InterMat Staff

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue won at six weights, including two with bonus points, on its way to a 23-12 win over SIU Edwardsville inside Holloway Gymnasium on Friday. Luke Welch provided a technical fall and Tanner Lynde turned in a pin as the No. 23 Boilermakers moved to 9-7 on the season. “It is always good to get a win especially late in the year going into Big Tens,” Purdue head wrestling coach Tony Ersland said. “I am glad that a lot of our guys got good experience tonight. I still think that we can be more aggressive in spots. I thought we did enough to win, but we can still do more. That is what the next two weeks will be about, getting them to do more.” At 133 pounds, L. Welch put on a show in a 23-7 technical fall of Dakota Leach in 6:23. He racked up nine takedowns, five of which came in the third period. The redshirt sophomore also tilted for a four-count in the opening period of action. The technical fall is the second of his career as he improved to 15-11. Lynde's aggressiveness was evident from the first whistle in a 4:44 pin of Derek Nagel at 184. It only took eight seconds for him to get his first takedown. As the end of the first period neared, the redshirt junior had the Cougar locked in a cradle and was driving forward for the fall, but time expired before he could get him flat. Lynde took full advantage of a neutral start in the second by taking Nagel down. He found the headlock on the far side of the mat and it was over. It was the fifth fall of the season for Lynde as he evened his season mark at 11-11. “Tanner is one of the guys that stood out to me tonight,” Ersland said. “There was a lot of action in his match. He wrestled through when the other guy could have made a move. I was really excited with the way he wrestled; he wrestled with a lot of energy and hustle. He took control of that match.” The Boilermakers received decisions from Danny Sabatello (141), Doug Welch (157), No. 8 Chad Welch (165) and Drake Stein (197). Purdue's six seniors, Andy Hoselton, Sabatello, Luke Schroeder, Drake Stein and C. and D. Welch, will be recognized prior to the regular season and home finale Sunday starting at 12:40 p.m. ET. The Boilermakers will then go to battle against Duke at 1 p.m. #BoilerNotes • Purdue won six weights, two with bonus points … the Boilermakers scored first in all six matches that they won. • Purdue is now 6-1 in non-conference duals. • Luke Welch's 23 points are the most scored in a match by a Boilermaker this season … he now has a pair of 20+ point matches in his career … it was his 50th career match. • Danny Sabatello won the 40th dual match of his career … Tyler Kral wrestled in the 60th match of his career. • The Welch Trio made their 22nd start together … all three won for the seventh time this season and the ninth time overall. • Sabatello and Doug Welch have started 34 consecutive duals since the start of the 2014-15 season … Sabatello is 24-10 during that stretch and D. Welch is 26-8. • With a four-point nearfall, Chad Welch earned a spot on the season back points record list with 143 … he is tied for 17th with Frank Laccone (1995) … he also moved into 11th on the career back points list with 143, climbing ahead of Sabatello (140) and Jason Silverstein (1999-2001), who had 141. • Friday's dual started at 125 … 14 of the 16 duals this season have started at 125 … the Boilermakers have also won at least one bout with bonus points in all but two duals. Results: 125 - Freddie Rodriguez (SIUE) dec. Luke Schroeder (Purdue) 16-10 133 - Luke Welch (Purdue) tech. fall Dakota Leach (SIUE) 23-7 141 - Danny Sabatello (Purdue) dec. Trevor Feagans (SIUE) 10-5 149 - John Fahy (SIUE) dec. Jeremy Golding (Purdue) 10-3 157 - Doug Welch (Purdue) dec. Erik Travers (SIUE) 7-3 165 - No. 8 Chad Welch (Purdue) dec. Nate Higgins (SIUE) 6-3 174 - Connor McMahon (SIUE) dec. Peter Andreotti (Purdue) 7-0 184 - Tanner Lynde (Purdue) pinned Derek Nagel (SIUE) 4:44 197 - Drake Stein (Purdue) dec. Jake Tindle (SIUE) 7-5 285 - Chris Johnson (SIUE) dec. Tyler Kral (Purdue) 4-2

BUIES CREEK, N.C. -- Campbell wrestling dominated Davidson 42-3 on the mat Friday night at Carter Gym on senior night. The Camels recorded their largest victory margin as they wrapped up their regular season 3-13 and 3-4 in Southern Conference action. Davidson falls to 4-14 overall and 0-6 in the SoCon. The Camels got off to a good start as freshman wrestler Collin Stewart earned bonus points right off the bat with a 16-0 technical fall over Zamir Ode. Stewart earned three four-point near falls, a takedown, an escape and a point for riding time to take the 125-pound bout for the home team. Nathan Kraisser followed with another solid performance as he earned his 30th win of the season by pinning Dustin Runzo in 4:28. His pin over Runzo becomes his eighth of the season and fifth in the last six duals. Prior to earning the pin, Kraisser racked up four takedowns, an escape and a four-point near fall. Campbell earned an easy six points to give them a 17-0 lead over Davidson as the visitors forfeited the 141-pound weight class. The forfeit gave Zack Barker his first dual victory of the season. The 149-pound bout was close compared to the previous two matches as Kaleb Warner and Aidan Conroy went scoreless through the first period. Warner earned an escape for the only points of the second period while Conroy countered with an escape of his own at the beginning of the third. The Campbell grappler managed a takedown with time expiring on the clock to pull out the 3-1 decision and keep the Camels lead (20-0). Davidson earned its only points of the dual during the 157 bout, as Tony Palumbo edged out Quentin Perez in a 4-3 decision to put the team score at 20-3. Redshirt senior Paul Duggan took to the mat next to face Adam Flatt at 165-pounds. The Campbell grappler carried the momentum into his match as he scored a quick 10 points in the first period on two 4-pt. near falls and a takedown. Duggan scored six more points on a takedown and 4-pt. near fall in the second but Flatt managed to get two points on a reversal. Starting the third period on top, Duggan got two, 2-pt. near falls and the point for riding time to win in a 19-2 tech fall (6:33) over Flatt. The win became Duggan's 20th of the season as he pushed the Camels further out of the Wildcat clutches (25-3). Alex Vosburgh and Nathaniel Powers squared off next at 174-pounds. Vosburgh held a three-point lead (7-4) through the first period after earning three takedowns and an escape. Powers came within two points in the second period after earning the escape, but Vosburgh sealed the bout as he scored three points in the third to win by a 10-6 decision (28-3). The win was Vosburgh's first of the season and as a Camel. Ville Heino extended the Campbell lead by recording his eighth major decision of the season over Konner Pritchard. Heino held the 7-1 lead going into the third and reached bonus points by earning three more takedowns and the point for riding time to win the bout in a 14-5 major. The home team's success continued at 197-pounds as Austin McNeill defeated Michael Moore. McNeill earned his first collegiate major decision over Moore as he took the bout 14-0 over the Wildcat. McNeill's points came from a reversal, takedown, an escape, two 4-pt. near falls and the point for riding time. Last to take the mat was Jere Heino who closed the match out strong as he pinned Will Cooley in just 1:27. Heino's pin, just his third of the season, earned six team points and put the final score at 42-3 with the Camels emerging victorious on senior night. Results: 125: Collin Stewart (Campbell) tech. fall Zamir Ode (DAV) 15-0, 3:10 133: Nathan Kraisser (Campbell) over Dustin Runzo (DAV) Fall, 4:28 141: Zack Barker (Campbell) win by forfeit 149: Kaleb Warner (Campbell) dec. over Aidan Conroy (DAV) 3-1 157: Tony Palumbo (DAV) dec. over Quentin Perez (Campbell) 4-3 165: Paul Duggan 9(Campbell) tech. fall over Adam Flatt (DAV) 19-2, 6:33 174: Alex Vosburgh (Campbell) dec. over Nathaniel Powers (DAV) 10-6 184: Ville Heino (Campbell) maj. dec. over Konner Pritchard (DAV) 14-5 197: Austin McNeil (Campbell) maj. dec. over Michael Moore (DAV) 14-0 285: Jere Heino (Campbell) fall over Will Cooley (DAV) 1:27

BUFFALO, New York -- Seven Panthers won their matches to help UNI wrestling snap a five-dual losing streak to close out the regular season with a win over Buffalo, 29-9. The Panthers ended their season 4-10 overall, 3-5 in the MAC. The Bulls finished with their most wins since 2004, falling to 10-9 overall, 2-6 in the MAC. UNI jumped out to a 15-0 lead over Buffalo with falls at 125 pounds from Leighton Gaul and at 133 pounds from Josh Alber. It was Gaul's first dual win of the year and Alber's second fall in as many weeks. At 141 pounds, Tyler Willers was tied 2-2 with Brandon Lapi. He earned four nearfall points to go up 6-2. And escape narrowed the gap 6-3 for Lapi, but Willers went on to win his first career dual, 6-5. Buffalo got on the board with a decision at 149 pounds, but Bryce Steiert gave the Panthers its third set of bonus points at 157 pounds. Steiert was up 8-1 to start the third and had already racked up two minutes of riding time. He went on to win with a 13-2 major decision over Alex Smythe. Cooper Moore returned to the lineup at 165 pounds for the first time since Feb. 5. At the end of the second period, Moore led 3-0 with 2 minutes, 30 seconds in riding time. Moore went on to secure his riding time and earn his fourth major decision of the season, 8-0. At 184 pounds, Drew Foster went up 2-0 with more than two minutes of riding time after the first period. Foster locked up riding time and released Joe Ariola of Buffalo in the second period. Ariola's takedown put Buffalo up 3-2 to start the third. Foster notched two escapes in the third, but Ariola grabbed a takedown to push the match into sudden victory. Foster kept the Panthers rolling with a takedown to win 7-5. Blaize Cabell gave up a takedown at the end of the heavyweight match, but his four takedowns and escape gave him the 9-6 decision. Results: 125 – Leighton Gaul (UNI) pinned #33 Kyle Akins, 3:42 133 – #13 Josh Alber (UNI) pinned Bryan Lantry, 4:47 141 – Tyler Willers (UNI) dec. Brandon Lapi, 6-5 149 – Colt Cotten (UB) dec. Adam Perrin, 9-6 157 – #23 Bryce Steiert (UNI) maj. dec. Alex Smythe, 13-2 165 – #19 Cooper Moore (UNI) maj. dec. Rrok Ndokaj, 8-0 174 – Muahmed McBryde (UB) dec. Taylor Berger, 5-2 184 – Drew Foster (UNI) dec. Joe Ariola, 7-5 SV1 197 – James Benjamin (UB) dec. Cody Krumwiede, 2-0 285 – #15 Blaize Cabell (UNI) dec. Jake Gunning, 9-6

NORFOLK, Va. -- Brandon Jeske scored a dual meet-winning takedown in the final five seconds of the 125 bout to propel the Old Dominion wrestling team (6-12, 1-6 MAC) to a thrilling 20-19 criteria win over Northern Illinois Friday night at the Ted Constant Center. With the victory, ODU captured its 500th program win, and Steve Martin became the second-winningest coach in Old Dominion history. Beginning at 133, NIU's Austin Eicher earned a 15-4 major decision over Josh Markham, but All-American Chris Mecate rebounded in a big way for the Monarchs, pulling out a pivotal 2-0 decision over No. 15 Steve Bleise, 2-0. No. 8 Alexander Richardson followed up with a commanding 11-5 win over Gabe Morse at 149 to put the Monarchs out in front 6-4. At 157, Andrew Morse regained the lead for the Huskies, 7-6, with a 3-0 victory over ODU's Austin Eads, but Seldon Wright earned his third straight win by defeating Shaun'Qae McMurtry in an exciting 7-6 bout at 165. Jack Dechow, ranked 11th, sandwiched a big major decision win over Quinton Rosser at 184 between two Northern Illinois pins at 174 and 197, but Austin Coburn put the Monarchs in position to win the dual meet after bumping up to 285 and taking down Arthur Bunce, 4-2. Trailing 19-16 on the scoreboard, the Monarchs tied the bout with Jeske's last second takedown to earn the come-from-behind criteria win. It was ODU's first MAC dual meet win of the season. ODU closes out the dual season this Sunday at 1 p.m. against Central Michigan in the Jim Jarrett Gymnasium on Senior Day. Results: 133: Austin Eicher (NIU) maj. Josh Markham (ODU), 15-4 141: #16 Chris Mecate (ODU) dec. #15 Steve Bleise (NIU), 2-0 149: #8 Alexander Richardson (ODU) dec. Gabe Morse (NIU), 11-5 157: Andrew Morse (NIU) dec. Austin Eads (ODU), 3-0 165: Seldon Wright (ODU) dec. Shaun'Qae McMurtry (NIU), 7-6 174: Trace Engelkes (NIU) pin Terrell Forbes (ODU), 6:15 184: #11 Jack Dechow (ODU) maj. Quinton Rosser (NIU), 10-2 197: #17 Shawn Scott (NIU) pin Kaleab Fetahi (ODU) 6:21 285: Austin Coburn (ODU) dec. Arthur Bunce (NIU), 4-2 125: Brandon Jeske (ODU) dec. Alijah Jeffery (NIU), 3-1

PITTSBURGH -- Redshirt sophomore Ryan Solomon lifted Pitt wrestling team (10-6, 2-3 ACC) to 19-17 victory Friday night at the Fitzgerald Field House over No. 23 Virginia (6-7, 1-4 ACC). "Any time you can come out with a win it's good," head coach Jason Peters said. "I would have loved to see our seniors go out with a win, but they had good opponents so hats off to those guys. I'm just thankful for what they've done over the last four or five years. It was a good night for Pitt wrestling." Freshman LJ Bentley got the night started with a close 3-2 decision over Virginia's Nick Herrmann. Sophomore Dom Forys followed that by collecting his 23rd win on the season after a 17-4 major decision over Joe Martinez at 133 pounds. Forys recorded seven takedowns in the match. Virginia claimed the following three bouts and the lead 10-7. Redshirt sophomore Cody Wiercioch gave the Panthers some momentum at 165 pounds after a 12-6 decision over Garrett Peppelman to tie the dual 10-10. Freshman TeShan Campbell put on a show for his hometown crowd as he recorded his first pin as a college wrestler. He pinned Drew Hull in 3:21, giving Pitt a 16-10 lead. The Cavaliers regained the lead after claiming 184 and 197 pounds. Trailing by just one point, 17-16, Solomon's takedown and escape were enough to lift the Panthers to a 19-17 win. Pitt will finish the regular season Sunday, Feb. 21 at Clarion. The dual is set for 2 p.m. For all things Pitt wrestling, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Results: 125 - No. 26 LJ Bentley (P) dec. No. 25 Nick Herrmann (V), 3-2 - Pitt leads 3-0 133 - No. 20 Dom Forys (P) maj. dec. Joe Martinez, 17-4 - Pitt leads 7-0 141 - Justin VanHoose (V) dec. No. 10 Mikey Racciato (P), 11-4 - Pitt leads 7-3 149 - Chris Yankowich (V) dec. Robert Lee (P), 3-2 - Pitt leads 7-6 157 - Andrew Atkinson (V) maj. dec. Ronnie Garbinsky (P), 11-1 - Virginia leads 10-7 165 - No. 26 Cody Wiercioch (P) dec. Garrett Peppelman (V), 12-6 - Tied 10-10 174 - No. 26 TeShan Campbell (P) pins Drew Hull (V), 3:21 - Pitt leads 16-10 184 - Tyler Askey (V) maj. dec. Zach Bruce (P), 13-3 - Pitt leads 16-14 197 - No. 14 Zach Nye (V) dec. No. 25 Nick Bonaccorsi (P), 3-2 - Virginia leads 17-16 285 - No 17 Ryan Solomon (P) dec. No. 30 Pat Gillen (V), 3-2 - Pitt wins 19-17

VESTAL, N.Y. -- An 8-6 decision by Tyler Greene at 197 pounds evened the score and Joe Stolfi followed with his 11th pin of the year to lift the Bucknell wrestling team to a 21-15 victory at Binghamton Friday evening. The Bison captured six of the 10 bouts to improve to 11-6, 5-3 EIWA on the year, while the Bearcats fell to 11-7, 7-4 EIWA. It was the second straight year the Bucknell-Binghamton match came down to the final bout. Last year, Stolfi narrowly lost by decision to nationally ranked Tyler Deuel in Davis Gym, but this year he pinned Connor Calkins in 4:31 to clinch the Bison victory. Stolfi improved to 17-1 on the year as he posted his 12th consecutive win. Greene took the mat with Bucknell trailing 15-12. He ended up on the right side of an 8-6 decision against Mark Tracy. It was the fifth win by decision of the night for the Bison and it tied the score at 15-15, setting the stage for Stolfi. Paul Petrov opened the match with an 8-1 decision at 125 pounds for Bucknell. After a Binghamton pin at 133 pounds, the Bison won three of the next four bouts by decision. Tyler Smith was victorious at 141, while Victor Lopez won at 149 and Robert Schlitt at 165. Those three decisions were by a combined 14 points with the closest margin being four points. Following Schlitt's win at 165, the Bison held a 12-9 lead, but nationally ranked Bucknell wrestlers Rustin Barrick (174) and Tom Sleigh (184) both lost by one point to nationally ranked foes. The Bison improved to 5-2 all-time against Binghamton with Friday's victory. Bucknell will conclude the regular season Saturday with a 1 p.m. match at Columbia. Bucknell 21, Binghamton 15 Exhibition: Kyle Kelly (Bing) maj. dec. Ben Bliss (Buck), 16-4. 125: No. 11/9/12 Paul Petrov (Buck) dec. Steven Bulzomi (Bing), 8-1. 133: Jacob Nicholson (Bing) pinned Grim Gonzalez (Buck), 0:31. 141: No. --/16/-- Tyler Smith (Buck) dec. Dylan Caruana (Bing), 9-4. 149: Victor Lopez (Buck) dec. Jesse Dellavecchia (Bing), 6-1. 157: Vincent DePrez (Bing) dec. Logan Kerin (Buck), 8-5. 165: Robert Schlitt (Buck) dec. Anthony DePrez (Bing), 5-1. 174: No. --/28/-- Jack McKeever (Bing) dec. No. 20/22/-- Rustin Barrick (Buck), 3-2. 184: No. 18/20/-- Steve Schneider (Bing) dec. No. --/23/-- Tom Sleigh (Buck), 5-4. 197: Tyler Greene (Buck) dec. Mark Tracy (Bing), 8-6 285: No. 8/8/16 Joe Stolfi (Buck) pinned Connor Calkins (Bing), 4:31. Rankings are Intermat/WrestlingReport/FloWrestling

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- On Senior Day at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Harvard wrestling team emerged with a 34-15 victory over Hofstra in the final dual of the season. The Crimson, which improved to 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the EIWA, won seven of the 10 bouts, while the Pride falls to 5-12 and 1-6. The match opened with a victory by Tyler Tarsi, as he shut down Jahlani Callendar with a 4-0 decision at 157 lbs. Devon Gobbo, ranked No. 19 in the country at 165, followed with a technical fall against Cory Goshkagarian, winning, 18-3, and putting Harvard up, 8-0, in the team score. After Hofstra pulled ahead by a slight margin, 9-8, Josh Popple picked up a major decision as he defeated Omar Haddad, 10-2, at 197. With four matches remaining and the Crimson trailing, 15-12, Nolan Hellickson earned a late pin against Bryan Damon, as he emerged with a victory at 6:41, making it 18-15 in favor of Harvard. At 133, Jeffrey Ott also pinned his opponent as he put down Marcus Begay at the 4:46 mark and stretched the lead to 24-15. Co-captain Todd Preston, ranked No. 11 in the country, won by forfeit at 141, and Patrick Hogan, also a co-captain, capped the win over Harvard with a major decision against Kyle Krasavage, 13-4. The Crimson will now prepare for the upcoming EIWA Championships, hosted by Princeton March 5-6. Results: 157: Tyler Tarsi (Harvard) dec. Jahlani Callendar (Hofstra), 4-0, 3-0 165: No. 19 Devon Gobbo (Harvard) tech. fall Cory Goshkagarian (Hofstra, 18-3, 8-0 174: Frank Affronti (Hofstra) dec. Josef Johnson (Harvard), 5-4, 8-3 184: Cory Damiana (Hofstra) pinned Michael Mocco (Harvard), 6:40, 8-9 197: Josh Popple (Harvard) major dec. Omar Haddad (Hofstra), 10-2, 12-9 285: Mike Hughes (Hofstra) won by forfeit, 12-15 125: Nolan Hellickson (Harvard) pinned Bryan Damon (Hofstra), 6:41, 18-15 133: Jeffrey Ott (Harvard) pinned Marcus Begay (Hofstra), 4:46, 24-15 141: Todd Preston (Harvard) won by forfeit, 30-15 149: Patrick Hogan (Harvard) major dec. Kyle Krasavage (Hofstra), 13-4, 34-15

Pete Di Pol will be serving as head coach of both the men's and women's wrestling programs at MacMurray College, the NCAA Division III school located in west-central Illinois announced Thursday . PeteDiPolbioDi Pol brings both high school and collegiate wrestling coaching experience to MacMurray. During the 2015-16 school year, Di Pol has coached at Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City, Iowa where he turned around the program from just 10 wins in 2014-15 to 24 victories this season. Earlier in his career, Di Pol coached at high schools in his native New Jersey. Before taking on the job at Heelan last year, Di Pol had coached at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, from 2013-2015. During that time, his teams earned to two national rankings, No. 16 in 2014 and No. 14 in 2015, and it won the conference duals championship in 2015. Before coming to the Midwest, Di Pol coached at the collegiate level at what is now Rowan College at Gloucester County in Sewell, New Jersey. From 2011-13, Di Pol guided his teams at the community college to conference championships, and fourth and fifth-place finishes in the nation in 2012 and 2013, respectively. "MacMurray Athletics is excited about getting a head coach who has Pete's impressive and repeated success in building championship programs to help the College launch its men's and women's wrestling programs," said Justin Fuhler, MacMurray's athletic director. "We know he can hit the ground running, and we wouldn't be the least surprised if MacMurray wrestling quickly returns to its former glory under his direction." "Getting a chance to build a program from the ground up is an opportunity that not many coaches get," said Di Pol. "The historic past of MacMurray Wrestling will make that job easier, and I'm looking forward to fielding a strong team from Day One." "It is evident with my discussions with our Athletic Director Justin Fuhler and College President Dr. Mark Tierno that they are committed to ensuring the success of the wrestling program and our future wrestlers on and off the mat," Di Pol said. "Their passion for this new program resonated with my own passion and desire to succeed here and develop champions on and off the mat as well." MacMurray had announced the return of wrestling in early January, resurrecting its men's program which had been eliminated in 2007, and adding a new women's program. Both programs are expected to take to the mat during the 2016-17 school year. MacMurray College describes itself as "a four-year, career-directed college with a strong liberal arts tradition." Founded in 1846, the school -- with an enrollment of approximately 600 students -- is located in the city of Jacksonville, about 30 miles west of the state capital of Springfield. The Highlander sports teams compete in NCAA Division III.

Logan Stieber turned a lot of heads this week in Belarus when he wrestled defending World champion Frank Chamizo (Italy) to a razor-thin 10-8 decision loss. Logan Stieber gets in on a shot against Kellen Russell at the 2015 U.S. Open (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Stieber would eventually go 4-1 on the day and take the bronze, signaling to many in the wrestling community that the former Buckeye is a serious contender for Rio 2016. Stieber's failures have mostly come from a lack of conditioning, lackadaisical/dangerous defensive positions and last-minute (last-second) failures in tactics. While all very critical parts of wrestling success, his victories in spite of these issues seems to reaffirm that he's rocketing to the top of the 65-kilo division. In his way is Brent Metcalf, who is still one of the best wrestlers in the world at the weight class, despite not taking home hardware. Most American fans are interested in medals as the only sign of progress, but on close inspection Metcalf too has been making significant changes and improvements for more than two years. Also at 65 kilos is Jordan Oliver who on his best day is very difficult to outwrestle. He has incredible coaching and owns the last win over Stieber. Still, Stieber intrigues a lot of wrestling fans, if only because he wrestles with fluidity in difficult positions and often comes out with points. That conversion reminds many of the best Russians we've seen over the last twenty years. Winners. Guys who take a dead-to-rights hi-crotch attempts and turn them into ballet-like four-point throws. Stieber, more than anyone at the weight class, can make those highlight reel moves happen. The Olympic Team Trials will be can't miss programming in April for several reasons, but none more so than the impending free-for-all at 65 kilos. To your questions … Q: What is your stance on the argument that we (USA) should replace folkstyle with freestyle because "we'd win more world/Olympic medals"? Is increasing the likelihood that elite wrestlers win international medals a goal of our high school/college level wrestling programs? What's wrong with promoting a traditional American style that we can (proudly) think of as our own? None of this is intended to say that folkstyle can't be improved (pushout rule, please!), but why would we want to discard folkstyle? I think that UWW is doing a great thing trying to promote/support traditional wrestling styles all over the world, and I hope that other Americans can see the value in ours. -- Irv Foley: We discuss these rule changes often, but I don't think it comes through enough that I see the value in preserving our traditional form of the sport. Can it be wacky? Yes. Are the rules nonsensical at times? Obviously. But there are a lot of people who love the sport just the way it is. I think pushouts would help and a little more attention to proper stall calls, but overall Americans enjoy the product and want to see more of it all the time. I think that there is a balance that can be struck, where more medals would be won at the international level if only for a few changes. Still, there is success at the international level, interest at home and a longstanding well-documented history attached to the sport. There is value in that tradition, which I and others like you want to preserve. Q: Virginia Tech is the second best non-Big Ten team. Why the hell aren't they wrestling Penn State (again) or Iowa in the NWCA National Duals Championship Series? Selecting NC State over them is a slap in the face. -- Mike C. Foley: For me the new NWCA National Duals was a very confusing situation to follow. What is the long term goal behind this year's format? Who supports it internally? Why this format? Maybe I had my head in the sand at the beaches of Rio, but this snuck up on me. Re-reading the press releases has given me much more insight, but the first-blush response to hearing about everything was more head scratching than head nodding. The jump is based on the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll, which fed back to strength of schedule, number of wins and a variety of other numbers. NC State did wrestle a brutal schedule and a Penn State-Virginia Tech rematch seems kind of anti-climactic so I don't mind the matchups. However, if they want to use this as a formula for eventually choosing the team title in March I think that some adjustments would need to be made. I don't see an undefeated Alabama losing in the SEC title game to an undefeated Florida and the latter not jumping the former. Yes, I just used a football metaphor. MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME John Danaher discusses the need for cross-training in grappling sports for all grappling sports … Very smart human Blind female high school wrestler Q: What is your takeaway from the Kyle Snyder-Khadzhimurat Gatsalov match at the Medved International? -- Mike C. Foley: First, for anyone who missed the match, Snyder was winning 2-1 before getting caught chasing a shot and pancaked for four points, losing 5-4. The match was a decent display for Snyder. He opened up a nice 2-0 lead in a hostile environment and wrestled hard for six minutes. Was a silly mistake to make, but overall it's fixable and it's not the Olympics. At no point was Snyder outclassed. What Snyder is trying to achieve this year is absolutely bonkers! I understand that he came late to the NCAA season, but when he did so I thought he'd stay on the collegiate mats. Instead, about a week removed from a dual meet he heads to Belarus to take on a pack of former World and Olympic champions -- many of whom are hitting the mats for only the second or third time in the last six months. Despite this schedule, I know that Snyder won't be run down by the Olympic Games in August. It's difficult to remember, but Snyder won a World title after very few senior level freestyle matches. Now is his learning time, and I suspect that the product will be improved by the start of Rio 2016. So, overall, a very positive outing. Q: Should college wrestling move to a light/dark singlet rather than ankle bands? This is a leading question … of course they should. -- Darrin H. Foley: Sure, but that would take some re-education of referees, some startup capital for each team and some progress on ensuring that white singlets don't reveal too much about our athletes' private lives. I'd prefer to keep drawing closer to the idea of a rash guard and fight shorts. I roll jiu-jitsu every day in the type of shorts we'd use and have yet to see an issue. Also, as I've stated ad nausea we would increase youth participation, create higher revenue sales and be more palatable to the main stream. The argument for keeping them is shorter: Because … tradition. Q: Seems like it's going to be a sad ending to Hunter Stieber's college wrestling career. How are you going to remember him? -- Mike C. Foley: Agreed on the sad part. Wish he'd have found more success after his surgeries. When I think of Hunter I think of the Mitchell Port loss at the 2013 NCAA Championships and how a win there would've probably propelled him to an NCAA title and bumped the family title total to five -- one more than the over/under set by Brian Muir.

Fairfax, Va. -- The George Mason University wrestling team defeated Virginia Military Institute, 16-15 in thrilling fashion but lost to Lock Haven, 22-14. Mason had strong efforts from redshirt senior captain Vince Rodriguez(133) redshirt senior captain Greg Flournoy(157) and redshirt freshman Matt Voss(HWT). With the two results, Mason moves to 8-13 on the season and 2-4 in the Eastern Wrestling League. The first dual of the night against EWL foe Lock Haven started out well for the Patriots, who led 7-0 after the first two matches. Redshirt sophomore Ibrahim Bunduka(125) was victorious by major decision 16-3 and Rodriguez followed up the act with an impressive 5-2 win by decision over the number 33 ranked wrestler in the country, Robert Rehm. After Rodriguez's victory, the four matches starting at 141 and ending at 165 were extremely close. In the first period of each of those four matches, not one point was scored by either team. Flournoy was the only Patriot to come out on top in those four matches, winning by decision, 6-1. Flournoy's win gave the Patriots a 10-6 advantage going into the final five matches of the dual. The lead would evaporate for Mason as the Bald Eagles took control. Even though the Patriots were not in a position to win the dual, Voss wrestled strong and was able to earn a victory by major decision in the final match of the dual, 11-3. Voss gained control of the match in the second period and refused to let his opponent gain any momentum the rest of the way. However, the Patriots would go down by the final score of, 22-14. In the next dual against VMI, the Patriots split their first four matches. Rodriguez won by decision, 4-1, capping off an undefeated night for the Fresno, Calif. native. Redshirt senior Blake Roulo(149) brought the Patriots level with the Keydets at 6, when he won by decision, 7-3. Flournoy followed up Roulo with a decision victory, 3-1. The Patriots then lost two matches in a row before redshirt junior Luke Ludke(184) turned in his best performance of the season. Ludke dominated VMI's Ben Wagner and earned a major decision victory, 11-3, which put the Patriots up by one, 13-12. After a tough loss by freshman Cameron Houston in overtime, the table was set for Voss to once again be the hero of a dual. Voss found himself down 1-0 after a VMI escape but the young Patriot produced a massive reversal to flip the script and take the lead, 2-1. Voss ended up losing a point due to his opponent's escape, but due to riding time, Voss won by decision 3-2 meaning the Patriots were victorious as well, 16-15. Mason will have little time to regroup for Senior day Feb. 21 against American University after two competitive and grueling duals. The Patriots final regular season dual will begin at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, at the RAC. Lock Haven 22, George Mason 14 125: Ibrahim Bunduka (George Mason) over Jake Field (Lock Haven) (MD 16-3) 133: Vince Rodriguez (George Mason) over Robert Rehm (Lock Haven) (Dec 5-2) 141: Cody Wheeler (Lock Haven) over Tejon Anthony (George Mason) (Dec 5-1) 149: Daniel Neff (Lock Haven) over Blake Roulo (George Mason) (Dec 3-2) 157: Gregory Flournoy (George Mason) over Aaron McKinney (Lock Haven) (Dec 6-1) 165: Cody Cordes (Lock Haven) over Patrick Davis (George Mason) (Dec 4-2) 174: Tyler Wood (Lock Haven) over Ryan Forrest (George Mason) (Dec 7-3) 184: Tristan Sponseller (Lock Haven) over Luke Ludke (George Mason) (TF 18-3 5:50) 197: Phil Sprenkle (Lock Haven) over Cameron Houston (George Mason) (TF 17-2 0:00) 285: Matt Voss (George Mason) over Brad Emerick (Lock Haven) (MD 11-3) George Mason 16, VMI 15 125: Dalton Henderson (Vmi) over Ibrahim Bunduka (George Mason) (Dec 4-3) 133: Vince Rodriguez (George Mason) over Dominick Gallo (Vmi) (Dec 4-1) 141: Darren Ostrander (Vmi) over Tejon Anthony (George Mason) (Dec 10-5) 149: Blake Roulo (George Mason) over Stevan Smith (Vmi) (Dec 7-3) 157: Gregory Flournoy (George Mason) over Neal Richards (Vmi) (Dec 3-1) 165: Shabaka Johns (Vmi) over Patrick Davis (George Mason) (Dec 9-2) 174: Mark Darr (Vmi) over Ryan Forrest (George Mason) (Dec 7-4) 184: Luke Ludke (George Mason) over Ben Wagner (Vmi) (MD 11-3) 197: Taylor Thomas (Vmi) over Cameron Houston (George Mason) (TB-1 7-5) 285: Matt Voss (George Mason) over Urayoan Garcia (Vmi) (Dec 3-2)

Virginia Tech won't be wrestling at the University of Iowa as part of the 2016 NWCA National Duals Championship Series this Monday, Feb. 22 ... and that has Hokies head wrestling coach Kevin Dresser accusing the Hawkeye coaching staff of conspiring with the National Wrestling Coaches Association to make sure North Carolina State was selected as Iowa's opponent instead of Dresser's team. Kevin Dresser coaches Joey Dance in the NCAAs against Iowa's Thomas Gilman (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Dresser shared his anger with wrestling journalist and broadcaster Jason Bryant on the Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling podcast posted on Wednesday. For the first 15 minutes or so of the interview, Bryant and Dresser discussed Virginia Tech's 19-14 defeat of NC State in Raleigh on Friday, Feb. 12. Then the upcoming National Duals became the focus. "I think Virginia Tech should be wrestling in Iowa," said Dresser. "We're excited about wrestling Michigan. It's a quality program, and a tremendous honor. It will be a good war ..." Then Dresser shifted to what might have been: a Hokies vs. Hawkeyes battle. "The NWCA dropped the ball big-time. I've been a (NWCA Executive Director) Mike Moyer fan and to a degree I still am but I've lost a lot of respect for how this went down." "We should be in Iowa City. Nothing against NC State but the process was described one way and it never happened the way it was explained." In determining matchups for the 2016 National Duals Championship Series, the NWCA used the rankings from the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll for Feb. 15, 2016. Penn State and Iowa took the top two spots in the rankings, with perfect records of 15-0 and 16-0, respectively. Oklahoma State was ranked third, with a 12-2 record. NC State was No. 4 with a 22-1 mark, followed by 15-2 Virginia Tech being ranked fifth (despite the outcome of their dual meet last Friday). Live blogger Britt Malinsky -- known on wrestling message boards as SetonHallPirate on TheMat.com forum -- posted this message on that website's discussion group: "There wasn't a vote, but there certainly was consensus. The vote was taken by the coaches on the NWCA/USA Today Coaches' Poll, and that vote had North Carolina State TWELVE POINTS ahead of Virginia Tech. (for those wondering, each coach votes 1-25, 25 points for first, 24 for second, 23 for third, and so on down to 1 for 25th) ..." Ranking methodology aside, Dresser maintains that he thinks the Hokie-Hawkeye matchup would have been more appealing to fans that the Wolfpack-Hawkeye dual that will take place this weekend. "I think most wrestling fans thought we should be wrestling Iowa ... Do Iowa fans want to see NC State wrestle? Iowa doesn't want to lose to us. This team had a chance to beat Iowa," said Dresser. "There's a lot of history between Iowa and Virginia Tech. Some other coaches have said Iowa wanted to avoid wrestling us ..." While there's considerable discussion as to whether the Hawkeyes were indeed trying to avoid taking on the Hokies, there's little disputing Dresser's comment regarding history between the mat programs of Iowa City and Blacksburg ... in a number of ways. For starters, Dresser is a native of Humboldt, Iowa (hometown to early 1900s professional wrestling legend Frank Gotch, whose fame and mass appeal helped launch amateur wrestling programs throughout the U.S.) who wrestled at University of Iowa, and in fact served as an assistant coach to Dan Gable. Mike Zadick in his first season on the Virginia Tech coaching staff (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Dresser isn't the only former Hawkeye mat star on the Virginia Tech coaching staff. Former Iowa wrestlers Mike Zadick and Derek St. John also coach the Hokies. Then there's the situation from a decade ago, where current Iowa head coach Tom Brands left the helm at Virginia Tech, taking with him some prize recruits, including Brent Metcalf, Jay Borschel, Joe Slaton and Dan LeClere. The mass departure put the Hokie wrestling program in jeopardy at the time ... but VT school administrators exacted a form of revenge by refusing to release these wrestlers from their scholarships, costing them a year of eligibility. A decade later, it appears there may still be some bad blood on the part of at least one of the head coaches of the two programs. By contrast, in response to Dresser's comments, Tom Brands said the following, as shared by Andy Hamilton on Twitter: "My memories of Kevin Dresser are that he won a national championship in 1986 right here at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. I was a junior in high school and that was my birthday present. That was a big deal for me. He was always someone I looked up to. When he was coaching high school, he was a great coach and he hired me to do clinics. If there is any controversy with the National Duals it's that Iowa should be wrestling Penn State for the national championship." Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan, a former Hawkeye wrestler, also got into the discussion with this message on Wednesday evening, shared in a separate article at the Saturday Night Ride blog: "Amazing this is still being discussed. A panel of 10 coaches rank coaches each week. On Valentine's Day eve from 5 p.m.-11 p.m., a committee got on a call to finalize dual match-ups. The committee voted that we would follow the protocol in the contract sent to teams. That stated that the final coaches poll would determine the big bowls and "common sense" could be used for lesser bowls. The rankings came in at 9 p.m. EST as follows: PSU, IA, OK ST, NC STATE and VTECH. The top bowls were then set, NC STATE to IOWA, OK STATE to PSU. Tough call as all sides have argument." Coach Ryan later responded directly to the Saturday Night Ride blog with this Tweet: "Who cares who coaches wanted to or didn't want to wrestle. Contract said final coach rank trumps all. So it did!" Whether the college wrestling community buys into Kevin Dresser's argument that the University of Iowa was afraid to wrestle Virginia Tech at the 2016 National Duals -- setting the stage for the Hawkeyes to face the NC State Wolfpack -- one thing is certain: the controversy certainly has stirred up considerable interest in the event ... which can't be bad for the sport.

BISMARCK, N.D. -- On a night where seniors took center stage, it was the underclassmen who stole the limelight as the University of Mary Wrestling team took on Northern State University. The Marauders (7-11, 2-5 NSIC) got ascending team points in the first four matches of the night as freshmen Josh Jensen, Tate Barnhardt, Rudy Guillen and Jakob Weisbrod powered U-Mary to an 18-0 team lead and eventually took the match at 33-13 over the Wolves (7-14, 1-6 NSIC), avenging the loss earlier in the season during the Marauder Duals. The seventh team win exceeds U-Mary's total wins in the past three seasons combined and the most since they went 6-5 in the 2011-12 season. Jensen got the ball rolling at 125 pounds against Ben Cauffman as the Marauder scored the only points of the bout through the first two periods with a pair of takedowns and a 4-0 lead going into the third. Cauffman chose neutral in the final period and took a penalty point after Jensen was hit with two stall warnings, but the Wolf couldn't find the winning combination as Jensen took home the 5-1 decision to get U-Mary on the board. Barnhardt followed that up with a dominant showing at 133 pounds against Carson Henry to keep the score in U-Mary's favor as Barnhardt notched three takedowns and a two-point nearfall through two periods for an 8-1 lead heading into the third. Barnhardt chose bottom in the third frame and scored the quick escape, fired off another takedown, and took the riding time point for the 12-2 major decision that put the Marauders up 7-0 early into the dual. Guillen went next at 141 pounds against C.J. Voegeli as the Marauder continued the strong start with a pair of takedowns, a two-point nearfall, and a four-point nearfall for a commanding 10-0 lead heading into the third. Voegeli took neutral in the final period but Guillen would not be denied as the Marauder fired off four straight takedowns, coupled with the riding time point, for a 19-3 victory by technical fall at 6:42 for the 12-0 team lead through three matches. Weisbrod carried his momentum from the spladle on Sunday and caught Matt Bettencourt at 149 pounds out of position early on with the inside trip and put the Wolf on his back with the pin at 1:11 to lock in the team win with an 18-0 lead through four matches. Northern State had a forfeit at the 174 and heavyweight bouts that would essentially give the Marauders a 30-0 lead with six matches in their favor. The remaining bout still took their time on the mat, though, as Dane Fischer took on Blake Perryman at 157 pounds with the Wolf taking the early lead at 4-1 with a pair of takedowns in the first period. Fischer fought back in the second frame with a couple takedowns of his home to stay hot on Perryman's heel at 6-5 heading into the third. Fischer kept the pressure up as Perryman chose bottom in the frame and scored a quick escape before Fischer recorded another takedown to knot the score at 7-7 with the riding time officially out of Perryman's hands. Perryman scored the quick escaped and Fischer fired off another takedown attempt in the waning seconds but fell just short and Perryman countered with his successful takedown attempt to seal the first win for Northern State with a 10-7 decision, putting the team score at 18-3. Paul Michaelson was the final Marauder to take a win in the dual as he faced Grant Steen at 165 pounds following the intermission. Both grapplers couldn't find an opening through the first two periods as Steen was issued a stall warning midway through the second, but Michaelson upped the ante in the third period as he scored the quick reversal after choosing bottom and followed up with an immediate four-point nearfall for a 6-0 lead late in the bout. Steen scored the escape and took Michaelson down to cut into his lead at 6-3, but Michaelson scored an escape of his own paired with another takedown to take the decision over Steen at 9-3 and putting the team score at 21-3. Dylan Mitzel took the forfeit at 174 pounds to move the score to 27-3 and Riley Nagel was the first senior to make an appearance as he moved up a weight class to 184 pounds to face David Murphy. Murphy's match was the deciding factor earlier in the season during the Marauder Duals and Nagel was tasked with making his Senior Night a success. Nagel held the early lead after a quick takedown put Murphy to the mat, but the Wolf reversed the position and scored the four-point nearfall to take the wind out of the Marauder's sails. Nagel went bottom in the second period and recorded the escape, but Murphy fired off another takedown and caught Nagel out of position to score the pin at the 4:38 mark that put the score at 27-9. Tom DeVito was the next senior to make an appearance as he took on No. 7 ranked Joe Gomez at 197 pounds, and Gomez demonstrated his national ranking early on with a pair of takedowns, and a penalty point after DeVito was flagged for stalling, for a 5-1 lead going into the second. Gomez took another penalty point in the second period before DeVito scored the escape, and Gomez eventually took the 15-4 major decision after another trio of takedowns in the final period to put the score at 27-13. Travis Smith was the last senior on the mat but was denied a bout in his final home dual as he took the forfeit to finalize the score at 33-13. The Marauders will wrap up their regular season on the road this Sunday as they take on Minnesota State University Moorhead on Sunday, February 21, to make up for the postponement earlier in the year. The dual will start at 2 PM. Results: 125: Josh Jensen (MARY) over Ben Cauffman (NOST) (Dec 5-1) 133: Tate Barnhardt (MARY) over Carson Henry (NOST) (MD 12-2) 141: Rudy Guillen (MARY) over Cody Voegeli (NOST) (TF 19-3 6:42) 149: Jakob Weisbrod (MARY) over Matt Bettencourt (NOST) (Fall 1:11) 157: Blake Perryman (NOST) over Dane Fischer (MARY) (Dec 10-7) 165: Paul Michaelson (MARY) over Grant Steen (NOST) (Dec 9-3) 174: Dylan Mitzel (MARY) over (NOST) (For.) 184: David Murphy (NOST) over Riley Nagel (MARY) (Fall 4:38) 197: Joe Gomez (NOST) over Tom DeVito (MARY) (MD 15-4) 285: Travis Smith (MARY) over (NOST) (For.)

LANCASTER, Pa. -- For the sixth consecutive year, the Rupp Cup will remain on Franklin & Marshall's campus as the Diplomats (5-12) downed Millersville (6-9) by a 25-13 score on Thursday evening at the Mayser Center. The win was F&M's second straight on the season and continued an unbeaten streak against the Marauders that now stretches back to 2011. For more information about the history of the Rupp Cup, click here. A forfeit from the Diplomats at 125 placed the home team in an early hole, before Scott Stevens put F&M's first points on the board with a takedown in the first overtime to seal a 2-0 decision at 133. Rick Durso followed with a a late first period pin (2:35) at 141 to put the Diplomats out in front by a 9-3 score. The fall was the 24th of Durso's career, which now ties him for fifth on the program's all-time list. A pair of takedowns from Jason Bing at 149 highlighted a narrow 6-3 decision, while Brandon Giovanetti (165) put the momentum back on F&M's side following a major decision from Millersville at 157. Giovanetti notched three takedowns in the opening period and held on for the 8-6 decision to make the team score 15-10 heading into 174. Josh Young dominated the next match, scoring a total of six takedowns in an impressive 16-5 major decision. Anthony Mancini tallied two escapes in the third to edge Millersville's Kyle Narber by a 5-4 score at 184 while Antonio Pelusi closed out the match with a 7-4 decision at 285. The Diplomats conclude the regular season by hosting conference opponent Sacred Heart on Saturday. The 8:00 p.m. contest will serve as senior day for F&M's seven-member class. Results: 125: Austin Camacci (MILL) over (F&M) (For.) 133: Scott Stevens (F&M) over Alex Baider (MILL) (SV-1 2-0) 141: Rick Durso (F&M) over Thomas Nulty (MILL) (Fall 2:35) 149: Jason Bing (F&M) over Nick Haegele (MILL) (Dec 6-3) 157: Douglas Mele (MILL) over Michael Marano (F&M) (MD 10-0) 165: Brandon Giovanetti (F&M) over Seth Decker (MILL) (Dec 8-6) 174: Joshua Young (F&M) over Nick Mancini (MILL) (MD 16-5) 184: Anthony Mancini (F&M) over Kyle Narber (MILL) (Dec 5-4) 197: Colton Dull (MILL) over Charles Kerkesner (F&M) (Dec 3-2) 285: Antonio Pelusi (F&M) over David Wuestner (MILL) (Dec 7-4)

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Freshman 149-pounder Justin Oliver won his 12th-straight match Thursday evening as the Central Michigan wrestling team defeated non-conference Wisconsin, 18-11, in its home finale at McGuirk Arena. The Chippewas improve to 10-5 on the season. They go to Old Dominion (2 p.m.) on Sunday for their regular-season finale, a Mid-American Conference dual with the Monarchs, 5-12, 0-6. “I thought we wrestled pretty good tonight,” CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. “I felt like in a few weight classes we could have scored a few more points and been a little more aggressive but overall I though we wrestled well.” With the win, CMU finishes the season with a 3-1 record in dual meets against Big Ten opponents including a wins over Purdue and Michigan State. The Chippewas fell to Michigan. Purdue is ranked 23rd, the Wolverines are ranked eighth. Oliver, who is 25-4 on the season, is ranked as the No. 9 in the nation according to Intermatwrestle.com “Growing up and looking at the college rankings it was exciting for me,” Oliver said. “The first realization that I was ranked was pretty awesome, but I'm looking to get on the podium at the end of the season (NCAA Championships).” Oliver who spent the first part of the season as the backup to Colin Heffernan, who is ranked No.13 at 149 by Amateur Wrestling News. Oliver will start for CMU the rest of the way. “Me and Colin have a pretty good relationship and for the most part If I'm about to wrestle a kid he's familiar with he'll give me tip on what they do and their tendencies,” Oliver said. The Chippewas opened the duel with victories from Jordan Ellingwood (184) and Jackson Lewis (197). Lewis was one of four seniors wrestling his final match at McGuirk. All four, including Zach Horan (141), Luke Smith (157) and Mike Ottinger (174), won his respective match on Thursday. “They have meant a lot to this program,” Borrelli said. “Those guys have been starters for four years, they've won a lot of matches here and have been good representatives of the athletic department.” Sophomore Brent Fleetwood made his return to the lineup after missing the last four duals with an injury. He fell, 7-2, to Johnny Jimenez. I was happy to get Brent back out there even though he didn't win,” Borrelli said. “We needed to get him back out there and get him going before the MAC Tournament so that was a real positive. “I know he's not happy with the way he wrestled, but you can't take three weeks off with an injury and come back and be the same guy. It takes a little while.” CMU junior Corey Keener (133) dropped a nail biting 9-6 decision to the Badgers No. 12-ranked Ryan Taylor, an All-American in 2015. “I thought (Keener) wrestled really good even in a loss,” Borrelli said. “He was right there with him and that kid was really good, an All-American last year and won over 30 matches. Just a real quality wrestler.” The Chippewas won four of the final five weight classes to seal the win. Sunday's opponent, Old Dominion, defeated CMU, 22-9, last season in a dual at McGuirk. “There should be a lot of extra motivation from our guys,” Borrelli said. “ ou don't like getting embarrassed in your home arena and I feel like last year when the came here we got embarrassed.” Results: 125: Johnny Jimenez (UW) dec. Brent Fleetwood (CMU), 7-2 (6-6)
 133: Ryan Taylor (UW) dec. Corey Keener (CMU), 9-6 (9-6)
 141: Zach Horan (CMU) dec. Gabriel Grahek (UW), 4-2 (9-9)
 149: Justin Oliver (CMU) dec. Andrew Crone (UW), 9-4 (12-9)
 157: Luke Smith (CMU) dec. TJ Ruschell (UW), 5-3 (15-9)
 165: Rylan Lubeck (UW) dec. Jordan Atienza (CMU), 11-9 (15-11)* 
174: Mike Ottinger (CMU) dec. Ricky Robertson (UW), 6-3 (18-11) 
184: Jordan Ellingwood (CMU) dec. Ryan Christensen (UW), 4-1 (3-0) 
197: Jackson Lewis (CMU) dec. Nic Veling (UW), 7-3 (6-0) HWT: Brock Horwath (UW) dec. Newton Smerchek(CMU), 2-1 (TB-2) (6-3) 

*One point was deducted from Wisconsin's team total for a second bench warning during the 165 pound match. The meet started at 184 pounds.

PRINCETON, NJ -- The Broncs won five of 10 bouts to defeat cross-town rival Princeton Thursday evening in Dillon Gym. Rider has now won the last 16 meetings with Princeton, including an 18-15 victory last year when both teams also won five bouts. "We knew this was going to be tight, and so did Princeton," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. "Fortunately we came out on top." The 1981-82 season is the last time Princeton defeated Rider. For Rider (11-9) senior Robert Deutsch (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional), junior Ryan Wolfe (New Castle, Del./Caravel), senior Conor Brennan (Brick, NJ/Brick Twp.), sophomore B.J. Clagon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South) and sophomore Chad Walsh (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) were winners. Deutsch (16-5) won by tech fall to cut the lead to 13-11. His extra points on the tech fall were the difference. "Sometimes when you try to pin a guy you spend all your time trying to get the pin and you don't get the secondary points you need," Taylor said. "Rob did a great job of getting the technical fall, what we needed there." Wolfe (16-4 in duals) defeated the seventh ranked wrestler in the nation, Brett Harner. "I have to give Coach (John) Hangey a lot of credit for that," Taylor said. "John worked hard with Ryan on a game plan and Wolfe stuck with that game plan. He got the one take down he needed, he wrestled hard the whole time, and it was a great match between two very good wrestlers. That was a great win and a good revenge win." Princeton's Harner had won 12 straight matches before Thursday, including a 3-1 decision over Wolfe at Midlands. "It was an extremely close match the first time they met," Taylor said. "We had to change up the game plan. The first time it looked like Harner had the better game plan. Tonight it looked like we had the better game plan and I give John all the credit. It was 100 percent right." Walsh (22-6) won 10-4 for the final score. "Chad thrives on that stuff," Taylor said. "I wouldn't rather have anybody else in that situation. He really responded to the situation and he beat a kid who is really good. The Princeton kid (Krop) has beaten some good wrestlers. It was a great win for a lot of different reasons. It was one of the better matches I've seen Chad wrestle all year." Clagon (16-9), ranked 20th in the nation, won to cut the lead to 16-14 with one bout remaining. Brennan (23-3), ranked ninth in the nation, won to give Rider a 3-0 lead. For Princeton (8-8) Jon Schleifer, ranked 16th in the nation, picked up his 20th win of the season to tie the score at 3-3. Rider travels to the University of Maryland Saturday for the final dual meet of the season. "We've got to be ready," Taylor said. "They are a BIG 10 school and we're looking forward to the challenge." Rider competes in the EWL Championships March 5 at Lock Haven. Results: 165 Conor Brennan-R dec. Judd Ziegler-P 8-3 3-0 174 Jon Schleifer-P dec. Curt Delia-R 7-4 3-3 184 Abram Ayala-P major dec. Michale Fagg-Daves-R 15-6 3-7 197 Ryan Wolfe-R dec. Brett Harner-P 3-2 6-7 Hwt Ray O'Donnell-P dec. Mauro Correnti-R 8-3 6-10 125 Pat D'Arcy-P dec. Zach Valcarce-R 5-0 6-13 133 Rob Deutsch-R tech fall Trey Aslanian-P 6:30 11-13 141 Jordan Laster-P dec. Paul Kirchner-R 5-2 11-16 149 B.J. Clagon-R dec. Mike D'Angelo-P 12-10 14-16 157 Chad Walsh-R dec. Adam Krop-P 10-4 17-16

FAIRFAX, Va. -- The Lock Haven University wrestling team won six bouts, including four of the last five and the Bald Eagles rallied past host George Mason 22-14 tonight in Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) action, wrapping up 2015-16 regular season. With the win, Lock Haven moves back to .500 and wraps up the season at 9-9 overall. The nine dual wins are the most since LHU won nine back in the 2007-08 season. It also marks Lock Haven's second straight 3-3 EWL finish. The Bald Eagles also remained unbeaten vs. George Mason (8-12, 2-4 EWL), improving to 10-0 all-time. Highlighting The Haven's victory was Dan Neff's (Quarryville, Pa./Solanco) 16th straight win and back-to-back tech falls from Tristan Sponseller (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs), and Phil Sprenkle (Seven Valleys, Pa./Dallastown). Lock Haven also got wins from Cody Wheeler (Towanda, Pa./Towanda), Cody Cordes (Edwardsville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) and Tyler Wood (West Chester, Pa./West Chester-Rustin). George Mason jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead after picking up wins at 125 (major dec.) and 133. Wheeler put Lock Haven on the board and titled the momentum in the Bald Eagles favor with a 5-1 victory at 141. Neff made it two straight Haven victories as he grinded out a 3-2 win at 149. With the win, Neff, a returning All-American who is currently ranked No. 17 improved to 16-0 since returning to 149 pounds on December 17. George Mason picked up another win at 157 and led 10-6, but it was all Lock Haven from there as LHU won four of the last five bouts. Highlighting the Bald Eagle rally was the back-to-back tech falls from Sponseller and Sprenkle at 184 and 197. The Bald Eagles are set to host the 2016 EWL Championships on Saturday, March 5. Check www.GoLHU.com in the coming days for much more on the championship event. Results: 125: Ibrahim Banduka (GMU) major dec. Jake Field (LHU) 16-3; George Mason leads 4-0 133: Vince Rodriguez (GMU) dec. Bobby Rehm (LHU) 5-2; George Mason leads 7-0 141: Cody Wheeler (LHU) dec. Tejon Anthony (GMU) 5-1; George Mason leads 7-3 149: Dan Neff (LHU) dec. Blake Roulo (GMU) 3-2; George Mason leads 7-6 157: Gregory Flournoy (GMU) dec. Aaron McKinney (LHU) 6-1; George Mason leads 10-6 165: Cody Cordes (LHU) dec. Patrick Davis (GMU) 4-2; George Mason leads 10-9 174: Tyler Wood (LHU) dec. Ryan Forrest (GMU) 7-3; Lock Haven leads 12-10 184: Tristan Sponseller (LHU) tech fall Luke Ludke (GMU) 18-3 (5:50); Lock Haven leads 17-10 197: Phil Sprenkle (LHU) tech fall Cameron (GMU) 17-2 (7:00); Lock Haven leads 22-10 285: Matt Voss (GMU) major dec. Brad Emerick (LHU) 11-3; Lock Haven wins 22-14

Penn State freshman Jason Nolf defeated returning NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez of Illinois earlier this season (Photo/Darrell Hoemann, Fighting Illini Athletics)This Sunday, No. 1 Penn State and No. 5 Oklahoma State will face off in the NWCA National Duals Championship Series main event. The dual meet can be seen live on the Big Ten Network Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. The following is a weight-by-weight preview of the dual meet. The lineups are a prediction of each team's best squad. The predicted outcomes are based on a proprietary statistical model developed by StrikeScoreMMA.com called Wrestler's Pythagorean Expectation (WPE). The model has been previously used to predict the finals of the Midlands Championships, Oklahoma State vs. Missouri and Penn State vs. Ohio State. In those three instances, the model correctly predicted the winner in 92 percent of matches. The WPE for each competitor is list below in parentheses. 125: No. 4 Nico Megaludis, Penn State (90.15) vs. No. 6 Eddie Kilmara, Oklahoma State (90.10) Per the WPE, this should be one of the closer matches of the dual. However, the two met earlier this season in the finals of the Southern Scuffle. Megaludis took that bout via seven-point margin. He should be able to repeat that feat here. However, Oklahoma State will need Kilmara to pull the upset here to have a shot to win the dual Prediction: Megaludis (Penn State) dec. Kilmara (Oklahoma State) 133: No. 5 Jordan Conaway, Penn State (88.07) vs. Gary Wayne Harding, Oklahoma State (26.33) Harding has had a wild season. He began the year as the starter. He then lost the job when coach John Smith pulled the redshirt from Kaid Brock. After an injury to Brock, Harding got back in the lineup. He has performed better than his WPE would indicate as he has picked up recent victories over ranked wrestlers No. 17 Dom Forys (Pittsburgh) and No. 15 Zach Synon (Missouri). With that being said, Conaway will most likely put up some bonus points here. His only two losses this season have come against the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked wrestlers. This month alone he has picked up three wins, including an 8-2 decision over two-time All-American Mason Beckman. Prediction: Conaway (Penn State) maj. dec. Harding (Oklahoma State) 141: Jimmy Gulibon, Penn State (59.02) vs. No. 1 Dean Heil, Oklahoma State (92.74) The struggle has continued for Gulibon at the new weight class as he now finds himself unranked. Heil has evolved into the most consistent wrestler at 141 pounds. Heil should be able to take this one. Cowboy fans will be looking for bonus here, but Heil has only scored bonus points in four dual matches this season. Prediction: Heil (Oklahoma State) dec. Gulibon (Penn State) 149: No. 1 Zain Retherford, Penn State (98.60) vs. No. 12 Anthony Collica, Oklahoma State (86.47) This dual features two of the frontrunners for the Dan Hodge Trophy and Retherford is one. His dominance is reflected in his 98.60 WPE, which is one of the best scores in the nation. On top of that, he has been a bonus point machine for the Nittany Lions. Collica has had a solid season, but he will struggle to stay off his back against Retherford. Prediction: Retherford (Penn State) tech. fall Collica (Oklahoma State) 157: No. 1 Jason Nolf, Penn State (96.33) vs. Hester Lamons or Ryan Blees, Oklahoma State It looks like No. 8 Joe Smith has been ruled out for the dual meet, which takes away one of the more intriguing matches. Nolf and Smith faced off earlier this season in the finals of the Southern Scuffle with Nolf taking a 7-3 decision. In the bout, Smith appeared to pick up the pace late, but it was too little too late. Now, it will be either Lamons or Blees filling in for Smith. For the season, Nolf is still undefeated with 13 falls and 8 technical falls. This will be an uphill battle for either Cowboy wrestler. Prediction: Nolf (Penn State) tech. fall Lamons (Oklahoma State) 165: No. 17 Shakur Rasheed, Penn State (85.92) vs. No. 1 Alex Dieringer, Oklahoma State (98.62) Dieringer is the other frontrunner for the Hodge featured in this dual. Rasheed has surprised a lot of people and been ranked for much of the season. However, Dieringer is on another level. Look for bonus here from the returning NCAA champion. Prediction: Dieringer (Oklahoma State) tech. fall Rasheed (Penn State) 174: No. 1 Bo Nickal, Penn State (94.00) vs. Chandler Rogers, Oklahoma State (71.00) The Cowboy starter for most of the season No. 8 Kyle Crutchmer has been ruled out for this match. Rogers has stepped in as the replacement. He has had a solid season and even beat Crutchmer in the Southern Scuffle. In his last match, he scored a technical fall over Dylan Morris (Stanford). Since dropping his only match of the season to No. 11 Nate Jackson (Indiana), Nickal has won seven straight and picked up bonus in five of those bouts. During that stretch, he has defeated four ranked wrestlers. Prediction: Nickal (Penn State) tech. fall Rogers (Oklahoma State) 184: No. 6 Matt McCutcheon, Penn State (93.12) vs. No. 13 Nolan Boyd, Oklahoma State (84.17) Boyd might be a popular upset pick here. Since the Southern Scuffle he has put together an eight-match winning streak and picked up signature victories over No. 14 Willie Miklus (Missouri) and No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell). Boyd has actually defeated McCutcheon twice over the past two seasons. On top of that, this will be only McCutcheon's fourth match since injury defaulting against Illinois. The WPE numbers listed above are for the entire season. There is drastic difference if we include only matches following the Scuffle. McCutcheon falls to 57.11 while Boyd improves to 89.48. Boyd's current streak, McCutcheon's injury situation and their head-to-head history is too much to ignore. Prediction: Boyd (Oklahoma State) dec. McCutcheon (Penn State) 197: No. 1 Morgan McIntosh, Penn State (97.74) vs. Andrew Marsden (46.30) or Preston Weigel (50.93) Weigel has performed marginally better than Marsden this season and should get the nod here. However, it should not make much of a difference. McIntosh is undefeated on the season and comes into this bout after two technical falls and a fall in his last three bouts. Prediction: McIntosh (Penn State) maj. dec. Weigel (Oklahoma State) 285: No. 16 Nick Nevills, Penn State (62.31) vs. No. 5 Austin Marsden, Oklahoma State (93.11) Nevills returned last week from what was thought to be a season ending injuries. In his return bout, he fell to No. 14 Max Wessell (Lehigh). Nevills then defeated Dimitrus Renfroe (Michigan State). For the season, Marsden has only had trouble with two opponents. He lost to No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State) by decision and picked up a pair of overtime victories over Nathan Butler (Stanford). Marsden should still be the favorite here, but with the return of Nevills the bout goes from almost sure bonus points to a likely decision. Prediction: Marsden (Oklahoma State) dec. Nevills (Penn State) Predicted Dual Meet Score: Penn State 26, Oklahoma State 14 Richard Mann currently runs the data-driven MMA blog StrikeScoreMMA.com.

None of us likes to lose. Some of us take it harder than others. It can be especially painful when it's someone you love who's on the losing end of a wrestling match ... and you feel your offspring has been disrespected in the process. Just ask Stacey Micheel, 40, of the tiny town of Dunning, Neb. who may have taken fatherly pride a bit too far. Micheel was arrested Saturday, Feb. 13 during the Nebraska District D-3 wrestling championships at Cambridge High School in south-central Nebraska. The Furnas County Sheriff's Office said Micheel assaulted a 17-year-old wrestler that had just competed against his son by slamming him to the ground in the hallway. The incident was reportedly witnessed by one individual, and captured on a school surveillance camera. Micheel told investigators the winning wrestler was "talking crap" about his son. Micheel was arrested and jailed for felony child abuse. In addition Micheel was also arrested for an outstanding warrant from Custer County. A Furnas County judge set bond in the amount of $7,500. Micheel has since paid the 10 percent bond and is out of jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 22. In Nebraska, child abuse is a Class 3A felony that is punishable by up to three years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine or both. The younger Micheel may have lost his match, but the Sandhills/Thedford High wrestler still managed to place third in the 126-pound weight class at Districts, which earned him a ticket to compete at the 2016 Nebraska high school state wrestling championships at CenturyLink Center in Omaha this weekend.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Before a jam-packed gymnasium on Senior Night, the nationally-ranked Ithaca College wrestling team scored a 23-12 win over rival Cortland Wednesday to conclude the regular season. In a matchup of top-10 institutions, No. 9 Ithaca (16-5) improved to 16-4 in dual matches against Division III foes and handed No. 6 Cortland (12-3) its first dual meet loss in seven matches. "This is a huge win for us. We've been climbing the ladder little by little this year and this is just another step for us on our journey," said junior Carlos Toribio, who earned a 12-3 major decision win at 184 to improve to 25-7 this year. "This will motivate us and boost our confidence beating a nationally-ranked school like Cortland. We're stepping up our training and we're doing extra workouts twice a week. We do hard conditioning workouts which is really helping us step it up and that's making a difference for us. The team is peaking at the right time." Junior co-captain Jimmy Kaishian sparked the Bombers from the get-go, earning a pin over Andrew Roden in 5:43 at 125 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Kaishian used an escape and a takedown to take a 3-0 lead. Kaishian, ranked fifth in the country, added four points on a near-fall before pinning Roden 43 seconds into the final period to improve to 35-4 on the year, and 17-1 in duals. "Jimmy getting that pin in the first match was huge," said Toribio. "Jimmy always gets the job done and he always helps get us off to a strong start." Sophomore Bryan Israel, ranked fifth in the country, earned a 4-2 win at 133. After a first-period takedown gave him a 2-0 lead, Israel and Alex D'Angelo were knotted at two late in the third. But Israel prevailed thanks to an escape and a point on riding time to improve to 20-5. Ithaca's lead swelled to 12-0 after junior Nick Wahba earned a 4-3 win at 141. Trailing 3-1 late in his match with Derak Heyman, Wahba evened the match at three with a takedown and secured the win on riding time to complete the comeback. Wahba has won 21 of 21 matches in 2015-16. Senior Dan Pak took an early 2-0 lead at 149 on a first-period takedown, but suffered a 10-4 loss. Fellow senior Eamonn Gaffney also dropped a tough 11-4 decision at 157 to Bobby Dierna, ranked No. 1 in the country in his weight class. Sophomore Nick Velez then delivered a 10-2 major decision win at 165 to swing momentum back towards the Bombers. Velez scored two points on a takedown and four points for a near-fall for a 6-0 lead. Velez, ranked sixth in the country, tacked on a third-period takedown and scored a point for riding time to finish the scoring and earn his 29th win in 35 bouts. Facing No. 3 Lou Puca, sophomore Jaison White trailed 5-1 midway through the second before scoring two points on a takedown. White trailed 6-3 heading to the third but pulled within one on a takedown, but Puca scored a point on an escape to clinch the bout for Cortland. Toribio, the reigning Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) Wrestler of the Week, scored a takedown 40 seconds into his match for a 2-0 lead, and added a second-period takedown for a 4-0 advantage. Toribio posted three third-period takedowns en route to a 12-3 major decision win, running his record to 25-7. Ithaca lost at 197, but at 285, junior Matt Booth used an early takedown in the first and a late takedown in the fourth to win 6-0 over Tyler Lilly. Before the match, the Bombers honored six seniors for their hard work and dedication to the program. The seniors are: Gaffney, Pak, Henry Beaman, Zack Conner, Jake Davenport, and Dan Glinko. Ithaca competes in the NCAA regionals Feb. 27 before competing in the NCAA championships March 11-12. The Bombers have competed in the Division III national championships 33 straight years, claiming championships in 1989, 1990, and 1994. Results: 125: Jimmy Kaishian (Ithaca) pins Andrew Roden (Cortland)in 5:43 133: Bryan Israel (Ithaca) wins 4-2 decision vs. Alex D'Angelo (Cortland 141: Nick Wahba (Ithaca) wins 4-3 decision vs. Derak Heyman (Cortland) 149: Austin Whitney (Cortland) wins 10-4 decision vs. Dan Pak (Ithaca) 157: Bobby Dierna (Cortland) wins 11-4 decision vs. Eamonn Gaffney (Ithaca) 165: Nick Velez (Ithaca) wins 10-2 major decision vs. Colin Barber (Cortland) 174: Lou Puca (Cortland) wins 7-5 decision vs. Jaison White (Ithaca) 184: Carlos Toribio (Ithaca) wins 12-3 major decision vs. Mike Beckwith (Cortland) 197: Joe Giaramita (Cortland) wins 17-4 major decision vs. Jake Ashcraft (Ithaca) 285: Matt Booth (Ithaca) wins 6-0 decision vs. Tyler Lilly (Cortland) -Note: Cortland deducted one team point.

NEWBERRY -- The Newberry Wolves won nine of 10 matches to take down the King Tornado 46-3 and put the wraps on an undefeated Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II Wrestling League championship in Eleazer Arena on Wednesday night. With four forfeits from the Tornado, Newberry didn't need many bonus points, but got them anyways, starting with No. 7 Trung Duong winning by major decision at 125 lbs. Jordan Simpson rolled to a win by technical fall at 133 lbs. and the Wolves were up 27-0 at the halftime intermission. Seniors Nick Lankford and Joe Pittman were honored for their contributions to the program at halftime. Lukas Gilmore won by major decision at 165 lbs. and Dennis Flores won a hard-fought decision at 174 lbs. Cody Brundage's win by fall in just 21 seconds was Newberry's final win of the night. With the conference championship, Newberry had six wrestlers go undefeated in conference action: Trung Duong at 125 lbs. - 6-0 Jordan Simpson at 133 lbs. - 5-0 Nick Lankford at 141 lbs. - 6-0 Lukas Gilmore at 165 lbs. - 6-0 Huston Evans at 184 lbs. - 6-0 Cody Brundage at 197 lbs. - 6-0 Newberry wraps up the regular season with a 17-2 dual mark, winning its 33rd consecutive home dual. The Wolves are next in action on Feb. 26-27 at the NCAA Division II Super Region II Tournament at the University of Indianapolis. Results: 125 - No. 7 Trung Duong (NBY) major decision Reed Jacks (KING) 11-2 (Newberry 4-0) 133 - Jordan Simpson (NBY) technical fall Frank Lopez (KING) 17-0 (Newberry 9-0) 141 - Nick Lankford (NBY) win by forfeit (Newberry 15-0) 149 - Zack Dobbins (NBY) win by forfeit (Newberry 21-0) 157 - Alex Rice (NBY) win by forfeit (Newberry 27-0) 165 - Lukas Gilmore (NBY) major decision Travis Edwards (KING) (Newberry 31-0) 174 - Dennis Flores (NBY) decision Kody Eichlin (KING) (Newberry 34-0) 184 - No. 3 Huston Evans (NBY) win by forfeit (Newberry 40-0) 197 - Cody Brundage (NBY) pinned Cody Davis (KING) (Newberry 46-0) 285 - Andrew Lutterloh (KING) decision Mike Kennedy (NBY) 5-4 (TB1) (Newberry 46-3)

Minot, N.D. -- The Northern State University wrestling team battled for the first NSIC victory of the season, with a 24-21 win over Minot State. The Wolves move to 7-13 overall and 1-6 in the league this season. The Wolves took a quick 12-0 lead after a forfeit at 125 pounds and a 59 second victory by fall for Carson Henry. Henry tallied six team points with the win over Colton Nichols. Minot State began to chip away at the NSU lead with a decision victory at 141 pounds. Tyler Stenberg added to the Northern lead defeating Cody Haugen in an 8-5 decision. The two were scoreless through the first three minutes of competition, however Stenberg grabbed the lead with a takedown in the second period. The NSU junior piled on the points in the third with an opening reversal, as well as a takedown and two point nearfall. The Beavers fought back at 157 pounds, with their second division victory over the night. Heading into the 165 pound match, the Wolves led 15-6. Another win at 165 pounds for Minot State, and an NSU forfeit at 174 pounds brought the team score to 15-15 with three matches remaining. David Murphy gave the Wolves led lead at 184 pounds, defeating Briley Crissler in a 7-4 decision. Murphy opened the match with a takedown in the first period, and added two more in the final four minutes of action. Crissler was able to notched four escapes in the match, however it was not enough to overcome the seven point deficit, including riding time. With the Wolves open at 285 pounds, it was up to junior Joe Gomez to bring home the first NSIC victory for Northern this season. Gomez took a 4-3 lead in the first period, and added three points to open the second. As the second period came to a close, Gomez took down Hunter Hart and recorded the team's second victory by fall in the dual at 4:36 in the match. His six points secured the team victory, as the Wolves defeated the Beavers 24-21. Northern returns to action tomorrow from the University of Mary in the NSIC season finale. The Wolves and the Marauders will face off at 7 p.m. from Bismarck. Results: 125: Ben Cauffman (NOST) over (MSND) (For.) 133: Carson Henry (NOST) over Colton Nichols (MSND) (Fall 0:59) 141: Tanner Crissler (MSND) over Matt Bettencourt (NOST) (Dec 5-­4) 149: Tyler Stenberg (NOST) over Cody Haugen (MSND) (Dec 8­-5) 157: Marcus Polak (MSND) overBlake Perryman (NOST) (Dec 13­-11) 165: Carlos Toledano (MSND) over Grant Steen (NOST)(Dec 4­-3) 174: Mason Courtright (MSND) over (NOST) (For.) 184: David Murphy (NOST) over Briley Crissler (MSND) (Dec 7-­4) 197: Joe Gomez (NOST) over Hunter Hart (MSND) (Fall 4:36) 285: Mitchell Eull (MSND) over (NOST) (For.)

WHEELING, W.Va. -- In the final home dual match, the No. 19 Wheeling Jesuit grapplers won seven bouts and defeated Gannon University, 25-14, Wednesday night. Dustin Warner started the Cardinals' night off in a big way with a fall in 2:03 in the 125-pound matchup over the Golden Knights' Korey Caudill. At 133, Nolan Whitely put the only other home match bonus points on the scoreboard in a 12-3 major decision for a 10-0 lead. WJU added five decision wins in the final eight matches for the 11-point victory. For the second year in a row, the young third-year WJU wrestling program set its dual win standard with its 11th win and improved to 11-6 on the year. All six Cardinals' losses were to nationally-ranked opponents. Gannon fell to 4-6. "It was good to get our 11th win. We needed to keep increasing that number and setting a new standard,"said WJU head coach Sean Doyle. "Gannon is always a good program. It is always nice to be that kind of a regional opponent in a dual match." Along with the two bounus-point WJU wins, Dominick Nania (149), Dean Meyer (174), Sawyer Leppla (184), Terrance Fanning (197) and Corey Siegfried (285) each won by decision. After a scoreless opening minute, Warner (22-5) took a shot on Caudill following a pause in the action. Less than a minute later, the 125-pound sophomore put his opponent in a cradle and recorded the pin in 2:03. "Warner has been off-and-on in dual matches and it was good to see him have a good night," noted Doyle. Fanning caught his coach's attention as well. The 197-pound Cardinals redshirt freshman shot in for the takedown and added a pair of back points to open a 4-0 lead on the Golden Knights' Lorenzo Maddox. Fanning (19-6) reversed the momentum on Maddox and scored a second-period takedown, before he went on for an 8-1 decision. "Terrance had a good win against a kid who had beaten him earlier in the season. He is progressing well as the season has gone along," Doyle pointed out. Whitely recorded his 24th victory of the year in his bout. The sophomore put the first two points on a lift takedown 24 seconds into the match and led 4-1 after a period. Whitely extended the margin to 7-2 in the second, before he scored a late third-period takedown and back points for the 12-3 major decision over Aaron Smith. Nania (24-6) kept his team-win race going with Whitely. The junior took down Ryan Kaminski 22 seconds into the match and built a 6-1 edge after three minutes. Kaminiski avoided the major decision, though, with an escape with eight seconds left for a 10-3 final. The two most exciting matches took place at 174 and 285. Dean Meyer was awarded a penalty point on a one-point stalling call of Gannon's Chris Matthews. The two 174-pounders went to one-minute overtime period where Meyer shot in on Matthews for the winning takedown only 10 seconds into the match for a 5-3 victory. At 285, the Golden Knights' Nigel Toussaint took down Siegfried with 22 seconds left in the third period to go ahead, 6-4. Siegfried never gave up and reversed Toussaint with two seconds left and added the match-winning two back points for the 8-6 decision. Sawyer Leppla scored a big 184-pound victory over 23-win Jake Stratton. Leppla escaped to start the second period and added a takedown with 1:09 left in the stanza for a 3-0 lead. Stratton posted his own escape to end the second period and had a second escape, but Leppla kept the advantage for the 4-2 upset decision. ​ WJU will have 12 days off, before it travels up to Erie, Pa. for the Super Region I Regional Tournament. The tournament is set for next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27, at Mercyhurst University. Results: 125 - Dustin Warner (WJU) fall Korey Caudill (GU), 2:03 -- WJU 6-0 133 - Nolan Whitely (WJU) maj. dec. Aaron Smith, 12-3 -- WJU 10-0 141 - Zach Reges (GU) fall Damon Outward (WJU), 5:55 -- WJU 10-6 149 - Dominick Nania (WJU) dec. Ryan Kaminski (GU), 10-3 -- WJU 13-6 157 - Garret Smith (GU) tech fall Peyton Geary (WJU), 17-0 (4:54) -- WJU 13-11 165 - Nate Ross (GU) dec. Keegan Driscoll (WJU), 3-2 -- GU 14-13 174 - Dean Meyer (WJU) dec. Chris Matthews (GU), 5-3 OT -- WJU 16-14 184 - Sawyer Leppla (WJU) dec. Jake Stratton (GU), 4-2 -- WJU 19-14 197 - Terrance Fanning (WJU) dec. Lorenzo Maddox (GU), 8-1 -- WJU 22-14 285 - Corey Siegfried (WJU) dec. Nigel Toussaint (GU), 8-6 -- WJU 25-14

It's a huge weekend on the national high school docket with 18 states holding their individual bracket state tournaments. Most notable among them are Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. Others include Alabama Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Also on the state championship docket are dual meet championships in Iowa and North Dakota both of those being held on the day preceding the beginning of the individual bracket tournament. No. 1 Red seeks to cap off an undefeated career Chad Red (New Palestine, Ind.) enters this weekend's state tournament ranked No. 1 in the nation at 132 pounds with a career scholastic record of 179-0. His resume also includes a Super 32 Challenge title, a FloNationals title, and a Fargo freestyle title. Barring some sort of cataclysm, Red will have a semifinal rematch with Elliott Molloy (Danville, Ind.), whom he beat 11-4 last year at that stage; Molloy has an 87-2 mark these last two seasons, the other loss coming by technical fall to Nick Lee last week. Assuming those three wins, Red will enter Saturday night's state final bout with a career mark of 182-0. The most likely opponent would be No. 4 Nick Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.), who has a career record of 81-1 entering the state tournament; the lone loss to Stevan Micic two years ago in the state semifinal as a freshman. Lee missed most of this season, but has been a ball of fire since return. His path to the state final should be a breeze except for a likely state semifinal with 2014 state placer Brendan Black (Hobart, Ind.). The 2015-16 high school match of the year would be this one at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, opponents with a combined career mark of 266-1 meeting for a singular state title. Other Hoosier State notables Two nationally ranked teams are among the primary contenders for the tournament title in single-class Indiana, No. 29 Brownsburg and No. 34 Warren Central. Leading the way with eight qualifying for state is Warren Central, while Brownsburg qualified seven for state along with defending state champion Penn and Portage. Those to qualify six were Evansville Mater Dei, Indianapolis Cathedral, and Yorktown; both Mater Dei and Cathedral lost a state qualifier at the semi-state level. In order to place at the state tournament, wrestlers must win their first match. That guarantees an eighth place finish; semifinalists are guaranteed a top four finish. Two weight brackets other than 132 also feature a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers. Returning state champion Blake Rypel (Indianapolis Cathedral) and returning state placer Andrew Davison (Chesterton) both enter the state tournament undefeated at 182 pounds; the pair of wrestlers are ranked No. 5 and No. 19 nationally, but have been placed in the same half-bracket. Two other state placers return in this weight class, Cameron Jones (Lawrence North) and David Eli (Elkhart Memorial), each placing seventh last year; they are both in the bottom quarter bracket of the draw, Eli a semi-state champ and Jones losing to Rypel in the semi-state final. The 220 pound weight class features all four semi-state champions having undefeated records, including nationally ranked wrestlers in No. 6 Kobe Woods (Penn) and No. 18 Mason Parris (Lawrenceburg). Woods is the defending state champion in this weight class, while Parris placed third last year at 182 as a freshman. Returning state fifth placer Gunnar Larson (Avon) is the other semi-state champion in the half-bracket with Woods, while returning state eighth placer Evan Ellis (Eastern) joins Parris as a state champion in the top half-bracket. Two other returning state placers are in this weight as well, both in the bottom half-bracket, fourth place finisher Sam Hipple (Carmel) and seventh place finisher Ryan Guhl (Indianapolis Cathedral). Hipple was runner-up to Parris at semi-state, while Guhl lost to Ellis; Hipple is in the quarter with Larson, while Guhl would hit Woods in the quarterfinal. Cael McCormick (Yorktown), undefeated and ranked No. 13 nationally at 152 pounds is going to have a pretty stern path if he is to win a state title after finishing 4th/6th/DNP in three previous tournaments. The likely quarterfinal is against returning state fourth place finisher Elijah Dunn (Indian Creek), while a semifinal date with returning state runner-up (and two-time state placer) Steven Lawrence (Portage) is likely in the offing. The semi-state champions in the other half-bracket are Trent Pruitt (Warren Central) and Andrew Herrin (Jennings County). No. 30 Southeast Polk vs. No. 31 West Des Moines Valley With No. 33 Fort Dodge (Iowa) deciding to tank their district dual meet tournament by wrestling reserves, a move that in my opinion is antithetical to the competitive spirit, the Iowa Class 3A (big-school) dual meet tournament is now a two-team battle. CIML rivals Southeast Polk and West Des Moines Valley will likely wage another chapter in their month-plus saga. The Rams, ranked 30th nationally, have swept the dual meet and individual tournament titles in two of the last three seasons (finishing 2nd in both during 2014). On the season, they beat West Des Moines Valley 34-23 (8-6 matches) on Jan. 16 in a dual meet; the Tigers responded with an individual bracket title at the Ed Winger Classic, 203-202, on January 23rd; the following Friday, Southeast Polk countered with a tournament title at the CIML meet, 233.5-196.5; and then this past Saturday, Southeast Polk won the district title ever so narrowly, 247-244.5 Southeast Polk opens the dual meet tournament on Wednesday with Clinton, who was not ranked in the most recent Class 3A top ten dual meet rankings by The Predicament; while West Des Moines Valley is matched against tenth-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock. The Rams are going to see either fifth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie or sixth-ranked Johnston; while the Tigers will face either fourth-ranked Dubuque Hempstead or unranked Indianola. In the regular season dual meet, Southeast Polk went "straight up" with the exception of a backup at 160 pounds (the starter qualified for state, however he would lose decisively against West Des Moines Valley in this weight class anyway). The Tigers also went "straight up" with the exception of a backup at 113 (the starter was third at the district, while Southeast Polk's starter was the champion at district). The results of said dual meet corresponded perfectly with the weight classes that each team placed higher in at the district tournament. The best chance for West Des Moines Valley to reverse the dual meet is some combination of lineup creativity, flipping the 152 match (Jones of Southeast Polk is 2-1 against Nicholson this year winning 5-4 and 8-6 but losing the middle meeting), and different outcomes related to bonus point accruals. Additional Hawkeye State highlights In the Class 3A individual bracket state tournament, the three nationally ranked teams (Southeast Polk, West Des Moines Valley, and Fort Dodge) each qualified nine to the state tournament. Lewis Central qualified the most to state in big-school with 11, but they are not even ranked top ten in the final tournament strength rankings from The Predicament; it should be noted they were the beneficiaries of a terrible district tournament. Each team has eight wrestlers ranked in the top ten of the final individual weight class rankings; Southeast Polk has two projected state champs and six projected (mid-to-high) state placers, West Des Moines Valley has three projected state champs and eight projected state placers (five mid-to-high), while Fort Dodge has three projected state champs and seven projected state placers (six mid-to-high). There is no showdown of multiple ranked wrestlers within the same state tournament weight class this year in Iowa. However, here are some notable weight classes with ranked wrestlers facing stern tests. No. 11 Aden Reeves (Albia) is in the lower half-bracket of the Class 2A 106 pound weight class. The top bracket features a potential semifinal match between undefeated wrestlers in Shea Ruffridge (Pocahontas) and Eric Faught (Clear Lake). No. 12 Alex Thomsen (Underwood) is undefeated entering his sophomore year state tournament already with 90 career wins, including a 5-4 win in last year's state quarterfinal over 2014 state champion Drew West (Highland Riverside). That quarterfinal defeat is the only loss in West's career to date, as he enters this week 148-1. Those two wrestlers are positioned to meet in the state final on Saturday night at 126 pounds in Class 1A Though No. 4 Carter Happel (Lisbon) is an extreme favorite at 145 pounds in Class 1A, this week should culminate some extraordinary milestones for the future Hawkeye. Heading into the state dual meet and individual tournaments, Happel has an unofficial win streak of 162 and seeks the 200th win of his remarkable career on Wednesday morning against just one loss. That loss came in the district dual meet tournament his freshman year. Saturday night's state final is most likely to be against either the undefeated Trent Johnson (Dike-New Hartford) or returning state runner-up Trey Brisker (Wilton); Johnson is also a two-time state placer, Brisker was runner-up to Happel last year at state and in the district this past weekend, those two meet opening round on Thursday. No. 7 Colton Clingenpeel (Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson) is undefeated for the season at 152 pounds and a two-time state placer in Class 3A. His de facto state final is the likely quarterfinal against two-time state placer Kyle Briggs (Cedar Rapids Jefferson), while the likely state final is against returning state placer Christian Foote (Pleasant Valley). Regretfully at 285 pounds, there is no "super state" concept as two of the nation's top five wrestlers in the weight class are prohibitive favorites in different classifications. Gannon Gremmel (Dubuque Hempstead) is 42-0 and positioned to get the state title that has eluded him in his career (2nd/5th/3rd), while fellow three-time state placer Carter Isley (Albia) is 37-0 and seeking a second state title in a third state finals appearance; Gremmel is in Class 3A, and Isley in Class 2A. Land of Lincoln, Land of Rematches Of the six weight classes in the Illinois Class 3A tournament (big-school) where multiple nationally ranked wrestlers are present, five of those involve wrestlers that competed in last weekend's sectional tournaments against one another. At 106 pounds, No. 12 Joey Melendez (Montini Catholic) beat No. 18 Hassan Johnson (Brother Rice) 2-0 in the sectional final. Johnson is in the upper half bracket paired with P.J. Ogunsanya (Oak Park River Forest) as a potential quarterfinal opponent, with Marcus Povlick (Plainfield North) -- the top rated wrestler in the weight class per Illinois Matmen -- as a semifinal opponent. It would be fair to say that Melendez is the clear favorite to clear the lower half-bracket. At 113 pounds, No. 2 Real Woods (Montini Catholic) beat No. 20 Louie Hayes (Carl Sandburg) for the second time in as many meetings on the season, 5-2 in the sectional final. Woods is looking at a likely semifinal match against Roberto Campos (Oak Park River Forest), while Hayes is most likely to face the winner of a quarterfinal battle involving returning state qualifiers in Charles Faber (Glenbard West) and Holden Heller (Deerfield). At 126 pounds, No. 4 Austin Gomez (Glenbard North) beat No. 17 Anthony Madrigal (Oak Park River Forest) 8-1 in the sectional final. However, a note of caution is that Gomez lost to Huskies' teammate Jason Renteria in the sectional final last year before upsetting him in the state final; though such a reversal in outcome is not likely this year. Two other returning state placers also squared off in another sectional final, Jacob Silzer (St. Rita) beat Jimmy Pawleski (Montini Catholic). Pawleski is likely to match up against Gomez in a state semifinal. Silzer has to clear David Rivera-Kohr (Evanston) in the quarterfinal round before a potential semifinal against either Madrigal or returning state qualifier Christian Kanzler (Fox Lake Grant). At 132 pounds, No. 5 Rudy Yates (Carl Sandburg) beat No. 7 Dylan Duncan (Montini Catholic) for the second time this season, 7-5 in the sectional semifinal round; in the final, Yates beat returning state runner-up Anthony Cheloni (Marmion Academy) for a second time as well on the season, 5-4. Yates is looking at most likely facing two-time state placer Gabe Townsell (Oak Park River Forest) in the semifinal, though he would have to possibly clear Miguel Romero (Prospect) -- a wrestler that scored an upset pin over Townsell last week -- in the quarterfinal. Down in the lower half, a Duncan vs. Cheloni semifinal is most likely, though Cheloni could have the 46-1 Danny Madonia (Conant) in the quarterfinal. Three ranked wrestlers at 182 pounds exited the same sectional and should have no problem finishing 1-2-3 at the state tournament. No. 13 Jack Jessen (Willowbrook) beat No. 20 Patrick Brucki (Carl Sandburg) 4-3 in the semifinal before losing 6-4 to No. 7 Nathan Traxler (Marmion Academy) in the final. Jessen was runner-up at state last year as a freshman, Brucki third last year as a sophomore, while Traxler won a title last year as a junior. Barring the weird, Traxler should be in the final with Jessen in a semifinal against either Brucki or the undefeated Matt Wroblewski (Prospect). Two nationally ranked wrestlers also reside in the Class 3A 152 pound weight class, No. 12 Trace Carello (Marmion Academy) and No. 17 Nick Foster (Belleville West), both wrestlers placing third at state last year. Carello won his sectional tournament, while Foster lost 3-1 in upset fashion to returning state placer Trevell Timmons (Lockport). The resulting draw is the following: Carello and Foster are slated to meet in a semifinal match, though Dylan Geick (Stevenson) is a very dangerous first round opponent for Foster, with Timmons and 2014 state runner-up Fernie Silva (Hononegah) as the likely lower-bracket semifinal. Rocky Mountain showdown The opening weight of the Class 5A (big-school) state tournament features a pair of ranked wrestlers in No. 15 Malik Heinselman (Castle View) and No. 20 Mosha Schwartz (Ponderosa). Heinselman is 40-1 with his only loss of the season coming 11-6 to Schwartz in the opening weekend of the season, though Heinselman has multiple off-season wins over Schwartz across styles. Schwartz is 40-6 on the season with the following tournament placements: 4th at the Ironman, champion at Reno TOC, 7th at Doc Buchanan, 4th at Top of the Rockies, and champion at Rocky Welton. Losses on the season are to the unranked Christian Nunez (St. John Bosco, Calif.), No. 12 Joey Melendez (Montini Catholic, Ill.), Matthew Olguin (Buchanan, Calif.), twice to Nathan Bonham (Pueblo County), and one to Andrew Lucero (Pueblo East); Bonham and Lucero are in opposite half-brackets of the Class 4A tournament at 106 in Colorado. Schwartz did avenge his loss to Lucero, and also has two wins over the third notable in this Class 5A weight class in Coltan Yapoujian (Pomona). Schwartz beat Yapoujian 3-2 in the Reno TOC semifinal and then 6-5 in the tiebreaker in the Top of the Rockies semifinal. Yapoujian is in the half-bracket with Heinselman, while Schwartz is more or less by himself. Results from all state tournaments so far View results from all the state tournaments here. Additions for this week: Dual: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina Individual: Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Montana, and Utah Buckeye State showdowns Dual team championships were decided in Ohio on Sunday at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio. No. 3 St. Paris Graham cut through the Division II field like a knife through butter only losing four bouts across three dual meets. The highlight in that division was a "winner take all" last bout in the semifinal round between Wauseon and Steubenville; two unheralded wrestlers took to the mat with Wauseon leading 33-31, Alex Sosa (Wauseon) trailed 2-0 early in the second period before reversing his opponent to his back to secure the fall and a 39-31 victory. In Division III, the small school division, No. 25 Delta emerged as champion. The Panthers secured nine match victories in every single dual meet along the way. A couple of individual bouts highlighted the competition on the day. In Delta's first round match against Shadyside, it was a battle of two-time state placers as Greg Quinn (Shadyside) upset returning state champion Drew Mattin 5-3 at 120 pounds; also in the quarterfinal round, returning state placer Luke Sorboro (Rootstown) bumped up a weight class to beat projected state runner-up Kian Thompson (Oak Harbor) at 182 pounds, a match that proved crucial in Rootstown's 30-29 dual meet victory. In Division I, nationally ranked St. Edward and Elyria advanced to the championship match. St. Edward going a combined 23-5 in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, while Elyria only won eight matches in each of their dual meets. No. 7 St. Edward won the dual meet title 43-28 over No. 17 Elyria, as the Eagles won eight weight class. Key to the dual meet victory was the ability to secure maximum bonus points on many occasions as well as two crucial swing bouts. Entering the 160 pound bout, St. Edward led 25-13, but Elyria was just starting their back half strength. A battle of returning state placers saw Mikah Price (Elyria) taking on normal 152 pound wrestler Jack Conway. Early in the second period Price had a 10-6 lead, and got reversed to his back. Conway now leading 11-10 subsequently secured the fall in 3:38. If that wasn't enough damage to the Pioneers cause, then there was the 182 pound match where returning state placer J.T. Brown (Elyria) led Tyler Stepic 2-0 in the early part of the second period. Brown was trying to work a cradle, then in some order a shoulder injury occurred and he was reversed to his back; after an injury timeout, it was determined Brown was unable to continue. It was 31-16 going into 182, but 37-16 St. Edward going out of that bout to clinch the dual team state title. Pennsylvania Class 3A packs punch Six nationally ranked teams convened in Hershey for the dual team state tournament in Class 3A (big-school division). No. 6 Bethlehem Catholic and No. 10 Belle Vernon were paired in the bottom half of the bracket based on predetermined formula, so the de facto final was held in the semifinal. In each team's quarterfinal, they beat solid opposition; Bethlehem Catholic knocking off now No. 50 Central Dauphin 38-13 (10-4 mathces), Belle Vernon beating formerly ranked Council Rock South 46-18 (10-4 matches). In the upper half bracket, No. 21 Boyertown and No. 22 Nazareth were the advancing teams to the semifinal. Boyertown beat Canon-McMillan 37-20 (8-6 matches), while Nazareth escaped a barn-burner with No. 32 Kiski Area; the dual meet was tied 32-32 with the Blue Eagles winning on the criteria of most near-fall points scored. Kiski Area had a tough opening round battle with Cumberland Valley, needing wins in five of the last six bouts to split the matches at 7-7 and win 35-31. Bethlehem Catholic beat Belle Vernon Area 33-30, though the last two weight classes were given to Belle Vernon on forfeits once the match was clinched. Keys to the victory for the Hawks were a pair of one-point wins in the first three bouts of the dual meet, as they jumped out to a 16-0 advantage after 145-170 were wrestled. Belle Vernon then cut the deficit to 16-12 with a forfeit and two one point victories of their own. However, an overtime decision and a 2-0 decision at 285 and 106 started the five victory streak to clinch the dual meet for the Hawks. Boyertown came through with a 38-19 (9-5 matches) victory over Nazareth in its semifinal. The Bears went 4-1 in matches decided by three points or less, including consecutive wins at 113, 120, and 126 that turned a 24-13 dual meet score into a 38-13 rout with one match remaining. The championship match saw Bethlehem Catholic take home eleven weight class victories in a 37-12 victory over Boyertown. The first eight weight classes were all decided by decisions, with Bethlehm Catholic winning the first seven of those (the furthest margin was five points). After technical falls at 160 and 170 from Cole Karam and Michael Labriola officially put it out of reach, three of the last four bouts were two point or less affairs, with the Hawks winning two of those. On the consolation side of the tournament, Belle Vernon beat Kiski Area 36-26 and Nazareth 30-28 to take home the bronze medal despite missing two key starters (Derek Verkleeren and Michael Fine) on Saturday. Nazareth narrowly beat Central Dauphin 28-24 in its consolation semifinal, after Central Dauphin blew out Council Rock South 48-16 in the consolation quarterfinal.

This third week of February is arguably the busiest of the postseason calendar. The first major chunk of individual state tournaments is this weekend, while virtually everyone else is into their state tournament series. Below is the schedule of competitions for teams appearing in the Fab 50 during the week of February 17 through 23. No. 1 Blair Academy, N.J. -- compete in National Preps Regional Qualifier at Poly Prep (N.Y.) on Friday No. 2 Wyoming Seminary, Pa. -- compete in Pennsylvania Independent Schools state tournament at Malvern Prep (Pa.) on Friday and Saturday No. 3 St. Paris Graham, Ohio -- compete in sectional tournament, start of state series, at Tippecanoe (Ohio) on Friday and Saturday No. 4 Bergen Catholic, N.J. -- compete in district tournament, state of state series, at Leonia (N.J.) on Friday and Saturday No. 5 Buchanan, Calif. -- compete in Yosemite Valley divisional tournament, 2nd step of state series, at Clovis (Calif.) on Friday and Saturday No. 7 St. Edward, Ohio -- compete in sectional tournament, start of state series, at Westlake (Ohio) on Saturday No. 8 Oak Park River Forest, Ill. -- compete in Class AAA state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign (Ill.) No. 9 Clovis, Calif. -- host Yosemite Valley divisional tournament, 2nd step of state series, on Friday and Saturday No. 11 Tuttle, Okla. -- host regional tournament, state qualifier, on Friday and Saturday No. 12 Lake Highland Prep, Fla. -- compete in district tournament, start of state series, at Bishop Moore (Fla.) on Saturday No. 13 Poway, Calif. -- compete in CIF tournament, state of state series, on Saturday at Westview (Calif.) No. 14 Mt. Carmel, Ill. -- compete in Class AA state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign (Ill.) No. 15 Apple Valley, Minn. -- compete in section tournament, state qualifier, on Friday and Saturday at Eastview (Minn.) No. 16 Marmion Academy, Ill. -- compete in Class AAA state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign (Ill.) No. 17 Carl Sandburg, Ill. -- compete in Class AAA state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign (Ill.) No. 18 Elyria, Ohio -- compete in sectional tournament, start of state series, at Westlake (Ohio) on Saturday No. 19 St. Michael-Albertville, Minn. -- host section tournament, state qualifier, on Friday and Saturday No. 20 Washington, Ill. -- compete in Class AA state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign (Ill.) No. 21 Boyertown, Pa. -- host Pac-10 Championships on Saturday No. 23 Malvern Prep, Pa. -- host the Pennsylvania Independent Schools state tournament on Friday and Saturday No. 25 Delta, Ohio -- compete in sectional tournament, start of state series, at Archbold (Ohio) on Friday and Saturday No. 26 Allen, Texas -- compete in Class 6A state tournament Friday and Saturday at Berry Center in Cypress (Texas) No. 27 Kasson-Mantorville, Minn. -- compete in section tournament (Class AA), state qualifier, at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester (Minn.) on Friday and Saturday No. 29 Brownsburg, Ind. -- compete in state tournament Friday and Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Ind.) No. 30 Southeast Polk, Iowa -- compete in Class 3A state dual meet tournament today, state individual tournament tomorrow through Saturday; both at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines (Iowa) No. 31 West Des Moines Valley, Iowa -- compete in Class 3A state dual meet tournament today, state individual tournament tomorrow through Saturday; both at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines (Iowa) No. 33 Fort Dodge, Iowa -- compete in Class 3A state individual tournament tomorrow through Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines (Iowa) No. 34 Warren Central, Ind. -- compete in state tournament Friday and Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Ind.) No. 35 Pomona, Colo. -- compete in Class 5A state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at Pepsi Center in Denver (Colo.) No. 36 Anoka, Minn. -- compete in section tournament, state qualifier, at Elk River (Minn.) on Friday and Saturday No. 37 Park Hill, Mo. -- compete in Class 4 state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia (Mo.) No. 38 Olentangy Liberty, Ohio -- compete in sectional tournament, state of state series, at Newark (Ohio) on Saturday No. 39 Platte County, Mo. -- compete in Class 3 state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia (Mo.) No. 40 Pueblo County, Colo. -- compete in Class 4A state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at Pepsi Center in Denver (Colo.) No. 41 Montini Catholic, Ill. -- compete in Class AAA state tournament tomorrow through Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign (Ill.) No. 43 Kenyon-Wanamingo, Minn. -- compete in section tournament (Class A), state qualifier, at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester (Minn.) on Friday and Saturday No. 45 Goddard (Kansas) -- compete in regional tournament, state qualifier, at Andover (Kansas) on Friday and Saturday No. 46 Lowell, Mich. -- compete in regional dual meet tournament, state qualifier, tonight at Sparta (Mich.); compete in the individual regional, state qualifier, on Saturday at Byron Center (Mich.) No. 47 Post Falls, Idaho -- compete in district tournament, state qualifier, at Lakeland (Idaho) on Friday and Saturday No. 48 Good Counsel, Md. -- compete in Maryland Independent Schools state tournament at McDonogh (Md.) on Friday and Saturday No. 49 Choctaw, Okla. -- compete in regional tournament, state qualifier, at Southmoore (Okla.) on Friday and Saturday No. 50 Central Dauphin, Pa. -- compete in sectional tournament, start of state series, at Central Dauphin (Pa.) East on Friday and Saturday Season Completed: No. 24 Archer (Ga.), No. 28 Camden County (Ga.) No competitions during the upcoming week: No. 6 Bethlehem Catholic (Pa.), No. 10 Belle Vernon (Pa.), No. 22 Nazareth (Pa.), No. 32 Kiski Area (Pa.), No. 42 Hilton (N.Y.), No. 44 Long Beach (N.Y.)

The United States will send a talented and experienced team to compete in the 2016 Pan American Wrestling Championships at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, Feb. 26-28. Teams from North, Central and South America will compete in the three Olympic disciplines, men's freestyle, women's freestyle and Greco-Roman at the Pan American Championships, an annual event featuring many top international wrestlers. 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids/Nebraska RTC) and 2012 Olympic bronze medalists Clarissa Chun (Columbia, Mo./Sunkist Kids) and Coleman Scott (Chapel Hill, N.C./Sunkist Kids) headline the U.S. team, which features numerous past U.S. Olympic and World Team members. Burroughs will compete at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men's freestyle on Saturday, Feb. 27. Burroughs was the 2012 Olympic champion and has won three World Championships gold medals (2011, 2013, 2015). He was also a 2014 World bronze medalist. Burroughs won two NCAA titles and was a Hodge Trophy winner for Nebraska. Chun will compete at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. in women's freestyle on Friday, Feb. 26. She won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games, and was also fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games. Chun was a World champion in 2008. Scott will compete at 61 kg/134 lbs. in men's freestyle on Saturday, Feb. 27. Scott won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games. He was an NCAA champion at Oklahoma State and trained there until taking a coaching job at the University of North Carolina, where he now serves as head coach. The women's wrestling event will be held first on Friday, February 26. Along with Chun, the team features 2012 World champion, three-time World medalist and 2012 Olympian Elena Pirozhkova, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Titan Mercury WC) at 69 kg/152 lbs., 2005 World champion Iris Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) at 75 kg/165 lbs. and 2012 Olympian Kelsey Campbell (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) at 58 kg/128 lbs. 2015 World bronze medalist Leigh Jaynes-Provisor (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) will also compete at 60 kg/132 lbs. On Saturday, February 27, the men's freestyle division will be held. Joining Burroughs and Scott on the U.S. team is 2015 World bronze medalist James Green (Lincoln, Neb./Titan Mercury WC/Nebraska RTC) at 65 kg/143 lbs. There are two other past U.S. World Team members competing in men's freestyle, Angel Escobedo (Ames, Iowa/New York AC) at 57 kg/125.5 lbs. and Keith Gavin (Charlottesville, Va./Titan Mercury WC) at 86 kg/189 lbs. Also wrestling in men's freestyle is 2009 Junior World champion Dom Bradley, Blue Springs, Mo. (Sunkist Kids). The final day of the Pan American Championships is Sunday, February 28, featuring the Greco-Roman competition. The U.S. team will feature 2015 World Team member Patrick Martinez, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) at 85 kg/187 lbs. and 2011 World Team member Cheney Haight (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 80 kg/174 lbs. Age-group World medalists on the team include 2014 University World silver medalist Patrick Smith (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 71 kg/156 lbs. and 2011 Junior World bronze medalist Toby Erickson (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 130 kg/286 lbs. Information on the international team rosters will be announced later this week. USA Wrestling is hosting two major international events in Frisco on consecutive weekends. On the following weekend, the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier will be held at the Dr. Pepper Arena, March 4-6. This event serves as a major qualifier for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In total, 36 spots in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are up for grabs. U.S. lineups for this event will be published shortly. Tickets for both events can be ordered at the same time. All-Session General Admission prices are $14.50 for a single day pass, $39.50 for a three-day pass and $59.50 for a six-day pass. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster. Please note that the three-day pass will be good for either the three days of the Pan American Championships or for the Pan American Olympic Qualifier, but cannot be used partially for one event and then the rest on the other. Click here for direct link for tickets through Ticketmaster. http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/99156?tm_link=edp_Venue_See_All_Events For more information, please visit the Pan American Championships and Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier website at: http://usawevents.sportngin.com/panams Media seeking more information and to receive credentials to cover either or both events should contact Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling at gabbott@usawrestling.org PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS At Frisco, Texas, Feb. 26-28 U.S. Women's freestyle roster (compete on Feb. 26) 48 kg/105.5 lbs. - Clarissa Chun, Columbia, Mo. (Sunkist Kids) 53 kg/116.5 lbs. – Michaela Hutchison, Lebanon, Ill. (Titan Mercury WC) 55 kg/121 lbs. - Sharon Jacobson, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) 58 kg/128 lbs. - Kelsey Campbell, Tempe, Ariz. (Sunkist Kids) 60 kg/132 lbs. - Leigh Jaynes-Provisor, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) 63 kg/138.75 lbs. -Amanda Hendey, San Gabriel, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC) 69 kg/152 lbs. – Elena Pirozhkova, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Titan Mercury WC) 75 kg/165 lbs. – Iris Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) National Women's Coach – Terry Steiner, Colorado Springs, Colo. Assistant National Women's Coach – Erin Tomeo, Colorado Springs, Colo. U.S. Men's freestyle roster (compete on Feb. 27) 57 kg/125.5 lbs. - Angel Escobedo, Ames, Iowa (New York AC) 61 kg/134 lbs.- Coleman Scott, Chapel Hill, N.C. (Sunkist Kids) 65 kg/143 lbs. - James Green, Lincoln, Neb. (Titan Mercury WC/Nebraska RTC) 70 kg/154 lbs. - Frank Molinaro, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC) 74 kg/163 lbs - Jordan Burroughs, Lincoln, Neb. (Sunkist Kids/Nebraska RTC) 86 kg/189 lbs. - Keith Gavin, Charlottesville, Va. (Titan Mercury WC) 97 kg/213 lbs. - Scott Schiller, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) 125 kg/275 lbs. - Dom Bradley, Blue Springs, Mo. (Sunkist Kids) Team Leader – Andy Barth, San Marino, Calif. National Freestyle Coach – Bruce Burnett, Colorado Springs, Colo. Assistant National Freestyle Coach – Bill Zadick, Colorado Springs, Colo. U.S. Greco-Roman roster (compete on Feb. 28) 59 kg/130 lbs. – Sam Jones, Folsom, La. (NYAC/NMU) 66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Alejandro Sancho, Miami, Fla. (NYAC/NMU) 71,kg/156 lbs. - Patrick Smith, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) 75 kg/165 lbs. - Geordan Speiller, Oviedo, Fla. (Florida Jets) 80 kg/174 lbs. - Cheney Haight, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC) 85 kg/187 lbs. - Patrick Martinez, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) 98 kg/215 lbs. - Jacob Kasper, Mansfield, Ohio (Roughhouse) 130 kg/286 lbs. - Toby Erickson, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC) National Greco-Roman Coach – Matt Lindland, Colorado Springs, Colo. Coach – David Beazley, Howell, Mich. Medical – Dr. Dan Clearfield, Fort Worth, Texas Medical – Dave Grossman, Bloomington, Ind. PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS At Frisco, Texas, Feb. 26-28 Friday, February 26 Women's Freestyle Wrestling (48kg, 53kg, 55kg, 58kg, 60kg, 63kg, 69kg and 75kg) 10:00 am - 3:00 pm - Qualification Rounds and Repechage 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm - Opening Ceremony 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm – Medal Match Finals Saturday, February 27 Men's Freestyle Wrestling (57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg, 125kg) 10:00 am - 3:00 pm - Qualification Rounds and Repechage 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm – Medal Match Finals Sunday, February 28 Greco-Roman Wrestling (59kg, 66kg, 71kg, 75kg, 80kg, 85kg, 98kg, 130kg) 10:00 am - 3:00 pm - Qualification Rounds and Repechage 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm – Medal Match Finals