UNI wrestling kicks off season at Grand View Open

No. 20 UNI wrestling at Grand View Open

9 a.m. | Nov. 12, 2022
Ignit Sports Complex | Grimes, Iowa

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- A portion of the Panther freshmen will kick off the UNI wrestling season at the Grand View Open.

Having doubled the number of teams competing, Grand View is hosting the annual tournament in a new location this year. UNI will send five true freshmen to the Ignit Sports Complex in Grimes, Iowa. Trever Anderson, Garrett Funk, Cory Land, Ryder Downey and Wyatt Voelker will all compete in the freshmen / sophomore division set to start at 9 a.m. this Saturday.

125 | Trever Anderson
Anderson was a three-time high school state finalist for Ankeny High School (Iowa). He won titles at 106 pounds in 2019 and 120 pounds in 2021. He took second his senior year at 120 pounds and was third at 113 pounds in 2020.

133 | Garrett Funk and Cory Land
Funk is a three-time high school state medalist from Waterloo, Iowa. He competed for Don Bosco High School. He was a silver medalist as a senior at 132 pounds. He took third as a junior and fifth as a sophomore, wrestling at 120 pounds.

Land is UNI's first incoming freshman to earn the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award honoring the nation's most outstanding high school senior for excellence in wrestling, academics, citizenship and community service. He racked up a perfect 203-0 record competing in high school in Moody, Alabama. This summer, he became just the second wrestler from Alabama to win a Junior men's freestyle title, winning at 132 pounds.

141 | Ryder Downey
Downey comes to UNI from Indianola High School (Iowa). He medaled at four weights in his prep career, and ended with a state title at 145 pounds. He opened his high school career at 106 pounds with a seventh-place finish. He took second as a sophomore at 113 pounds and was fifth as a junior at 132 pounds.

197 | Wyatt Voelker
Voelker is a two-time high school state champion at 195 pounds from Manchester, Iowa. He medaled for West Delaware High School four times at two weights. He went 85-0 in his final two prep seasons. Voelker was fourth at the Iowa state championships at 170 pounds in 2019 and took third at 195 pounds in 2020.

ABOUT THE TEAM
The Panthers open the season ranked No. 20 in the first NWCA poll. UNI returns two-time All-American Parker Keckeisen and seven NCAA qualifiers in addition to Cael Happel, who was named an alternate at last year's national championships.

Eight Panthers are ranked in FloWrestling's top 20.

133 - No. 19 Kyle Biscoglia
141 - No. 19 Cael Happel
149 - No. 10 Colin Realbuto
157 - No. 19 Derek Holschlag
165 - No. 11 Austin Yant
174 - No. 12 Lance Runyon
184 - No. 2 Parker Keckeisen
HWT - No. 20 Tyrell Gordon

The majority of the team will open the season Nov. 20 at South Dakota State's Daktronics Open. The All-Star Classic returns this year, and will pit Keckeisen against top-ranked Aaron Brooks of Penn State at 184 pounds in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 22.

Keckeisen has just three losses in his career (48-3) to just two competitors. Keckeisen was bumped to the consolations at the 2021 NCAA championships in a 6-4 loss to Brooks before batting back for third place.

In the 2022 season, Keckeisen narrowed the scoring gap with Brooks, but he lost 3-2 in a December dual. Keckeisen's only other career loss is to Bernie Truax of Cal Poly in a 6-5 decision at the 2022 NCAA championships. He avenged that loss later in the tournament to earn a second bronze at the NCAAs.

The Panthers' first home event is the UNI Open set for Dec. 10 in the UNI-Dome. Dual action will kick off Dec. 19 at the Collegiate Duals in New Orleans.

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