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In case you were wondering, no, this isn't a conference dual.
Where: Lawrenceville, New Jersey
When: 6:00PM
Stream: WatchESPN (Cable subscription required)
Projected Lineups
Untitled
| ISU Wrestler | Record | - | Rider Wrestler | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISU Wrestler | Record | - | Rider Wrestler | Record |
| Alex Mackall | 14-6 | vs | Jonathan Tropea | 12-5 |
| 7/7/7 Austin Gomez | 12-1 | vs | Anthony Cefelo | 9-3 |
| 14/18/10 Ian Parker | 15-2 | vs | Travis Layton | 12-8 |
| 11/12/10 Jarrett Degen | 16-3 | vs | Evan Fidelibus | 7-9 |
| Chase Straw | 10-8 | vs | Gino Fluri | 11-8 |
| Logan Schumacher | 13-6 | vs | 15/16/17 Jesse Dellavecchia | 16-3 |
| Marcus Coleman | 16-6 | vs | George Walton | 10-9 |
| 19/17/18 Sam Colbray | 15-4 | vs | Michale Fagg-Daves | 10-6 |
| 6/6/8 Willie Miklus | 10-2 | vs | Ethan Laird | 12-9 |
| Gannon Gremmel | 17-7 | vs | Ryan Cloud | 4-5 |
*Rankings from Intermat/FloWrestling/TheOpenMat
Key Matches
125
This is probably the marquee matchup of the dual simply because it is the only one between two reasonably evenly matched wrestlers. Both guys have decent records. Both guys are unranked. Both have a two point loss to NC State superfrosh Jacob Camacho. And both could really use a win to stay above the line for earning an NCAA allocation. I’d call Mackall a slight favorite but this dual has no real tossups so baring Schumacher pulling an upset this hopefully should be as close as we get to a tight match.
197
This one shouldn't be close. These two met at Midlands in 2017 and Miklus walked away with an 18-2 victory. But Miklus just ate a loss last weekend to a wrestler that’s not all that much better than Laird. And he has no wins over ranked wrestlers so far this year. With 9 matches left on the regular season schedule Miklus can’t afford to take any more losses if he wants to earn a high seed for NCAAs. And he especially can’t take any losses to any unranked guys like Laird. Right now his ranking is based on the strength of his past accomplishments and one or two more losses would cause a severe drop. This is a key match just to see if that Hokit loss last weekend was an aberration or if it is what we’re going to get out of Miklus as his college career winds to a close.
The Scale
This will be the 3rd time the team has to make weight in 8 days - the start of a fairly brutal stretch where they have to make weight twice a week for four weeks in a row. For anyone that makes even a mid-sized cut that’s going to start to wear on them until they get in to the groove of this part of the season. That makes this a key matchup because most matches in this dual shouldn’t be close - Iowa State is heavily favored in eight of the ten matches. But big cuts with short recovery periods can impact performance. So it’ll be important to watch how the team reacts to making scratch weight again and again.
Prediction
As mentioned earlier, this meet shouldn't be close. Iowa State is favored in nine of the ten matches with only one of those nine being somewhat close. Because of the weight cut though I think we might see ISU drop a match they’re supposed to win. So I think ISU wins eight of ten matches in this one and walks out of the gym with a 29-7 type victory.
Next Up
The Cyclones will stay out East to take on West Virginia in Morgantown at noon on Sunday, January 20th.
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