamton. William Jarrell finished the day in 5th place. He lost in the first round of the 197lb bracket, then rallied off 5 straight wins, all against EIWA opponents, most notably Cade Wilson of Brown. Another wrestler who lost in the first round and battled back to 5th place after five straight wins was Patrick Ryan at 149lb. Maximilian Leete only suffered one loss on the day to Allen (#32) of Navy, which earned him 5th place. Some other notable performers include Ethan Szerencsits at 141lb, who won 4 consecutive matches in the wrestle backs, one round short of placing. AT 174lb, Colin Shannon and Ben Root ended their day just shy of placing. However, Root won 8-6 over Shannon in the consolation rounds. My overall take on this team is still up in the air. They did not really have a season last year. With a new coaching staff and a bunch of young talent, this team's trajectory is somewhat unknown at the moment. This team had a bunch of wrestlers lose early and battle back, putting together a string of four to five wins. The fight is there, which is a terrific sign! Plus, with Borrelli's experience at Stanford, this team will only need a few short years to become a force in the conference. Army The Black Knights attended the Journeymen Classic Ryan Chauvin finished in 3rd with a win over Faraon of Sacred Heart, but a loss to Bayless of Harvard. At 133lb, Mark Montgomery came up short against two ranked opponents in Devan Turner (#19) of Oregon State and Malyke Hines (#24) of Lehigh. Both losses were by one and two points, which was good for 3rd. Corey Shie (#29) suffered only one loss to Willits (#12) of Oregon State by an 8-6 score, earning him a bronze. The top performance of the day came from PJ Ogunsanya (#20). He won the 149lb pool, majoring Lehigh's Jimmy Hoffman along the way. Markus Hartman (#32) came away with 5th place after losing to Willits (#17) of Oregon State at 157. At 165lb, Dalton Harkins had a major, pin, and 5-0 win to capture gold. Ben Pasiuk (#21) took 4th place at 174lb. He had losses to Heller of Hofstra and Logan of Lehigh. At 184lb, Brad Laughlin (#28) won gold in his pool with wins over Burkhart of Lehigh and Small (#29) of Hofstra. His teammate Sahm Abdulrazzaq claimed 4th in the same pool. He had a loss to Small. JT Brown (#21) defeated two EIWA wrestlers on his way to silver at 197lb. A decision over Urbas of Penn and Crowley of LIU helped him achieve a finals appearance where he lost to Beard of PSU by major. As you can see, Army had a successful weekend at Journeymen. There is no reason why this will not continue throughout the entire season. They are a strong team, with most guys ranked in the bottom half of the rankings, that can easily upset a higher-ranked opponent on any given day. This team will be disappointed with anything less than 5th place at EIWAs. I would love to see them compete again due to their seven minutes of hard wrestling. Man, they are fun to watch! Binghamton Binghamton The Bearcats hosted the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open Christian Gannone came away with a 3rd place finish at 133lb - outplacing two other Bearcats in Anthony Sobotker and Ivan Garcia, who won two and three matches, respectively. Neither placed in the top 6. Ryan Anderson, at 141lbs, lost 2 close matches, both to Cornell foes. He did have 2 falls before losing twice. Nick Lombard fought his way to a second-place finish, losing to Anthony White of Rutgers 4-1 in the 149lb final. Brevin Cassella was impressive, earning the title at 165lb, including 2 decisions and 3 majors. Jacob Nolan (#27) took third at 174lb, losing to eventual champ Foca (#9) from Cornell 9-3 in the semis. Sam Deprez took home third at 184lb. He lost to the champion (Loew of Cornell #20) in the semis via pin Returning All American Lou Deprez (#10 @ 184) took home the title at 197lb. He defeated 2 Cornell wrestlers in the process. My assessment of the Bearcats is that they may have a formidable lineup, very well suited for a tournament team. Lou Deprez wrestled up at 197 last week and is still wrestling at a high level. He is supposedly coming back down but will take a few weeks due to his descent plan. If he keeps winning up at 197, he may stay there. Who knows how much he'll enjoy his Thanksgiving. Anderson did not place, but his two losses were to very good Cornell wrestlers who may start, depending on Yianni's weight decision. I'm excited to see him moving forward. Some other guys I want to see more of include Cassella, Lombard, and Nolan. They all had solid performances. Brown The Bears traveled to Binghamton for the Bearcat Open. Hunter Adrian walked away with fourth place at 125lb. Justin Bierdumpfel came in third place. His only loss was to the 141lb champ from Franklin & Marshall, Gil, by 10-7 decision. Jack Bokina was the 6th place finisher at 157lb. He lost to 2 Cornell wrestlers in Yapoujian (#25) and Santoro. Cade Wilson, like Bokina, lost in the first round and battled back for 6th at 197 lbs. Lear Quinton placed 3rd at heavyweight. He lost to Ethan Laird of Rider in the semis. My overall impression of the Bears is that it's too early to tell who they are yet. This was their first competition of the year after missing all of last season. They have some young firepower that I'm excited to see come to fruition for Coach Beckerman. I'm thrilled to see how AJ Corrado (165) will compete when he's ready. I really think a guy like him, plus the wrestlers mentioned before, can be a darkhorse at conferences. Bucknell The Bison traveled to George Mason in Fairfax, VA, to compete in the Patriot Duals. They had matches against Averett (D3), George Mason, and Bellarmine. Bucknell defeated Averett by a score of 40-3. Most wins were by major decision or tech fall. The only loss came from Brandon Seidman via a 7-5 decision to Samuel Braswell (#1 - D3). Bucknell then beat George Mason 26-6. Zach Hartman (#9 - 165), Kurt Phipps (133) and Darren Miller (#25 - 141) all won by decision. Bucknell then easily handled Bellarmine 39-2. Nick Delp won in overtime at 157lb, while the rest of the team coasted to easy wins. My overall thoughts on the Bison squad remain inconclusive. I haven't seen this team compete yet, admittedly. This weekend was their first competition of the year, and they won with very little challenges. Behind returning All-American and the face of the program, Zach Hartman, there are guys on that team that can find themselves on the podium higher than most anticipated. I am interested to see if they are as good as they can be. Columbia - no action last weekend Cornell The Big Red sent a handful of wrestlers to the Bearcat Open. Chris Foca (#9) won the 174lb bracket, beating 4 EIWA opponents. He beat two Navy wrestlers, but his most notable win was Nolan (#27) of Binghamton. At 184lb, Jonathan Loew (#20) was the champion of the bracket. His closest victory was over Navy's Key (#30). He also had 2 falls. Greg Diakomihalis earned himself a silver at 125lb with a close loss to Allen (#32) of Navy. The 157lb runner-up was Colton Yapoujian (#25). He defeated 3 of his own teammates before dropping a 7-5 decision to Cerniglia (#21) of Navy. Cole Handlovic came away with a 2nd place finish, dropping a close one to Gil of F&M at 141lb. At 197lb, Jacob Cardenas lost in the finals to Deprez (#10 @ 184) of Binghamton. Julian Ramirez finished in 3rd place with 3 majors over EIWA competition. The 157lb bronze was earned by Gage McClenahan. His only defeat came from Cerniglia (#21) of Navy Josh Saunders was the 6th place finisher at 141lb. He did have a 4-2 win over Anderson of Binghamton. Finally, Lewis Fernandes (#15) won by major, pin, then tech before medically forfeiting to 6th place. Well, we all know Cornell is good. They are ranked #11 in the country for a reason. Many of these guys have not seen the mat in almost two years, so it will be much easier to get a grasp once we see more mat time from them. And, since their lineup is more secretive than the 23 flavors of Dr. Pepper, we are still waiting to see where Yianni and Vito will be. These guys will be the heaviest of the heavy hitters in that lineup. Drexel - no action last weekend Franklin & Marshall The Diplomats made the trip up to the Bearcat Open in Binghamton. Wil Gil was the champion of the 141lb bracket. He beat Bierdumpfel of Brown in the semis and Handlovic of Cornell in the finals. At 184lb, James Conway went 3-2 while beating a 2019 EIWA placer, Berreyesa of Cornell. Crew Fullerton went 2-2 at 165lb. Jose Diaz (125), Noah Fox (174), and Pat Phillips (133) all won a match in their brackets. The Diplomats are still a young team, and the results show it. They are young in terms of experience. Many of the starters have seen very little mat experience. Since they were forced to sit out last year due to COVID, many of the upperclassmen are seeing full-time starting jobs for the first time at the collegiate level. Although, I expect them to gradually improve throughout the season. Wil Gil is my second darkhorse pick for this conference. We should expect to see him in the rankings very soon if he keeps wrestling to his ability. Harvard The Crimson competed at the Journeymen Classic. This was their first competition in 617 calendar days. Josh Kim (#32) won his 174lb pool after defeating Logan of Lehigh then Heller of Hofstra-unattached. Kenny Herrmann won his respective 141lb pool while collecting a decision, major, and tech fall. Nick Marcennelle earned gold in his pool at 197lb, picking up 2 pins in the process. Both Dom Mata and Luke Rada went 3-0 at 184lb to earn first place in their respective pools. Mata defeated teammate Leo Tarantino in the finals. Diego Sotelo and Beau Bayless both earned silvers in their pools at 125lb. The Crimson had a sufficient performance, overall. This was without their top two wrestlers in Conigliaro (#12 - 165) and Slavikouski (#16 - HWT). Kim pulled a few upsets at 174 to win his pool. Diego Sotelo was in a tight match with Lane of Lehigh (#16) in the finals until he was cradled in a scramble and pinned. I'm looking forward to the 141lb starting battle between Jaffe and Herrmann. This team is pretty talented top to bottom. Hofstra The Pride sent their squad to the Journeymen Classic also. Zachary Knighton-Ward (#22) won his heavyweight pool. He knocked off Goldin of Penn to do so. At 141, Justin Hoyle won his pool with a major and a pin in his first two matches. Charles Small (#29) wrestled to a silver placement with an overtime win over Addulrazzaq of Army. Then he had an OT win over Antrassian of Penn. Ultimately, he dropped a 3-2 decision to Laughlin (#31) of Army. The 165lb bronze was awarded to Ricky Stamm. His only loss on the day was to Revano of Penn. Reece Heller wrestled unattached at 174lb. He came away with a silver, losing to Kim (#32) of Harvard. The Hofstra Pride are an interesting team to me. They have a handful of guys in the rankings, but mostly in the 20-33 range. With multiple national qualifiers returning this year, I would not be surprised to see them squeak out a top 5 finish at EIWAs in March. Again, I want to see how they improve over the year before I can really make an assessment. Lehigh The Mountain Hawks wrestled at the Journeymen Classic. They had 22 total competitors, 4 wrestling unattached. Jaret Lane (#16) won his pool with a pin over Sotelo of Harvard at 125lb. Brian Meyer (#30) also earned gold in his 165lb pool with wins over Heller of Hofstra in OT, then a tiebreaker win over Revano of Penn. He had a great weekend. The final champ for the day was Jordan Wood (#10) at heavyweight. With the toughest bracket in the classic, he beat Traub of Oregon State and Stencel of CMU (#11) by a 3-1 decision. At 133lb, Malyke Hines (#24) finished third. He had a close win over EIWA opponent, Montgomery of Army. Two potential starters at 141 lb, Dan Moran finished 3rd just ahead of his teammate Drew Munch by 12-4 major decision. Expect a close wrestle-off between Moran and Connor McGonagle (#32). Another potential starting lineup battle occurred at 149lb. Manzona Bryant defeated Jimmy Hoffman by a 4-1 decision to claim 5th. He also beat him during the intra-squad match-up a few weeks prior. Unfortunately, Josh Humphreys (#9) medically forfeited out of the tournament after losing a close one to Zapf (#23) of Penn at 157lb. Jake Logan earned himself a 3rd place finish at 174lb. He dropped a decision to Kim of Harvard (#32) but beat Pasiuk (#21) of Army. At 197lb, JT Davis finished 4th in his pool. AJ Burkhart came away with a solid 5th place finish at 184lb. My impression of Lehigh is that they are starting to take form like we expected them to. Lane is looking like he's the guy at 125lb after losing his wrestle-off a few weeks ago. Wood is doing his thing at a talented HWT class. Meyer had a great tournament, earning himself a spot in the rankings this week. To me, it looks like 141 and 149 are still unsettled. Whoever the Hawks throw-in, expect to see a run made at conferences. Long Island The Sharks also made the trip to Lancaster County, PA, to wrestle in the Journeymen Classic. Bryce Cockrell wrestled his way to a 4th place finish in the B Pool at 133lb, losing to Dunnigan of Penn. Drew Witham also wrestled to 4th place finish in his respective 149lb pool. At 174lb, Ryan Ferro dropped a 4-3 decision to Pasiuk (#21) of Army, earning 6th place. The bright spot of the day for LIU was at 197lbs, where Nunzio Crowley finished the day with a bronze in the A Pool. He defeated both Urbas of Penn and Davis of Lehigh in overtime for EIWA wins. The newest edition to the conference has some catching up to do, frankly. As a recent addition to the Division 1 wrestling program count, they will need some work to catch up with the rest of the conference. This is not a knock on them, by any means. Being a member of this conference and located in a hotbed of wrestling, the Sharks can make some improvements over the next few years. If I'm being honest, they may take a few lumps this year. But I am very interested to see how they perform at conferences. They have some gamers that can find themselves on the podium at conferences. I expect a good year out of Crowley, who already defeated Urbas and Davis, who are no slouches. Navy The Midshipmen competed at the Bearcat Open in Binghamton, with 10 overall wrestlers placing in the top 6. Jacob Allen (#32) beat Cornell incoming freshman Greg Diakomihalis in OT in the 125lb finals to capture a title, after being down 5-1 in that match. Andrew Cerniglia (#21) defeated Cornell's Colton Yapoujian (#25) of Cornell in the finals 7-5 at 157lb. Interestingly, he defeated a Cornell wrestler in the quarters and semi-finals also. Freshman Cael Crebs earned silver at 174, losing to Cornell's Chris Foca (#9) in the finals. Junior Hunter Johns also earned a silver, losing to Jonathan Loew (#20) of Cornell. Val Park lost his first match and came storming back to win five in a row, before being forced to settle for 6th place at 165lb due to a restriction of number of matches one can wrestle in a day. Heavyweights Grady Greiss and Riley Smith were set to wrestle for 5th place but did not wrestle due to number of match restrictions. My overall thoughts on Navy are that they are a sneaky good team. They may not be in the top three just yet, but they have bright spots in that lineup that will help the team score points at conferences. With Navy being a hard-nosed team full of guys ready to scrap, I expect to see this team steadily improve over the year and possibly sneak into the top 3 at EIWAs in March. I think Cerniglia could be a blood-round (or better) type of guy at NCAA's. This will all depend on how the conference shakes out, as this class is LOADED with talent in the EIWA. Finally, I'd love to see more of Val Park. He lost 3-2 first round to the eventual champ and won 5 not-all-that-close straight matches. He gave Casella his tightest match of the day. Penn The Quakers traveled to the Journeymen Classic for their first NCAA competition in over 600 days! Michael Colaiocco (#14) was the top placer for Penn. He won the 133lb bracket by defeating Turner (#19) of Oregon State. At 157lb, Doug Zapf (#23) pulled an upset over Humphreys (#9) of Lehigh to eventually earn 3rd place. His lone loss was to Lovett (#22) of Central Michigan. Lucas Revano lost a tiebreaker match in the finals to Meyer (#30) of Lehigh to earn silver in his 165lb pool. Neil Antrassian placed 6th in his 184lb bracket. His losses were 4-3 to Addulrazzaq of Army and 8-6 to Burkhart of Lehigh. His big win was against Small (#29) in overtime. At heavyweight, Ben Goldin walked away with silver in the B Pool. His only loss came to Knighton-Ward (#22) of Hofstra. Ryan Miller made the best of debut at 125lb. He took home a bronze, only losing to Lane (#16) of Lehigh. Carmen Ferrante was wrestling up a weight at 141lb. He lost to two ranked wrestlers but came away with a 5th place finish. At 174lb, Nick Incontrera won the B Pool in dominating fashion with a six-point victory, a major, and tech fall. Maximus Hale earned himself a 3rd place finish, with his only loss at 184lb coming to Tarantino of Harvard. Finally, Cole Urbas was the 5th place finisher after medical forfeiting. He had two losses beforehand, by a total of three points at 197lb. My excitement for the Quakers is no secret. They have a very solid and capable lineup. Doug Zapf is one of my darkhorse wrestlers to watch in the conference. He defeated a returning NCWA All-American in Humphreys. Colaiocco will be an All-American threat at a loaded 133lb weight class. When guys like Miller, Revano, and Urbas (plus more) get rolling - this team will be a contender to claim the team conference championship. Artalona at 149 is still out on injury, but he'll be back soon to add another All-American threat to the lineup. Princeton - no action last weekend Sacred Heart The Pioneers had a dual with Penn State this past Saturday, and then competed in the Journeymen Classic on Sunday. There were some competitors at the Bearcat Open as well. Nick Palumbo had the lone victory against Penn State. He defeated Joey Blumer 8-3 at 157lb. He did not compete at Journeyman the following day, however. Robert Hetherman earned himself a 5th place finish in the 184lb Bearcat Open bracket. His lone losses came to EIWA foes Bourne (American) and Key (Navy). Mark Blokh battled his way to 3rd place in his pool at Journeymen. My first impression of the Pioneers is that they were everywhere at Journeymen. Every time I looked, there were like at least three Sacred Heart singlets out on the mat at one time. They may not have won as many matches as they were hoping, but the fight is definitely there. Coach Clark has these guys ready to wrestle every time they step on the line. With a roster of over 70 kids, it may take some more time for me to get a full understanding of this team's identity. I do think there are a few bright spots in the lineup. They have two returning national qualifiers.

3x All-American Chad Red (left) and Kizhan Clarke (Red photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com/Clarke photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) InterMat's Big Ten Spotlight Matchup: 141 lbs: #13 Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina) vs. #5 Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska) How to Watch: November 17th, Big Ten Network (9pm EST) Tonight, the #15 North Carolina Tar Heels will travel to Big Ten country to face the #9 Nebraska Cornhuskers in an early-season non-conference scrap that features a handful of excellent bouts. The most notable of which is at 141 lbs, where a pair of top-15 ranked wrestlers are slated to do battle. Chad Red Jr. is a sixth-year senior that comes in with three NCAA All-American honors to his credit. Red Jr. was seventh as a freshman, eighth as a sophomore, and finished sixth at the 2021 NCAA Championships in St. Louis. Because of the Big Ten's depth at 141 lbs, sometimes Red Jr. gets overlooked as a national title contender. For instance, all four wrestlers currently ranked above the Husker veteran are from the conference. Red Jr.'s best Big Ten finish came in 2019 as he made the finals of the conference tournament. He is still seeking a return trip to the Big Ten championship bout, having taken third and fourth in the subsequent seasons. Red Jr's 2021-22 campaign kicked off last Thursday as he helped lead Nebraska to a route of DII powerhouse Nebraska-Kearney. He was one of five Huskers that recorded falls in the meet. Red's Jr's pin came in the third period against DII All-American, Nick James. The 141 lber is one of the more dangerous wrestlers in the nation. His fall over James was his 20th collegiate pin. To secure All-American honors as a freshman, Red Jr. pinned two-time defending NCAA champion Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) in the Round of 12. Red Jr.'s first significant test of the season will come from North Carolina's Kizhan Clarke. Clarke is a new addition to the UNC lineup after joining as a graduate transfer in the offseason. Prior to his arrival in Chapel Hill, Clarke amassed an 80-33 record competing for American University in Washington DC. While Clarke had winning seasons as a freshman and sophomore, his breakout campaign was his junior year when he went 37-7 and took fifth at the Midlands. Later that year, Clarke took fourth in the EIWA and was slated to receive the 15th seed at the ill-fated 2020 NCAA Championships. Clarke never saw the mat for American in 2021 as the school did not compete at all prior to the postseason, due to Covid-related issues or regulations. Now with North Carolina, Clarke had dropped down from 149 lbs to 141, a weight he last wrestled as a freshman. Early returns have been positive, as Clarke is 3-0 for UNC. In his most recent dual, he took out another Big Ten foe, Jordan Decatur (Ohio State), with a takedown in sudden victory. The rest of the dual: 125: Nebraska has a veteran at the weight in #17 Liam Cronin; however, Cronin did not participate in last week's two duals. North Carolina is expected to send out true freshman Spencer Moore, who is currently 6-3. 133: #10 Jaime Hernandez was an ACC runner-up in 2020 for North Carolina and is unbeaten in limited action. Nebraska has plenty of options at this weight as #30 Alex Thomsen, Tucker Sjomeling, and Dominick Serrano are all very capable. 149: Another headline bout in this dual takes place at 149 with #6 Zach Sherman (North Carolina) and #14 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska). Sherman is one of the Tar Heels two returning All-Americans, while Lovett was a surprise Big Ten finalist in 2021. 157: North Carolina boasts a returning national champion, #2 Austin O'Connor, at this weight. O'Connor was an undefeated champion last season at 149, but has since moved up without issue. He'll get his first test of the year with 2021 U23 World Team member #16 Peyton Robb. 165: A pair of young wrestlers, ready to break into the national rankings are tabbed to meet at 165, with Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) taking on Bubba Wilson (Nebraska). Santiago recently finished third at the Wolfpack Open, while Wilson is trying to rebound from a loss suffered during the Nebraska-Kearney dual. 174: Nebraska's top grappler, #3 Mikey Labriola, is at 174; however, he did not compete last week. In his absence, Tahjae Jenkins-Harris filled in and went 1-1. North Carolina counters with a talented freshman in #22 Gavin Kane, who was a finalist at the Wolfpack Open and may have secured the starting spot from a decorated, returning starter. 184: Aside from Red, the most dangerous bonus-point threat in Nebraska's lineup is All-American #10 Taylor Venz. True to form, Venz captured a pair of wins by fall in the Huskers season-opening duals last week. Attempting to avoid his back is 2020 ACC runner-up #22 Clay Lautt, who has twice qualified for the NCAA Championships. 197: Two-time Big Ten runner-up #12 Eric Schultz helps anchor the Husker lineup at 197 lbs. Schultz has twice earned top-three seeds at the NCAA Championships, yet is looking to stand on the podium for the first time. The 2020 tournament was canceled and last year, he was pinned in the opening round, then won a pair of bouts before his elimination. North Carolina has a returning qualifier in #27, Max Shaw, at this weight. He saw action in North Carolina's first dual of the year, but hasn't been in the lineup since. If he's unable to go, look for UNC to turn to Mark Chaid. 285: #13 Christian Lance is the final piece of a balanced Nebraska lineup. Lance emerged as the team's starter in 2021 after dealing with some tough internal competition. He ended up fifth in a stacked Big Ten weight class and received the 12th seed at nationals. His opponent is likely to be Brandon Whitman. Whitman qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2019 as a true freshman at 197 lbs. So far in 2021-22, Whitman captured a pair of wins before facing Ohio State All-American Tate Orndorff. The Tar Heel big man fought valiantly, but was on the wrong end of a 2-0 decision.

2021 All-American Michael McGee (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) After two weeks of picks, the leaderboard for our conference correspondent crew is quite crowded at the top. For a second consecutive week, Austin, Robbie and Willie went 4-1 and are atop the standings. However, they were joined by Courtney, who went a perfect 5-0 with her week two picks. Courtney was on the correct side of the most difficult-to-forecast picks of the week (Clarion over Chattanooga and Rider over Northern Illinois). Only Seth was correct on both of those matches. Courtney is showing she's truly living up to the name #MACInsider. Joining the cluster atop the standing is Seth, who also went 4-1, but did not have picks in week one. Just a game out are Corby, Rachel, and Earl at 7-3. A rough week for Cody and Darius has them looking up at the rest of the crew. Cody lost both of the toss-up matches involving the MAC, while Darius went the homer route and picked the Pac-12 in two matches where they were decided underdogs. Looking at this week's picks, he's done it again, taking Stanford over Cornell in the Rob Koll Bowl. If you've peeked at this week's dual slate, you'll notice there are a lot of juicy matchups. With that in mind, we've picked seven duals this time around. By this time next week, records will be decided by a pair of duals, Ohio State at Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh at Lehigh. Four of our ten pickers selected the ACC team in both instances.

Missouri's 2x national qualifier Jarrett Jacques (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Another fun week of wrestling in the books, now we move on to Week 3. Several teams (23 to be exact) will be locking before the weekend, so let's get to the quick picks of Early Locks. As a reminder: 1) The wrestler will lock at 9am EST on the first day of the week where that team competes (against D1 competition or other). 2) Once a wrestler is locked, he cannot be moved until the next scoring week. 3) Points will only count for matches against D1 competition Teams locking this week: Locking Wednesday: Bloomsburg, Nebraska, and North Carolina Locking Thursday: American, Army, George Mason, and Penn State Locking Friday: Air Force, Arizona State, California Baptist, Columbia, CSU Bakersfield, Davidson, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Princeton, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. Some notes to consider: Week 3 kicks off with a pretty good Wednesday night dual with North Carolina visiting Nebraska (9pm ET/8pm CT). Technically, it starts with Bloomsburg taking on two non-D1 teams at 6 and 9pm ET, but as noted above, those won't count on your scoresheet. Bloomsburg does travel to the Navy Classic on Saturday 11/20, though. Penn State hosts Army on Thursday, and a couple close matchups at 149 (Beau Bartlett v recent wooden hammer recipient PJ Ogunsanya), 157 Barraclough vs Hartman, and Edsell v Harkins. Those matches I think will be close (and very entertaining) but didn't make the list. Aside from the secret of how many pounds are contained within the body of Yianni Diakomihalis, the Michigan lineup might be Mystery #2 of this season so far. We have yet to see Stevan Micic, Myles Amine, and Mason Parris. I'm hoping we get to see them, but of those three I think Parris is the most likely to step on the mat for their double dual weekend. While Virginia Tech has six wrestlers on this list compared to Ohio State's one, This dual is going to be close and entertaining. Same with Princeton at Iowa, where Iowa holds the majority of wrestlers on this list, but I expect a light of hard fought battles, going Iowa's way in the end. No slight on Princeton, kudos to them on scheduling the Champs as their first dual of the season. A few teams have tournaments also scheduled for this weekend, but it's still too far out to confirm what (if any) starters are going. As usual, when I hear something you'll be the first to know. *********************************** Again, these “Early Lock'' articles are short and sweet to help with your decision making with early locking wrestlers on your roster. Keep an eye out for the Week 3 Outlook article and an ear for the #FCWpodcast, coming soon. Got a question? Got a Recommendation? Let me know. I can be reached @FantasyD1wrestl. Wrestlers I Like This Week (the early locks) Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score] 125: Liam Cronin (Nebraska)- Vs North Carolina [+3], Daktronics Open Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley)- Vs CSU Bakersfield, Vs Cal Baptist (@CBU) [+8] Sam Latona (Virginia Tech)- Vs Ohio State, Vs Gardner-Webb [+7] 133: Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech)- Vs Ohio State, Vs Gardner-Webb [+7] Austin DeSanto (Iowa)- Vs Princeton [+4] Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)- Vs Army [+4] Michael McGee (Arizona State)- Vs Oklahoma [+3] 141: Kaden Cassidy (George Mason)- @ American [+4], Keystone Classic Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)- Vs Princeton [+5] Nick Lee (Penn State)- Vs Army [+4] 149: Alex Madrigal (George Mason)- @ American [+4], Keystone Classic Josh Edmond (Missouri)- Vs Air Force [+3], Lindenwood Open Kanen Storr (Michigan)- @ Columbia, @ Buffalo [+7] Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)- @ Virginia Tech [+3] 157: Jarrett Jacques (Missouri)- Vs Air Force [+3], Lindenwood Open Austin O'Connor (North Carolina)- @ Nebraska, Vs Campbell [+9] Connor Brady (Virginia Tech)- Vs Ohio State, Vs Gardner-Webb [+7] Will Lewan (Michigan)- @ Columbia, @ Buffalo [+6] Markus Hartman (Army)- @ Penn State [+3] 165: Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)- Vs Air Force [+6], Lindenwood Open Demetrius Romero (Utah Valley)- Vs CSU Bakersfield, Vs Cal Baptist (@CBU) [+8] Cam Amine (Michigan)- @ Columbia, @ Buffalo [+7] Peyton Hall (West Virginia)- @ Davidson, @ NC State [+1] Anthony Valencia (Arizona State)- Vs Oklahoma [+5] Alex Marinelli (Iowa)- Vs Princeton [+4] Dalton Harkins (Army)- @ Penn State [+3] 174: Peyton Mocco (Missouri)- Vs Air Force [+4], Lindenwood Open Michael Labriola (Nebraska)- Vs North Carolina [+3], Daktronics Open Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)- Vs Ohio State, Vs Gardner-Webb [+7] Michael Kemerer (Iowa)- Vs Princeton [+5] Carter Starocci (Penn State)- Vs Army [+4] 184: Jeremiah Kent (Missouri)- Vs Air Force [+4], Lindenwood Open Taylor Venz (Nebraska)- Vs North Carolina [+3], Daktronics Open Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)- Vs Ohio State, Vs Gardner-Webb [+8] Aaron Brooks (Penn State)- Vs Army [+4] 197: Rocky Elam (Missouri)- Vs Air Force [+5], Lindenwood Open Eric Schultz (Nebraska)- Vs North Carolina [+3], Daktronics Open Pat Brucki (Michigan)- @ Columbia, @ Buffalo [+8] Max Dean (Penn State)- Vs Army [+4] 285: Issac Righter (American)- Vs George Mason [+4] , Navy Classic Mason Parris (Michigan)- @ Columbia, @ Buffalo [+8] Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech)- Vs Ohio State, Vs Gardner-Webb [+7] Anthony Cassioppi (Iowa)- Vs Princeton [+5] Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)- Vs Army [+4] Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)- Vs Oklahoma [+3] Think I missed someone? Disagree with someone on the list or their projection? Let me know!

Spencer Lee (top) and Gable Steveson (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie) In the months leading into the NCAA wrestling season, InterMat embarked on a fun project to rank the top-50 active collegiate wrestlers. That feature spilled over into the regular season and will conclude today as we reveal the top-two wrestlers in college wrestling. The funny part about this entire project is that number one and number two were the easiest to determine. Perhaps even Yianni Diakomihalis at number three. But numbers four through 50, that's up for plenty of debate. Especially in an unusual year where 11 former NCAA champions (seven were unbeaten in 2021) and 12 other NCAA runner's-up return. A typical season may have half that amount. Now projecting Spencer Lee and Gable Steveson at numbers one and two does not require any deep analysis or debate, but separating one of the two as #1 has and will spark plenty of discussion. Even after the 2021 NCAA Championships, the Hodge Trophy was awarded to both of these remarkable wrestlers. That decision had been made only once before in the history of the award (since 1995). We've decided to release number one and number two together as it would be very apparent who's who if number two was released the day before number one. The format for this will also differ from #3-#50. In those, we gave a detailed background of the competitors and key moments during their collegiate careers. This article will outline the case for both Lee and Steveson, before getting to a conclusion. So, let's get down to it! The Case for Spencer Lee: First and foremost, three NCAA titles, with an extremely strong possibility of four. Of all the greats that have come through our sport (Steveson included), only four have won four DI titles. The old saying is that “more people have walked on the moon” that won four. Two Hodge's: Since the Hodge Trophy was awarded starting in 1995, only five wrestlers have won the trophy on multiple occasions. Cael Sanderson x3, Ben Askren x2, David Taylor x2, Zain Retherford x2 and Lee. Another could put him with Cael as the only wrestlers with three. Lee became the first wrestler at the lowest weight class 118/125 to earn the trophy. Sheer Dominance. In order to win the Hodge, you have to now only win, but win big. Lee has done that throughout his career. During his 80 career bouts, Lee has maintained an 80% rate of bonus points. His “lowest” year was his sophomore campaign in which he registered over 73%. The weight class (2018). While Lee's current weight class is not as strong as others. His 2018 bracket was absolutely loaded. It featured returning national champions Nathan Tomasello (2015) and Darian Cruz (2017), along with future champion Nick Suriano (2019). The podium also featured past finalists Ethan Lizak (2017) and Zeke Moisey (2015). Plus a freshman, Sebastian Rivera. At nationals, Lee pinned Tomasello and Nick Piccinnini to make the finals before downing Suriano, 5-1. Though the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled, Lee was awarded the AAU James Sullivan Award, which is given out to the “Most Outstanding Amateur Athlete in the United States.” Lee was only the seventh wrestler to ever win the award, joining Rulon Gardner (2000) and Kyle Snyder (2017) as the only to do so since 2000. It's hard to quantify or judge to what extent Lee has been competing injured throughout his collegiate career, but he has fought through various ailments and continued to win. He has no ACL's! Lee heads into his final year of eligibility on a 35-match winning streak, one that has spanned three (going on four) different seasons. He has not lost since the 2019 Big Ten finals. On the international front, Lee has a pair of Junior World titles and a Cadet title to his name. In 2019, he won Senior Nationals at 57 kg. The Case for Gable Steveson The “elephant in the room” is Gable Steveson's Olympic gold medal. In our rules for the top-50 list, we mentioned that international credentials would play a role. They certainly did for others among the top-50 that were Cadet/Junior World medalists or performed well at the Olympic Trials. While this list is primarily for collegiate achievements, we all watched Steveson's remarkable run to the pinnacle of wrestling in Tokyo and can't ignore it. After three years of collegiate competition, Steveson's career record sits at 68-2. Both of his two losses came as a true freshman and both were to the same opponent (Anthony Cassar), who would go on to win a national title. Steveson enters the 2021-22 season on a 34-match winning streak. Steveson's bonus point rate through three years is almost 66%. Typically heavyweights aren't able to light up the scoreboard like lightweights, so he should get credit for such a high rate. Gable's weight classes have been and will continue to be loaded. With Tony Cassioppi's recent U23 World Title, Steveson now has four other age-group world champions competing at his weight. He has competed against three of them in collegiate competition (Mason Parris, Cassioppi, Greg Kerkvliet) and outscored them 84-38. As mentioned above, Steveson was named a co-Hodge Trophy winner with Lee after the 2021 NCAA Championships. He is only the fourth 285 lber to receive the honor, joining Steve Mocco - 2005, Stephen Neal - 1999, and Kerry McCoy - 1997. The Decision By the slimmest of margins, #1 belongs to Gable Steveson. The deciding factors are the level of competition and parsing through the pair's career losses. And an Olympic gold medal. Steveson's only career losses came to Cassar in the Big Ten finals and NCAA semifinals. Lee has career losses to Ronnie Bresser, Nathan Tomasello, Sebastian Rivera, and Nick Piccininni (by fall). Of the group, only Tomasello has appeared in an NCAA final. Steveson's competition in the last two Big Ten final's and the 2021 NCAA championship match came from Mason Parris. Over the last two seasons, Parris is 40-0 against everyone not named Gable and 0-3 against the Gopher. Lee's 2021 NCAA podium did not include any returning NCAA All-Americans and only one 2020 NWCA 1st Team AA (Drew Hildebrandt). If you look through the top-50, we didn't just go strictly on NCAA placement, as some non-NCAA champions were ahead of past champs, non-finalists were ahead of finalists, and so forth. So, while Lee has the huge advantage with national titles, it's not the be all, end all. For the rest of the top 50: #50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) #49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell) #48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) #47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa) #46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri) #45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska) #44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) #43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri) #42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) #41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) #40 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota) #39 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State) #38 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) #37 - Tariq Wilson (NC State) #36 - Jacob Warner (Iowa) #35 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) #34 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) #33 - Vito Arujau (Cornell) #32 - Patrick Glory (Princeton) #31 - Max Dean (Penn State) #30 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) #29 - Mike Labriola (Nebraska) #28 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) #27 - Austin DeSanto (Iowa) #26 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) #25 - Evan Wick (Cal Poly) #24 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa) #23 - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) #22 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) #21 - Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) #20 - Trent Hidlay (NC State) #19 - Stevan Micic (Michigan) #18 - Hayden Hidlay (NC State) #17 - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) #16 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa) #15 - Mason Parris (Michigan) #14 - Shane Griffith (Stanford) #13 - AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) #12 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) #11 - Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) #10 - Myles Amine (Michigan) #9 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) #8 - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) #7 - Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) #6 - Aaron Brooks (Penn State) #5 - David Carr (Iowa State) #4 - Nick Lee (Penn State) #3 - Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)

Duke's NCAA qualifier Matt Finesilver (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Duke: The Blue Devils headed to Boone, NC, for the Mountaineer Open this weekend. They were led by Matt Finesilver (#8 at 174), who brought home the title for the second straight week. Josiah Neisenbaum is off to a great start this year at 6-2; he finished in 2nd this week, falling to Cohlton Schultz (#4) of Arizona State in the finals. Josh Finesilver (#12 at 149) finished in 3rd place; he fell in the semifinals to Jonathan Millner (#9) of App State in a rematch of last year's NCAA Bloodround match. Finesilver beat #30 Graham Rooks of Indiana for Bronze. North Carolina: Though there was no official team competition, UNC sent some wrestlers to the Wolfpack Open to compete attached. Gavin Kane (#21) brought home silver at 174, while Sonny Santiago finished in 3rd at 165. Rounding out the attached wrestlers, Joe Heilmann finished in 5th at 133 while Joey Mazzaro finished in 5th at 165. Two redshirts that the coaching staff are very high on, finished on top of the podium on Sunday. Lachlan McNeil won at 141, while Mason Phillips brought home the title at 149. UNC (#13) is back in action on Wednesday, traveling to face the Huskers (#10) in another top-15 showdown. NC State: NC State hosted the Wolfpack Open in Raleigh this weekend and had a showing that illustrated the lineup's depth. There was an all-Wolfpack matchup at several weights in the finals and medal matches; some of the matches were wrestled, others were a no-contest. At 125, Jakob Camacho was 3-0 in his contested matches, finishing in the 3-4 match with teammate Stevo Poulin. At 133, Kai Orine beat Jared Trombley in the finals 2-0 with an escape and a riding time point. Ryan Jack finished in 2nd at 141, while Hunter Lewis ended in 4th. Reversing last week's result at 157, Ed Scott pinned AJ Kovacs in the finals. Thomas Bullard made his season debut at 165, winning the title with a tech fall over teammate Donald Cates. At 197, the top three steps on the podium belonged to NC State. Isaac Trumble and Jacob Ferreira had a no contest in the finals while redshirt Brock DelSignore finished in 3rd. We didn't see Owen Trephan and Deonte Wilson scrap for the third week in a row at 285, but they both made the 3rd place match where it was a no contest. My biggest takeaway for the weekend, aside from the impressive depth of the Wolfpack, was the performance by super-senior Nick Reenan. Reenan was back down at 184 and went 5-0 on the day, while picking up two major decisions and a fall on his way to a 10-3 decision over a tough Caleb Hopkins from Campbell in the finals. NC State will open its dual slate, hosting West Virginia next weekend. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh hit the road for two duals this weekend, but left home three NCAA qualifiers, including NCAA Runner-up Nino Bonaccorsi, who competed in Serbia last week. Though it may not be the starting lineup they roll with for the full season, the Panthers were able to pick up two wins on the weekend, with Jacob Slinger icing both duals with pins at 285. In the only ranked matchup, #5 Micky Phillippi topped #21 Derek Spann 4-2. Jake Wentzel made his season debut with a 3-0 decision, while Hunter Kernan continued his hot start with his 6th win of the year at 174. Slinger put his stamp on the dual with a pin at heavyweight and Pitt topped the Bulls 21-12. The Panthers headed to Edinboro Saturday and ended with a much tighter victory that required some bonus points for Pitt. Micky Phillippi and Hunter Kernan both tallied tech falls, while Elijah Cleary and Jacob Slinger added pins to counter two pins and a tech fall from the Fighting Scots. The dual was back and forth and the bonus points caused big swings in momentum throughout. Slinger played the iceman again in this dual--Pitt was up 22-20 going into 285, his pin sealed the 28-20 win for the Panthers. Pitt has another big in-state dual this week traveling to Lehigh on Sunday. Virginia: UVA traveled to Maryland for a Friday night dual. The Cavaliers controlled the dual from the outset and won 24-9. Jarod Verkleeren led the Hoos with the only bonus-point victory of the match, winning by 16-0 tech fall. In ranked versus ranked matchups, #19 Justin McCoy beat #31 John Martin Best 8-4 at 165 and at #21 Quinn Miller won 8-2 over #32 Zach Schrader. UVA will host their first home match of the year this week, taking on Campbell. Virginia Tech: The Hokies did not have an official competition this week, but had several wrestlers competing at the Wolfpack Open. They were highlighted by Cooper Flynn winning the title at 125 and Hunter Catka finishing as runner-up at 285. The Hokies will be at home for two duals this week against Ohio State and Gardner-Webb.

George Mason's Alex Madrigal (Photo courtesy of GMU athletics) Buffalo: The Bulls continued their season by hosting ACC's Pittsburgh at Alumni Area where they dropped a 21-12 matchup. Although the Bulls came up short, Ben Freeman (141), John Arceri (149), Pete Acciardi (184), and Sam Mitchell (197) had electric wins, bringing fans to their feet. On Sunday, the Bulls competed in the Journeymen Classic, where they crowned four first-place finishers: Tristan Daugherty (125), John Arceri (149), Noah Grover (165), and Toby Cahill (HWT). Additional place-finishers included: Jay Nivison (2nd), Ben Freeman (3rd), Jake Lanning (3rd), Fabrio Preka (3rd), Sam Mitchell (3rd), Ty Rainers (3rd), Marcus Petite (4th), Giuseppe Hoose (4th), and Tommy Maddox (5th). Buffalo will host Michigan at 1:00pm on Sunday, November 21st at Alumni Arena. Clarion: The Golden Eagles traveled to the Davidson Quad Duals where they captured two out of three dual wins. Clarion dropped their first match against #19 ranked Rutgers 27-10, before coming out on top for the following two matchups against Chattanooga 22-16 and Davidson 29-12. Notable wins were posted by Trevor Elfin (157), Cameron Pipe (165), John Worthing (174), and Greg Bulsak (197). John Worthing went 3-0 on the day, defeating #7 ranked Jackson Turley of Rutgers (12-6), Carial Tarter of Chattanooga (4-2), and Steven Newell of Davidson (Fall 2:43). Clarion will wrestle in the Shorty Hitchcock Open on Saturday, November 20th. Cleveland State: The Vikings dropped a hard fought loss against Purdue in their home opener on Sunday 39-7. Two wrestlers proved their dominance amongst the defeat. Marcus Robinson (149) defeated Trey Kruse 18-6 and DeAndre Nassar (184) upset then-#21 Max Lyon 2-1. The Vikings will wrestle at the Navy Classic on Saturday, November 20th in Annapolis, Maryland. Edinboro: The Fighting Scots fell short against Pittsburgh 28-20 on Saturday night in the McComb Fieldhouse. Although the Fighting Scots came up shy of the Panthers, four wrestlers had huge wins: Gabe Willochell (141), Ryan Burgos (149), Ethan Ducca (184), and Cody Mulligan (197). Gabe Willochel defeated Ryan Michaels by fall (6:12), Ryan Burgos defeated Dan Mancini by fall (4:58), Ethan Ducca defeated James Lledo 6-3, and Cody Mulligan defeated Geoff by TF (20-5). Edinboro will be back in action on Saturday, November 20th in Annapolis, Maryland. George Mason: The Patriots captured two out of three dual wins in the Patriot Duals on Saturday. George Mason defeated Bellarmine 36-3, fell short to Bucknell 26-6, and ended the duals on a high note by capturing the last bout to Averett 31-6. Two Patriots went 3-0; Alex Madrigal (149) and Jon List (197). Alex Madrigal was victorious over Mitch Collica of Bellarmine 16-0, Noah Levett of Bucknell 11-4, and Gabe LaVey of Averett 16-1. Jon List defeated Charlie Cadell of Bellarmine 10-0, Mason McCready of Bucknell 10-4, and Billy Baldwin of Averett 12-3. At the Journeymen Classic, George Mason had four redshirts compete and bring home hardware: Higley (1st), Pierce (2nd), DuVall (2nd), and Rapuano (3rd). The Patriots will wrestle American University on Thursday, November 18th in Washington, D.C. Rider: The Broncs wrestled their second match in Alumni Gym this season against a tough competitor in Northern Illinois. Rider came out victorious with a 20-14 win over the Huskies. Six Broncs defeated their opponents in a demanding fashion: Tyler Klinsky (125), #29 Richie Koehler (133), #23 Quinn Kinner (141), Cole McComas (149), #29 Matt Correnti (197), and David Szuba (HWT). All six wrestlers from Rider earned their first wins of the season. At the Bearcat Open, Ethan Laird claimed the top spot at HWT. The Broncs will return to competition this Sunday, November 21st, where they will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the Keystone Classic. Kent State: The Golden Flashes had a strong showing this weekend as they left the Mountaineer Invite hosted by Appalachian State with eight place winners. Jake Ferri (125) captured the 4th place spot on the podium by opening his tournament with a tech fall. Louis Newell (141) earned a pair of wins by decision to capture 4th place. Kody Komara (149) finished 6th place, with a 6-1 win over Brandon Bright of Gardner-Webb. Enrique Munguia (157) dropped a tough first bout, but was victorious throughout the consolation bracket, battling back to earn 5th place. Brady Chrisman (165) captured the 6th place spot on the podium, with a noteworthy win over Bryson Neace of Duke 3-2. Michael Ferree (174) pioneered the Golden Flashes by placing 2nd, losing to the Champion, Matt Finesilver of Duke. Colin McCracken (184) finished 3rd place for the Golden Flashes, splitting his matches on the day. Lastly, Jacob Cover (HWT) placed 5th on the podium for Kent State. The Golden Flashes will wrestle on Saturday, November 20th at the Navy Classic.

2021 NCAA All-American Brayton Lee (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Each Monday, Big Ten correspondent Cody Goodwin recaps the biggest results from around the Big Ten Conference. Illinois - Did not compete at the Mountaineer Invitational due to "COVID-19 issues within the program," and we begin here because this is a reminder that, yes, even though wrestling season has returned with more normalcy this season, we are still in a pandemic, so please stay vigilant so everybody can get their entire seasons in. Penn State - Thumped both Sacred Heart, 47-3, and Oregon State, 32-7. Max Dean, not Michael Beard, went at 197 and scored a technical fall and major (Beard also competed in Spooky Nook this weekend, but at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, and went 3-0 with two majors and a technical fall). Baylor Shunk went 1-1 at 125. Creighton Edsell looks like a promising prospect at 165 if Alex Facundo ultimately stays in redshirt. The superstars did what the superstars do (and Greg Kerkvliet looks like he's going to be a MASSIVE problem now that he's fully healthy). Iowa - Sent a handful of starters to the Luther Open, where the big highlight was Alex Marinelli's 3-2 win over Patrick Kennedy in the finals at 165 pounds. Elsewhere: Austin DeSanto's 8-4 win over Cullan Schriever at 133 was entertaining, too; true freshman Bretli Reyna beat Vince Turk, 6-5, at 149; Jesse Ybarra wrestled attached at 125 (and took first); and Abe Assad lost in the finals to Clayton Whiting, an impressive high-school senior from Wisconsin who has now won two college opens in as many weeks. Michigan - Crushed Cal-State Bakersfield, 39-3. Fidel Mayora, not Will Lewan, got the start at 157, and scored five takedowns in a 12-4 major over Brock Rogers. Jack Medley (125) and Dylan Ragusin (133) both started and won, Medley in a wild 15-9 decision, Ragusin by forfeit. The Wolverines also got three-straight bonus wins starting at 174: Max Maylor by pin, Jelani Embree by major, Pat Brucki by pin. Minnesota - Sent 25 wrestlers to the Bison Open in Fargo and came back with six champs, in Pat McKee (125), Jake Gliva (133), Michael Blockhus (149), Brayton Lee (157), Jared Krattiger (174) and Isaiah Salazar (184). Among the notable results: Gliva beat Vance Vombaur, 5-3 in overtime, in the semifinals; Jakob Bergeland beat Marcos Polanco, 6-4 in overtime, for third at 141; Blockhus pinned Blaine Brenner in the finals after Brenner beat SDSU's 20th-ranked Zach Price, 15-5, in the semifinals; Lee beat NDSU's 10th-ranked Jared Franek, 6-4, in the finals; and Michial Foy made the finals at 197 and lost to NDSU's Owen Pentz, who pinned everybody on Saturday. Indiana - The Hoosiers did compete at the Mountaineer Invitational, and brought home five top-three finishes, led by Donnell Washington's first-place finish at 184 pounds. He pinned all three of his opponents, and is now 5-0 with five pins this season. He's on pace to pin everybody, which would probably earn him the Hodge Trophy. We're not sure if he's actually going to pin everybody, but it's the only thing he's done this season. We'll keep an eye on this development as the season continues. Wisconsin - Beat up Arkansas-Little Rock, 32-13, rallying from down 9-0 thanks to pins from both Austin Gomez (149) and Trent Hillger (285). Eric Barnett did not wrestle at 125 (coach Chris Bono said he'll be back for the Garden State Grapple in two weeks), but the Badgers still won 7-of-10 bouts and scored bonus in five of them: Garrett Model added a 16-4 major decision over Chase Tebbets at 157, and both Chris Weiler (184) and Braxton Amos (197) added first-period technical falls. Nebraska - Pummeled both Chadron State, 31-9, and Nebraska-Kearney, 45-6. Taylor Venz (184, two pins) and Ridge Lovett (149, tech and pin) were the only two regular starters to go in both duals. Jeremiah Reno went 1-1 at 125 while Liam Cronin continues to heal from a slight injury. Alex Thomsen, Chad Red, Peyton Robb, Eric Schultz all recorded bonus-point wins in their only matches. No Mikey Labs, though. Purdue - Walloped Cleveland State, 39-7, thanks to oodles of bonus points. The Boilermakers won eight matches and scored bonus in seven: a pin from Michael Woulfe (285), technical falls from Devin Schroder (125) and Thomas Penola (197), majors from Parker Filius (141) and Gerrit Nijenhuis (174), and forfeits at 133 and 165. Ohio State - Sent 28 wrestlers to the Ohio Intercollegiate Open and won eight of the 10 Gold Division weights. Dylan D'Emilio went at 141 and went tech, pin, then 5-2 over Ohio's Kyran Hagan in the finals. Bryce Hepner beat Isaac Wilcox, 4-2, in the finals at 157, and that came after Wilcox beat Kevon Freeman, 7-2, in the semifinals, and while Paddy Gallagher went 4-0 and obliterated the White Division bracket at the same weight. Sammy Sasso snatched souls in the form of 66 total points scored in four matches in less than 17 minutes of mat time, which equates to more than 4 points per minute. Rutgers - All Rutgers does is win quad meets. This weekend, they beat Clarion 27-10, Davidson 34-6, and UT-Chattanooga 39-3. Dylan Shawver (125), Sammy Alvarez (133), Mike Van Brill (149), John Poznanski (184) all went 3-0; and Sebastian Rivera (141), Greg Bulsak (197), Boone McDermott (285) all went 2-0. The Scarlet Knights head to the Garden State Grapple in two weeks, where they'll face Hofstra and North Carolina, which raises the question about whether or not they'll wrestle multiple duals every time they compete this season (obviously they won't, but, honestly, that would be a lot of fun). Maryland -Lost to Virginia, 24-9. Cavaliers took 7-of-10 matches, but the Terps lost two of them by two points (King Sandoval led 2-0 in the second before losing 4-2 at 133; Danny Bertoni lost, 4-2, in overtime at 141) and two more by three points. John Martin Best was also tied 4-4 with Justin McCoy before losing 9-4 at 165. As a team, the Terps gave up 11 takedowns in the third period and overtime and scored just four. Dom Solis (174), Kyle Cochran (184), Jaron Smith (197) all collected wins for Maryland. Northwestern - Was supposed to host SIUE at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but the dual was postponed. A reason was not given. But, again, stay vigilant and be smart. Michigan State did not compete this weekend.

2021 NCAA All-American Jaden Abas (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Week one of the collegiate wrestling season was a bit of a teaser, enough to whet the appetite of fans that have longed to see their favorite schools and wrestlers in action. Not all teams competed in week one, but it was...it was something! Duals/Tournaments and actual matches. Just a week later, we're inundated in wrestling action. Most schools have competed in some form or fashion. Fans and media members alike are left to make blanket judgments about a team or individual's future after wrestling a couple of matches. But we wouldn't have it any other way; it's wrestling season! And this time, fans are able to take part. After action in week two, we were able to make these eight headlines regarding some of the most important results or situations that occurred. Penn State's Lineup Takes Shape (Sort of) On Saturday, we got our first taste of the 2021 NCAA runner's-up Penn State. The Nittany Lions competed in a couple of duals against Sacred Heart and Oregon State. As expected, Penn State rolled in both matches, though that isn't the story. What we're paying attention to is how the PSU lineup has taken shape and how it can evolve in the coming weeks/months. On Wednesday evening, it was noted that 2021 NCAA All-American Drew Hildebrandt had appeared in the PSU student directly. Hildebrandt announced he wasn't returning to Central Michigan and most assumed his collegiate career was finished (after five years at CMU). Recently, his name appeared in the transfer portal, which led to speculation of a possible Penn State transfer. And why not? The Nittany Lions seem to need help at 125 since 2021 national qualifier Robbie Howard is still recovering from an injury. Saturday's starter, Baylor Shunk, went 1-1 in his first taste of dual meet action, teching Sacred Heart's Kyle Randall and losing a 16-9 decision to #29 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State). This is quite the developing situation. Elsewhere in the PSU lineup, Beau Bartlett got a pair of wins at 149 and will break into the national rankings tomorrow. At 157 lbs, Joey Blumer suffered losses in both duals. Another option at the weight, Matt Lee, was majored in the Bearcat Open finals, while 2021 NCAA qualifier at 165, Joe Lee, has yet to compete. Another unsettled weight is 165. Creighton Edsall captured wins in both duals, while blue-chip freshman Alex Facundo did not compete. Perhaps the most intriguing battle is going on at 197 lbs between former AA's Max Dean and Michael Beard. Dean got the call in both duals and responded with bonus points in both contests. Beard was in action at the Journeymen Collegiate Challenge and did the same in three matches. Trying to read between the lines, maybe Dean has the upperhand since he got the call in dual action, but based on results, neither hurt their case. The Nittany Lions are back on the mat Thursday night against Army. Beard already has a major decision over the Black Knights likely starter, JT Brown. After that, we'll have to wait a few weeks before seeing PSU in action. The Ivies are Back! Actually, the Ivy League kicked off competition last week as Columbia and Princeton traveled to the Southeast Open, but the remainder of the schools hit the mat at either the Journeymen or the Bearcat. Ivy League wrestlers accounted for two titles in the “A” brackets at the Journeymen, with Michael Colaiocco (Penn - 133) and Josh Kim (Harvard - 174) coming away with hammer trophies. At the Bearcat Open, three Ivy Leaguers emerged victorious with Angelo Rini (Columbia - 133), Chris Foca (Cornell - 174) and Jonathan Loew (Cornell - 184). The year away from competition certainly made it hard to account for these Ivy League wrestlers in the rankings. With actual results from some time in the last two years in tow, we may see more of their wrestlers featured amongst the top-33. Next week, we'll see the Ivy League really jump into competition, head first. Princeton will travel to top-ranked Iowa, while Columbia gets a visit from #6 Michigan, and Brown takes on #21 Purdue. Cornell plays host to former head coach Rob Koll and his Stanford squad. Harvard travels to Penn to take part in the Keystone Classic. Suffice to say, all six teams will get tested in the next seven days. More Arizona State firepower? With six returning All-Americans, we all know that #7 (#3 in tournament rankings) is a serious threat to take home another team trophy in 2022. After seeing the Sun Devils run through the Appalachian Invitational, they may possess more potential than we ever imagined. Currently unranked (but not for long), 141 lber Jesse Vasquez turned heads with his dominant performance, as he walked away with a title. Vasquez picked up bonus-point wins over a pair of returning national qualifiers, #22 Cayden Rooks (Indiana) and #28 Anthony Brito (Appalachian State). As a high schooler, Vasquez etched himself into California state lore by becoming only the fourth wrestler to win four state titles. Last season, Vasquez competed at 149 lbs and went 4-2, but didn't get the call in the postseason, in favor of veteran Cory Crooks. With Vasquez in the lineup, the Sun Devils lapped the field in Boone, with eight champions and another in third place. ASU also showed depth at 133 lbs as another former top-recruit shined. Julian Chlebove notched wins over #17 Jared Van Vleet (Air Force) and Van Vleet's teammate Sidney Flores on his way to a third-place finish. Arizona State wrestles one of the most ambitious non-conference schedules this year, but for good reason, as they are loaded, even more loaded than we thought a few weeks ago. Alirez's biggest win One of the biggest no-no's in assembling collegiate rankings is to value or overvalue freestyle results. It can be hard, because we've watched the matches and saw the result(s). One current collegiate star who has shined brightly in freestyle, moreso than in NCAA competition, is Andrew Alirez. But unlike others who haven't been as proficient in folkstyle, Alirez generally hasn't had the opportunities to prove his mettle in college. He has battled a variety of injuries which have seen him go in-and-out of the Bears lineup. In 2019-20, Alirez was fourth in the Big 12, as a true freshman, and earned the 14th seed at nationals. The tournament would be canceled. Last year, has was given an at-large berth, but couldn't compete. So going into his third year of college competition, at a new weight, it was difficult to determine precisely how good Alirez was and where he fits in at 141 lbs. The “eyeball” test tells me he's excellent, but there wasn't a whole lot of solid evidence (folkstyle-wise), to back up that hypothesis. But, after Sunday's win over #7 Allan Hart (Missouri), the picture suddenly gets more clear. Alirez got a sudden victory decision over an opponent who was the sixth seed in St. Louis last season and was a match away from earning All-American honors. He'll undoubtedly move up from his current ranking of #14. By the way, Northern Colorado is slated to meet Oklahoma next Sunday, so could a meeting with Dom Demas be in the pipeline? Stanford is back! On Saturday afternoon, Stanford hosted #2 Oklahoma State in the first wrestling event held at the Palo Alto University in 616 days. The larger takeaway from any single result was that Stanford wrestling is alive and well. New head coach Rob Koll and his brand-new staff already have a strong recruiting Class of 2022 signed and the future looks bright for a team that was left for dead by the school over a year ago. Two positives for Stanford in their 29-7 loss to Oklahoma State were the showings of All-American Jaden Abas and national champion Shane Griffith. Abas put it on a quality opponent, Kaden Gfeller, and was able to tack on a bonus point. Griffith, shut out a top-six ranked Travis Wittlake to extend his career record to 45-1. Jake Slinger is Mr. Clutch A slightly undermanned Pittsburgh team picked up a pair of wins over MAC opponents, in large part due to the efforts of their big man, Jake Slinger. Without three national qualifiers and NCAA runner-up Nino Bonaccorsi, Pittsburgh's Friday night dual with Buffalo was in doubt headed into the final match of their dual with the Bulls. The visiting Panthers held a 15-12 advantage as Slinger took the mat. No worries, as he iced the team win for Keith Gavin's squad :32 seconds into the middle stanza. Just one day later, it was deja vu all over again. This time Pitt had the services of 125 lb national qualifier Gage Curry, but were still missing Austin Matthews (141) and Gregg Harvey (184), along with Bonaccorsi for their dual with Edinboro. In those three matches, the Fighting Scots outscored Pittsburgh 14-0. That led to a slim 22-20 lead for Pitt heading into the final bout. This time Slinger had to face one of Edinboro's top recruits from the Class of 2020, Max Millin. Once again, in the second period, Slinger secured a fall and locked up a win for his #19 Panthers. Next Sunday's dual is sure to be another close one, as Pittsburgh is slated to take on in-state rival, Lehigh. The Pack Runs Deep! Last week, we got a hint of the depth of the NC State program as Owen Trephan knocked of teammate Deonte Wilson at the Battle of the Citadel. He also logged a wrestle-off win over the 2021 285 lb ACC champion. 285 lbs won't be the only weight class where the Wolfpack will be able to roll out multiple NCAA qualifier-level talents. At the school's Wolfpack Open, NC State accounted for both finalists at 133 lbs, with Kai Orine shutting down #19 Jarrett Trombley for the title. Unranked Ed Scott took the 157 lb title by pinning teammate AJ Kovacs in the finals. Scott was returning the favor from a week ago, where Kovacs won at The Citadel, 9-8. At 165 lbs, the incumbent, Thomas Bullard, met fellow Wolfpack teammate Donald Cates in the finals, but crushed 15-0. Up a weight, true freshman Jake Null won the 174 lb bracket by downing #21 Gavin Kane (North Carolina), 8-5. Chance are, Null will redshirt as Hayden Hidlay is penciled (or penned) in a 174. Don't forget about veteran Nick Reenan who cruised to the title with a win over #17 Caleb Hopkins (Campbell) in the championship bout. Reenan has qualified for nationals three times (at three different weights) and could be a podium threat if healthy at 184 lbs. However, the Pack has NCAA runner-up Trent Hidlay returning at the weight. What if one of them bumps up? NC State wrestlers placed 1-2-3 at the Open at 197. Actually 2-2-3, as #18 Isaac Trumble and Jacob Ferreira did not take the mat in the finals. Ferreira earned a spot in the championship match after downing #33 Levi Hopkins (Campbell) in the semis. Also, true freshman, Brock DelSignore, was third and picked up a win over two-time SoCon champion Chris Kober (Campbell) in the process. Long story short, we're not sure of what the Wolfpack lineup will look like in early March at the ACC Championships. But, whichever ten wrestlers don black and red singlets will be fully capable and battle-tested, just to earn the starting role. Mizzou Takes 18 of 20 The Missouri Tigers put the Big 12 on notice as they returned with a pair of duals against new conference rivals North Dakota State and Northern Colorado. Neither school is currently ranked and are not expected to threaten for Big 12 supremacy this season; however, both are quality teams. North Dakota State entered the competition with six ranked wrestlers, while UNC had four. Both teams would combine to win two of their 20 matches versus opponents from Mizzou. Even in those two matches, the Tigers were favored, slightly. While most of the Mizzou lineup went 2-0, a pair of second-year freshmen were particularly good. 133 lber Trey Crawford picked up a win over #31 Kellyn March (North Dakota State), and 149 lber Josh Edmond got by past national qualifier Chris Sandoval (Northern Colorado). Things were so good for Missouri that one of their recent signees, Clayton Whiting, was able to defeat 2020 NCAA #11 seed Abe Assad (Iowa) at the Luther Open.

Northern Colorado's Andrew Alirez (Photo courtesy of Anna-Lee Marie; Anna-LeeMariePhotography.mypixieset.com) Thursday 11/11 Missouri DEF North Dakota State, 37-3 Notable Win: #10 Jared Franek (NDSU) over #9 Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) 6-4 Saturday 11/13 Northern Iowa at Grand View Open Fresh/Soph 141-Connor Thorpe 1st place Fresh/Soph 149-Cael Rahnavardi 3rd place Fresh/Soph 157-RJ Weston 1st place Fresh/Soph 174-Jared Simma 1st place Fresh/Soph 197-Kalob Runyon 6th place Fresh/Soph 197-John Gunderson 1st place Fresh/Soph 197-Adam Ahrendson 3rd place North Dakota State, South Dakota State at Bison Open, hosted by North Dakota State Big 12 Placewinners Open - 125 2nd Place - Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State 3rd Place - Bailey Roybal of South Dakota State 5th Place - Carlos Negrete Jr of North Dakota State Open - 133 2nd Place - Kellyn March of North Dakota State 4th Place - Trayton Anderson of South Dakota State 6th Place - Caleb Gross of South Dakota State 6th Place - Hunter Marko of South Dakota State Open - 141 1st Place - Clay Carlson of South Dakota State 2nd Place - Dylan Droegemueller of North Dakota State 5th Place - Sam Stuhl of North Dakota State Open - 149 3rd Place - Forfeit Forfeit of Unattached 4th Place - Zach Price of South Dakota State 4th Place - Daniel Kimball of South Dakota State Open - 157 2nd Place - Jared Franek of North Dakota State 3rd Place - Cael Swensen of South Dakota State 5th Place - Forfeit Forfeit of Unattached 5th Place - Kenny O`Neil of South Dakota State 6th Place - Jack Thomsen of South Dakota State Open - 165 1st Place - Luke Weber of North Dakota State 5th Place - Connor Gaynor of South Dakota State Open - 174 2nd Place - Cade DeVos of South Dakota State 3rd Place - Austin Brenner of North Dakota State 5th Place - Riley Habisch of North Dakota State Open - 184 2nd Place - Deanthony Parker Jr of North Dakota State 3rd Place - Forfeit Forfeit of Unattached 4th Place - Tate Battani of South Dakota State 4th Place - Sam Kruger of South Dakota State 5th Place - Jacob Schoon of South Dakota State Open - 197 1st Place - Owen Pentz of North Dakota State 3rd Place - Nick Casperson of South Dakota State 5th Place - Cody Donnelly of South Dakota State Open - 285 1st Place - Brandon Metz of North Dakota State 2nd Place - Aj Nevills of South Dakota State 3rd Place - Juan Mora of North Dakota State 4th Place - Bowen McConville of South Dakota State Oklahoma DEF West Virginia, 28-10 Notable Win: UR Michael Wolfgram (WVU) over #22 Josh Heindselman (OU) 3-2 Oklahoma State DEF Stanford, 29-7 Notable Win: #1 Shane Griffith (St) over #6 Travis Wittlake (OSU) 4-0 Sunday 11/14 Air Force at Mountaineer Invitational, hosted by Appalachian State 125-Quinn Melofchik-6th Place 133-Sidney Flores-4th Place 141-Cody Phippen-5th Place 149-Dylan Martinez-5th Place 157-Giano Petrucelli-3rd Place 165-Jack Ganos-3rd Place Jack Johnson-4th Place 174-Sam Wolf-4th Place 184-Jacob Thompson-2nd Place 197-Kayne Hutchison-6th Place A young contingent of Wyoming Cowboys competed at the Colorado Mesa Open: 141 - Aiden Noonan-2nd Place 149 - Analu Benabise-6th Place 157 - Cooper Voorhees-1st Place 157 - Bryce Dauphin-3rd Place 165 - Hayden Lieb-3rd Place 165 - Kevin Anderson-3rd Place 184 - Colby Hyunh-6th Place Missouri DEF Northern Colorado 38-3 Notable Win: #14 Andrew Alirez (UNC) over #7 Allan Hart (Missouri) 3-1SV #1 Takeaway: Missouri is good. They completely thumped a very solid North Dakota State squad and a good Northern Colorado team. This further cemented their case for the #1 squad in the Big 12(In my eyes) Match that stands out: Alirez taking out Allan Hart. Even though Mizzou dominated the weekend, Andrew Alirez knocking off Allan Hart in overtime was huge for Northern Colorado and Alirez. One of the bigger storylines in the Big 12 this season is Andrew Alirez moving to 141. This was a big win.

2021 NCAA qualifier Darren Miller (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Saturday's Dual Results Chattanooga 18 Davidson 16 125 - Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) fall Hale Robinson (Davidson) 1:41 133 - Kyle Gorant (Davidson) dec Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) 9-5 141 - Gavin Damasco (Davidson) dec Colton Landers (Chattanooga) 4-2SV 149 - Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) dec Garrett Stewart (Davidson) 5-3 157 - Bryce Sanderlin (Davidson) dec Weston Wichman (Chattanooga) 6-4SV 165 - Caleb Waddell (Chattanooga) dec Jaden Hardrick (Davidson) 9-4 174 - Carial Tarter (Chattanooga) dec Steven Newell (Davidson) 9-4 184 - Gavin Henry (Davidson) dec Matthew Waddell (Chattanooga) 9-6 197 - Thomas Sell (Chattanooga) dec Owen Vietmeier (Davidson) 10-7 285 - Mitchell Trigg (Davidson) maj Matthias Ervin (Chattanooga) 16-2 Rutgers 27 Clarion 10 125 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) dec Joey Fischer (Clarion) 7-3 133 - Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers) maj Alex Blake (Clarion) 10-0 141 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) tech Seth Koleno (Clarion) 21-5 149 - Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) dec Brent Moore (Clarion) 7-1 157 - Trevor Elfin (Clarion) dec Robert Kanniard (Rutgers) 7-3 165 - Cameron Pine (Clarion) maj Andrew Clark (Rutgers) 8-0 174 - John Worthing (Clarion) dec Jackson Turley (Rutgers) 12-6 184 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) dec Max Wohlbaugh (Clarion) 6-2 197 - Greg Bulsak (Clarion) fall Will Feldkamp (Clarion) 6:00 285 - Boone McDermott (Rutgers) dec Austin Chapman (Clarion) 5-0 Clarion 22 Chattanooga 16 125 - Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) dec Joey Fischer (Clarion) 3-2 133 - Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) maj Alex Blake (Clarion) 8-0 141 - Franco Vadles (Chattanooga) dec Seth Koleno (Clarion) 5-2 149 - Grant Lundy (Chattanooga) dec Brent Moore (Clarion) 3-0 157 - Trevor Elfin (Clarion) fall Weston Wichman (Chattanooga) 6:50 165 - Cameron Pine (Clarion) fall Caleb Waddell (Chattanooga) 5:30 174 - John Worthing (Clarion) dec Carial Tarter (Chattanooga) 4-2 184 - Matthew Waddell (Chattanooga) dec Ryan Weinzen (Clarion) 3-1 197 - Will Feldkamp (Clarion) maj Thomas Sell (Chattanooga) 11-1 285 - Austin Chapman (Clarion) dec Grayson Walthall (Chattanooga) 3-2 Rutgers 35 Davidson 6 125 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) tech Hale Robinson (Davidson) 16-0 133 - Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers) maj Kyle Gorant (Davidson) 13-5 141 - Michael Cetta (Rutgers) tech Josh Viarengo (Davidson) 17-2 149 - Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) maj Noah Frack (Davidson) 10-0 157 - Robert Kanniard (Rutgers) maj Bryce Sanderlin (Davidson) 15-4 165 - Jaden Hardrick (Davidson) dec Andrew Clark (Rutgers) 3-1 174 - Steven Newell (Davidson) dec Connor O'Neill (Rutgers) 6-5 184 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) maj Gavin Henry (Davidson) 19-5 197 - Kyle Epperly (Rutgers) fall Owen Vietmeier (Davidson) 1:27 285 - Alex Esposito (Rutgers) dec Jake Fernicola (Davidson) 9-2 Rutgers 39 Chattanooga 3 125 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) FFT 133 - Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers) dec Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) 12-5 141 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) tech Franco Valdes (Chattanooga) 16-1 149 - Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) dec Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) 4-1 157 - Robert Kanniard (Rutgers) maj Grant Lundy (Chattanooga) 17-5 165 - Weston Wichman (Chattanooga) dec Andrew Clark (Rutgers) 6-5 174 - Connor O'Neill (Rutgers) dec Carial Tarter (Chattanooga) 2-0 184 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) dec Matthew Waddell (Chattanooga) 8-4 197 - Greg Bulsak (Rutgers) FFT 285 - Boone McDermott (Rutgers) fall Grayson Walthall (Chattanooga) 3:00 Clarion 29 Davidson 12 125 - Joey Fischer (Clarion) fall Hale Robinson (Davidson) 3:50 133 - Kyle Gorant (Davidson) dec Alex Blake (Clarion) 6-0 141 - Seth Koleno (Clarion) dec Gavin Damasco (Davidson) 6-5 149 - Brent Moore (Clarion) fall David Loniewski (Davidson) :59 157 - Bryce Sanderlin (Davidson) dec Trevor Elfin (Clarion) 3-1 165 - Cameron Pine (Clarion) dec Jaden Hardrick (Davidson) 6-1 174 - John Worthing (Clarion) fall Steven Newell (Davidson) 2:43 184 - Gavin Henry (Davidson) dec Ryan Weinzen (Clarion) 5-3 197 - Will Feldkamp (Clarion) tech Owen Vietmeier (Davidson) 21-6 285 - Mitchell Trigg (Davidson) dec Austin Chapman (Clarion) 4-1TB George Mason 36 Bellarmine 3 125 - Ben Monn (George Mason) dec Jack Parker (Bellarmine) 9-3 133 - Anthony Glasl (George Mason) fall Max Dansereau (Bellarmine) 5:34 141 - Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) maj Logan Hoskins (Bellarmine) 13-3 149 - Alex Madrigal (George Mason) tech Mitch Collica (Bellarmine) 16-0 157 - Cole Nance (Bellarmine) dec Avery Bassett (George Mason) 6-4 165 - Tyler Kocak (George Mason) dec Devin Hendricks (Bellarmine) 4-2 174 - Logan Messer (George Mason) dec Eric Beck (Bellarmine) 11-5 184 - Kyle Davis (George Mason) tech Sam Schroeder (Bellarmine) 16-1 197 - Jon List (George Mason) maj Charlie Cadell (Bellarmine) 10-0 285 - Ramses Montalvo (George Mason) dec Bryant Wilkinson (Bellarmine) 7-1 Bucknell 40 Averett 3 125 - Sam Braswell (Averett) dec Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) 7-5 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) maj Joseph Jones (Averett) 11-3 141 - Darren Miller (Bucknell) maj Brandon Woody (Averett) 10-0 149 - Noah Levett (Bucknell) maj Hunter Campbell (Averett) 14-2 157 - Nick Delp (Bucknell) maj Tommy Baldwin (Averett) 11-0 165 - Zach Hartman (Bucknell) tech Alex Turley (Averett) 20-4 174 - Jaden Fisher (Bucknell) tech George Moseley (Averett) 17-2 184 - Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) tech Jamar Christian (Averett) 16-0 197 - Mason McCready (Bucknell) fall Billy Baldwin (Averett) 4:29 285 - Luke Niemeyer (Bucknell) dec Trent Ragland (Averett) 4-2 Averett 22 Bellarmine 16 125 - Sam Braswell (Averett) maj Jack Parker (Bellarmine) 15-5 133 - Joseph Jones (Averett) dec Max Dansereau (Bellarmine) 11-5 141 - Brandon Woody (Averett) dec Logan Hoskins (Bellarmine) 3-1SV 149 - Gabe LaVey (Averett) dec Mitch Collica (Bellarmine) 3-0 157 - Cole Nance (Bellarmine) maj Luke Masterton (Averett) 15-6 165 - Devan Hendricks (Bellarmine) InjDef Alex Turley (Averett) 174 - Eric Beck (Bellarmine) dec George Moseley (Averett) 11-5 184 - Sam Schroeder (Bellarmine) dec Zion Carpenter (Averett) 4-2 197 - Billy Baldwin (Averett) dec Charlie Cadell (Bellarmine) 4-2 285 - Trent Ragland (Averett) fall Bryant Wilkinson (Bellarmine) 6:45 Bucknell 26 George Mason 6 125 - Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) dec Ben Monn (George Mason) 4-3 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec Anthony Glasl (George Mason) 6-1 141 - Darren Miller (Bucknell) dec Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) 6-0 149 - Alex Madrigal (George Mason) dec Noah Levett (Bucknell) 11-4 157 - Nick Delp (Bucknell) dec Avery Bassett (George Mason) 7-5 165 - Zach Hartman (Bucknell) dec Tyler Kocak (George Mason) 6-1 174 - Jaden Fisher (Bucknell) dec Logan Messer (George Mason) 5-1 184 - Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) maj Kyle Davis (George Mason) 8-0 197 - Jon List (George Mason) dec Mason McCready (Bucknell) 10-4 285 - Luke Niemeyer (Bucknell) maj Ramses Montalvo (George Mason) 10-0 George Mason 31 Averett 6 125 - Sam Braswell (Averett) dec Ben Monn (George Mason) 11-5 133 - Anthony Glasl (George Mason) dec Joseph Jones (Averett) 4-2 141 - Shawn Nonaka (George Mason) dec Brandon Woody (Averett) 6-0 149 - Alex Madrigal (George Mason) tech Gabe LaVey (Averett) 16-1 157 - Loranzo Rajaonarivelo (George Mason) maj Luke Masterton (Averett) 12-4 165 - Drew Dickson (George Mason) maj Thomas Baldwin (Averett) 11-2 174 - Logan Messer (George Mason) tech George Moseley (Averett) 17-1 184 - Jeremy Seymour (George Mason) dec Zion Carpenter (Averett) 5-4 197 - Jon List (George Mason) maj Billy Baldwin (Averett) 12-3 285 - Trent Ragland (Averett) dec Ramses Montalvo (George Mason) 4-2 Bucknell 39 Bellarmine 2 125 - Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) maj Jack Parker (Bellarmine) 15-5 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) fall Max Dansereau (Bellarmine) 1:33 141 - Darren Miller (Bucknell) maj Logan Hoskins (Bellarmine) 17-6 149 - Kolby Depron (Bucknell) maj Chase Yost (Bellarmine) 13-3 157 - Nick Delp (Bucknell) dec Cole Nance (Bellarmine) 5-3SV 165 - Zach Hartman (Bucknell) fall Alex Rivera (Bellarmine) 2:34 174 - Eric Beck (Bellarmine) dec Nolan Springer (Bucknell) 5-4 184 - Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) fall Sam Schroeder (Bellarmine) 3:20 197 - Mason McCready (Bucknell) dec Bryant Wilkinson (Bellarmine) 7-0 285 - Max Harar (Bucknell) dec Charlie Cadell (Bellarmine) 8-2 The Citadel 42 Presbyterian 3 125 - Jordan White (The Citadel) FFT 133 - Jake Rotunda (The Citadel) dec Dominic Chavez (Presbyterian) 6-4 141 - Jack Whitmire (The Citadel) fall Khalid Brinkley (Presbyterian) 3:22 149 - Logan Spell (Presbyterian) dec Ethan Willis (The Citadel) 3-1 157 - Dazjon Casto (The Citadel) fall Michael Ramirez (Presbyterian) 3:18 165 - Selwyn Porter (The Citadel) tech Sean Getty (Presbyterian) 16-1 174 - Cole Burke (The Citadel) maj Mason Watkins (Presbyterian) 9-1 184 - Ben Haubert (The Citadel) dec David Bertrand (Presbyterian) 3-1 197 - Ben Stemmet (The Citadel) fall Aiden Jean (Presbyterian) 5:49 285 - Michael McAleavey (The Citadel) dec Will Pontoon (Presbyterian) 7-3 Oklahoma 28 West Virginia 10 125 - Joey Prata (Oklahoma) dec Colton Drousias (West Virginia) 3-0 133 - Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma) maj Garett Lautzenheiser (West Virginia) 8-0 141 - Jacob Butler (Oklahoma) maj Lucas Seibert (West Virginia) 17-6 149 - Mitch Moore (Oklahoma) fall Jeffrey Boyd (West Virginia) :58 157 - Justin Thomas (Oklahoma) dec Alex Hornfeck (West Virginia) 5-3 165 - Peyton Hall (West Virginia) maj Troy Mantanona (Oklahoma) 10-1 174 - Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma) dec Dennis Robin (West Virginia) 6-5 184 - Anthony Carman (West Virginia) dec Carson Berryhill (Oklahoma) 5-0 197 - Jake Woodley (Oklahoma) tech Jackson Moomau (West Virginia) 19-4 285 - Michael Wolfgram (West Virginia) dec Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma) 3-2 Oklahoma State 29 Stanford 7 125 - Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) dec Logan Ashton (Stanford) 5-2 133 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) dec Jackson DiSario (Stanford) 7-3 141 - Dusty Hone (Oklahoma State) maj Jason Miranda (Stanford) 9-0 149 - Jaden Abas (Stanford) maj Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) 15-6 157 - Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) dec Charlie Darracott (Stanford) 6-3 165 - Shane Griffith (Stanford) dec Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State) 4-0 174 - Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) dec Tyler Eischens (Stanford) 7-6 184 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) tech Ethan Woods (Stanford) 22-7 197 - AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) maj Nick Stemmet (Stanford) 16-3 285 - Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) maj Peter Ming (Stanford) 14-3 Penn State 47 Sacred Heart 3 125 - Baylor Shunk (Penn State) tech Kyle Randall (Sacred Heart) 18-0 133 - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) fall Anthony Petrillo (Sacred Heart) 3:40 141 - Nick Lee (Penn State) fall Jordan Carlucci (Sacred Heart) :54 149 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) maj Shaun Williams (Sacred Heart) 12-3 157 - Nick Palumbo (Sacred Heart) dec Joey Blumer (Penn State) 8-3 165 - Creighton Edsall (Penn State) maj Scott Jarosz (Sacred Heart) 11-3 174 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) fall Alex Marciniak (Sacred Heart) 2:12 184 - Aaron Brooks (Penn State) tech Joe Accousti (Sacred Heart) 23-8 197 - Max Dean (Penn State) tech Dante DelBois (Sacred Heart) 18-0 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) fall Mark Blokh (Sacred Heart) 3:57 Penn State 32 Oregon State 7 125 - Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) dec Baylor Shunk (Penn State) 16-9 133 - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) dec Jason Shaner (Oregon State) 8-3 141 - Nick Lee (Penn State) dec Grant Willits (Oregon State) 11-4 149 - Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec Cory Crooks (Oregon State) 1-0 157 - Hunter Willits (Oregon State) maj Joey Blumer (Penn State) 19-6 165 - Creighton Edsall (Penn State) dec Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) 7-3 174 - Carter Starocci (Penn State) tech Mateo Olmos (Oregon State) 17-2 184 - Aaron Brooks (Penn State) fall Jackson McKinney (Oregon State) 1:03 197 - Max Dean (Penn State) maj JJ Dixon (Oregon State) 16-3 285 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) tech Gary Truab (Oregon State) 16-0 Pittsburgh 28 Edinboro 20 125 - Gage Curry (Pittsburgh) dec Logan Jaquay (Edinboro) 3-1 133 - Micky Phillipi (Pittsburgh) tech Clayton Bashor (Edinboro) 17-2 141 - Gabe Willochell (Edinboro) fall Ryan Michaels (Pittsburgh) 6:12 149 - Ryan Burgos (Edinboro) fall Dan Mancini (Pittsburgh) 4:58 157 - Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) fall Peter Pappas (Edinboro) 2:47 165 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) dec Dylan Kohn (Edinboro) 3-1 174 - Hunter Kernan (Pittsburgh) dec Joey Arnold (Edinboro) 22-7 184 - Ethan Ducca (Edinboro) dec James Lledo (Pittsburgh) 6-3 197 - Cody Mulligan (Edinboro) tech Geoff Magin (Pittsburgh) 20-5 285 - Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) fall Max Millin (Edinboro) 3:54 Rider 20 Northern Illinois 14 125 - Tyler Klinsky (Rider) maj Drew West (Northern Illinois) 15-4 133 - Richie Koehler (Rider) dec Bryce West (Northern Illinois) 3-1 141 - Quinn Kinner (Rider) maj Jaivon Jones (Northern Illinois) 11-1 149 - Cole McComas (Rider) dec Anthony Cheloni (Northern Illinois) 8-6 157 - Anthony Gibson (Northern Illinois) dec Jake Silverstein (Rider) 7-6 165 - Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois) maj Joe Casey (Rider) 12-4 174 - Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois) dec Shane Reitsma (Rider) 5-4 184 - Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois) maj George Walton (Rider) 12-4 197 - Matt Correnti (Rider) dec Tristen Gauman (Northern Illinois) 5-4 285 - David Szuba (Rider) dec Terrese Aaron (Northern Illinois) 7-6 Sunday's Dual Results Michigan 39 CSU Bakersfield 3 125 - Jack Medley (Michigan) dec Eddie Flores (CSU Bakersfield) 15-9 133 - Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) FFT 141 - Angelo Martinoni (CSU Bakersfield) dec Pat Nolan (Michigan) 11-8 149 - Kanen Storr (Michigan) maj Josh Brown (CSU Bakersfield) 17-6 157 - Fidel Mayora (Michigan) maj Brock Rogers (CSU Bakersfield) 12-4 165 - Cameron Amine (Michigan) dec Augustine Garcia (CSU Bakersfield) 5-2 174 - Max Maylor (Michigan) fall Albert Urias (CSU Bakersfield) 1:29 184 - Jelani Embree (Michigan) maj Jacob Hansen (CSU Bakersfield) 13-3 197 - Patrick Brucki (Michigan) fall Mateo Morales (CSU Bakersfield) 2:20 285 - Blake Querio (Michigan) dec Jake Andrew (CSU Bakersfield) 5-3SV Purdue 39 Cleveland State 7 125 - Devin Schroder (Purdue) tech Logan Heil (Cleveland State) 15-0 133 - Matt Ramos (Purdue) FFT 141 - Parker Filius (Purdue) maj Caleb Graber (Cleveland State) 21-8 149 - Marcus Robinson (Cleveland State) maj Trey Kruse (Purdue) 18-6 157 - Brennan Doyle (Purdue) dec Caleb Crass (Cleveland State) 7-3 165 - Emil Soehnlen (Purdue) FFT 174 - Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue) maj Anthony Rice (Cleveland State) 10-2 184 - DeAndre Nassar (Cleveland State) dec Max Lyon (Purdue) 2-1 197 - Thomas Penola (Purdue) tech Ben Smith (Cleveland State) 22-7 285 - Michael Woulfe (Purdue) fall John Kelbly (Cleveland State) 4:59 Missouri 38 Northern Colorado 3 125 - Noah Surtin (Missouri) dec Jace Koelzer (Northern Colorado) 9-6 133 - Trey Crawford (Missouri) dec Dyson Kunz (Northern Colorado) 5-0 141 - Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) dec Allan Hart (Missouri) 3-1SV 149 - Josh Edmond (Missouri) dec Chris Sandoval (Northern Colorado) 8-6 157 - Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) maj Nathan Moore (Northern Colorado) 20-7 165 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) fall Nick Knutson (Northern Colorado) 4:42 174 - Peyton Mocco (Missouri) maj Cody Eaton (Northern Colorado) 19-7 184 - Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) tech Xavier Vasquez (Northern Colorado) 15-0 197 - Rocky Elam (Missouri) fall Damen Pape (Northern Colorado) 1:37 285 - Zach Elam (Missouri) maj Robert Winters (Northern Colorado) 10-1

2021 Big Ten finalist Eric Schultz (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Wednesday's Dual Meet Franklin & Marshall 33 Elizabethtown 9 125 - Ethan Liptzin (Elizabethtown) dec Eli Wallace (Franklin & Marshall) 10-8SV 133 - Pat Phillips (Franklin & Marshall) tech Dominic Rodriguez (Elizabethtown) 17-2 141 - Nick Tewell (Franklin & Marshall) dec Zach Rupp (Elizabethtown) 8-2 149 - Wil Gil (Franklin & Marshall) tech Shane Strausser (Elizabethtown) 18-3 157 - Chase McCollum (Franklin & Marshall) maj Luke Moynihan (Elizabethtown) 10-0 165 - Crew Fullerton (Franklin & Marshall) dec Brian Schneider (Elizabethtown) 8-4 174 - Noah Fox (Franklin & Marshall) maj Traisach Rolland (Elizabethtown) 16-2 184 - James Conway (Franklin & Marshall) fall Hunter Beaudet (Elizabethtown) 1:37 197 - Mike Waszen (Franklin & Marshall) dec Tyler Phenegar (Elizabethtown) 8-3 285 - Dylan Waller (Elizabethtown) FFT Thursday's Dual Results Missouri 37 North Dakota State 3 125 - Noah Surtin (Missouri) fall Colby Evens (North Dakota State) 4:05 133 - Trey Crawford (Missouri) dec Kellyn March (North Dakota State) 4-3 141 - Allan Hart (Missouri) dec Dylan Droegemueller (North Dakota State) 8-3 149 - Josh Edmond (Missouri) maj Gaven Sax (North Dakota State) 12-4 157 - Jared Franek (North Dakota State) dec Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) 6-4 165 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) fall Luke Weber (North Dakota State) 4:46 174 - Peyton Mocco (Missouri) maj Austin Brenner (North Dakota State) 13-5 184 - Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) maj Michael Nelson (North Dakota State) 14-1 197 - Rocky Elam (Missouri) maj Owen Pentz (North Dakota State) 14-6 285 - Zach Elam (Missouri) dec Brandon Metz (North Dakota State) 3-1 Nebraska 31 Chadron State 9 125 - Quade Smith (Chadron State) fall Jeremiah Reno (Nebraska) 7:45 133 - Alex Thomsen (Nebraska) maj Kobe Lepe (Chadron State) 9-0 141 - Daniel Monahan (Nebraska) dec Joseph Ritzen (Chadron State) 7-5 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) tech Chance Bockenstedt (Chadron State) 18-0 157 - Jevon Parrish (Nebraska) maj Dean Neff (Chadron State) 10-1 165 - Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) dec Preston Renner (Chadron State) 6-4 174 - Tahjae Jenkins-Harris (Nebraska) dec Darwin Hull (Chadron State) 5-4 184 - Tayler Venz (Nebraska) fall Rowdy Pfeil (Chadron State) 2:44 197 - Eli Hinojosa (Chadron State) dec Anthony Ganona (Nebraska) 6-2 285 - Austin Emerson (Nebraska) dec Mason Watt (Chadron State) 6-4 Nebraska 45 Nebraska-Kearney 6 125 - Jeremiah Reno (Nebraska) injdef Jackson Nielsen (Nebraska-Kearney) 133 - Jordan Kelber (Nebraska) FFT 141 - Chad Red (Nebraska) fall Nick James (Nebraska-Kearney) 6:51 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) fall Ryan Johnson (Nebraska-Kearney) 1:39 157 - Peyton Robb (Nebraska) fall Teontae Wilson (Nebraska-Kearney) 2:25 165 - Matt Malcom (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) 10-5 174 - Billy Higgins (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Tahjae Jenkins-Harris (Nebraska) 6-3 184 - Taylor Venz (Nebraska) fall Austin Eldredge (Nebraska-Kearney) 5:26 197 - Eric Schultz (Nebraska) fall Hayden Prince (Nebraska-Kearney) 7:08 285 - Christian Lance (Nebraska) maj Lee Herrington (Nebraska-Kearney) 14-4 Friday Night's Dual Results Pittsburgh 21 Buffalo 12 125 - Colton Camacho (Pittsburgh) dec Tristan Daugherty (Buffalo) 6-1 133 - Micky Phillipi (Pittsburgh) dec Derek Spann (Buffalo) 4-2 141 - Ben Freeman (Buffalo) dec Ryan Michaels (Pittsburgh) 6-4SV 149 - John Arceri (Buffalo) dec Dan Mancini (Pittsburgh) 4-1 157 - Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) dec Michael Petite (Buffalo) 6-4 165 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) dec Noah Grover (Buffalo) 3-0 174 - Hunter Kernan (Pittsburgh) dec Giuseppe Hoose (Buffalo) 7-5 184 - Pete Acciardi (Buffalo) dec James Lledo (Pittsburgh) 3-2TB 197 - Sam Mitchell (Buffalo) dec Geoff Magin (Pittsburgh) 4-2 285 - Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) fall Toby Cahill (Buffalo) 4:32 Wisconsin 32 Little Rock 13 125 - Jayden Carson (Little Rock) FFT 133 - Jaylen Carson (Little Rock) dec Ethan Rotondo (Wisconsin) 5-4 141 - Joe Zargo (Wisconsin) dec Conner Ward (Little Rock) 10-4 149 - Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) fall Joseph Bianchi (Little Rock) 6:42 157 - Garrett Model (Wisconsin) maj Chase Tebbets (Little Rock) 16-4 165 - Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) dec Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) 4-3 174 - Triston Wills (Little Rock) maj Kevin Meicher (Wisconsin) 10-0 184 - Chris Weiler (Wisconsin) tech Tanner Mendoza (Little Rock) 18-0 197 - Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) tech Brooks Sacharczyk (Little Rock) 18-2 285 - Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) fall Josiah Hill (Little Rock) 2:42 Virginia 24 Maryland 9 125 - Patrick McCormick (Virginia) dec Zach Spence (Maryland) 6-3 133 - Brian Courtney (Virginia) dec King Sandoval (Maryland) 4-2 141 - Dylan Cedeno (Virginia) dec Danny Bertoni (Maryland) 4-2SV 149 - Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia) tech William Berkowitz (Maryland) 16-0 157 - Jon Errico (Virginia) maj Lucas Cordio (Maryland) 15-6 165 - Justin McCoy (Virginia) dec John Martin Best (Maryland) 8-4 174 - Dom Solis (Maryland) dec Justin Phillips (Virginia) 5-2 184 - Kyle Cochran (Maryland) dec Michael Battista (Virginia) 7-4 197 - Jaron Smith (Maryland) dec Ethan Weatherspoon (Virginia) 16-14 285 - Quinn Miller (Virginia) dec Zach Schrader (Maryland) 8-2

Bellarmine 165 lber Eric Beck (Photo/Athlete's Eye Photography/Bellarmine athletics) Hello my fellow #SoConSweethearts, I hope you've all had a healthy and happy week and are getting ready for some much needed R&W…that's right, some rest and wrestling. We've got an action-packed weekend of wrestling, and here's what to watch and how to watch: Saturday, November 13 Davidson College will be hosting a Quad meet, with SoCon, B1G, and MAC Competition coming to the Baker Sports Complex. Davidson vs. UTC @ 10:00am Davidson vs. Rutgers @ 11:30am UTC vs. Clarion @ 11:30am Davidson vs. Clarion @ 1:00pm UTC vs. Rutgers @ 1:00pm Watch: Davidson All-Access Bellarmine is headed to George Mason University for the Patriot Duals. Bellarmine vs. GMU @ 10:00am Bellarmine vs. Averett @ 11:30am Bellarmine vs. Bucknell @ 1:00pm Watch: ESPN+ And in dual meet action for the weekend: The Citadel vs. Presbyterian @ 2:00pm at McKissick Field in Summerville, SC Sunday, November 14 The Mountaineer Invitational will be held in Boone, NC. In addition to Appalachian State, Gardner-Webb will be attending. Start time: 9:00am Watch/Updates: FloArena The Camels are headed to Raleigh to the Wolfpack Open, hosted by NC State. Start time: 9:00am Watch/Updates: FloArena Finally, VMI will be at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. Start time: 9:00am Watch/Updates: FloArena I'll be in Boone for the weekend covering the Mountaineer Invitational - let me know if there's anything y'all would like to see or things you'd like to know. Or if you see me, don't be a stranger and say hi. :) In the meantime, I hope you're all staying happy and healthy. xoxo, Rachel

(Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Graphic courtesy of Anna-Lee Marie) Tomorrow, November 13th, will mark the first time in 616 days that wrestling has returned to the campus of Stanford University. Plenty has transpired since. In that time, the Stanford athletic administration vowed to eliminate wrestling and 10 other sports, only to see that decision reversed. Mixed in the middle of this chaos was 165 lber Shane Griffith winning the school's second-ever national title in the sport, head coach Jason Borrelli leaving for American University, and Rob Koll was lured to the West Coast from Cornell. Another factor that limited wrestling on the picturesque Palo Alto campus was some of the strictest Covid-regulations in the nation. While Stanford's wrestling team was able to participate in 2021, they started competition on January 24th and did not host any home events. Now we've gone two paragraphs without mentioning that the Cardinal will kick off their 2021-22 dual season by hosting the #2 ranked dual team in all the land, Oklahoma State. The Cowboys feature a veteran-laded squad with five returning All-Americans, including a pair of national finalists (Daton Fix 2x 2nd and AJ Ferrari 2021 national champion). If OSU's 2020 freshmen, Trevor Mastrogiovanni and Dustin Plott, continue to develop, they could be a team that pushes their way into the national title picture along the likes of Iowa and Penn State. Despite the turmoil surrounding the Stanford program, they have an very strong team returning, especially in a tournament format. The Cardinal has a pair of 2020 All-Americans, along with a 2020 NWCA All-American and three others with NCAA experience. InterMat's very own Willie Saylor and Corby Van Deventer are out in Palo Alto for the dual and will have plenty of additional coverage surrounding these two programs. Now, we'll go through the dual meet with our conference correspondents for each school, Seth Duckworth for the Big 12 and Darius Levan for the Pac-12. Each has provided their picks for the ten dual matches. 125 lbs #19 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) vs. Logan Ashton (Stanford) It' shouldn't come as a surprise since nine of the ten probable starters from OSU are currently ranked, but the Cardinal has a tough match in the opening bout. Trevor Mastrogiovanni started in 2021, as a true freshman, and finished fifth at the Big 12 meet before moving on to the NCAA Tournament. In St. Louis, Mastrogiovanni picked up two wins before his elimination. With a full, more normal, offseason in the Oklahoma State room under his belt, expect a much-improved version of Mastrogiovanni in 2021-22. Likely to get the nod for the Cardinal is redshirt sophomore Logan Ashton. Logan was 6-7 during his redshirt campaign in Palo Alto, competing at 125 lbs. Last season, he moved up to 133 and saw action in a pair of dual meets. Neither went his way and he's still in search of his first “W” in dual competition. Last week, Ashton won his only two bouts at the Menlo Open, down at 125. Earl's Prediction: Mastrogiovanni by decision (3-0 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Mastrogiovanni by decision (3-0 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Mastrogiovanni by decision (3-0 OSU) 133 lbs #2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #25 (at 125) Jackson DiSario (Stanford) The good news is that we have a ranked vs. ranked match slated for 133 lbs. Unfortunately, for Stanford, that opponent is #2 Daton Fix, a two-time NCAA runner-up and recently, a world silver medalist. Fix is 48-3 during collegiate competition, with two of those three losses coming in the national finals. He really turned his dominance up in 2021, earning bonus points in more than 78% of his 14 matches, a figure that almost doubled from his 2018-19 season. Fix will certainly have the opportunity to go after bonus points again here. Stanford is likely to send out Jackson DiSario, a two-time Pac-12 runner-up and two-time national qualifier. Both national bids came at 125 lbs and that is where DiSario is currently ranked. He did compete at this weight for the Menlo Open and edged the team's returning starter at the weight, Jason Miranda, 3-2. All signs point to DiSario staying at 133 for the year. In Stanford's extremely limited 2021 slate, DiSario went 7-5, including a 6-2 mark in dual competition. Earl's Prediction: Fix by Tech (8-0 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Fix by Tech (8-0 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Fix by Major (7-0 OSU) 141 lbs #16 Dusty Hone (Oklahoma State) vs. Jason Miranda (Stanford) One may have expected to see Real Woods compete for Stanford, but we understand that the #8 ranked 141lber is likely not available Saturday. In his place, expect to see 133 lber, Jason Miranda, step up. The Poway, California native went 6-4 as a true freshman last season. Had it been a normal year, he may have been able to amass more wins and put together a better resume for an at-large berth to nationals. Even so, Miranda's collegiate debut saw him pin eventual NCAA Round of 12 finisher Chance Rich (CSU Bakersfield) and, a week later, he downed Big 12 runner-up Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma) in sudden victory. Last week, Miranda picked up three falls before losing by a point to DiSario. Oklahoma State also may not send out the wrestler we initially expected. Carter Young is a very talented true freshman that finished third at the World Team Trials in September. Shortly thereafter, he decided to stay home and attend OSU after initially signing with Northwestern. We understand there are still some details to be worked out regarding that switch and it doesn't seem like something that will be resolved in just over 24 hours. Without Young, Oklahoma State is still in good shape with 2020 national qualifier Dusty Hone. Hone was 7-4 last year, but was injured late in the year and didn't compete at the Big 12 Championships. In 2019-20, Hone finished third in the Big 12 and had wins over All-Americans Tariq Wilson (NC State) and Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven). While Miranda isn't someone to overlook, facing a veteran like Hone, up a weight, is not ideal for Miranda on Saturday. Earl's Prediction: Hone by Decision (11-0 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Hone by Decision (11-0 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Hone by Decision (10-0 OSU) 149 lbs #22 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) vs. #7 Jaden Abas (Stanford) This is, in all likelihood, the de facto co-main event of the day. While this bout may look like a bit of a mismatch solely based on rankings, it should be very even, provided that we see the best version of Kaden Gfeller. The Cowboy has been in-and-out of the lineup during his time in Stillwater, but when he's on his game, he's a high-All-American threat. As a redshirting freshman in 2017-18, Gfeller won the Southern Scuffle by pinning Nick Lee (Penn State) in the finals. A year later, he won his first 19 matches in a Cowboy singlet, a span that includes the Reno Tournament of Champions and the Scuffle. At the Scuffle, he edged eventual All-American Mitch Finesilver (Duke). He went on to earn the #7 seed at nationals, but did not win a match. Since then, Gfeller has only seen action in 14 collegiate bouts. He wrestled in three different weight classes in 2021 and did not qualify for nationals after going 1-2 at Big 12, while down at 141. His opponent is a returning All-American in seventh-ranked Jaden Abas. In the 2021 postseason, Abas claimed a Big 12 title by avenging an early-season loss to Legend Lamer (Cal Poly). At nationals, he lost twice to eventual third-place finisher Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) on his way to seventh, himself. Last week, at the Menlo Open, Abas ran up bonus points in all four of his contests, two of which came against opponents from CSU Bakersfield. For now, we'll bank on the more consistent Abas. Earl's Prediction: Abas by Decision (11-3 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Abas by Decision (11-3 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Abas by Decision (10-3 OSU) 157 lbs #14 Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) vs. Charlie Darracott (Stanford) At 157 lbs, we'll see the Cowboy's most unlikely All-American from 2021 take the mat in Wyatt Sheets. Unlikely, not because of ability, just because most didn't even expect Sheets to finish the season after suffering a devastating knee injury. Even coming in as the 33rd seed wasn't a deterrent for the veteran. He put together a strong run through the consolations and ended up in eighth place. When more healthy, in 2020, Sheets was a Big 12 runner-up and earned the 11th seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships. Georgia native Charlie Darracott is expected to get the go-ahead for Stanford at 157 lbs. As a true freshman in 2021, Darracott saw action in three dual meets between 157 and 165 lbs. He was victorious in his dual debut, a third-period fall over Little Rock's Noah Aziere. Because of the presence of 2019 Pac-12 champion, Requir van der Merwe, Darracott didn't get to compete in the postseason for Stanford. This year, Darracott battled through the Menlo Open with four wins, all coming via decision. Earl's Prediction: Sheets by Decision (14-3 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Sheets by Major (15-3 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Sheets by Decision (13-3 OSU) 165 lbs #6 Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State) vs. #1 Shane Griffith (Stanford) Without a doubt, 165 lbs has the potential to be the best match of the entire weekend. A clash between returning top-four finishers at the 2021 national tournament is the type of match we could see again in the NCAA semis or finals. Shane Griffith and Travis Wittlake are both redshirt sophomores (juniors) with a combined career record of 94-6. Each earned a conference title as a freshman, but suffered upset losses at their respective 2021 conference tournaments. That resulted in an eighth seed for Griffith and a ten for Wittlake. As we all know by now, Griffith's remarkable run through the 2021 NCAA Championships brought mainstream attention to the fight to Keep Stanford Wrestling. Not only was Griffith a primary factor in the school reversing their decision to nix the Cardinal program, but he also removed his name from the transfer portal and decided to stay at the school after the Rob Koll hire was made. Griffith's NCAA title was only the second in school history and the first since 2004. Regardless of the rest of his career, Griffith is a made-man in Stanford athletics. Get the Hall of Fame bust ready! Looking to spoil Griffith's triumphant return to competition in Palo Alto, is Wittlake, a 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist. Wittlake only suffered two regular-season losses during his freshman campaign that saw him receive the fourth seed at the 2020 national championship. The first of those losses….was to Griffith at the Southern Scuffle, by the score of 4-1. An undefeated Griffith was seeded third at the ill-fated 2020 NCAA Tournament. Let's see how round two between these two plays out! Earl's Prediction: Griffith by Decision (14-6 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Griffith by Decision (15-6 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Griffith by Major (13-7 OSU) 174 lbs #16 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) vs. #31 Tyler Eischens (Stanford) In a lineup full of stars and potential All-Americans, one to keep an eye on for Oklahoma State is Dustin Plott. One of the top recruits in the Class of 2020, Plott admirably battled through shoulder injuries all year. Even so, he managed a 15-6 record and was seeded 18th at the NCAA Championships. Plott managed to pick up a win before bowing out with a loss to Clay Lautt (North Carolina). Now, Plott is reportedly back to 100% and could significantly outperform his current ranking. Back in 2019-20, Tyler Eischens went 21-9 at 157 lbs and earned a slot at the NCAA Championships. His runner-up finish at the Pac-12 tournament helped him land the 29th seed at nationals. Last year, Eischens moved up to this weight class and put together a solid, 6-3 campaign, though he didn't compete at the conference meet. Eischens made his 2021-22 debut last week with a title at the Menlo Open. There he notched a pair of falls and prevailed over CSU Bakersfield's Albert Urias with a 10-7 win. We're banking on Plott making a big jump this year. Earl's Prediction: Plott by Major (18-6 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Plott by Decision (18-6 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Plott by Decision (16-7 OSU) 184 lbs #7 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) vs. Judah Duhm (Stanford) The Oklahoma State lineup is filled with stars, but one that's probably most overlooked is Dakota Geer at 184 lbs. Geer has made the NCAA podium in both of his appearances representing the Cowboys and was named an Honorable Mention AA by the NWCA in 2020. His NCAA Tournament run last season, as the 11th seed was excellent, earning wins over the likes of Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech), Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois), and Taylor Venz (Nebraska). If Stanford can pull out some sort of magic, this may be an opportunity for the Cowboys to assert their dominance, as Geer was responsible for bonus points in more than half of his 2021 contests. Opposing Geer will likely be veteran Judah Duhm (Stanford). Duhm hasn't taken the mat for Stanford since the 2018-19 season, so it's hard to guess where he'll be Saturday. As a true freshman, Duhm went 16-7 and over his career, he's defeated national qualifiers like Corey Hazel (Lock Haven) and Dom Ducharme (CSU Bakersfield). Another possible option for Coach Koll is Nick Addison, who went 1-3 in 2021. Last week, he posted a win at the Menlo Open, but could not continue in his second bout, so his status is unknown. Earl's Prediction: Geer by Major (22-6 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Geer by Decision (21-6 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Geer by Decision (19-7 OSU) 197 lbs #1 AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) vs. #25 Nick Stemmet (Stanford) Even though this is a bout between a pair of ranked opponents, it didn't seem to have much appeal, as it looks like #1 against #25 on paper. That was until earlier this week when messages between AJ Ferrari and Nick Stemmet found their way to social media. There seem to be some underlying issues between the two. Is the drama real or some contrived made-for-MMA type of beef to draw eyes? Either way, it will mark the return of 2021 NCAA champion AJ Ferrari. Though he competed at the Olympic Trials, Ferrari has been hampered by a foot injury since nationals and it limited his offseason training. Even so, with the exchanges between these two, it seems like Ferrari is ready to jump back into competition. Ferrari's national title made his the first OSU freshman to win one since Jake Rosholt in 2003 and the first true freshman since Pat Smith in 1990. Stemmet jumped in as a true freshman for Stanford last season and responded by winning his first three dual meets. He automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships by finishing third in the Pac-12 and was given the 27th seed at nationals. In the opening round, Stemmet was majored by Ferrari's eventual finals opponent Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh), 15-2. Last week, Stemmet saw plenty of action at the Menlo Open, winning all five of his bouts. None came against DI competition, so it's difficult to gauge his progress. After a full offseason, heading into his second year, it's not out of the question for Stemmet to take a big jump. Earl's Prediction: Ferrari by Major (26-6 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Ferrari by Major (25-6 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Ferrari by Major (23-7 OSU) 285 lbs Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) vs. Peter Ming (Stanford) The only unranked member of the Cowboys projected lineup for Saturday is their heavyweight Luke Surber. Really, that's because his teammate Austin Harris was considered for the rankings and comes in at #11. Reportedly, Surber defeated Harris for the opportunity to get the start here. Like Derek White before him, Surber packed on a bunch of weight since his arrival in Stillwater and could be a force. As a high school senior, Surber competed at 182 lbs! Last year, Surber saw action in “extra matches” and posted bonus points in five of his eight wins. Stanford counters with their own wrestler from the high school Class of 2020, Peter Ming. Ming impressed in “extra matches” last year two. With four-time qualifier Nathan Traxler in the mix, Ming wasn't needed to start. Even so, he went 5-1 and picked up a win over CSU Bakersfield's Jarrod Snyder, who has been in-and-out of the Roadrunner starting lineup. At the Menlo Open last week, Ming went a perfect 4-0 and had a fall and a major decision. Earl's Prediction: Surber by Decision (29-6 OSU) Seth's Prediction: Surber by Decision (28-6 OSU) Darius' Prediction: Ming by Decision (23-10 OSU)

2021 NCAA finals(Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) All start times Pacific Standard Time. InterMat Tournament/Dual Rankings (November 9) are used where appropriate. Cal Poly takes the second weekend of the year off after wrestling at the Michigan State Open last week. The remainder of the conference is on the mat, with Stanford, Oregon State, and CSU Bakersfield set to face a few of the top-6 dual-teams in the country. Friday, November 12 Little Rock vs. #18 Wisconsin (Live on BoxCast) Potential ranked match-ups: 125: UR Jayden Carson vs. #10 Eric Barnett 149: UR Joey Bianchi vs. #18 Austin Gomez 165: UR Tyler Brennan vs. #25 Dean Hamiti 174: UR Triston Wills vs. #9 Andrew McNally 184: UR Tanner Mendoza vs. #18 Chris Weiler 197: UR Brooks Sacharczyk vs. #17 Braxton Amos 285: UR Josiah Hill vs. #6 Trent Hillger Saturday, November 13 Stanford hosts #2 Oklahoma State (Live on Pac-12.com) Potential ranked match-ups: 125: UR Logan Ashton vs. #19 Trevor Mastrogiovanni 133: #21 (125) Jackson DiSario vs. #2 Daton Fix 141: UR Jason Miranda vs. #16 Dusty Hone 149: #7 Jaden Abas vs. #22 Kaden Gfeller 157: UR Charlie Darracott vs. #14 Wyatt Sheets 165: #1 Shane Griffith vs. #6 Travis Wittlake 174: #31 Tyler Eischens vs. #16 Dustin Plott 184: UR Judah Duhm vs. #7 Dakota Geet 197: #25 Nick Stemmet vs. #1 AJ Ferrari 285: UR Peter Ming vs. Luke Surber #23 Oregon State vs. #3 Penn State (Live on Journeymen Rokfin) Potential ranked match-ups: 125: #29 Brandon Kaylor vs. UR Brandon Meredith 133: #20 Devan Turner vs. #1 Roman Bravo-Young 141: #10 Grant Willits vs. #2 Nick Lee 149: #24 Cory Crooks vs. UR Beau Bartlett 157: #15 Hunter Willits vs. #24 Joe Lee 165: UR Matthew Olguin vs. #32 Alex Facundo 174: #17 Trey Munoz / UR Mateo Olmos vs. #1 Carter Starocci 184: #16 Tanner Harvey vs. #1 Aaron Brooks 197: UR J.J. Dixon vs. #4 Max Dean 285: #24 Gary Traub vs. #5 Greg Kerkvliet Sunday, November 14 #3 Arizona State @ Mountaineer Invitational (Appalachian State), 6:00am Teams in the field: #22 Illinois, Air Force, Appalachian State, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Indiana, and Kent State #23 Oregon State @ Journeymen Collegiate Classic (Live on FloWrestling) Teams in the field: #22 Lehigh, Army West Point, Bloomsburg, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Harvard, Hofstra, Lock Haven, Long Island, Penn, Sacred Heart, Virginia Military Institute CSU Bakersfield @ #6 Michigan (Live on BTN+) Potential ranked match-ups: 125: UR Eddie Flores vs. #23 Jack Medley 133: #14 Chance Rich vs. #18 Dylan Ragusin 141: #21 Angelo Martinoni vs. #4 Stevan Micic 149: UR Josh Brown / UR Tyler Deen vs. #17 Kanen Storr 157: UR Brock Rogers vs. #16 Will Lewan 165: UR Augustin Garcia vs. #11 Cameron Amine 184: UR Josh Loomer vs. #2 Myles Amine 197: UR Jayden Smith vs. #10 Patrick Brucki 285: UR Jake Andrews vs. #2 Mason Parris

Aaron Pico at the 2016 Olympic Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Last weekend's UFC show was dominated by former wrestlers, and those former mat stars put on several memorable performances. The same can't be said about this weekend's UFC card, but Bellator is back on Friday night with three key former wrestlers: Tyrell Fortune, Aaron Pico and Cody Law. Also on Sunday, Mo Miller returns to action in a bout that will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass. Tyrell Fortune returns to heavyweight action after picking up perhaps the biggest win of his career over Matt Mitrione. During his collegiate days, Fortune was a two-time NJCAA champion at Clackamas and eventually transferred to Grand Canyon. At the new school, he won an NCAA Division II title. Fortune also excelled in both freestyle and Greco, as he came one match away from picking up a pair of bronze medals at the 2013 World University Games. On Friday, he takes on veteran Linton Vassell, who challenged Ryan Bader for the Bellator light heavyweight title in 2017. Aaron Pico was once considered the greatest prospect in MMA history. He famously decided to forego college in order to wrestle freestyle and eventually transition into MMA. He won a Cadet World championship in 2013 and holds a bronze and silver medals from the Junior World Championships. Pico rebounded nicely from some early adversity in his MMA career, and he is currently riding a four-fight winning streak. He faces a tough test at Bellator 271 as he is scheduled to face Justin Gonzales. The “J-Train” is undefeated at 12-0 in his MMA career and is coming off a split-decision victory over former Ohio wrestler Tywan Claxton. Cody Law was a Division II champion for Pitt-Johnstown and spent time at Penn State. He made his professional debut in Bellator last year and has built a 4-0 record in the promotion. On Friday's show, he takes on Colton Hamm, who is 4-3 as a professional and will be making his promotional debut. Fortune and Pico will both compete on the main card of Bellator 271, which airs live on Showtime at 10:00pm ET. Law's bout will be on the preliminary card that begins at 7:00pm ET on YouTube. On Sunday, Mo Miller will return to action for the first time since his bout on Dana White's Contenders Series. He will take on Jose Johnson in the co-main event of Fury FC 53, which airs live on UFC Fight Pass. Miller was a three-time Division II All-American for Notre Dame.

2021 NCAA qualifier Colin McCracken of Kent State (photo courtesy of Kent State athletics) Friday, November 12th, 2021 Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh (7:00pm) ESPN+ Saturday, November 13th, 2021 Clarion vs. Rutgers at Davidson (10:00am) George Mason vs. Bellarmine (10:00am) ESPN+ Clarion vs. Chattanooga at Davidson (11:30am) George Mason vs. Bucknell (11:30am) ESPN+ Clarion vs. Davidson @ Davidson (1:00pm) George Mason vs. Averett (1:00pm) ESPN+ Edinboro vs. Pittsburgh (7:00pm) FloWrestling SIU Edwardsville @ Northwestern (7:00pm) BTN+ Northern Illinois @ Rider (7:00pm) ESPN+ Sunday, November 14th, 2021 Mountaineer Invitational: Air Force, Appalachian State, Arizona State, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Illinois, Indiana, and Kent State (9:00am) Journeymen Collegiate Classic: Army West Point, Bloomsburg, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Harvard, Hofstra, Lehigh, Lock Haven, Long Island, Oregon State, Penn, Sacred Heart, and VMI (9:00am) FloWrestling Cleveland State vs. Purdue (2:00pm) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #MACinsider Thoughts: This is going to be a fantastic weekend of wrestling! I'm most looking forward to my hometown of Buffalo's home opener against Pittsburgh. #HornsUp! With week one in the books, I think this weekend will be very telling as to which teams are consistently producing early in the season, and which teams still need to make some adjustments. Some teams might need to adjust their lineup, while others need to modify their training to be more competitive throughout the season. First impressions are HUGE, and I'm a huge first impressions girl. I'm hoping to see a few upsets, and the college rankings get flipped upside down. Any weight. Any wrestler. Any MAC school. I just want to see an upset. Anyway, the MAC is the best conference, and you can't change my mind. Wrestlers to Watch: Alex Carida (157) – Bloomsburg University Izzak Olejnik (165) – Northern Illinois University Logan Stanley (174) – Ohio University Colin McCracken (184) – Kent State University Matt Correnti (197) – Rider University

2021 Cadet World Champion Bo Bassett at the Super 32 (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) By now, we've all heard the news out of Pennsylvania and the punishment handed down to Bishop McCort's athletic department. There've been enough tweets, news stories, arguments, mission statements and plain old mudslinging in the last week or so to last a lifetime. I've always prided myself on seeing both sides of an argument and this matter has been no different. My knee-jerk reaction was to say, good, it's ridiculous what's going on over there. But I'm just an outsider who's not privy to the daily ins and outs of the PA scene, nor am I checking the message boards for every post by disgruntled parents and coaches. While I do believe something is going on there, where talented wrestlers want to join forces and form super-teams, I also believe the punishments handed out are completely out of line and the most damage it inflicts is to most innocent of victims and that's the children. Erik Gibson is by all accounts a fine young man who's headed to Cornell next Fall. What you've done is basically put him in double jeopardy by once again taking away his chance to compete for a PA state title for the second year in a row for the same crime and that crime was merely leaving a place where he did not feel comfortable. For good measure, you decided to bury every other athlete there, including numerous future stars who've yet to even arrive. Families have uprooted their lives for the betterment of their children both in sport and education to be in the place they want to be and you can only see this in black and white, that it's for athletic advantage and it might somehow ruin whatever luster is left in the world of high school sports. The physical building is not going anywhere. Bill Bassett can coach for twenty more years if he so pleases. The kids only have so many chances for these moments and you want to take that away because they crossed some imaginary lines with their bookbags and headgears. They train every day and all year to reach the goals they've seen their heroes reach when they were just little kids and dreamt about standing on that podium one day themselves and they don't deserve to have that taken away by some stuffy adults sitting in a conference room somewhere. I was nearly killed by a car at 13 and the only thing I cared about then and now is that I missed football and wrestling that year. I took some years off, as a kid, but knew I would wrestle again in high school, so I wanted to come back in eighth grade, but that Mercury Cougar changed all those plans. Did it affect my development as a high school wrestler? You bet it did, and it will do the same to them, but not only on the mat, but as human beings. They shouldn't have to worry that the choices they think are best for them, can ultimately harm them, while being bitter at the establishment. Do I like the grade manipulation? It's a bit tiresome, but also common and it's not like they are beating up 12-year-olds out there as all of their competition has been age-level anyway. You want to say they can't compete in the team-based postseason? Fine, I can live with that. Suspend the coach for a year? Eh, the person on top usually has to bear responsibility anyway. But don't take these kids' dreams away. They worked too hard to be penalized for things most likely out of their control and now you're taking away the one thing they can control, which is what they do on the mat. To the powers that be in PA wrestling, I implore you to rethink what you're doing here and figure out a way to right this. The holiday season is upon us and you're being a real Grinch about things by stealing Christmas and I don't think you want that on your resume when you're about to enter the Pearly Gates. Anyway, on to way more important topics! How many pairs of cuts off do you own? @WhatDidImiss When you create the perfect pair of Daisy Dukes on your first try, you need not evolve, my friend. Who is 1 wrestler nobody is talking about that is going to surprise us this weekend? @luke_w_wise The guy I've been waiting to see for over two years now is Cornell's Jacob Cardenas. The former Bergen Catholic star has been away from the scene for a while now, but not-so-long-ago, was the primary challenger to AJ Ferrari's spot as the best 195 pounder in the country before joining forces for half a season in 2019. Cornell is allegedly competing at the Bearcat Open this weekend and it's been rumored that he and Darmstadt are neck-and-neck in the room, so with any luck, we can see that match and the rest of the gang from Ithaca. Come on, guys! It's been so long! Put Yianni on the scale, as we've speculated long enough! Should you have to compete in so many matches on the year in order to compete for the national qualifier? @Swayzhappens That's a no from me, dog. In my opinion, if you don't wrestle all year, but you're on a roster, you should be allowed to compete in the postseason. Everyone says duals don't matter anyway, so why should they matter here? If a kid can mosey into a conference tournament with no matches under his belt and qualify, then more power to him. Plus, we don't know the extent of these injuries. What if the earliest you can go after major surgery is early March? Now you have to risk that to get qualifying matches in? Get bent. I know u finished HS in an era before wrestling was invented, but if u were graduating now, what school would be most appealing for u to compete at? @PelikanHead Personally, if I'm beating myself up all winter indoors, I'm going to need some decent weather outdoors. Add in a mix of my East Coast bias and I'm probably looking at NC State or something of that ilk. It really all depends on the best buffalo wing sponsorship I can get and it is the Tobacco capital of the country, so that's cool. Mork or Mindy? @JohnnyG7613 I'm a Joanie Loves Chachi guy. That's all, folks! Yours truly has to work all day Saturday, so please no spoilers. I want to be able to see my Caturday Saturday tweets without updates from the Bison Open.

2021 NCAA qualifier Brian Courtney (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Duke: The Blue Devils will travel to the Mountaineer Open at Appalachian State. Other teams competing include: Arizona State, Air Force, App State, Indiana, Kent State and Gardner-Webb. The Brothers Finesilver look to bring home another pair of championships after both winning the Citadel Open last week. UNC: No official competitions this weekend. The Tar Heels return to action next week with two big duals. NC State: NC State will host the Wolfpack Open in Raleigh this weekend. Teams attending include: Campbell, King University, Seton Hill University, as well as unattached wrestlers from UNC, NC State, UVA and VT, among other schools. Pittsburgh: The Panthers open dual action this weekend with two matches on the road. They will face Buffalo on Friday night and travel back to PA to face Edinboro on Saturday. The Friday night dual in New York will feature one ranked vs ranked match when #5 Micky Phillippi faces #21 Derek Spann. One other thing I am watching in this dual is if Hunter Kernan can keep the momentum rolling at 174 after bringing home the championship helmet from the Clarion Open last week. That momentum will be important on Saturday against Edinboro as Kernan will face #20 Jacob Oliver. Pitt should be able to handle both duals without many hiccups and I'm looking forward to seeing the full squad in action for the first time this year. Virginia: The Hoos head north up 95 again this weekend, this time around the Beltway to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins. When Maryland was in the ACC, this used to be a heated dual every year and always fun to watch. This year the dual will feature a couple ranked vs ranked matchups and several wrestlers on the cusp of rankings. At 165 #19, Justin McCoy will take on #31 John Martin Best, who is coming off a runner-up finish at the Clarion Open. At 285, the Cavaliers will send #21 Quinn Miller to face Clarion Open champion #32 Zach Schrader. Two other matches I think could be really fun are at 133 with #16 Brian Courtney taking on the very scrappy King Sandoval and at 184, where Michael Battista will square up with Kyle Cochran. Virginia Tech: No official competitions this weekend. The Hokies host two home matches next week.

2x NCAA All-American Austin DeSanto (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) That didn't take long, did it? I told you last week, we were in the calm before the storm. Even though it's been well over a year since we last had an in-season tournament, Wrestling Twitter and forum outrage picked up right where it left off in 2020. The biggest hubbub after Week 1 was a topic that has been brought up many times before in many seasons past. The age-old question of "what to do about Medical Forfeits." Everyone has their opinion; everyone has their way of "fixing" the issue. Well, here is mine: Make Medical Forfeits count as losses. At this point in our sport, it is needed, because we are trending down a path that lessens the likability and marketability of the sport we love. Here's my reasoning. If you don't wrestle in a dual, say Central Michigan v Oklahoma, and a forfeit is given, that doesn't go against the starter at the weight. Duh, simple, right? But that's the argument everyone is using for Medical Forfeits in tournaments which, in fact, does not make any sense at all. A dual is a singular event, 10 weights and using strategy. Each dual, even if there are two or three in a day, is its own singular event with no bearing on the previous or the future event. A tournament is like a race. You check-in (weigh-in), suit up, and when the race begins (first match of the day), you are now in a day-long competition. The intention is that the wrestler will attempt to make it as far as possible within the bracket to hopefully win it all, but also help your team win some hardware too. Nowadays, coaches and or wrestlers dictate how many matches they want to wrestle and against who they want as well. It's equivalent to quitting halfway through a 5K because the steep hill is coming up. Because that's what it is… quitting. We also know it as ducking, but that term seems to offend people for some reason. In the Michigan State Open alone (Open Division), there were seven Medical Forfeits: two in the Quarters, four in the Semi-Finals, and one in the Finals. In the Freshman/Sophomore Division, there were two total Medical Forfeits (both in the Quarters). That's embarrassing (for the Open Division, that is). Plain and simple. How are we supposed to "grow the sport" if the best wrestlers in an in-season tournament forfeit IN THE FINALS? "Why punish someone for being hurt?" you say. "They had a plan to only wrestle two matches only," you say. "Why should they get a loss on their record for not stepping on the mat?!" you ignorantly repeat over and over again. Well, first off, as I've already said, they entered the "race" when they weighed in and wrestled their first match. From that point on, someone needs to advance, and someone needs to fall to the consolation bracket or be eliminated. No two ways about it; that's how it's done. If you wanted a few matches against non-D1 or lesser competition, schedule your own Tri-meet or round-robin and don't bother ruining the tournament experience for the other wrestlers and fans. How to combat this issue of coaches using the non-compete loophole of ducking? Make them count as losses. If you weigh-in, and wrestle a match that day, then MFF out, each MFF for that day counts as a loss. If you are actually injured and need to MFF out, I'm sorry that you were unable to keep competing, but the racer doesn't get any points if his tire blows out. The golfer doesn't get a sympathy check for straining their back and missing the cut. The Football team can't say that loss "doesn't count" because the star quarterback got injured. It shouldn't matter, right? Your coach should be able to explain in the seeding meeting the circumstances of why you didn't wrestle in the Semi-Finals of that one tournament when you had a high-ranked wrestler. Or that you were injured and couldn't keep moving on. Fine. Make them fight for you. Call me old-fashioned, call me nostalgic, but what happened to notching a Midlands Championship on your record, or winning the Southern Scuffle? Hell, the Michigan State Open? I'm sure Lucas Davison is pretty happy about that hardware, and the other nine champions from this past weekend. Traditions seem to have gone by the wayside. Like most things, the Medical Forfeit was made with the best of intentions. Throughout time, though, coaches have manipulated and strained the actual use of the Medical Forfeit to turn it into a bastardized tool to skirt the rules for personal gain. It's sad to see that athletes who put so much time into training, exercising, and working on sharpening their skill only want to travel to a tournament hours away and wrestle two matches and not prove that they are the best in the country. On to Week 2….. This week sees an uptick in dual competition with only three major tournaments taking place: Mountaineer Open, Bearcat Open, and the Journeyman Round Robin. A couple other notable Opens in the Bison Open and Wolfpack Open are also being held but with minimal D1 entries (as noted on official schedules, that is). So be careful when picking guys at those tournaments, and temper your expectations to 1 or maybe 2 matches that count for scoring. Of note, Illinois was supposed to be at the Mountaineer Invite, but has recently canceled their entry, so make the proper adjustments. 64 of the 78 D1 teams will be in competition this week, with 16 of last year's Top 20 taking the mat as well. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to how the Journeyman Round Robin pools will be made, so for that, we are going to look at the best matchups from all potential participants. Like usual, tournament entries slowly trickle in as it gets closer and closer to matchday, so I will try to keep you updated as soon as possible and note it in the comments section. Don't forget to follow @FantasyD1Wrestl ! Wrestlers I Like This Week (the early locks) Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score] 125: Ed Ventresca (Virginia Tech)- Wolfpack Open Spencer Moore (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open Stevo Poulin (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State)- Vs Penn State,(@Manheim, PA) [+4], Journeyman Classic Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Benny Gomez (Presbyterian)- Vs The Citadel [+3] Jack Medley (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+3] Bryce West (Northern Illinois)- @ Rider [+3] 133: Josh Koderhandt (Navy)- Bearcat Open Michael Colaiocco (U Penn)- Journeyman Round Robin Austin DeSanto (Iowa)- Luther Open Brock Hudkins (Indiana)- Mountaineer Invite Reece Witcraft (Oklahoma State)- Viking Open Jarrett Trombley (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+13] Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+9] Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)- @ Stanford [+5] Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4] 141: Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)- Luther Open Wyatt Henson (Iowa)- Luther Open (Freshman Div) Cayden Rooks (Indiana)- Mountaineer Invite Travis Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State)- Viking Open Ryan Jack (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+14] Nick Lee (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+9] Kaden Cassidy (George Mason)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Bucknell [+8] Parker Filius (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+4] Quinn Kinner (Rider)- Vs Northern Illinois [+3] Stevan Micic (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4] *Not Projected to Start 149: PJ Ogunsanya (Army)- Journeyman Round Robin Anthony Artalona (U Penn)- Journeyman Round Robin Josh Finesilver (Duke)- Mountaineer Invite Brent Moore (Clarion)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+11] Mike Van Brill (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+5] Beau Bartlett (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+7] Alex Madrigal (George Mason)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Bucknell [+7] Kanen Storr (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4] Mitch Moore (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4] Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4] 157: Andrew Cerniglia (Navy)- Bearcat Open Doug Zapf (U Penn)- Journeyman Round Robin Dom Mata (Harvard)- Journeyman Round Robin Markus Hartman (Army)- Journeyman Round Robin Kaleb Young (Iowa)- Luther Open Ed Scott (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Kolby Ho (Clarion)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+9] Robert Kanniard (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+4] Joe Lee (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+7] Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+5] Justin Thomas (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4] Kendall Coleman (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+4] Will Lewan (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4] 165: Alex Marinelli (Iowa)- Luther Open Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State)- Viking Open Sonny Santiago (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open Matthew Pine (Chattanooga)- Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+11] Zach Hartman (Bucknell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs George Mason (@GMU) [+8] Alex Facundo (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+7] Sewlyn Porter (The Citadel)- @ Presbyterian [+5] Cam Amine (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4] Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois)- @ Rider [+3] 174: Alex Faison (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Gavin Kane (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open Ben Pasiuk (Army)- Journeyman Round Robin Matt Finesilver (Duke)- Mountaineer Invite John Worthing (Clarion)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+9] Carter Starocci (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+8] Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4] Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+4] 184: Donnell Washington (Indiana)- Mountaineer Open Abe Assad (Iowa)- Luther Open Nick Reenan (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Caleb Hopkins (Campbell)- Wolfpack Open John Poznanski (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+12] Aaron Brooks (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+9] Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)- @ Rider [+4] Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)- @ Stanford [+4] David Bertrand (Presbyterian)- Vs The Citadel [+4] Max Lyon (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+3] Myles Amine (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+5] Not Projected to Start 197: Jake Koser (Navy)- Bearcat Open Jacob Warner (Iowa)- Luther Open Issac Trumble (NC State)- Wolfpack Open Greg Bulsak (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+12] Pat Brucki (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+5] AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)- @ Stanford [+4] Jake Woodley (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4] Matt Correnti (Rider)- Vs Northern Illinois [+3] 285: Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech)- Wolfpack Open Boone McDermott (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+12] Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+8] Michael McAleavey (The Citadel)- @ Presbyterian [+6] Mason Parris (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+6] Not Projected to Start

2021 Big 12 champion Luke Weber (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Thursday 11/11 Missouri at North Dakota State, 8:00 PM (all times Eastern) Saturday 11/13 Northern Iowa at Grand View Open, Pleasant Hill, IA, 10:00 AM North Dakota State, South Dakota State at Bison Open, hosted by North Dakota State, 11:00 AM Oklahoma at West Virginia, 2:00 PM Oklahoma State at Stanford, 5:00 PM Sunday 11/14 Air Force at Mountaineer Invitational, hosted by Appalachian State, 9:00 AM Northern Colorado at Missouri, 2:00 PM What I'm Most Excited For: Travis Wittlake vs. Shane Griffith. Probably the match of the week in all of college wrestling will take place when NCAA champion Shane Griffith and All-American Travis Wittlake wrestle in the Oklahoma State-Stanford dual. Should be a good one. Best Dual: Missouri at North Dakota State Missouri is a really strong dual team and it will be hard for North Dakota State to topple them, but there are some really solid matchups and definitely some spots where the gritty NDSU team could pull a few upsets. These two matches top my list: 157: Jared Franek-NDSU vs. Jarrett Jacques-Mizzou 165: Keegan O'Toole-Mizzou vs. Luke Weber-North Dakota State O'Toole beat Weber at the NCAA tournament last year 5-1, but it will be intriguing to see how they match up this year coming out of the summer.