UNI Wrestling to Face #19 Oregon State in Dual Tournament

Sunday, November 15

Troy, NY

2:15 pm CT

University of Northern Iowa

#17 Rutgers University

UNI Wrestling to Face #19 Oregon State in Dual Tournament

11/12/2015 4:20:00 PM | Wrestling

By:

Journeymen / Asics Northeast Duals
Hudson Valley Community College / Troy, New York
Nov. 15, 2015

Hofstra: 8:20 a.m. CT
#19 Oregon State: 12:15 p.m. CT
Rutgers: 2:15 p.m. CT
Watch live: FloWrestling.com (for a fee)
Live stats: Tournaflex.com
FULL NOTES

Harold Nichols Cyclone Open
Iowa State University / Ames, Iowa
Nov. 15, 2015

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – UNI wrestling will kick off its 2015-16 season on the road at the Journeymen/Asics Northeast Duals. The Panthers will face No. 19 Oregon State, Hofstra and Rutgers Nov. 15.

The majority of the wrestlers not competing at the Journeymen Duals will be headed to the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open.

A small 2015 graduating class of just two wrestlers means several veterans return for the UNI squad. The No. 17 Panthers return All-American Dylan Peters and NCAA national qualifiers Blaize Cabell, Cody Caldwell and Cooper Moore.

Six Panthers are ranked in the MAC's preseason polls. Three Panthers are listed as conference leaders. Moore returns as the second Panther to earn two consecutive MAC championships. He leads the rankings at 165 pounds in the conference.

125 - No. 1 Peters
141 - No. 4 Jake Hodges
157 - No. 4 Jarrett Jensen
165 - No. 1 Moore
184 - No. 4 Caldwell
285 - No. 1 Cabell

Peters, Moore and Cabell have been ranked in the top 10 of every national poll.

"You get a guy like Peters and then (Josh) Alber to follow and you start building some momentum," said head coach Doug Schwab. "Then we are tough at 141 pounds, and Jensen is moving down to 149. Jensen is one of the most disciplined guys I have ever coached. He had some big wins at 157, so I am excited to see what he can do at 149."

Senior Kyle Lux returns at 174 pounds and will face a challenge from redshirt freshman Drew Foster.

"I have heard Lux is the strongest guy on the team. He has put a lot of time in the program, and he's done things right. He is looking forward to the opportunity, but there are some young guys not willing to just give up. Guys like Drew Foster and freshmen Taylor Lujan and Jacob Holschlag who are fun to watch."
Caldwell said missing the national tournament last year has fueled him for this year.

"He has had a great summer. I like what I see from the focus," said Schwab. "I like how he's dealt with adversity. It's critical that he's been able to recover from stuff like that."

The Panthers' incoming recruiting class is ranked No. 4 among all Division I programs. Seven incoming freshmen finished their prep career in the nation's top-20 rankings. Schwab said he expects one of them to be in the starting lineup this year.

"They came in ranked highly, but it's more about the attitude they have and how they are raising guys' levels," said Schwab. "And they are coming in with really high expectations of themselves and the program."

In addition to the incoming freshmen, two student-athletes with experience on the national stage have transferred into the Panther wrestling program. JJ Everard is a heavyweight NCAA qualifier who wrestled his first two seasons at South Dakota State. Peter Stewart has taken seventh at the NJCAA for the last two seasons at 141 pounds. He holds multiple career and season records at Iowa Western Community College.

DUAL MATCHUPS

WEIGHT	#17 UNI	HOFSTRA (8:20 a.m. CT)	#19 OREGON ST. (12:15 p.m. CT)	RUTGERS (2:15 p.m. CT)
125 pounds	No. 9 Dylan Peters* (AA)	Bryan Damon	No. 12 Ronnie Bresser* or Kegan Calkins	Sean McCabe or Josh Patrick
133 pounds	Josh Alber	Connor Burkert	Joey Palmer*	No. 19 Anthony Giraldo
141 pounds	Trevor Jauch or Jake Hodges	No. 15 Jamel Hudson*	Jack Hathaway* or Jared Reis	No. 8 Anthony Ashnault* (AA)
149 pounds	Gunnar Wolfensperger	Aaron Hartman	Joey Delgado*	Tyson Dippery
157 pounds	Bryce Steiert	Jahlani Callender	Abraham Rodriguez	Richie Lewis or John Van Brill
165 pounds	Taylor Berger	Bobby Fehr	No. 12 Seth Thomas*	No. 9 Anthony Perrotti* (AA)
174 pounds	Drew Foster or Kyle Lux	Frank Affronti or Jermaine John	Tyler Chay	Phil Bakuckas or Anthony Pafumi
184 pounds	Cody Caldwell*	Cory Damiana	Corey Griego	Nicholas Gravina or Anthony Messner
197 pounds	Jared Bartel or Cody Krumwiede	Omar Haddad or Michael Oxley	No. 11 Cody Crawford*	Hayden Hrymack
285 pounds	No. 4 Blaize Cabell*	Michael Hughes	No. 7 Amarveer Dhesi*	No. 8 Billy Smith*

*past NCAA qualifier (AA = All-American)

FAMILIAR FOES

Three Panthers will battle opponents they faced last season.

125 pounds – Peters beat Bresser of Oregon State (8-5) in the first round of the 2014 Cliff Keen Invite in Las Vegas en route to a sixth-place finish.
133 pounds – No. 19 Anthony Giraldo of Rutgers gave Alber his only major decision loss (10-1) last year when Alber wrestled unattached at Midlands.
285 pounds – Cabell pinned Hughes of Hofstra in 3 minutes, 25 seconds at the 2014 Cliff Keen Invite in Las Vegas to stay alive and eventually take eighth place in the tournament.