InterMat Staff

Link: Results A Twitter List by InterMat

Link: Results A Twitter List by InterMat

PSU coaches Cody Sanderson and Cody Sanderson talk to Nick Lee during a dual vs. Michigan (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) The conference tournaments start this weekend with the EIWA, MAC, ACC, Pac-12 and SoCon all taking place. The athletes have been through a tremendous season unlike any in the last 70 years and while there is tremendous frustration with the allocations and the number of matches everyone was able to wrestle, it's incredible that the sport has made it this far in 2021. I had my doubts. Here and in private conversations I saw no way for the NCAA to allow football, much less wrestling, to compete in this school year. Part of that doubt was naivete about the NCAA's drive to see a financial return on their investment, and at least some part was not recognizing that fewer deaths was not seen as universally a good thing. No matter the circumstances on how the season got its push to start, it was always on the athletes to follow the regulations to make sure that they could continue to compete. These young men were seeing friends, taking classes remotely, eating alone, training in pods, wearing masks everywhere, and in general being asked to sacrifice more than any other class before them. And they succeeded. There is plenty of on-the-mat action to consume this weekend and next, but before the first whistle blows take a moment and recognize just how sizable an accomplishment it was for these athletes to make it from the searing center of a plague to the mat at their conference tournament. Bravo to them, their families, their coaches and their universities. To your questions … Q: With Penn State now adding Greg Kerkvliet, Beau Bartlett and Robbie Howard to the lineup, do you think the Nittany Lions can challenge Iowa? -- Mike C. Foley: Greg Kerkvliet re-emerged this weekend in a Penn State stomping of Big Ten foe Maryland. The heavyweight had an expectedly great performance and gave rise to the thought that Penn State would have enough horsepower to challenge top-ranked Iowa. The addition of Kerkvliet is certainly a positive for the Nittany Lions, as are Bartlett and Howard, both of whom seem like top All-American candidates in 2021. If you look at the updated points as predicted by the InterMat rankings there is a 71-point difference in their expected outcomes. That might get chipped away with some top-level performances by the above trio, and maybe further whittled down by some bonus points. However, a 10-touchdown difference is extremely difficult to overcome. The Big Ten weekend will be the test of each team's strengths and weaknesses, but from a higher perspective it would seem you should always favor the experienced winners over the newcomers. There are plenty of ways in which I can and probably will be proven wrong, but if you're putting money on the outcome of the NCAAs I think it's foolish to discount the Hawkeyes. Q: Which college match that has not happened yet are most looking forward to this postseason? -- Mike C. Foley: Richard Mann wrote a great article this week on that topic. Check it out. For me it'll be anytime there is a direct matchup between Penn State and Iowa, but also Daton Fix vs. RBY MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME Trailer for the Pellicone! Q: What are you most looking forward to seeing at the Matteo Pellicone? -- Mike C. Foley: The Matteo Pellicone is the first Ranking Series tournament of the 2021 season. The outcome of the tournament won't impact the 2021 seeds or points, but it will influence the seeds at the world championships and who will end up winning the Ranking Series at the end of the season. The Belgrade Individual World Cup last December has proven to be a success with few issues arising from the health protocols and efforts to create a bubble resulting in a safe environment. Now, with vaccines being rolled out around the world and in-airport testing becoming more prevalent, a number of the top wrestlers in the world are expected to compete in next week's competition. More importantly, I'm finally being released to start covering events in person again and am looking forward to seeing the action on the mats and maybe tipping back a few glasses of Barolo. The tournament itself is built around 74 kilograms and the expected matchup between Jordan Burroughs and Italy's own favorite adopted son, Frank Chamizo. The duo has met a number of times and each episode of their saga tells us something new about their outlook and techniques. While I think that Burroughs is the favorite, what is most compelling to me is his eagerness to travel so close to the Olympic Trials. That will certainly mean it'll be a more cautious Burroughs on the mat, though he's certain to be as competitive as ever. The weight class also features Franklin Gomez (Puerto Rico) and world bronze medalist Daniyar Kaisanov (Kazakhstan). All eyes will be on 74 kilograms. Q: The Capitol Cup this weekend will feature a women's Greco-Roman exhibition match between Xochitl Mota-Pettis and Koral Sugiyama. What do you think about this? Do you think women's Greco could have a future in the wrestling landscape? -- Mike C. Foley: I'm interested in seeing the response to the match. The Canadians had a program for some time, but didn't see a lot of excess interest in the sport. In Europe its essentially a non-starter for most federations as they think Greco-Roman is far too brutal for women to undertake. You might agree or disagree with that perspective, but the buy-in of the European and Asian nations is necessary for the sport to be undertaken in any meaningful manner. The IOC is serious about sports accomplishing gender equity, and soon, equality. The 2022 YOG in Senegal were meant to be the first gender equal games. They are now postponed, but that is the direction the sporting landscape has taken into the future. For wrestling, the pressure to be gender equal will almost certainly result in even more investment in beach wrestling. The sport is consumer friendly and can be practiced anywhere at any time. There is no necessary equipment and nations that might otherwise be disadvantaged in Olympic style might find growth and success in beach wrestling. To me, beach wrestling has always been the answer. Greco-Roman on the men's side has faced issues for the better part of 40 years so I think it would be unwise for the sport to point in the direction of the past, rather than the future.

Following a change of venue from Penn State University, USA Wrestling is truly thankful to have secured Dickies Arena, a brand-new world-class arena in Fort Worth, Texas, to host of the 2020 Olympic Team Trials - Wrestling on April 2-3. The first priority of USA Wrestling has always been to hold the safest competition possible for the participants, while complying with all of the local and state health requirements, and utilizing the event safety protocols established by USA Wrestling and other sports organizations during the pandemic. The proposed event plan for Fort Worth, which must be approved by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, will include a safety "bubble" that will be provided for athletes, coaches and tournament staff, and mandated testing protocols. Another major priority is to provide the athletes with the atmosphere for which this event is known for and celebrated, and to include spectators - with athlete families being prioritized - as permitted. USA Wrestling is happy to share that it will be able to accommodate spectators at a reduced level and in coordination with Dickies Arena and local health officials, is providing a spectator solution that allows for physical distancing and the ability to keep small groups of ticket-holders safely apart during the event. The total number of tickets available, based upon the arena capabilities and safety procedures is 4,900. For comparison, there were 12,000 tickets sold for the Olympic Trials at Penn State before the pandemic began. In order to ensure that tickets were available to the athletes and their families and those who were most impacted by the postponement and the change of venue, a plan for pre-sales of tickets has been established. A limit has been set upon specific groups who were offered the pre-sale opportunity. The athletes who have qualified to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, as well as the coaches for these athletes, were given a pre-sale opportunity to purchase a limited number of tickets. In addition, tickets are also being held to be offered to athletes who qualify to compete at the Olympic Trials in Fort Worth from the four remaining qualifying events (NCWWC Nationals, NAIA Women's National Invitational, NCAA Div. I Championships, Last Chance Qualifier). A small group of sponsors and donors, staff, USA Wrestling volunteer leaders (Board members and state chairpersons) and alumni athletes were also given a pre-sale opportunity, with a limit on the number of seats and a short time frame. Finally, original ticket holders who purchased their tickets directly from Penn State to attend the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will have a pre-sale opportunity for the event in Fort Worth, again with a limit on tickets as well as a short time frame to act. This phased pre-sale runs from Feb. 22-26. If the arena is not sold-out after the pre-sale ends, remaining tickets will be available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis, starting Saturday, Feb. 27 at 10:00 a.m. CT here. We wish we could accommodate the high demand for tickets for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, but the current realities of the pandemic make it impossible. We know that the families of the athletes have been provided the opportunity to be there, and that there will be a fitting atmosphere provided for the athletes to compete. As has been the position of USA Wrestling since the pandemic began, the health and safety of the participants and all involved in the event remains the most important priority.

MANHEIM, Pa. -- On Thursday, the National Wrestling Coaches Association announced the creation of the NWCA Division III Coaches Association National Wrestling Championships presented by ARMS Software, FloWrestling, and Reese's. The Xtream Arena (Coralville, IA) will play host on March 12-13 and will be allowing spectators. Tickets will go on-sale this Friday, February 26th at 10:00am through the Xtream Arena Box Office. Tickets may be purchased by visiting xtreamarena.com. All-session and single-day tickets will be available for $41 and $24, respectively. Fans not able to attend will be able to watch each match live on FloWrestling. On February 3, the NCAA announced the cancellation of the Division III winter championships for wrestling as well as basketball, indoor track and field, swimming and diving, and ice hockey. Following the NCAA's announcement, the NWCA Division III Leadership Group, led by Chairman Lonnie Morris, Head Coach at Johnson & Wales, began working to provide a championship experience for athletes who had just had their championship tournament canceled for the second year in a row. Morris shared, "It is an honor to be part of the leadership group that helped create this opportunity for our student-athletes." USA Wrestling, the national governing body for wrestling in the United States, announced on February 5 that it would host a tournament for Div. III wrestlers. With the assurance from the NWCA that this event will be held, USA Wrestling will help publicize the NWCA Division III Coaches Association National Wrestling Championships. The most important thing for the wrestling community is that these Div. III student-athletes have one season-ending event. The championships will place the top eight wrestlers, and each will earn NWCA All-America honors. There will be no team points kept and no team awards given. Athletes competing must be on their school's official roster and entered into the OPC, the NCAA's weight management program. Those interested in helping offset the estimated $100,000 cost of hosting the event may donate to the crowdfunding page set up by the NWCA by clicking here. All donations received will be put into a restricted NWCA Division III Wrestling Coaches Association account (administered by the NWCA) and used to defray costs associated with this championship. "The Division III Coaches Association stepped up tremendously and is providing their student-athletes an exciting season-ending opportunity when less than a month ago none existed. This group of highly dedicated coaches has spent long hours to make this event a possibility," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "We couldn't have put all the pieces together without so many stakeholders pitching in and joining forces. Our Presenting sponsors, ARMS Software, FloWrestling, and Reese's a division The Hershey Company, have been rock stars and have committed much-needed resources. I would be remiss if I didn't extend a heartfelt thanks to USA Wrestling, especially Executive Director Rich Bender, for all the support during the planning stages." This event will be conducted following the requirements of the state and local health authorities. The local organizing committee is in regular communication with its partners at Johnson County public health and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Masks are required to be worn at all times throughout this event and guests are asked to please adhere to all health and safety guidelines while inside Xtream Arena. EVENT DETAILS Date: March 12-13 Starting Times: Friday - 12 pm | Saturday - 10 am Location: Coralville, IA Venue: Xtream Arena Tickets: $41 All Sessions | $24 Single Day - Link How to Watch: FloWrestling - Link Presenting Sponsors: ARMS Software, FloWrestling, and Reese's Event Sponsors: USA Wrestling, Defense Soap, AAU Wrestling, and Resilite ABOUT THE NWCA The National Wrestling Coaches Association, established in 1928, is a non-profit organization for the advancement of all levels of the sport of wrestling with a primary emphasis on developing coaches who work in academic environments. The three core competencies of the NWCA are: Coaching Development, Student-Athlete Welfare, and the Promotion of Wrestling.

Jake Wentzel defeated Mekhi Lewis on Feb. 12 (Photo/Virginia Tech Athletics) The shortened 2021 regular season is over, and now it is time for the conference tournaments to begin. Across all NCAA Division I tournaments, there will be a variety of top matches. The following is a preview of the top potential individual bouts from each conference tournament. EIWA (Friday) 165: No. 7 Zach Hartman (Bucknell) vs. No. 12 Tanner Skidgel (Navy) The EIWA took a big hit this season as all the teams from the Ivy League are not competing. However, there is still potential for a strong ranked match at 165 pounds. Hartman is a two-time NCAA qualifier. Last year, he went 27-8 and made the finals of the EIWA tournament. This year, the Bucknell wrestler has won all seven of his matches. In his last match, he scored a 15-0 technical fall over Owen Brown (Army). Skidgel won the EIWA tournament last year and returned as one of the top wrestlers in the conference. He lost his season opening match against No. 6 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh), but bounced back with nine-straight victories. Eight of those victories came with bonus points. Skidgel won his EIWA title over Hartman last year. Hartman upset Harvard's Phil Congilaro in the semifinals, while Skidgel was the No. 1 seed. It was a two-point match, and this one will likely be as close. Skidgel has looked very solid all season and should be in peak form. Prediction: Skidgel decision over Harman MAC (Friday/Saturday) No. 4 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) vs. No. 8 Ethan Laird (Rider) Stencel is the returning MAC champion. For his senior season, he has won all seven of his matches. Stencel's toughest competition came early in the season, as he defeated No. 17 Zach Elam (Missouri) in his second match of the season. The Central Michigan wrestler then turned around and defeated Brian Andrews (Wyoming) on the same day. Laird moved up to heavyweight for his senior season after spending the first three seasons of his career at 197 pounds. He has won all six of his matches, including a signature 8-5 victory over All-American No. 9 Jordan Wood (Lehigh). All of his other wins were bonus-point victories. Stencel has held down the fourth spot in the rankings all season behind No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota), No. 2 Mason Parris (Michigan) and No. 3 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) of the Big Ten. The veteran has proved to be one of the top heavyweights in the country even if the competition has not been the toughest at points during this season. Laird has been a revelation after making the move up in weight, but he will be up against it here. Prediction: Stencel decision over Laird ACC (Sunday) 165: No. 6 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) vs. No. 4 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) Lewis returned to the college mats after taking an Olympic redshirt during the 2020 season. During the 2019 season, he surprisingly won an NCAA title at 165 pounds as a redshirt freshman. When he returned this year, he assumed the No. 1 ranking based on a victory over No. 1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) in the semifinals of the 2019 national tournament. Lewis won his first eight matches of the year including victories over No. 13 Kennedy Monday (North Carolina) and No. 19 Thomas Bullard (North Carolina State). The Virginia Tech representative then ran into Wentzel earlier this month. Wentzel built a 3-0 lead and had the riding time locked before Lewis suffered an injury. Lewis has not returned to action since, but he was seeded and drawn into the bracket for the ACC tournament. Wentzel had a strong season overall. He finished the regular season with a 7-1 record that included victories over Monday and Tanner Skidgel (Navy). This should be an interesting match if it happens. Wentzel was rightly awarded the No. 1 seed for his victory over Lewis. However, the match between the fourth and fifth seed will feature a Monday and Bullard who are both ranked. Bullard holds a victory over Wentzel, so he should have a tough road to the finals. It is hard to imagine Lewis reversing the recent result with Wentzel. Even before the injury, the Pitt wrestler was in the driver's seat. Lewis excels defensively, but if he tries to make it a one-move match, he will leave himself very little room for error. Prediction: Wentzel decision over Lewis Pac-12 (Sunday) No. 2 Shane Griffith (Stanford) vs. No. 5 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State) Prior to this season, it was announced that Stanford would discontinue wrestling after the 2021 season. Fans never want to see a program dropped, especially a program with a wrestler who has a legit shot at an NCAA title. Last year as a redshirt freshman, Griffith built an undefeated 28-0 record and won the Pac 12 championship. He never got the chance to face off against many of the top wrestlers since the NCAA tournament did not materialize. This year, he has returned and gone 5-0 with four of those victories coming with bonus points. Valencia has never really been able to duplicate his freestyle success on the folkstyle mats, and he will get one more chance as a senior. Last October, he finished second at the 2020 Senior Nationals with victories over the likes of No. 2 (157) Hayden Hidlay (NC State) and Evan Wick (Wisconsin). After going 22-6 last year, he has returned for his final season and put together an 8-0 record. In his last match, Valencia scored a second-period fall over Pat Schoenfelder (Northern Iowa). Griffith has been untouchable for two seasons in a row. Valencia is certainly dangerous, but it is hard to see him holding up for an entire seven-minute match against the pressure of Griffith. Prediction: Griffith decision over Valencia SoCon (Sunday) 149: No. 12 Josh Heil (Campbell) vs. No. 14 Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State) Heil will be looking for his third-straight SoCon championship. The Campbell wrestler won the tournament and qualified for the NCAA tournament at 141 pounds before moving up this year. He lost his first match of the season against Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech). However, since that match, Heil has gotten back on track with five-straight wins. In his last match, Heil scored a 4-0 decision over Aiden Murphy (Chattanooga). Millner went 31-4 last year and qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the SoCon tournament. He has already wrestled 12 matches despite the shortened season and won 11 of those. His only loss came against Hunter Lewis (NC State). Since that loss, Millner won eight-straight matches, including a victory over Heil's teammate Jason Kraisser. This will be an interesting match between returning SoCon champions. Heil has been one of the best wrestlers in the conference this year, and that should lead him to a victory here. Millner may have the physical edge, but look for Heil to pull out the decision victory. Prediction: Heil decision over Millner Big Ten (March 6-7) 141: No. 1 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) vs. No. 2 Nick Lee (Penn State) The Big Ten tournament could feature four different matches between the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers. Some might prefer one of the other matches, but this one might have the most interesting backstory. These two met at the 2018 NCAA tournament. Lee had been upset in the first round of the tournament by Ryan Diehl of Maryland and wrestled his way all the way back to the consolation semifinals. Eierman, who at the time was wrestling for Missouri, had lost in sudden victory against Yianna Diakomihals (Cornell) in the semifinals and dropped into the wrestlebacks. On that day, Eierman scored a 12-4 major decision. That was their most recent meeting in folkstyle. However, they also collided at the 2019 Senior Nationals in freestyle. In that match, Lee had the advantage. He was able to get to legs, and he was able to score off Eierman's attacks. Lee also showed the ability to finish clean, which will be vital against Eierman in folkstyle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbEHGJEJOtw&ab_channel=USAWrestling After transferring to Iowa and sitting out with an Olympic redshirt, Eierman made his Hawkeye debut this year. He has won all five of his matches. After scoring a decision over No. 7 Chad Red (Nebraska) in his season debut, Eierman broke off a run of four-straight bonus-point victories. In his last match, he scored a second-period fall over Anthony Echemendia (Ohio State). Lee went 20-1 last year and was one of the clear favorites to make the finals of the NCAA tournament that did not happen. This season, he has won all six of his matches with five coming with bonus points. The only wrestler to escape giving up bonus this year was Drew Mattin (Michigan). In his last match, Lee scored a 14-2 major decision over Danny Bertoni (Maryland). In order to knock off Eierman and claim No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament, Lee will need to finish clean and not give up any points on the bottom. Eierman has worked hard to improve his neutral attacks, but Lee's pace might still be too much. Eierman has more paths to win, but Lee's pressure and tenacity might rule the day. Prediction: Lee decision over Eierman Big 12 (March 6-7) 149: No. 4 Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 5 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) Lewallen finished eighth as a sophomore in 2018 to become an All-American. He qualified through the Big 12 last year and finished with a 21-2 record. Lewallen returned to the Cowboys for his senior year, and he finished the regular season with a 12-1 record. He has picked up a pair of victories over No. 19 Mitch Moore (Oklahoma), and his only defeat came in ride outs against No. 3 Brock Mauller (Missouri). It will be interesting to see how Alirez performs at the Big 12 tournament. He has always had outstanding performances in freestyle, including a victory at the 2020 Senior Nationals this past October. In the event, he scored victories over veterans Mitch McKee, Joey McKenna and Evan Henderson. This season, on the folkstyle mats, Alirez has wrestled only four matches. He returned on Feb. 20 for the first time since Jan. 8 and picked up a first-period fall over James Emmer (Utah Valley). These two wrestled during the regular season last year. At the time, Alirez was on a bit of a roll, and his only loss was a one-point decision. Lewallen dominated the match and took an 11-4 victory. If Alirez can make this a takedown contest, he has a real shot to take it, but Lewallen will have too many chances to make him work on the mat and take the advantage. Prediction: Lewallen decision over Alirez

App State's Codi Russell is seeded No. 1 at 125 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Southern Conference has released the seeds for the 2021 SoCon Wrestling Championship, the league office announced Wednesday afternoon. The No. 1 seed in each weight class will receive a bye for the first match. The championship is set to take place Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, North Carolina. Seven squads will compete for the 2021 SoCon title with 13 NCAA allocations available for the NCAA Championships. Campbell seeks to defend its last two tournament titles under first-year head coach Scotti Sentes. The Camels won their third straight regular-season title, going undefeated in SoCon action this season. App State, the 2021 preseason favorite, finished second in the conference standings with its only loss to Campbell as the Mountaineers look to uphold the preseason prediction at home. A pair of last year's SoCon individual champions return to the mat this season for the chance to defend their 2020 titles, both competing in the same weight class at 149 pounds. Campbell's Joshua Heil took home the 141-pound title at last year's championship, returning to 149 pounds this season after taking home the weight class title in 2019. Heil is a three-time SoCon individual champion, and if he takes the title again this season, he will be one of only 16 wrestlers to become a four-time champion in SoCon wrestling history. App State's Jonathan Millner (149) returns to defend his 2020 title after defeating No. 2 seed Tanner Smith of Chattanooga in final last year. The SoCon earned two NCAA allocations each at 149 pounds, 184 pounds and heavyweight. The remaining weight classes earned one allocation each, which is the automatic qualifier for the conference tournament champion. App State's Codi Russell (125), Millner (149) and Will Formato (165) enter the championship all seeded No. 1 in their respective weight classes. The Mountaineers' remaining seeded wrestlers include Anthony Brito (141, No. 2), Cody Bond (157, No. 2), Thomas Flitz (174, No. 2), Julian Gorring (184, No. 5), Mason Fiscella (197, No. 4) and Michael Burchell (285, No. 4). Campbell holds a league-best four No. 1 seeds for this year's championship in Benjamin Barton (157), Austin Murphy (174), Caleb Hopkins (184) and Chris Kober (197). The Camels will see Zurich Storm seeded third at 125 pounds and Gabriel Hixenbaugh (133) and Shannon Hannah (144) both seeded fourth, while Heil will have to settle for the No. 2 seed at 149 behind App State's Millner. The Citadel's Michael McAleavey headlines the heavyweight class seeded at the top, followed by Gardner-Webb's Anthony Perrine and Campbell's Taye Ghadiali, seeded second and third, respectively. App State's Burchell, Chattanooga's Grayson Walthall, Presbyterian's Airin Spell and VMI's Giomar Ramos will have to compete against the top seeds for a chance to take the 2021 SoCon heavyweight title. Jake Rotunda, competing at 133 pounds for the Bulldogs, is also seeded first in his weight class, while the remaining Citadel wrestlers, Jordie White (125, No. 5), Tyler Seeley (141, No. 4), Selwyn Porter (149, No. 4), Grant Speer (157, No. 7), Dazjon Casto (165, No. 4), Cole Burke (174, No. 4) Kyle Kretzer (184, No. 6) and Ben Stemmet (197, No. 6), will take the mat Sunday with hopes to earn the championship crown. Chattanooga's Franco Valdes (141) will enter the championship seeded first after going undefeated in SoCon action this season. Fabian Gutierrez (125) went 7-1 in conference duals and will arrive in Boone as the No. 2 seed in his weight class. Colton Landers (133), Weston Wichman (157), Drew Nicholson (165), Matthew Waddell (184) and Logan Andrew (197) all enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed in their respective weight classes. The Mocs' Austin Murphy (149) and Carial Tartar (174) sit as the No. 5 seeds for their matches. Gardner-Webb's RJ Mosley (165) sits behind App State's Formato seeded second, along with redshirt freshman Jha'Quan Anderson (184), who is also seeded second in his weight class. Teammates Trevon Majette (141) and Evan Schenk (174) are the No. 3 seeds in their individual weight classes. Presbyterian will compete in its second conference championship, as the squad finished its second season as a member of the SoCon. Seven Blue Hose wrestlers are set to take the mat Sunday to compete for their individual conference titles. VMI's Job Chisko (149) will face tough competition seeded third behind the two returning SoCon individual champions, Millner and Heil. Teammate Tyler Mousaw sits as the No. 2 seed at 197 pounds, while Zach Brown is seeded fourth at 184 pounds. Davidson, which has paused team activities due to positive COVID-19 test results among Tier 1 personnel, and first-year SoCon member Bellarmine, which is transitioning from NCAA Division II, will not compete in this year's championship. Due to COVID-19 protocols and adherence with local and state guidelines, there will be no general ticket sales at the SoCon Wrestling Championship. In addition to the teams, essential staff, workers and administrative personnel on site, a maximum of 13 student-athletes and three coaches per team are permitted to request two non-transferrable tickets each for immediate family members. A clear-bag policy will be in effect at the Holmes Convocation Center. The championship will be streamed in its entirety on ESPN+. 125 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Codi Russell, Appalachian State 2. Fabian Gutierrez, Chattanooga 3. Zurich Storm, Campbell 4. B. Gomez, Presbyterian 5. Jordie White, The Citadel 6. Aedyn Concepcion, Gardner- Webb 7. Cliff Conway, VMI 133 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Jake Rotunda, The Citadel 2. Sean Carter, Appalachian State 3. Colton Landers, Chattanooga 4. Gabriel Hixenbaugh, Campbell 5. Dominic Chavez, Presbyterian 6. Todd Carter, Gardner-Webb 7. Cameron Chicella, VMI 141 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Franco Valdes, Chattanooga 2. Anthony Brito, Appalachian State 3. Trevon Majette, Gardner-Webb 4. Shannon Hanna, Campbell 5. Jacob Brasseur, Presbyterian 6. Tyler Seeley, The Citadel 7. Freddy Junko, VMI 149 (2 NCAA allocations) 1. Jonathan Milner, Appalachian State 2. Josh Heil, Campbell 3. Job Chishko, VMI 4. Selwyn Porter, The Citadel 5. Austin Murphy, Chattanooga 6. Brandon Bright, Gardner-Webb 7. Reid Stewart, Presbyterian 157 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Benjamin Barton, Campbell 2. Cody Bond, Appalachian State 3. Weston Wichman, Chattanooga 4. Taylor Parks, Gardner-Webb 5. Blake Showers, VMI 6. Zachary Phillips, Presbyterian 7. Grant Speer, The Citadel 165 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Will Formato, Appalachian State 2. RJ Mosley, Gardner-Webb 3. Drew Nicholson, Chattanooga 4. Dazjon Casto, The Citadel 5. Austin Kraisser, Campbell 6. Jon Hoover, VMI No Entry for Presbyterian 174 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Austin Murphy, Campbell 2. Thomas Flitz, Appalachian State 3. Evan Schenk, Gardner-Webb 4. Cole Burke, The Citadel 5. Carial Tarter, Chattanooga 6. Joel Diaz, VMI 7. Victor Tello, Presbyterian 184 (2 NCAA allocations) 1. Caleb Hopkins, Campbell 2. Jha'Quan Anderson, Gardner-Webb 3. Matthew Waddell, Chattanooga 4. Zach Brown, VMI 5. Julian Gorring, Appalachian State 6. Kyle Kretzer, The Citadel No Entry for Presbyterian 197 (1 NCAA allocation) 1. Chris Kober, Campbell 2. Tyler Mousaw, VMI 3. Logan Andrew, Chattanooga 4. Mason Fiscella, Appalachian State 5. Samuel Mora, Gardner-Webb 6. Ben Stemmet, The Citadel No Entry for Presbyterian 285. (2 NCAA allocations) 1. Michael McAleavey, The Citadel 2. Anthony Perrrine, Gardner-Webb 3. Taye Ghadiali, Campbell 4. Michael Burchell, Appalachian State 5. Grayson Walthall, Chattanooga 6. Airin Spell, Presbyterian 7. Giomar Ramos, VMI

Stevan Micic gets his hand raised after winning in the semifinals of the European Games (Photo/Gabor Martin, United World Wrestling) Three-time All-American Stevan Micic of Michigan will not compete in NCAA wrestling this season. The University of Michigan's wrestling Twitter account posted an update on Micic Wednesday afternoon, citing injuries and timing, as to why he won't be in the Wolverine lineup. Micic, who competes internationally for Serbia, qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games at 57 kilograms.

CLEVELAND -- On Feb. 22, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a plan to allow limited spectators at professional and collegiate athletic contests. Since that time, the Mid-American Conference and Rider University (host of the 2021 MAC Wrestling Championships) have evaluated the feasibility of allowing limited spectators, primarily the parents and guardians of the competitors, to attend the 2021 MAC Wrestling Championships that will take place at the Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton, NJ on February 26 and 27. Although the Mid-American Conference and Rider University would like to be able to provide this opportunity for spectators, maintaining a secure competition environment to ensure the health and safety of all participating teams, student-athletes, and the residents of the State of New Jersey remains our first priority. As such, extensive safety measures have been put into place to adhere to state and local COVID-19 social distancing and contract tracing guidelines. These safety measures have eliminated most usable public spaces inside the Cure Insurance Arena, including the concourse which will be utilized as team warmup spaces, therefore no spectators will be permitted to attend. Additionally, New Jersey has not removed its seven-day quarantine recommendation for persons entering from certain states. With the MAC's wrestling membership representing multiple states, the timing of Governor Murphy's announcement regarding spectators does not allow for travel to New Jersey and adherence to the recommended seven-day quarantine period prior to start of the 2021 MAC Wrestling Championships on Friday. Adding further complications, a separate part of the Arena is currently being utilized as a COVID-19 vaccination site. The priority of the Mid-American Conference and Rider University is to ensure that we provide a safe environment for our student-athletes that affords them the greatest opportunity to compete for a MAC Championship and an NCAA Championship bid. While it is unfortunate that our safety efforts will not permit spectators to attend this year's championships, we are proud to be offering fans the opportunity to watch most of the championship matches via digital stream through the Rider Athletics website gobroncs.com and ESPN+. For the complete broadcast schedule, please visit gobroncs.com or getsomemaction.com. We appreciate your support and understanding and look forward to crowning MAC Champions this weekend.

As the 2021 NCAA Division I wrestling regular season winds down, wrestlers, coaches and fans alike prepare for postseason action. Part of that preparation includes understanding the qualifier allocations for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. However, comprehending the NCAA's rationale for the qualifier allocations during this COVID-19-condensed college season isn't so simple. Not only did the NCAA have to use a different formula to come up with these allocations, but the NCAA got them wrong. In 2021, the college wrestling season was different and drastically shortened. With that, the typical method for determining the qualifiers had to be adjusted accordingly. Per the NCAA's Feb. 11 release, the weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic berth to the NCAAs. Each conference was awarded additional pre-allocations based on the five-year average (2016-20) of pre-allocations earned by the conference in each weight class. In recent years, pre-allocations have been determined by a formula measuring Division I winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches' ranking. A decrease in overall matches, and in particular non-conference matches, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee to transition to using the five-year historical average to determine pre-allocations for 2021. For any adjustments in conference alignment over the last five years, historical pre-allocations stayed with the conference where they were earned. The competition status of schools for 2021 also did not impact the calculation of pre-allocations. "The committee knew that there wasn't going to be enough regular-season competition to utilize the existing process where wrestlers earned pre-allocations for their conference based on regular season performance," said Karen Langston, senior associate athletics director at California State University, Bakersfield and chair of the wrestling committee in the release. "The option to utilize the five-year historical average was an equitable alternative, and the way it worked out has opened more at-large spots this year for deserving wrestlers who don't qualify through their conference tournament." I acknowledge that there is no perfect solution to this pre-allocation conundrum, but few can deny that the chosen option for 2021 is deeply flawed. Here's why: Three main problems 1. These allocations did not factor in (or factor out I should say) teams that did not compete at all during the 2021 season. 2. These allocations did not adequately adjust for teams that may have switched conferences at some point during that five-year window between 2016 and 2020. 3. The five-year historical window used to get these averages is entirely too large. What these problems mean 1. Last year, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) got 44 allocations automatic bids prior to the conference tournament. This year though, the EIWA received 45 spots despite the conference's top teams -- those in the Ivy League -- are not competing in 2021. This is because, in November, the Ivy League decided to cancel competition for all of its winter sports programs. So, in summary, the EIWA has seven of their 17 teams (six Ivies, plus fellow conference affiliate Franklin & Marshall) not on the mat in 2021, yet, as a conference, it received one more allocation spot than last year when every EIWA team competed. This simply isn't right. Furthermore, according to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches Rank -- through Feb. 7 matches -- there are 35 ranked EIWA wrestlers listed. So, the EIWA could possibly be bringing roughly a dozen unranked wrestlers. 2. With respect to problem No. 2, it is interesting to me that in situations where a school may have switched conference affiliations during the five-year window from 2016 to 2020, the bids allocated during that window are awarded to the conference they were earned in, rather than the conference where the school now belongs. In other words, all of UNI and Fresno State's numbers don't necessarily benefit their new conference, the Big 12, rather they benefit the Mid-American Conference. For comparison sake, last year the Big 12 had 54 pre-allocations. In 2021 the Big 12 was awarded 45. One could argue that the Big 12 is a stronger conference this year than it was last year. Additionally, the MAC, which absorbed seven Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) schools (Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Rider, George Mason and Cleveland State) gets absolutely zero benefit from the pre-allocations of the various EWL schools that were earned prior to the merger in 2019-20. Wyoming's Mark Branch, Oklahoma State's John Smith, and Clarion's Keith Ferraro were just a few of the college wrestling coaches to categorically dislike the way in which the 2021 conference pre-allocations were awarded. Some called for these pre-allocations to be further readjusted. Smith also told Jason Elmquist of Stillwater News Press that he was not happy, saying, "There's not very many people happy -- and that's all I'm going to say, because I have absolutely nothing good to say about it," Smith said Wednesday, Feb. 17. "Hopefully, they'll revisit it. I think it needs to be revisited." With respect to problem No. 3, one might also argue that the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) -- along with the Big 12 -- was another conference that was under-allocated by this new pre-allocation method. This is because the data being used from four and five years ago isn't reflective of the top-to-bottom strength that the conference now has in 2021. This year, The ACC has consistently had five of its six schools ranked in the NWCA Coaches Poll during the regular season. During that five-year window, from 2016-2020, the ACC wasn't as talented conference-wide. Thus, its allocation numbers during those sessions were lower than they have been recently. As far as the ACC is concerned the data utilized to arrive at the 33 pre-allocations that the ACC earned isn't indicative of the conference's strength in recent years, 2021 in particular. How to fix these conference pre-allocation issues As was mentioned before, 2021 has been a challenging season. The NCAA was given a fairly small sample size of matches to work with during the regular season. For this reason, trying to determine the appropriate conference pre-allocations for the national tournament in St. Louis next month is an unenviable task. However, at the very least, the NCAA must do the following to rectify the currently inaccurate pre-allocations: 1. Produce an entirely new set of conference pre-allocations. 2. In creating this new set of pre-allocations using historical averages, do not include data from teams that are not competing during the 2021 season. 3. Base the historical averages on the last two or three seasons as opposed to the last five seasons. This will help increase the accuracy and validity of these averages. While the three "fixes" referenced above do not create the "perfect" solution, they would be a step in the right direction. Under the current pre-allocation structure, there will be some very talented and deserving competitors left at home. Simply put, the current system does not ensure that the nation's best 330 NCAA Division I wrestlers are all competing in the pinnacle event of the season. This is an unfortunate injustice that the NCAA must rectify to the best of its ability.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Preparation for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wrestling was business No. 1, as a number of the nation's best Olympic-style wrestlers got in some important matches during the Nittany Lion WC 5 card on Tuesday evening at C3 Sports. There were 17 Senior-level bouts on the main card, featuring both men's and women's freestyle wrestling. What made this card so interesting was the fact that a number of the wrestlers agreed to compete in more than one match as a way to get valuable match experience only a few weeks prior to the Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. 2016 Olympic champion and two-time world champion Kyle Snyder won all three of his matches on the card. Read complete story on TheMat.com. Results Main Card: Kyle Snyder dec. Nate Jackson, 6-1 Zach Sanders pinned Thomas Gilman, 1:47 Vito Arujau tech. Sean Russell, 14-3 Jason Nolf tech. Jevon Balfour, 10-0 Kyle Dake tech. Vincenzo Joseph, 10-0 Mallory Velte dec. Jen Page, 6-1 Ale Bonilla dec. Kendall Bostelman, 8-0 Max Dean dec. Nate Jackson, 5-5 Kyle Snyder tech. Scottie Boykin, 11-0 Gabe Dean dec. Bo Nickal, 3-2 Vito Arujau dec. Zach Sanders, 6-0 Thomas Gilman tech. Sean Russell, 11-0 Jane Valencia tech, fall Ronna Heaton, 12-2 Vincenzo Joseph dec. Jevon Balfour, 8-2 Zain Retherford dec. Evan Henderson, 6-2 Kyle Snyder tech. Gabe Dean, 13-2 Kyle Dake dec. Jason Nolf, 5-0 Junior Card: Jim Mullen pinned Chase Horne, 2:08 Sage Mortimer pinned Rianne Murphy, 3:37 Cole Rees dec. TJ Stewart, 12-7 Tyler Lillard dec. Erik Gibson, 12-9 Grace Stem dec. Elleni Johnson, 7-4 Dalton Perry tech. Kai Owen, 13-0 Gabe Arnold dec. Aaron Ayzerov, 12-4 Nic Bouzakis tech. Nico Nardone, 10-0 Shayne Van Ness tech. Josh Saunders, 15-4

CMU's Drew Hildebrandt is pre-seeded No. 1 at 125 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced today the pre-seeding for the upcoming 2021 MAC Wrestling Championships (Feb. 26 & 27), hosted by Rider University at Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton, N.J. Listed below is the pre-seeding for the MAC Wrestling Championships following today's conference call with all 14 MAC head wrestling coaches. The MAC will release the final 2021 MAC Wrestling Championships bracket later this week. For more information, including live streaming and live results, can be found on the 2021 MAC Wrestling Championship Central page. 125: 1. Drew Hildebrandt, Central Michigan, Senior 2. Connor Brown, Missouri, Junior 3. Jake Ferri, Kent State, Junior 4. Luke Werner, Lock Haven, Senior 5. Jonathon Tropea, Rider, Senior 6. Josh Jones, George Mason, Sophomore 7. Lucas Rodriguez, Edinboro, Junior 8. Tristan Daugherty, Buffalo, Freshman 133: 1. Matthew Schmitt, Missouri, Junior 2. Brendon Fenton, Kent State, Sophomore 3. Drew Marten, Central Michigan, Junior 4. Tye Varndell, Edinboro, Sophomore 5. Mario Guillen, Ohio, Senior 6. Bryce West, Northern Illinois, Junior 7. Justin Patrick, Cleveland State, Senior 8. Aaron Schulist, SIUE, Sophomore 141: 1. Allan Hart, Missouri, Junior 2. Dresden Simon, Central Michigan, Senior 3. Saul Ervin, SIUE, Sophomore 4. Derek Spann, Buffalo, Senior 5. McKenzie Bell, Rider, Freshman 6. Caleb Brooks, Northern Illinois, Sophomore 7. Kyle Schickel, Clarion, Freshman 8. Josh Mason Bloomsburg, Sophomore 149: 1. Brock Mauller, Missouri, Junior 2. Anthony Cheloni, Northern Illinois, Junior 3. Tyler Vath, Edinboro, Senior 4. Kody Komara, Kent State, Junior 5. Ben Freeman, Buffalo, Junior 6. Marcus Robinson, Cleveland State, Sophomore 7. Corbyn Munson, Central Michigan, Sophomore 8. Seth Koleno, Clarion, Junior 157: 1. Jesse Dellavecchia, Rider, Senior 2. Jarrett Jacques, Missouri, Junior 3. Justin Ruffin, SIUE, Junior 4. Alex Carida, Bloomsburg, Junior 5. Jordan Slivka, Ohio, Freshman 6. Johnny Lovett, Central Michigan, Freshman 7. Anthony Gibson, Northern Illinois, Sophomore 8. Michael Petite, Buffalo, Sophomore 165: 1. Keegan O'Toole, Missouri, Freshman 2. Izzak Olejnik, Northern Illinois, Sophomore 3. Colt Yinger, Ohio, Sophomore 4. Jake Silverstein, Rider, Sophomore 5. Alex Cramer , Central Michigan, Sophomore 6. Riley Smucker, Cleveland State, Sophomore 7. Kolby Ho, Clarion, Junior 8. Cornelius Schuster, George Mason, Junior 174: 1. Andrew McNally, Kent State, Senior 2. Peyton Mocco, Missouri, Sophomore 3. Mason Kauffman, Northern Illinois, Junior 4. Angel Garcia, Rider, Freshman 5. Paul Pierce, George Mason, Junior 6. Jacob Oliver, Edinboro, Junior 7. Anthony Rice, Cleveland State, Freshman 8. Austin Bell, Lock Haven, Senior 184: 1. Brit Wilson , Northern Illinois, Junior 2. Jeremiah Kent, Missouri, Sophomore 3. George Walton, Rider, Junior 4. Deandre Nassar, Cleveland State, Sophomore 5. Max Wohlabaugh, Clarion, Senior 6. Kyle Davis, George Mason, Junior 7. Tyler Bates, Kent State, Sophomore 8. Ryan Yarnell, SIUE, Junior 197: 1. Greg Bulsak, Clarion, Senior 2. Rocky Elam, Missouri, Freshman 3. Colin McCracken, Kent State, Junior 4. Ben Smith, Cleveland State, Junior 5. Landon Pelham, Central Michigan, Senior 6. Austin Stith, George Mason, Sophomore 7. Cody Mulligan, Edinboro, Sophomore 8. Gage Braun, Northern Illinois, Sophomore 285: 1. Matt Stencel, Central Michigan, Senior 2. Ethan Laird, Rider, Senior 3. Zach Elam, Missouri, Sophomore 4. Sam Schuyler, Buffalo, Junior 5. Jon Spaulding, Edinboro, Senior 6. Colton McKiernan, SIUE, Junior 7. Max Ihry, Northern Illinois, Senior 8. Tyler Bagoly, Clarion, Junior

NC State's Hayden Hidlay is seeded No. 1 at 157 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced pre-seeds and brackets for the 2021 ACC Wrestling Championship, which will be held this Sunday (Feb. 28) at NC State's Reynolds Coliseum. Link: Brackets The host and two-time defending champions Wolfpack leads with four wrestlers seeded No. 1 in their respective weight class brackets. Pitt follows with three No. 1 seeds, while regular-season dual champion Virginia Tech earned two and North Carolina one. Seeds were determined by a vote of the league's six head coaches. Each weight class champion and runner-up at the 2021 ACC Championship will earn All-ACC recognition. In addition to ACC honors, student-athletes will be vying for berths and seeding in the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which will be held March 18-20 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The ACC has been awarded 33 automatic berths and is hopeful of earning several more at-large selections. The ACC placed five teams among the top 20 of last week's NWCA national rankings, including Virginia Tech at No. 3 and NC State at No. 7. Thirty-two Atlantic Coast Conference student-athletes are listed among the top 20 of their individual weight classes in the most recent InterMat national rankings, including 17 among the top 10 and seven among the top five. North Carolina junior Austin O'Connor still holds the nation's No. 1 ranking at 149 pound, and Virginia Tech junior Hunter Bolen took over the top spot this week at 184. NC State senior Hayden Hidlay (157 pounds) continues to hold steady at No. 2 in his weight class. Hidlay, unbeaten for his career against ACC opposition, is again the ACC Championship's No. 1 seed at 157 pounds. In addition to Hidlay, O'Connor and Bolen, returning ACC champions from 2021 expected to compete on Sunday include 125-pound Jakob Camacho of NC State (2020 ACC Championship Most Outstanding Wrestler), two-time champion 133-pound Micky Phillippi of Pitt (2019 ACC Championship Most Outstanding Wrestler), UNC's Zach Sherman (141), Pitt's Jake Wentzel (165), UNC's Clay Lautt (174) and Virginia's Jay Aiello (197). Due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no public sale of tickets for this year's event. However, ACC Network and ACC Network Extra plan nearly 10 hours of live coverage from 11 a.m. through 9 p.m. ACC Network Extra will stream the early and consolations rounds from both Mat 1 and Mat 2, with the 7 p.m. finals set for live linear broadcast on ACC Network. Watch links for all rounds will be posted at theACC.com when they become available. First-round action kicks off the event at 11 a.m. Semifinals are set for 1 p.m., followed by the consolation semifinals at 3:30 p.m. and the consolation finals at 5 p.m. Championship matches begin at 7 p.m., followed by the awards presentation. Pre-seeds for the 2021 ACC Wrestling Championship are listed below. Entries are subject to change until noon on Saturday. 125: 1. Sam Latona, Virginia Tech 2. Jakob Camacho, NC State 3. Colton Camacho, Pitt 4. Patrick McCormick, Virginia 5. Will Guida, North Carolina 6. Login Agin, Duke 133: 1. Micky Phillippi, Pitt 2. Korbin Myers, Virginia Tech 3. Joe Heilmann, North Carolina 4. Louie Hayes, Virginia 5. Jarrett Trombley, NC State 6. Drake Doolittle, Duke 141: 1. Tariq Wilson, NC State 2. Zach Sherman, North Carolina 3. Brian Courtney, Virginia 4. Cole Matthews, Pitt 5. Sam Hillegas, Virginia Tech 6. Patrick Rowland, Duke 149: 1. Austin O'Connor, North Carolina 2. Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech 3. Ed Scott, NC State 4. Josh Finesilver, Duke 5. Denton Spencer, Virginia 6. Mick Burnett, Pitt 157: 1. Hayden Hidlay, NC State 2. Justin McCoy, Virginia 3. Connor Brady, Virginia Tech 4. Josh McClure, North Carolina 5. Brandon LaRue, Duke 6. Tyler Badgett, Pitt 165: 1. Jake Wentzel, Pitt 2. Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech 3. Jake Keating, Virginia 4. Kennedy Monday, North Carolina 5. Thomas Bullard, NC State 6. Eric Carter, Duke 174: 1. Daniel Bullard, NC State 2. Clay Lautt, North Carolina 3. Victor Marcelli, Virginia 4. Dakota Howard, Virginia Tech 5. Jared McGill, Pitt 6. Conor Becker, Duke 184: 1. Hunter Bolen, Virginia Tech 2. Trent Hidlay, NC State 3. Devin Kane, North Carolina 4. Michael Battista, Virginia 5. Gregg Harvey, Pitt 6. Vincent Baker, Duke 197: 1. Nino Bonaccorsi, Pitt 2. Jay Aiello, Virginia 3. Max Shaw, North Carolina 4. Nick Reenan, NC State 5. Stan Smeltzer, Virginia Tech 6. Kaden Russell, Duke 285: 1. Deonte Wilson, NC State 2. Quinn Miller, Virginia 3. John Borst, Virginia Tech 4. Andrew Gunning, North Carolina 5. Austin Cooley, Pitt 6. Jonah Niesenbaum, Duke

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Under current state guidance, spectators will not be permitted to attend the 2021 Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Penn State set for Saturday and Sunday, March 6-7. The Big Ten Network recently announced an increase of its linear coverage of the event, giving fans around the country the chance to see the nation's best wrestlers throughout the weekend. The network will air whip-around coverage of all four mats during session one on Saturday and air Saturday night's Big Ten semifinals. All four individual mats for both Saturday sessions will have mat cams available on the Big Ten Network+. Sunday afternoon's Big Ten Championship finals will also air live on the Big Ten Network. Big Ten Network+ will feature the consolation action occurring before the finals, as well as placing bouts during the title tilts.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The 17th-ranked Purdue wrestling team put together a historic victory in Holloway Gymnasium, dominating Indiana 38-3 as they won nine of the 10 matches in the dual. The win is the 11th straight for the Boilermakers in the series, marking the longest streak for either side since 1928, and is the largest margin of victory between the two sides since 1920. The Boilermakers won six of the 10 bouts with bonus points, including a pair of falls, and score the programs' highest Big Ten dual point total since a 41-point effort at Wisconsin in 2012. Senior Griffin Parriott and freshman Gerrit Nijenhuis came up with Purdue's two falls on the night, putting up six team points at 149 and 165 pounds, respectively. Senior Devin Schroder got the dual started with a 9-1 major decision over Indiana's Jacob Moran at 125 pounds. Schroder scored a takedown in all three periods and added a reversal in the third to notch his fourth bonus-point win of the season. Freshman Jacob Rundell added his second straight Big Ten dual win at 133 pounds, scoring nine points in the first period on his way to an 11-5 decision over Kyle Luigs. Rundell went big at the end of the first, taking the Hoosier to his back and nearly sticking him, but settling for six points. He added another takedown in the third, improving to 3-4 on the season. The momentum continued at 141 pounds as junior Parker Filius put together a 12-2 major decision over Cayden Rooks. After leading just 2-1 after the first period Filius got things going in the second, posting seven points on an escape, a takedown and four nearfall points and stretching his lead out. The bonus-point win is the second straight for Filius as he improved to 3-5 on the year. Parriott nearly took the roof off Holloway, avenging a 2020 loss to No. 15 Graham Rooks with a 24-second fall. Parriott hit a cement mixer in the first 10 seconds and then settled in for the fall, his first of the year and seventh of his career. Sophomore Kendall Coleman finished his dual schedule at 8-1 on the year, rolling out six takedowns on his way to a 14-5 major decision over Jonathan Kervin. Nijenhuis followed up with a signature win for his rookie year, taking out No. 20 Nick South with a second-period fall. After neither wrestler scored in the first, the Purdue freshman chose bottom in the second and used his team-best sixth reversal of the year and put South on his back for his second fall of the season. IU's lone win of the night came at 174 pounds as No. 6 Donnell Washington edged Emil Soehnlen 5-1. After giving up an early takedown Soehnlen battled back, pushing the tempo, nearly getting a turn in the second and trying to run down Washington down the stretch. Washington got another takedown at the buzzer as Soehnlen kept trying to score until the end. Senior Max Lyon put together a dominant 17-2 technical fall over Santos Cantu at 184 pounds, using all seven minutes to put together his 33rd bonus-point win of his career. Sophomore Thomas Penola added a 4-2 decision at 197 and junior Jared Florell put the cap on the evening with a 6-2 decision at heavyweight, his first win of the season and first at 285 pounds. The Boilermakers finish the dual season at 4-5 in the Big Ten, while Indiana fell to 2-6 on the year. Both sides head into the post season on March 6, heading to Penn State for the 2021 Big Ten Championships. The Big Ten Network will air the championships in their entirety for the first time in history. Results: 125: No. 12 Devin Schroder (PUR) def. Jacob Moran (IU), MD 9-1 133: Jacob Rundell (PUR) def. Kyle Luigs (IU), D 11-5 141: No. 27 Parker Filius (PUR) def. Cayden Rooks (IU), MD 12-2 149: No. 11 Griffin Parriott (PUR) def. No. 15 Graham Rooks (IU), Fall 0:24 157: No. 7 Kendall Coleman (PUR) def. Jonathan Kervin (IU), MD 14-5 165: Gerrit Nijenhuis (PUR) def. No. 20 Nick South (IU), Fall 3:52 174: No. 6 Donnell Washington (IU) def. Emil Soehnlen (PUR), D 5-1 184: No. 13 Max Lyon (PUR) def. Santos Cantu III (IU), TF 17-2 (7:00) 197: No. 22 Thomas Penola (PUR) def. Nick Willham (IU), D 4-2 285: Jared Florell (PUR) def. Rudy Streck (IU), D 6-2 Extra Matches: 285: Jairus Perry (PUR) def. Andrew Irick (IU), SV 3-1 141: Asa Garcia (IU) def. Michael Leveille (PUR), MD 14-0 149: Luke Baughman (IU) def. Trey Kruse (PUR), D, 15-9 165: Hayden Lohrey (PUR) def. Sammy Cokeley (IU), D 4-3 174: Robert Deters (IU) def. Tanner Webster (PUR), D 5-2 285: Jamarcus Grant (PUR) def. Andrew Irick (IU), D 10-4

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State Nittany Lions (6-0, 6-0 B1G), ranked No. 3 in the latest InterMat Tournament Power Index, shut out visiting Maryland (0-8, 0-8 B1G) in the team's lone home dual of the season. Penn State won all ten bouts to roll to a 44-0 victory and finished the regular season with a 6-0 dual meet record, all in the Big Ten. All team and individual rankings listed are InterMat (2/16/21). Penn State won eight of the ten bouts for bonus points. The young Nittany Lions featured a line-up that included six freshmen and a sophomore, seven underclassmen. The dual began at 285. Freshman Greg Kerkvliet (Grove Heights, Minn.) made his season and Penn State debut at 285 and made short work of his Terrapin opponent. Kerkvliet picked up two takedowns on Garrett Kappes in the first :30 to lead 4-1 early. He then locked up a cradle and ended his Lion debut early with a fall at the 1:12 mark. True freshman Robert Howard (Cranford, N.J.) made his Rec Hall debut at 125 and followed suit. Howard opened up a big early lead and then pinned Maryland's Zach Spence in the second period, getting the fall at the 3:38 mark. Junior Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.), ranked No. 3 at 133, kept Penn State rolling by majoring Jackson Cockrell 24-13. Bravo-Young tallied 10 takedowns in the bout and gave Penn State a 16-0 lead. Senior Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), ranked No. 2 at 141, made it four straight bonus wins for the Lions with a strong 14-2 major decision over Maryland's Danny Bertoni. Lee built up 4:18 in riding time in the win. True freshman Beau Bartlett (Tempe, Ariz.) made his Rec Hall dual debut up at 149 and rolled to a 9-3 win for Penn State's fifth straight win out of the gates. The Nittany Lions led 23-0 at halftime. Being Senior Night, senior Luke Gardner (Pottsville, Pa.) took to the mat at 157 and junior Brady Berge (Mantorville, Minn.), ranked No. 8 at 157, got the night off. Gardner used a takedown and four back points in the third period to post an 8-2 victory. Freshman Joe Lee (Evansville, Ind.), ranked No. 14 at 165, dominated the action as well, building up a big lead over Jonathan Spadafora before pinning him at the 5:56 mark in the third period. Freshman Carter Starocci (Erie, Pa.), ranked No. 5 at 174, continued his sizzling wrestling, rolling to a 15-6 major with 2:22 in riding time. Starocci's win put Penn State up 36-0. Sophomore Aaron Brooks (Hagerstown, Md.), ranked No. 2 at 184, remained unbeaten on the year as well. Brooks dominated Phillip Spadafora in a 17-5 major decision with 1:57 in riding time. Freshman Michael Beard (Pottstown, Pa.), ranked No. 16 at 197, finished off the perfect night with a strong 13-3 major decision over Maryland's Jaron Smith. Beard's win closed out Penn State's 44-0 shutout victory. The Nittany Lions gave up only two takedowns in the dual, posting a 47-2 margin over Maryland. The Lions gave up only five during their two final duals (Ohio State only had three on Friday). Penn State's last shutout victory was the season opener last year, a 45-0 win over Navy on Nov. 10, 2019, here in Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions posted their fifth unbeaten dual meet season under Cael Sanderson. Four extra matches were conducted during the dual meet on a separate mat. This year, with condensed schedules, these extra matches, while not counting towards dual meet scores, are official varsity bouts and count towards NCAA competition minimums. Starters Bartlett and Kerkvliet each got extra matches. Bartlett began the extra bouts by posting a 15-7 major over Lucas Cordio at 149. Senior Bo Pipher (Paonia, Colo.) followed that up by pinning Garrett Fisk at the 3:35 mark. Freshman Donovon Ball (New Cumberland, Pa.) used a last second takedown in extra time to post a 7-5 (sv) win over Kevin Makosy at 197. Kerkvliet closed out extra bouts and the night with a second first period cradle, this time pinning Brian Bowes at the 1:18 mark. Penn State finishes its dual meet schedule with a perfect 6-0 mark, 6-0 in the Big Ten. Maryland falls to 0-8, 0-8 B1G. The Nittany Lions will host the 2021 Big Ten Wrestling Championship on Saturday and Sunday, March 6-7, in the Bryce Jordan Center. While no public tickets will be made available for the event due to virus mitigation restrictions, the Big Ten Network will air action on Saturday, Saturday night's semifinals and Sunday's finals live nationally and the Big Ten Network+ will live stream every mat. Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here. Results: 285: Greg Kerkvliet PSU pinned Garrett Kappes MD, WBF (1:12) 6-0 125: Robert Howard PSU pinned Zach Spence MD, WBF (3:38) 12-0 133: #3 Roman Bravo-Young PSU maj. dec. Jackson Cockrell MD, 24-13 16-0 141: #2 Nick Lee PSU maj. dec. Danny Bertoni MD, 14-2 20-0 149: Beau Bartlett PSU dec. Hunter Baxter MD, 9-3 23-0 157: Luke Gardner PSU dec. Michael Doetsch MD, 8-2 26-0 165: #14 Joe Lee PSU pinned Jonathan Spadafora MD, WBF (5:56) 32-0 174: #5 Carter Starocci PSU maj. dec. Phillip Spadafora MD, 15-6 36-0 184: #2 Aaron Brooks PSU maj. dec. Kyle Cochran MD, 17-5 40-0 197: #16 Michael Beard PSU maj. dec. Jaron Smith MD, 13-3 44-0 Records: Penn State (6-0, 6-0 B1G); Maryland (0-8, 0-8 B1G) Up Next for Penn State: hosts Big Ten Championships, March 6-7, 2021 Extra Matches: 149: Beau Bartlett PSU maj. dec. Lucas Cordio MD, 15-7 157: Bo Pipher PSU pinned Garrett Fisk MD, WBF (3:35) 197: Donovon Ball PSU dec. Kevin Makosy MD, 7-5 (sv) 285: Greg Kerkvliet PSU pinned Brian Bowes MD, WBF (1:18) BOUT-BY-BOUT: 285: Greg Kerkvliet (Grove Heights, Minn.) made his season and Penn State dual debut at 285. The Minnesota-native took on Garrett Kappes. Kerkvliet worked the center circle, scored two takedowns in the opening :25 and led 4-2 just :30 into the match. The Lion freshman added a third takedown, then worked his way into control of the Terrapin and locked up a cradle. He finished off the pin at the 1:12 mark for a fast fall in his Lion debut. 125: True freshman Robert Howard (Cranford, N.J.) took on Maryland's Zach Spence. Howard worked the middle of the mat and picked up his first pin just over a minute into the bout. He then turned Spence for four back points and added four near fall points to lead 6-0 with 1:22 on the clock. Howard reset, turned Maryland wrestler for four more points and led 10-0 at the 1:00 mark. Howard cut Spence loose with :35 on the clock and quickly took the Terrapin down for another takedown and a 12-1 lead after the opening period. Spence chose down to start the second period and Howard went to work on offense. The Terrapin ad 133: Junior Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.), ranked No. 3 at 133, faced off against Jackson Cockrell. The Lion junior locked Cockrell up high on the whistle and took him down for a takedown just :15 into the bout. He cut Cockrell loose and took him down again to lead 4-2. Cockrell notched Maryland's first takedown to tie the bout at 4-4 with 1:54 on the clock. Bravo-Young quickly escaped to a 5-4 lead, fought off a Cockrell shot and countered for another takedown and a 7-4 lead. The Lion All-American added three more takedowns in the final :45 of the period to lead 13-8 after one period. Bravo-Young chose down to start the second period and quickly escaped to a 14-8 lead. He tacked on two more takedowns in the next :20 to lead 18-9 with 1:10 on the clock. Bravo-Young led 19-10 after two periods thanks to a penalty point on cautions. Cockrell chose down to start the third period and Bravo-Young clinched the riding time point with a strong ride. Cockrell escaped to a 19-11 score but Bravo-Young used two more takedowns to roll to the 24-13 major with 2:55 in riding time. 141: Senior Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), ranked No. 2 at 141, met Danny Bertoni. Lee scored quickly, taking Bertoni down for a 2-0 lead right out of the gates. He built up over 1:00 in riding time while trying to turn the Terrapin for back points. Lee picked up a four-point turn with 1:22 on the clock to up his lead to 6-0. The Lion All-American worked to pull Bertoni into the center circle but the Terrapin worked the outside well enough to keep from giving up another turn. Lee led 6-0 with 2:26 in time after one period. Lee chose down to start the second period and quickly escaped to a 7-0 lead. He worked to fight off a solid Bertoni shot with 1:30 on the clock and returned to his feet to go on attack. Lee scrambled his way for another takedown with :42 left in the period to up his lead to 9-0. Trailing 9-0, Bertoni chose down to start the third period. Lee cut him loose and took an 11-1 lead with another takedown. Lee countered a Bertoni shot for takedown and a 13-2 lead. He finished the period on top and posted the 14-2 major with 4:18 in riding time. 149: True freshman Beau Bartlett, making his Penn State dual debut up at 149, battled Hunter Baxter. Bartlett fought off a slight Baxter shot in the opening seconds then went to work on offense. The Lion freshman worked the middle of the mat for the next minute, looking for a scoring opportunity. The Lion's pressure paid off with a first takedown with 1:00 on the clock. Bartlett cut Baxter loose and used a high double for a quick second takedown to lead 4-1 in the opening period's minute. Leading 4-1, Bartlett chose neutral to start the second period. Bartlett used a fast low single to take Baxter down in the middle of the mat with 1:10 on the clock. He allowed an escape and went back to work in neutral. Bartlett forced Baxter into a stall warning as the period ended and led 6-2 with 1:00 in time after two periods. Trailing 6-2, Baxter chose top to start the third period. Bartlett deftly rolled through Baxter's offense and reversed him to move out to an 8-2 lead. He spent the next minute plus trying to turn Baxter then cut him to an 8-3 score with :25 left. Bartlett scrambled for a late takedown to get bonus points but Baxter fought him off and Bartlett posted the 9-3 win with 2:23 in time. 157: Being senior night, senior Luke Gardner (Pottsville, Pa.) got the call at 157 and junior Brady Berge (Mantorville, Minn.), ranked No. 8 at 157, got the evening off. Gardner took on Maryland's Michael Doetsch. Gardner worked the middle of the mat for the opening minute, forcing Doetsch's head to the mat while trying to scramble around for a takedown. Doetsch was able to force a stalemate for a reset with 1:40 on the clock. Gardner took a low shot that Doetsch countered, forcing a scramble as the clock moved to :40. The Lion senior finished off the takedown for two points and a 2-1 lead after the opening period. Gardner chose down to start the second period but Doetsch was able to control the Lion for the entire period. Trailing by one but with nearly 2:00 riding time, Doetsch chose down to start the third period and escaped to a 2-2 tie. Gardner took a high shot, locked up a cradle and, after securing the takedown, rolled Doetsch for four back points. He finished with the cradle locked and posted an 8-2 win. 165: Freshman Joe Lee (Evansville, Ind.), ranked No. 14 at 165, met Jonathan Spadafora. Lee scored quickly, taking a 2-0 lead off the opening whistle. He built up :26 in riding time before cutting Spadafora loose to a 2-1 score. He countered a slight Maryland shot for a second takedown and a 4-1 lead. Lee dominated the action from the top position, building up over 1:00 in time before turning Spadafora for four back points and an 8-1 lead. He added another two-point turn to move out to a 10-1 margin before Spadafora scrambled for an escape. Lee finished off the period with another takedown and led 12-2 with over 2:00 in riding time after the opening period. Spadafora chose down to start the second period and Lee clinched his riding time point before Spadafora escaped to a 12-3 score. Lee got in on a high single, gained control of Spadafora's other leg and rolled through for a takedown and a 14-3 margin with :40 on the clock. Lee finished the period on top and carried that lead with nearly 4:00 in time into the third stanza. Lee chose neutral to start the third period. Lee countered a Spadafora shot, rolled around the Terrapin, and took a 16-3 lead with 1:15 left. He faked a cut, quickly locked up a cradle and turned Spadafora for a fall at the 5:56 mark. 174: Freshman Carter Starocci (Erie, Pa.), ranked No. 5 at 174, faced off against Phillip Spadafora. Starocci fell behind early, with Spadafora notching the bout's first takedown at the 2:35 mark. The Lion freshman quickly escaped to a 2-1 score, then turned in on a low double and rolled through for a takedown and a 3-2 lead with 1:45 on the clock. Starocci controlled the action on offense for the next :30 before cutting Spadafora loose to a 3-3 score. The Lion freshman used a strong high double to open up a 5-3 lead at the :55 mark and worked his riding time edge up to near one minute. Starocci finished the period on top to lead 5-3 with 1:18 in time. Spadafora chose down to start the second period. Starocci broke the Terrapin down for :30 before Spadafora escaped to a 5-4 score. Starocci took a 7-4 lead off another high shot, allowed the escape, and moved in on attack again. Spadafora was able to move out of bounds to keep the bout close but picked up a stall warning in the process. Starocci finished the period off with a takedown on the edge of the mat and led 9-5 with over 2:00 in time after two periods. Starocci chose down to start the third period and escaped to a 10-5 lead with 1:36 left to wrestle. Spadafora took a high shot that Starocci quickly countered for another takedown and a 12-5 lead. He finished off the bout with another takedown with :30 left and finished on top. Starocci's ended the bout with 2:22 in riding time and rolled to the 15-6 major. 184: Sophomore Aaron Brooks (Hagerstown, Md.), ranked No. 2 at 184, met Kyle Cochran. Brooks took a 2-0 lead with a takedown early in the opening period and then added a second midway through the first to lead 4-1 with 1:12 on the clock. Cochran escaped to a 4-2 score as the clock moved to the final minute and Brooks went to work in neutral. The Lion All-American forced a stall warning, connected on a single leg and picked up a third takedown with :20 left to lead 6-2 with :48 in riding time after one. Cochran chose down to start the second period and escaped to a 6-3 score. Brooks continued to set a fast tempo, working the middle of the mat and forcing Cochran backwards. He moved out to an 8-3 lead with a strong high shot through Cochran's waist with 1:00 left in the period. Brooks picked up another takedown and a stall point to lead 9-4 with :28 left in the middle stanza. Brooks ended the period with another takedown and led 11-4 with 1:33 in time after two. Brooks chose neutral to start the third period. He upped his lead to 13-4 with a scrambling takedown. Brooks picked up another stall point and finished with at takedown to post a 17-5 major with 1:58 in riding time. 197: Freshman Michael Beard (Pottstown, Pa.), ranked No. 16 at 197, took on Jaron Smith. Beard scored quickly, connecting on a fast shot off the whistle and working Smith to the mat for a takedown and a 2-0 lead. Smith scrambled his way to a reversal and a 2-2 tie with 2:30 left. Beard scrambled his way to an escaped and 3-2 lead with 1:40 left in the period and action resumed in neutral. Beard shot low off the reset and forced a scramble in the middle of the mat. He steadily worked his way into control and led 5-2 with :50 left in the opening period. The Lion finished the period on top and led 5-2 after the opening period. Beard chose down to start the second stanza and quickly escaped to a 6-2 lead. The freshman countered a Smith shot and rolled his way around the Terrapin for another takedown and an 8-2 lead with 1:10 left on the clock. Beard put together a strong ride, working offensive control as the clock moved below the :30 mark. He finished the period in control and led 8-2 with 1:11 in riding time after two periods. Smith chose neutral to start the third period. Beard upped his lead to 10-2 with a takedown at the 1:10 mark, cut Smith loose and went back to work on offense. He took a low shot that forced a scramble and a stalemate with :25 left. Beard ended the period with a final takedown and posted the strong 13-3 major with 1:42 in riding time.

Some of America's biggest stars will be competing at the NLWC event (Photos/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The Nittany Lion Wrestling Club returns with another show on Rokfin. Tuesday's show features some of the club's top members as they prepare for the upcoming Olympic Team Trials. To that end, multiple wrestlers will take multiple matches on the card. The following is a match-by-match preview of the event's main card. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. ET with junior matches, and the senior matches start at 7:30 p.m. ET. Vincenzo Joseph vs. Jevon Balfour This is Joseph's first year focusing only on freestyle after finishing his college career at Penn State in 2020 as a four-time All-American and two-time champion. During that season, he went 15-1 and entered the Big Ten tournament undefeated. He lost in the finals to rival Alex Marinelli of Iowa. Both were expected to make the finals of the NCAA tournament that never materialized. Joseph has competed sparingly in freestyle. He defeated fellow Penn State alumnus Dan Vallimont at NLWC 1 back in September. In his last action, Joseph dropped a match against former collegiate rival David McFadden at PRTC Summit 1. Balfour wrestles internationally for Canada. He won a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games at 74 kilograms. He has also picked up medals at the Grand Prix of Spain, Canada Cup and Commonwealth Games. Back in December, Balfour joined the Spartan RTC for the RTC Cup and went 0-4 against Hayden Hidlay, Carson Kharchla and Mekhi Lewis (twice). Joseph will need to rebound here and get back on track. He had previously defeated McFadden on the collegiate mats, but in their match last month, McFadden dominated on the way to a match-termination victory. If Joseph is anywhere near peak form, he should be able to handle this match. However, it should be a good measure of his current status with the Olympic Team Trials quickly approaching. Prediction: Joseph VPO1 over Balfour David Taylor vs. Max Dean Taylor comes into this match with a lot of momentum. In his last outing, the 2018 world champion defeated multiple-time world champion Jordan Burroughs who moved up in weight for the fantasy match. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Taylor has won all of his matches as he also defeated Myles Martin and Max's brother Gabe. Dean is missing out on this collegiate wrestling season since the entire Ivy League is sitting out. However, he is doing his best to stay active on the freestyle circuit. He has already picked up wins over C.J. Brucki, Ryan Epps and Muhammed McBryde. For Cornell, Dean is already a two-time All-American, and he was an NCAA finalist in 2019. Taylor showed in his last match that he is one of the best wrestlers in the world. Dean has proven himself to be a tough out. However, he is up against it here. It may end up being a struggle to stay on the mat for the full six minutes. Prediction: Taylor VSU1 over Dean Vito Arujau vs. Zach Sanders Arujau is another Cornell wrestler who is keeping himself busy with freestyle. He has been extremely active as he entered both the RTC Cup and the America's Cup as well as wrestled in a variety of one-off shows. During the run, he has picked up victories over the likes of Sammy Alvarez, Darian Cruz, Nahshon Garret and Michael Colaiocco. Sanders has also had a busy schedule recently. He has taken his fair share of losses. However, he holds recent freestyle victories over Jack Mueller, Sean Russell and Frank Perrelli. Sanders wrestled collegiately for Minnesota where he was a four-time All-American. He finished third as a senior in 2012. Sanders is a veteran and a tough test for anyone. However, Arujau's ability to score with his leg attacks and make a difference from the top position makes him a clear favorite in this match. It might be close early, but Arujau will likely pull away if given the chance on top. Prediction: Arujau VSU1 over Sanders Vito Arujau vs. Sean Russell Arujau will also face Russell at the event. Russell started his collegiate career at Edinboro before transferring to Minnesota for his senior season. He exhausted his eligibility in 2019 and finished as a four-time NCAA qualifier and a one-time All-American. Russell and Arujau just wrestled earlier this month at the America's Cup. Russell was able to make it to the second period. However, Arujau won the match without surrendering a single point and took the 10-0 victory. Prediction: Arujau VSU1 over Russell Thomas Gilman vs. Zach Sanders Gilman dominated in his two previous NLWC appearances as he scored victories over Darian Cruz and Frank Perrelli. However, since he defeated Perrelli in November, Gilman dropped a match against Seth Gross and finished third at the Henri Deglane in France. Gilman wrestled collegiately at Iowa where he was a three-time All-American. Immediately following the end of his collegiate career, Gilman won a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships. Gilman should be the clear favorite in this match. Sanders is not afraid to engage, so this could turn out to be an exciting match. However, even if Gilman encounters trouble early, his pace and pressure should be enough to pull out the victory. Prediction: Gilman VSU1 over Sanders Thomas Gilman vs. Sean Russell Gilman and Russell previously wrestled during the 2017 college season. At the time, Gilman was a senior at Iowa, and Russell was a sophomore at Edinboro. The Iowa representative dominated throughout the contest and took a 10-2 major decision. A similar result will likely play out here as well. Prediction: Gilman VSU over Russell Zain Retherford vs. Evan Henderson Retherford started 2020 with a tough run at the Pan American Olympic Qualifier. He fell in the semifinals against Argentina's Agustin Destribats and failed to qualify 65 kilograms for the U.S. However, Retherford bounced back with a strong string of performances on NLWC shows. He picked up domestic victories over Alec Pantaleo and Reece Humphrey. In his last outing, Retherford picked up one of his biggest victories to date as he scored a shutout 6-0 victory over multiple-time world medalist Bajrang Punia. Back in October, Henderson finished second at the 2020 Senior Nationals with key victories over Jaydin Eierman and Ian Parker. He went on to defeat Anthony Echemendia and Anthony Artalona on one-off shows. In his last action, Henderson entered the America's Cup and picked up wins over Josh Saunders and Mitch McKee. The North Carolina alum exhausted his eligibility in 2016 with his best finish coming in 2014 where he finished fourth at 141 pounds. Henderson certainly has the experience and physical ability to make this a close match. Retherford likes to work from distance, and Henderson could slow him down by controlling the ties. However, Retherford has shown in his recent outings that he is adaptable and should be able to roll with whatever challenges Henderson presents. Prediction: Retherford VPO1 over Henderson Kyle Snyder vs. Nate Jackson Snyder, the three-time NCAA champion and five-time world medalist, relocated to the NLWC. He finished with a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships and is hoping to get back to the top of the podium in the upcoming Olympics. Snyder suffered an injury at the 2020 Senior Nationals back in October and defaulted to a sixth-place finish. He got back on track with a victory over Ty Walz at NLWC 4 and a championship at the Henri Deglane tournament. Jackson has been one of the most active wrestlers on the domestic freestyle circuit. In January alone, the former Indiana wrestler defeated Wynn Michalak on the undercard of Adeline vs. Tamyra. He then dropped a 6-1 match against world champion J'den Cox on the undercard of Burroughs vs. Taylor. In his last match, Jackson picked up a very impressive comeback win over Mark Hall on the debut PRTC show. If Snyder is still dealing with an injury, he might struggle against Jackson. He showed in his last outing that he can compete with some of the best domestic freestyle competitors. Snyder should have a size advantage, but if he is slowed by an injury he might struggle to keep up with Jackson. Prediction: Snyder VPO1 over Jackson Kyle Snyder vs. Scottie Boykin Boykin could really use a win here. He had a tough showing at the America's Cup. He lost all four of his matches at the event and only wrestled the full six minutes against former Oklahoma State wrestler Austin Schafer. Boykin wrestled collegiately at Chattanooga where he was a three-time NCAA qualifier. As a senior in 2018, he won the SoCon championship with a victory over Sawyer Root. Snyder should be able to take this one in dominant fashion. Boykin has been around the block, but he has not shown anything that would indicate he would be overly competitive with Snyder. Prediction: Snyder VSU over Boykin Bo Nickal vs. Gabe Dean This will be a rematch of the 2017 NCAA final at 184 pounds. At the time, Dean was an undefeated senior looking for his third straight NCAA title. Nickal was a sophomore coming off a runner-up finish as a freshman. In the end, Nickal pulled off the upset via a 4-3 score. The Penn State wrestler went on to win two more NCAA titles and finished his eligibility in 2019. Later the same year, he won the U23 World Championships. Recently, he has not been overly active on the freestyle circuit. In his last action, back in September, he took a close victory over Alex Dieringer. Dean took some time off after 2017, but he returned in 2020 and made an impact. He won the 2020 Senior Nationals with impressive victories over Taylor Lujan, Trent Hidlay and Nate Jackson. Last month, he scored a victory over Michael Macchiavello on the debut Spartan Combat show. If Nickal is in top form he should be the favorite here. Dean is very tough defensive and could keep it close. However, a few explosive moves from Nickal could result in enough points to hold on for the victory. Prediction: Nickal VPO1 over Dean Vincenzo Joseph vs. Kyle Dake Dake has been on quite a run since wrestling returned last summer. The run began with a one-point victory over Frank Chamizo. The two-time world champion then defeated David McFadden this past January. Dake then went to the Henri Deglane tournament where he scored three straight match termination victories including a fall over Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev in the finals. Dake matches are usually boom or bust affairs. He can either score quickly and earn dominant victories or pull out close wins. This one seems to be falling into the one-sided type of match. Prediction: Dake VSU1 over Joseph Jason Nolf vs. Kyle Dake Since last summer, Nolf has gone 3-0 on one-off shows. He defeated Jordan Oliver via a 4-1 score at the Rumble on the Rooftop event in June. Nolf then defeated David McFadden on the debut NLWC show. In his last action, he scored a 10-0 victory over former collegiate wrestler and current MMA fighter Bubba Jenkins. During his collegiate days at Penn State, Nolf was a four-time NCAA finalist and a three-time champion. This should be an interesting match. Dake does not normally have trouble against domestic competition outside of Jordan Burroughs. Nolf has not lost since falling against collegiate rival Isaiah Martinez in the finals of the 2019 Bill Farrell Memorial. Dake remains the favorite, but Nolf is very hard to score on and is adapting his scrambling to freestyle. Expect Dake to pull this one out, but do not be surprised if Nolf makes it closer than expected. Prediction: Dake VPO1 over Nolf

Binghamton's Lou DePrez is pre-seeded No. 1 at 184 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) The preliminary seeds for the 2021 EIWA Championships at Spooky Nook Sports Complex, selected by coaches' vote earlier today, are shown below. Replacement wrestlers are permitted until weigh-ins; the coaches will confer again the night before the tournament and will consider covid-related replacements for seeding until that time. The seeds will remain preliminary until locked in at weigh-ins on Friday morning. 125: 1 Jaret Lane Lehigh 2 Logan Treaster Navy 3 Gage Curry American 4 Dylan Ryder Hofstra 5 Micah Roes Binghamton 6 Brandon Seidman Bucknell 7 Bryce Cockrell LIU 8 Ryan Chauvin Army West Point 9 Kyle Waterman Drexel 10 Cole Meyer Sacred Heart 133: 1 Malyke Hines Lehigh 2 Darren Miller Bucknell 3 Anthony Sobotker Binghamton 4 Chandler Olson Drexel 5 Garrett Lambert Hofstra 6 Mark Montgomery Army West Point 7 Jacob Allen Navy 8 Devin Matthews LIU 9 Kyle Randall Sacred Heart 141: 1 Cody Trybus Navy 2 Zack Trampe Binghamton 3 Lane Peters Army West Point 4 Tyler Williams Drexel 5 Vinny Vespa Hofstra 6 Connor McGonagle Lehigh 7 Drew Witham LIU 8 Kurt Phipps Bucknell 9 Jordan Carlucci Sacred Heart 10 Patrick Ryan American 149: 1 P.J. Ogunsanya Army West Point 2 Casey Cobb Navy 3 Kizhan Clarke American 4 Jimmy Hoffman Lehigh 5 Luke Nichter Drexel 6 Greg Gaxiola Hofstra 7 Matthew Kolonia Bucknell 8 Michael Zarif Binghamton 9 Chris Gomez LIU 10 Seth Brown Sacred Heart 157: 1 Holden Heller Hofstra 2 Markus Hartman Army West Point 3 Parker Kropman Drexel 4 Andrew Cerniglia Navy 5 Nick Delp Bucknell 6 Luca Frinzi Lehigh 7 Nick Palumbo Sacred Heart 8 Rhise Royster LIU 9 Matt Swanson Binghamton 165: 1 Zach Hartman Bucknell 2 Tanner Skidgel Navy 3 Ricky Stamm Hofstra 4 Brevin Cassella Binghamton 5 Evan Barczak Drexel 6 Brian Meyer Lehigh 7 Will Schmidt Sacred Heart 8 Clayton Fielden Army West Point 9 Ryan Ferro LIU 174: 1 Michael O'Malley Drexel 2 Ross McFarland Hofstra 3 Ben Pasiuk Army West Point 4 Jacob Nolan Binghamton 5 Jake Logan Lehigh 6 Vincent Andreano Bucknell 7 Tim Fitzpatrick American 8 Dean Caravela Navy 9 Thomas DiGennaro LIU 10 Pat O'Donnell Sacred Heart 184: 1 Lou DePrez Binghamton 2 David Key Navy 3 Taylor Brown Army West Point 4 Charles Small Hofstra 5 Joe Accousti Sacred Heart 6 Josh Stillings Drexel 7 James Langan LIU 8 Frank Guida Bucknell 9 Dylan Ammerman Lehigh 197: 1 John Jakobsen Lehigh 2 JT Brown Army West Point 3 Jacob Koser Navy 4 Bryan McLaughlin Drexel 5 Trey Rogers Hofstra 6 Robert Hetherman Sacred Heart 7 Mason McCready Bucknell 8 Sam DePrez Binghamton 9 TJ Frandan LIU 285 1 Jordan Wood Lehigh 2 John Birchmeier Navy 3 Robert Heald Army West Point 4 Zachary Knighton-Ward Hofstra 5 Joe Doyle Binghamton 6 Dorian Crosby Bucknell 7 Tim Nagosky LIU 8 Sean O'Malley Drexel 9 Mark Blokh Sacred Heart Action begins on Friday, Feb. 26 at 10 a.m. ET with the pigtail, quarterfinal, and pigtail consolation rounds. Semifinal, consolation quarterfinal, and consolation semifinal action will begin at 2:00 pm. The placement round, followed by awards and presentations, begins at 5:30 pm. Fans can watch the tournament on FloWrestling. Live bout results will be shown on Flosports Arena. Information about seeding, results, and awards will be posted on the EIWA website.

Freshman Beau Bartlett started for Penn State at 149 pounds on Friday (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) The final weekend of the 2021 regular season is behind us. Even though we saw a slew of Big Ten matchups canceled due to a COVID-19-related issues yet again, the last weekend of the regular season did not fall short on noteworthy storylines. Here are five things that caught my eye from this past weekend (Feb. 19-21) in college wrestling. Penn State seems to still be playing musical chairs at 149 pounds When Penn State took on Big Ten rival Michigan on Feb. 14 in Ann Arbor, redshirt freshman Terrell Barraclough got the nod at a 149 pounds. This was a tough match against a top-10 opponent in Kanen Storr. At the time of the bout, the dual was still in reach for both teams. Barraclough battled back from an early deficit but lost a tough 4-3 decision to the ranked Wolverine. To me, this signaled that Barraclough would be the starter moving forward. After watching the dual against Ohio State this weekend, it would appear that the 149-pound weight class is still up in the air in State College. Against Ohio State, it was true freshman Beau Bartlett who had the rather unenviable task of making his varsity collegiate debut on the road against No. 2 Sammy Sasso. Bartlett proved he was up for the challenge. The Tempe, Arizona native took an early lead with the bout's first takedown. But Sasso battled back and took a 4-2 lead into the third. The Buckeye then rode Bartlett nearly the entire third period to claim the riding time point and took a 5-3 decision. Sasso remained perfect on the season at 9-0. As I have said all season, it will be interesting to see who Sanderson decides to start in the postseason with all-important team points up for grabs. In limited action, both Barraclough and Bartlett have showed promise despite their inexperience. Similarly, both were four-time state champions in high school. I'm inclined to think Bartlett will be the starter at the Big Ten Championships, but only time will tell. California Baptist set to join Big 12 Conference Last week on Tuesday, Feb. 16, we learned that California Baptist University wrestling has received a letter of intent from the Big 12 Conference regarding affiliate membership starting in 2022-23. Iowa inactive once again It looked as if the No. 1 Hawkeyes were going to get the all-clear to return to the mat and get a final dual meet tune-up against conference foe Wisconsin prior to the Big Ten Championships. Unfortunately, while the Iowa medial staff signed off on the dual, the Wisconsin medical staff did not. As a result, the dual was canceled out of an abundance of caution. As it stands right now, Iowa is not slated to take to the mat again until March 6-7 in State College for the Big Ten Championships. If this holds true, that means Iowa will enter the Big Tens having not wrestled a live dual in one month. Additionally, No. 5 Kaleb Young (157) and No. 1 Alex Marinelli (165) will take to the mat for the first time since Jan. 22. On paper, the Hawks likely have the most talented starting lineup in the country. That said, it will be interesting to see how Iowa performs when the lights are brightest after such a long layoff. While I still expect the Hawkeyes to do well, it is less than ideal to be thrown into the meat grinder that is the Big Ten Championships after such a lengthy hiatus. Equally unfortunate for both competitors and fans alike, we likely won't see No. 1 Iowa and No. 2 Penn State square off in a dual to determine the Big Ten regular season team champion.

Oklahoma State's seniors were honored Sunday in Stillwater (Photo/Oklahoma State Athletics) STILLWATER -- The Oklahoma State wrestling team secured its 47th undefeated regular season in program history with a 24-16 victory over No. 19 Oklahoma in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday night. "It takes teamwork to win dual meets," head coach John Smith said. "We take pride in it and it's important to us. An undefeated dual season is an accomplishment, but let's use it as motivation heading into the Big 12 Championships." The sixth-ranked Cowboys jumped out to an early 9-0 lead on senior night courtesy of a Trevor Mastrogiovanni decision and a fall from Daton Fix. A takedown late in the third period led Mastrogiovanni to his 10th win of the season and second over Mason Naifeh of Oklahoma. Top-ranked Daton Fix continued to dominate his opponents this season, pinning Tony Madrigal in 4:54. Fix collected his fourth fall in five matches, already doubling his total from his outstanding freshman season in 2019. Two Cowboy seniors finished their careers in Gallagher-Iba Arena with Bedlam wins. No. 4 Boo Lewallen picked up a 6-2 decision over No. 18 Mitch Moore to move to 12-1 on the season, while No. 13 Dakota Geer earned his ninth bonus-point victory of the season with an 11-0 major decision over Darrien Roberts. AJ Ferrari locked up the dual win for the Cowboys in the 197-pound bout with a 4-1 decision over No. 15 Jake Woodley. The talented freshman used a third-period takedown on the edge of the mat to make the score 3-1 with Ferrari adding a riding time point. The win marks Ferrari's third ranked win of the season, pushes his overall record to 12-1 and completes an undefeated dual season with his only loss coming to No. 4 Noah Adams in last week's Cowboy Challenge Tournament. Travis Wittlake wrestled an almost identical match to his first Bedlam bout with Troy Mantanona in Norman. Wittlake was taken down early, but was dominant the remainder of the match, picking up his fourth technical fall of the season with a 26-11 win over Mantanona. Freshman Jakason Burks made the first dual start of his career and was handed the task of wrestling No. 6 Dom Demas. Burks was 6-1 at 125 pounds this season, but was forced to bump up to 141 pounds due to injuries at the position. He held his own against the Sooner star for most of the match with the score being 6-3 in favor of Demas midway through the third period, but a throw from Demas got Burks to his back where he was pinned at the 5:31 mark. Oklahoma State will have two weeks to prepare for the Big 12 Championships taking place March 6-7 in Tulsa at the BOK Center. The Cowboys will aim to claim their ninth-consecutive conference tournament championship when they return to the mat. Results: 125: No. 17 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OSU) dec. Mason Naifeh (OU), 6-4 133: No. 1 Daton Fix (OSU) fall Tony Madrigal (OU), 4:54 141: No. 6 Dom Demas (OU) fall Jakason Burks (OSU), 5:31 149: No. 4 Boo Lewallen (OSU) dec. No. 18 Mitch Moore (OU), 6-2 157: No. 11 Justin Thomas (OU) MD No. 19 Wyatt Sheets (OSU), 13-5 165: No. 3 Travis Wittlake (OSU) TF Troy Mantanona (OU), 26-11 7:00 174: Anthony Mantanona (OU) dec. No. 13 Dustin Plott (OSU), 7-4 184: No. 13 Dakota Geer (OSU) MD Darrien Roberts (OU), 11-0 197: No. 12 AJ Ferrari (OSU) dec. No. 15 Jake Woodley (OU), 4-1 HWT: Josh Heindselman (OU) dec. Austin Harris (OSU), 3-1

Curtis Blaydes (left) and Phil Hawes, both past NJCAA national champions, were among the ex-wrestlers on the UFC Fight Night card Professional MMA at the highest level sure seems like a cruel, volatile, unpredictable proposition. The UFC held another fight night card on Saturday, with one of our own prominently featured as top billing. Heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes, in all likelihood, was a win or two away from his first shot at one of the most coveted titles in combat sports: UFC heavyweight championship. There were several wrestlers on Saturday's UFC Fight Night card, even after collegiate wrestlers/high school state champs Drakkar Klose (Michigan) and Chas Skelly (Texas) had their bouts canceled at the last minute. Here we will examine the bigger fights featuring the better wrestlers. Let's examine what we learned about wrestlers on the UFC Fight Night card. Curtis Blaydes Wrestling resume: 95-18 high school record wrestling for Chicago's De La Salle Institute, including a 44-0 state championship winning senior season. Received scholarship money to wrestle NCAA Division I for Northern Illinois University, going 19-2 before transferring to Harper College and winning an NJCAA national title at heavyweight. This one has got to sting for Blaydes. The big man from Chicago has been steadily improving since his UFC debut in 2016, and came into this fight red-hot, dominantly winning his last four fights. He has used his wrestling brilliantly to serve as the foundation to implement very effective striking, sound top-side grappling, round-winning clinch/cage work, and a veteran's sense of strategy. On Saturday night he started out looking fantastic against his extremely dangerous foe. One-time UFC heavyweight title-challenger Derrick Lewis is a KO machine, needing just one punch to put out the lights. Blaydes kept Lewis guessing and off balance for nearly the entirety of the contest, using solid footwork, great distance via a steady jab, multi-punch combinations, and a slick, chopping low-kick to punctuate engagements. He was fighting like a fully developed mixed martial artist. The approach worked like a charm until he decided to take his first fully committed shot and ate a lethal uppercut in the process. A couple-cringe-inducing follow-up shots ensured Blaydes would not be getting up any time soon, and just like that, Blaydes must regroup and rebuild. The long and short of it is this: Curtis Blaydes looked absolutely stellar through 6.5 minutes of action. He was in great shape, composed, confident, and very sharp. But this is the heavyweight division. And Derrick Lewis is the most prolific puncher in said division. These unfortunate outcomes will always be lurking when fighting under such circumstances. Blaydes still has the ability and relative youth to make another run, and I'm sure he will, but I'd be lying if I said this isn't a considerable setback that couldn't have come at a worse time. Phil Hawes Wrestling resume: Qualified for 2006 and 2007 New Jersey state championships. Won 2009 NJCAA Nationals at 197 pounds for Iowa Central. Signed with North Dakota State, but ultimately wrestled a season a piece at Iowa State (NCAA Division I) and Wartburg College (NCAA Division III). Hawes gave freestyle a brief go for the 2012 season before moving to MMA. Just like with wrestling, Hawes has been a bit of a slow starter, or perhaps a late bloomer in MMA. Undeniably capable of competing at the highest level, Hawes is finally making good on buzz that he first cultivated way back in. 2015. Hawes arrived violently in the UFC this year, making a statement with a first-round knockout win less than a minute into his official debut. For his second outing he was paired with Russian Frenchman Nassourdine Imavov, a fighter with about as much MMA experience as Hawes. I was more than a little nervous for Hawes leading up to this fight. Imavov is an enormous middleweight (185 pounds) with problematic height and length, very good boxing, serviceable wrestling (he is from Dagestan after all), and the ability to fight well on the inside. It seems that Hawes, aka Megatron, was aware of this, and when he couldn't find a home for his powerful hands early on, he decided to switch up his approach. What followed for the next three rounds was a wrestling and clinch-fighting clinic put on by Hawes. The New Jersey native, fighting out of South Florida, put Imavov on his back repeatedly. And when he wasn't scoring takedowns he was vigorously pressing his foe against the cage, working his grips, fighting the hands, and landing short but effective strikes to the entirety of his target's body. He was expertly implementing a strategy known to be absolutely miserable for the losing fighter as it leaves them dog-tire and much less dangerous. Hawes survived quite a scare in the final round, finding himself on rubber legs and fending off a late rally, but in the end he had done more than enough to collect his victory. It was a solid showing for Hawes and one that he needed to flash at some point in his ascent. Darrick Minner Wrestling resume: 2007 and 2008 All-State at Nebraska Class B High School (Nebraska City High School) State Championships (112 pounds and 125 pounds). Wrestled collegiately for Iowa Western. A professional fighter since 2012, featherweight dynamo Darrick Minner fights the way we want to see all lighter-weight converted wrestlers fight: fast and powerful, with awesome takedowns, even better scrambling ability, and a hammer from on top. Minner has coupled a nasty submission game with his frenetic wrestling and will mix it up on the feet enough to avoid being predictable. Minner looked outstanding on Saturday night, landing punches in volume and making his takedowns count by maintaining positional advantages on the mat and working for submissions. Of Minner's 26 pro MMA wins, 22 have come by submission, 20 of them in the first round. It's usually some sort of arm choke (wrestlers have a real affinity for this) that he snatches up quickly. When Minner is forced to fight an entire fight, he often loses some of his edge. Not this time. Fighting a very game opponent, Minner was the clear frontrunner for the duration. After kicking around on the regional MMA scene for seven years, Minner now has some real momentum in the big show. Let's see if he can parlay it into something big. Others in action John Castaneda, a Minnesota high school wrestler with a season at Minnesota State University-Mankato (NCAA Division II), had his hands full with former WEC champ and aging-but-dangerous vet Eddie Wineland, but he hung tough in a firefight and came out on top. Castaneda pulled out a pretty furious barrage of punches to end the fight in the closing seconds of Round 1. British Junior National freestyle champ Tom Aspinall took on grizzled legend Andrei Arlovski in a pretty gnarly fight. Arlovski is a man who spent several training camps wrestling with three-time world champ and Olympic medalist Bilyal Makhov as his training partner. Aspinall got the better of the tough Arlovski standing before taking him down and choking him out. California high school wrestler Jared Vanderaa is shaping up to be a promising fighter, but he got put on his back, clobbered, and finished by Sergey Spivak in Round 2.

Winning seven individual matches on the day, the Nebraska wrestling team closed the 2021 regular season with a 25-9 win over Illinois on Sunday in Champaign, Ill. The Huskers finish the conference-only slate 7-1, going undefeated in the last six duals of the regular season. The Huskers earned bonus points in three matches, picking up major decisions at 174 and 184 pounds and a technical fall in the 149-pound bout. Mikey Labriola and Eric Schultz finish the regular season undefeated in eight matches on the year while Liam Cronin and Chad Red Jr. went 6-1 on the year with their only losses coming against Iowa in the second dual of the season. Cronin got the day started with a 4-3 decision over Justin Cardani in the 133-pound match. Behind 1-2 in the final seconds of the second period, Cronin scored a takedown to tie the bout 3-3. The senior recorded another escape in the third period to take the match. Chad Red Jr. (141 pounds) added another win for the Huskers against Dylan Duncan in a match that went down to the final seconds. Red Jr. scored a reversal and two near fall points in the last seconds of the bout, taking a 4-3 win for the Huskers. At 149 pounds, Ridge Lovett earned his second dual win of the season and first technical fall of the season with a 20-5 win over Danny Pucino. Lovett earned two four-point near falls, three takedowns, two escapes and a two-point near fall to take the match. Caleb Licking picked up his second consecutive win with a 10-4 decision over Luke Odom at 157 pounds. Licking held Odom scoreless through two periods while scoring two takedowns and building up his riding time. He added two more takedowns and an escape in the final period while recording over three minutes of riding time in the match to give him his third win of the season. Mikey Labriola earned his fourth major decision of the season in a 17-6 win over Trey Sizemore. The win is his 18th major decision of his career and brings his total match points to a team-high 105 for the 2021 campaign. Returning to the lineup at 184 pounds, Taylor Venz won a 12-1 major decision over No. 14 Zac Braunagel. He recorded four near fall points, three takedowns and added two more points from an escape and 1:45 of riding time for his second bonus point win of the season and first win over a ranked opponent this year. Eric Schultz earned the Huskers final win of the day, defeating Matt Wroblewski, 4-1, at 197 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Schultz earned an escape and a takedown in the second period and added a riding time point to earn his eighth win of the season. The Tinley Park, Ill. native's regular season dual win streak improves to 12 matches over two seasons. Tucker Sjomeling, Peyton Robb and Christian Lance each battled ranked opponents in their matches, but ultimately fell to the Illini. Sjomeling earned the start at 133 pounds, falling 8-10 to No. 14 Lucas Byrd. Peyton Robb met Danny Braunagel in the 165-pound match but fell by decision, 6-9. Christian Lance battled No. 10 Luke Luffman through more than two minutes of overtime but Luffman earned the deciding takedown to take the match, 4-2. The Huskers finished undefeated in extra matches on the day with Jeremiah Reno, Brock Hardy and Brandyn Van Tassell pinning their opponents while Alex Thomsen added a decision win for Nebraska. A post-season push comes next for the Huskers, who have just under two weeks before they hit the mat in State College, Pa. for the 2021 Big Ten Championships on March 6-7. Results: 125: #9 Liam Cronin (NEB) dec. Justin Cardani (ILL), 4-3 (NEB 3, ILL 0) 133: #14 Lucas Bryd (ILL) dec. Tucker Sjomeling (NEB), 10-8 (NEB 3, ILL 3) 141: #7 Chad Red Jr. (NEB) dec. #14 Dylan Duncan (ILL), 4-3 (NEB 6, ILL 3) 149: Ridge Lovett (NEB) tech. fall Danny Pucino (ILL), 20-5 (NEB 11, ILL 3) 157: Caleb Licking (NEB) dec. Luke Odom (ILL), 10-4 (NEB 14, ILL 3) 165: #8 Danny Braunagel (ILL) dec. #18 Peyton Robb (NEB), 9-6 (NEB 14, ILL 6) 174: #2 Mikey Labriola (NEB) major dec. Trey Sizemore (ILL), 17-6 (NEB 18, ILL 6) 184: #16 Taylor Venz (NEB) major dec. #14 Zac Braunagel (ILL), 12-1 (NEB 22, ILL 6) 197: #1 Eric Schultz (NEB) dec. Matt Wroblewski (ILL), 4-1 (NEB 25, ILL 6) 285: #10 Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. #11 Christian Lance (NEB), 4-2 SV-3 (NEB 25, ILL 9) Extra Matches: 125: Jeremiah Reno (NEB) pinned Joshua Contreras (ILL), 6:57 133: Alex Thomsen (NEB) dec. We Rachal (ILL), 3-2 149: Brock Hardy (NEB) pinned Andrew Cohen (ILL), 4:58 197: Brandyn Van Tassell (NEB) pinned Isaiah Pettigrew (ILL), 2:39

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 12 Gopher wrestling team (7-2) won eight of 10 matches in a 29-10 win against No. 11 Northwestern (2-6) at Maturi Pavilion on Sunday. Gable Steveson completed his third undefeated regular season, while sophomore Patrick McKee upset No. 7 Michael DeAugustino at 125 pounds. Coming out of intermission with Minnesota leading the dual, 15-4, Steveson cruised to a 16-1 technical fall against the Wildcats' Jack Heyob at heavyweight. He led 8-0 after the first period with a takedown and six near-fall points en route to his 26th consecutive victory. Steveson is now 9-0 on the season and 59-2 in his career, including a 48-0 regular-season mark. Ranked 15th in the country at 125 pounds, McKee followed with a 9-6 decision against DeAugustino. McKee dominated the first period with a takedown and over two minutes of riding time, but DeAugustino opened the second period with a reversal and near fall to take the lead. Trailing 5-4 with 50 seconds left in the match, McKee's takedown and two-point near fall completed the comeback. After Northwestern began the dual with a major decision by top-ranked Ryan Deakin at 157 pounds, the Gophers responded with six straight wins. True freshman Andrew Sparks improved to 8-1 in his first season with a 14-11 decision against David Ferrante at 165 pounds. After junior Jake Allar's decision at 174 pounds, true freshman Isaiah Salazar picked up his first career pin in his second dual start at 184 pounds to extend the lead to 12-4. Sophomore Garrett Joles added a 10-8 decision against Jon Halvorsen at 197 pounds. Redshirt freshman Marcos Polanco and sophomore Michael Blockhus closed out the dual with wins. Polanco's takedown late in overtime sealed a 3-1 decision at 141 pounds. Blockhus upset No. 14 Yahya Thomas, 3-2, with the match's lone takedown in the final minute of regulation at 149 pounds. Winners of its last five dual meets, Minnesota will compete at the 2021 Big Ten Championships, which will be hosted by Penn State, March 6-7. Results: 157: #1 Ryan Deakin (NU) maj. dec. #6 Brayton Lee (UM), 12-0 (NU 4, UM 0) 165: #17 Andrew Sparks (UM) dec, David Ferrante (NU), 14-11 (NU 4, UM 3) 174: Jake Allar (UM) dec. Troy Fisher (NU), 6-5 (UM 6, NU 4) 184: Isaiah Salazar (UM) pinned Jack Jessen (NU), 5:32 (UM 12, NU 4) 197: Garrett Joles (UM) dec. Jon Halvorsen (NU), 10-8 (UM 15, NU 4) HWT: #1 Gable Steveson (UM) tech. fall Jack Heyob (NU), 16-1 5:05 (UM 20, NU 4) 125: #15 Patrick McKee (UM) dec. #7 Michael DeAugustino (NU), 9-6 (UM 23, NU 4) 133: #12 Chris Cannon (NU) pinned Boo Dryden (UM), 4:13 (UM 23, NU 10) 141: Marcos Polanco (UM) dec. Colin Valdiveiz (NU), 3-1 SV1 (UM 26, NU 10) 149: Michael Blockhus (UM) dec. #14 Yahya Thomas (NU), 3-2 (UM 29, NU 10) Extra Matches: 133: Jake Gliva (UM) maj. dec. Matt Vinci (NU), 16-4 149: Jake Bergeland (UM) dec. Trevor Chumbley (NU), 2-1 157: Maxx Mayfield (NU) dec. Ryan Thomas (UM), 7-4 174: Bailee O'Reilly (UM) tech. fall Ankhaa Enkhmandakh (NU), 16-1 *Extra Matches: Due to only wrestling within the conference, the Big Ten will permit schools to hold extra matches on competition dates. Though they will not count towards dual scoring, they will count towards an individual's varsity record for purposes of seeding for the conference and national tournament.

Lehigh's Jordan Wood (285) is a three-time EIWA champion (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com) In perhaps the strangest season in the EIWA's long history, America's oldest college wrestling tournament will be held off-campus for the first time ever. With the member institutions unable to host events of this size, we will gather at Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Manheim, Pennsylvania on Friday, February 26, 2021. For those wondering, this will be just the sixth one-day EIWA tournament and the first since 1909 at Yale, when Eli William Howard Taft was two weeks into his Presidency. Five of last year's top seven will be among the ten teams competing. Lehigh has won three consecutive team titles and hopes to add another to their string; but the Mountain Hawks were hit hard by graduation and have added illness and injury to their woes. Lehigh may challenge, but the Midshipmen of the U. S. Naval Academy appear to be in the driver's seat. Navy returns two champions, a veteran team, and adds a pair of freshmen who haven't lost yet during this shortened season. Army West Point was also hurt by graduation, but returns a veteran lineup that also adds two solid plebes. The Mids can't afford to falter in what looks to be a tight team race. The Pride of Hofstra may have the most experienced lineup in the field; their best newcomer is a senior transfer. Bucknell, Binghamton, and Drexel all have a blend of old and new and could move up if the top few teams falter. Navy last won in 1990; Army won for the only time in 1987. The others are relative newcomers to the EIWA and are all seeking their first team title. Honors extend beyond the team and individual titles. Also to be decided are the Outstanding Wrestler (determined by the coaches' vote), the Fletcher Award (most career points), and the Sheridan Award (most falls in the least time in the championship bracket). The coaches vote for Coach of the Year and the referees honor the most sportsmanlike team (the award given, this year, in honor of the late Greg Strobel, whose team received the award the first time it was presented). The EIWA has received forty-five automatic qualifying bids for the NCAA Championships at St. Louis in three weeks; at-large selections to be announced on March 9th will augment the contingent. Due to the unusual circumstances of this season, team rosters are more unsettled than usual at the time of this writing. Season records are a whole lot thinner than usual, so expect more than the normal number of upsets. The weight-by-weight preview: 125 NCAA bids: 3 The best bet for a high place is someone who's been there before; that's Gage Curry of American, three finishes in the 3rd or 4th spot, 3-time NCAA qualifier. But American lost its entire dual season to Covid stoppages, so Curry hasn't wrestled a bout. The only other returning placewinner is Hofstra's Dylan Ryder, 8th a year ago, 3-0 this season. Navy's Logan Treaster was the 6th seed last year and was 25th in the recent Coaches' Panel ranking with a 9-1 record; his loss is to Lehigh's Jaret Lane, 22nd in the CP ranking, 5-0 and down from 133 last year. Others to watch are freshman Micah Roes of Binghamton, 4-0 in his rookie season; Brandon Seidman of Bucknell, 5-1 and making his first EIWA appearance in his junior year; and 3-3 freshman Bryce Cockrell of Long Island University. 133 NCAA bids: 3 For the first time in memory a weight class has no returning placewinners (hint: they all moved to other weight classes). Bucknell's Darren Miller , 4-1, has the highest CP ranking (23rd) and was seeded 5th last year. Lehigh's freshman Malyke Hines, 2-1, is ranked 32nd. Drexel senior Chandler Olson also stands at 4-1; he was 15-4 before a season-ending injury a year ago. Army plebe Mark Montgomery is 3-3 and has a win over Miller. Binghamton's Anthony Sobotker, 3-1 this year after a 61-9 career at Nassau CC, has a win over Montgomery, as does Hofstra senior Garrett Lambert, 2-2. Navy's Jacob Allen, at 6-4, has the most wins in the field. 141 NCAA bids: 5 Defending champion:: Cody Trybus, Navy Defending champ Trybus is the favorite to repeat, on the strength of a 9-0 record and a No. 10 CP ranking. Binghamton's Zach Trampe moves up from 133 where he placed 3rd and 4th; he's also qualified for NCAAs twice. He's 3-1 with the No. 25 CP ranking. Army senior Lane Peters is another 2-time placer (5th and 7th), also 3-1, CP ranking of No. 31. Vinny Vespa of Hofstra placed 5th at 133 in 2017. Drexel soph Tyler Williams is 4-1 with a win over Vespa. American soph Patrick Ryan was 14-6 as a true freshman two years ago and 14-8 in a deferred year. Freshmen Connor McGonagle of Lehigh and Drew Witham of LIU seek to have an impact. 149 NCAA bids: 4 It says here that the man to beat is Army junior PJ Ogunsanya. He's already finished 5th and 6th, is 6-0, and was ranked 19th in the CP ranking before he beat No. 18, Navy's Casey Cobb. Cobb, an 8-1 senior, moves up from 133 where he had 4th- and 7th-place finishes and qualified for NCAAs. Both have beaten Lehigh's Jimmy Hoffman, 6th last year and an NCAA qualifier; he's 2-3 with a CP ranking of No. 25. American's Kizhan Clarke is also an NCAA qualifier, placing 7th at 157 and 4th at 149 last year when he was ranked in the top 10 much of the season. Hofstra will enter Greg Gaxiola, a transfer from Fresno State who qualified for NCAAs and holds the No. 30 CP ranking. His only loss is to Drexel freshman Luke Nichter, 5-0 on the season. Bucknell's Matt Kolonia, 18-9 a year ago and 2-1 this year, could also make some noise. 157 NCAA bids: 5 There appears to be a clear top four at 157. Army's Markus Hartman placed 3rd last year, is 5-1, and is the CP No. 14 ranked wrestler. But he was pinned by No. 20 Holden Heller of Hofstra, who's 5-0. Drexel senior Parker Kropman, 4th and 7th at 149, is 4-0 and No. 21. Navy freshman Andrew Cerniglia is 5-0, CP No. 26. Four wrestlers with one loss between them means that there's only the one head-to-head result. From Bucknell we'll see 4-4 freshman Nick Delp. Lehigh freshman Luca Frinzi is 2-1; Sacred Heart senior Nick Palumbo moves up from 149. 165 NCAA bids: 5 Defending champion:: Tanner Skidgel, Navy (2019, 2020) Two-time champ Skidgel, 9-1 on the season, should be the clear favorite here. But Bucknell's Zach Hartman, 6-0, is 7th in the CP rankings to the Mid's 14th. Skidgel prevailed in the EIWA finals a year ago, 4-2, the only time the two have met. We could see a repeat of last year's championship match. Other contenders for high places are 5-0 Ricky Stamm of Hofstra, Drexel's 4-1 Evan Barczak, and 4-0 Binghamton freshman Brevin Cassella. All have CP rankings; Stamm has two EIWA places already, Barczak was nationally ranked two years ago. 174 NCAA bids: 5 Last season Drexel freshman Michael O'Malley finished 4th in a deep weight class. As a sophomore he's 5-0, ranked 15th, and has defeated No. 30 Ross McFarland of Hofstra, the only other ranked wrestler at the weight. McFarland may not enter, as he's being pressed for Hofstra's spot by Reece Heller. Two sophomores -- Binghamton's Jacob Nolan, 4-0, and Bucknell's Vince Andreano, 4-1 -- have had good seasons. Navy senior Dean Caravela, 7-3, will be at his first tournament. Lehigh freshman Jake Logan is 2-4 but has a win over Caravela. Another sophomore, American's Tim Fitzpatrick, was 8th last year at 165. A newcomer is Army plebe Ben Pasiuk, just 2-0 this season, with the wins by major decision over Caravela and Logan. 184 NCAA bids: 6 Defending champion:: Lou DePrez, Binghamton Binghamton junior DePrez has the inside shot here; he won last year, is a 2-time NCAA qualifier, and is ranked 4th in the Coaches' Panel. Navy plebe David Key is ranked 18th and boasts a 7-0 record. Army senior Taylor Brown has made the unusual jump from 157 pounds without appearing to give away much size to his opponents; he's 4-2 and is ranked 32nd. Hofstra's Charles Small is 4-1; he's not ranked but he holds the only past place not belonging to DePrez. Sacred Heart senior Joe Accousti moves up from 174 last year; he's 3-2 at the higher weight. LIU junior James Langan moves up from 174 this year. Lehigh senior Dylan Ammerman won a three-way wrestleoff for the right to wrestle at Manheim. 197 NCAA bids: 5 Four former placewinners figure to contend for the top spot here. Lehigh's John Jakobsen earns first mention as a two-time placer and NCAA qualifier. He's 4-3, ranked 19th, and beat Army's JT Brown (20th) this season. Brown is 5-1 this year, has the highest past place (4th, which earned him an NCAA berth), and has beaten Navy soph Jacob Koser (4-2, CP No. 16, 8th a year ago). Koser, in turn, has beaten Jakobsen. Drexel's Bryan McLaughlin, who hasn't wrestled any of them this year, brings a 4-1 record and the No. 21 ranking to the party; he was 6th last year and received a spot at NCAAs. Hofstra junior Trey Rogers is 4-1 and has beaten Sacred Heart junior Robert Hetherman, who's 2-1. Hetherman has a win over Bucknell's Mason McCready, a 3-4 sophomore. Any of them could move up if a spot in the top four opens up. 285 NCAA bids: 4 Defending champion:: Jordan Wood, Lehigh (2018, 2019, 2020) There's never been a four-time champion at the tournament's highest weight. Lehigh's Wood, 4-1 with a No. 7 CP ranking, plans to be the first. Those most likely to challenge are Navy soph John Birchmeier, 5-0 with the No. 24 ranking; Army senior Bobby Heald, 3-2 with the No. 29 ranking; and Hofstra junior Zachary Knighton-Ward, 4-2 with the No. 33 ranking and 4th place at last year's tournament. Others to look for are Drexel's Sean O'Malley, no results this year, the No. 8 seed a year ago; Bucknell freshman Dorian Crosby, 3-3; and Binghamton's Joe Doyle, 0-0 this year but 5th and 6th in the past two tournaments. Pre-seeds will be announced late Monday, February 22nd. With COVID still causing issues for some teams, the coaches can make changes right up until their meeting Thursday night, a change for this year only. With everyone hoping for a return to normal, we expect that the 118th EIWA tournament will be held at a college campus to be determined on the weekend of March 4-6, 2022. Fans can watch the tournament on FloWrestling. Live bout results will be shown on Flosports Arena. Information about seeding, results, and awards will be posted on the EIWA website.

USAFA, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy wrestling team wrapped up the regular season with the USAFA Round Robin, Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20, at the East Gym. The Falcons had 22 wrestlers compete in paired matches against Northern Colorado and Utah Valley in the final tune-up before Big 12 Championships. The event was a non-team scoring, non-weight class champion event, and served as an opportunity for grapplers to get their final matches of the regular season in before Big 12s. AF's 22 wrestlers combined for 28 wins in a highly successful afternoon. Leading the way going 3-0 were sophomore Cody Phippen at 125, freshman Will VomBaur at 125, junior Trey Brisker at 157, and junior Jake Thompson at 184, in what was his season debut. All three of Phippen's wins were via bonus points (2 TF and 1 fall), while VomBaur picked up a tech, Brisker had a tech and a fall, and Thompson had three decision without giving up a single point. Elsewhere, sophomore Nick Krug, freshman Giano Petrucelli, junior Vincent Dolce, and freshman Sam Wolf all picked up a pair of wins, while senor Lenny Petersen, sophomore Dylan Martinez, and freshman Wyatt Hendrickson all went 1-0 in their final matches before the championships. The Falcons will return to the mats Saturday-Sunday, March 6-7, for the 2021 Big 12 Championships, which are set to take place at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. A limited number of tickets are on sale. The first three sessions will be streamed on ESPN+, while the finals will be on ESPN2 and the Watch ESPN App.