Pack Preview: Duke & Northwestern

Duke

Duke has a young team that has improved throughout the season.  Coach Lanham is in his second year as the head coach. Highlight matches should be 157 and 197 pounds.  At 157 pounds, both Gantt and Kerr-Brown are nationally ranked.  At 197 pounds, senior KaRonne Jones faces another nationally ranked wrestler.  He will have wrestled six nationally ranked competitors in his last nine matches.

125 - open
133 - Botwin - redshirt freshman (4-15), his best position is top
141 - Ramos - freshman (7-19), likes to shoot a single leg and is funky
149 - Bass - freshman (11-13), good on top with legs and tilts
157 - #22 Kerr-Brown - redshirt junior (21-9), likes to shoot a single and wrestle from an underhook
165 - Cain - redshirt sophomore (10-14), shoots a double, has a good navy ride on top
174 - Adamson - redshirt sophomore (15-11), solid both neutral and on the mat
184 - Kasper - freshman (12-14), shoots a double and bodylocks
197 - #22 Hartman - redshirt sophomore (18-8), NCAA qualifier, has good reshot and wrestles from an underhook
285 - Walsh - redshirt sophomore (8-4), hard to score on and keeps good position

#21 Northwestern

Northwestern enters the weekend with a very solid team that is ranked  in the top 25 nationally on the strength of seven ranked wrestlers. The highlight matches of the dual will be 141, 174, and heavyweight.  Speno will have a battle tested redshirt junior who is ranked.  Renda has an opportunity to climb in the rankings with a match that will see #19 against #15.  Heavyweight will be a battle of two retuning All-Americans that will be important for seeding at the NCAA tournament.

125 - White - sophomore (7-13), rides well and has a nice single
133 - #33 Malone - sophomore (10-11), wrestles hard and is very solid on top
141 - #30 Greco - redshirt junior (13-12), NCAA qualifier, wrestles from an underhook and has good reattacks
149 - #5 Tsirtsis - redshirt freshman (22-3), explosive shots and stays in great position
157 - Sullivan - redshirt freshman (7-9), attacks a lot to his opponents right leg
165 - #7 Harger - redshirt junior (21-5), two-time NCAA qualifier, tough to score on and is solid in all positions
174 - #15 Munster - redshirt junior (6-4), two-time NCAA qualifier, wrestles from a 2-on-1 and has a nice single to the right side
184 - Berkowitz - sophomore (9-12), low single shot and duck unders
197 - #14 Poluzzi - redshirt junior (18-7), NCAA qualifier, shoots to a body lock and rides legs on top
285 - #1 McMullan - redshirt junior (10-1), two-time All-American (3rd and 2nd), active heavyweight that moves well and shoots

Pat's Pop Ins

Pack Preview: American

Pack Preview: Maryland

PLEASE NOTE:  Due to inclement weather, the dual with Maryland has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 15 at 4:00PM

Pack Preview: Virginia

Pat's Pop In

Red Out the Rams!

Pack Preview: UNC Part II

Pack Preview: UNC

Pat's Pop Ins

For highlights from the VA Tech dual as well as a post-match interview with Coach Popolizio, check out the GoPack.com press release here.

Pack Preview: Virginia Tech

Pack Preview: Campbell

Beauty & The Beast Promo Video

Pack Preview: Appalachian State & Cleveland State

Pack Preview: CKLV 2013

The 32^nd Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational is today and tomorrow.  Nine members of the Wolfpack will be competing in this prestigious tournament.  Flowrestling.org will cover the tournament, so if you have a paid subscription to flowrestling.org, you can watch the tournament live.  If you do not have a flowrestling.org subscription, you can follow along with the tournament website at www.cklvwrestle.com.  Brackets should be posted sometime today at http://postedresults.escapesports.com/Results.php.  In addition, intermatwrestle.com will have a live blog throughout the event.  As always, you can follow results for the Wolfpack on Twitter @PackWrestle. 

Here is a look at the thirty-three teams in this year’s field:  #5 Oklahoma, #6 Northern Iowa, #7 Nebraska, #8 Iowa State, #11 Cornell, #12 Ohio State, #14 Oregon State, #18 Boise State, #20 Virginia, #21 Virginia Tech, #22 Michigan, #23 NC State, #25 Wyoming, #33 Air Force, #36 (tied) American, #36 (tied)Hofstra, #41 (tied) Arizona State, #41 (tied) Navy,#44 (tied) Brown, #44 (tied) Cal Bakersfield, #44 (tied) Citadel, #44 (tied) Utah Valley, #52 (tied) Cal Poly, #52 (tied) , #52 (tied) Purdue, #52 (tied) Rutgers, Army, Harvard, Grand Canyon, #1 (NJCAA) North Idaho, #15 (NJCAA) Western Wyoming, Cal Baptist, Colorado State – Pueblo, and San Francisco State (Note:  all rankings are from intermatwrestle.com)

125 pounds – Micah Perez will start for the Wolfpack.  This will be his third tournament of the season.  He is doing a nice job as a freshman and is looking for some breakout wins this weekend.  He currently sits at 11-2.  Expected to compete are six wrestlers ranked in the top ten and another four in the top twenty nationally.  The highest ranked wrestler in the field is Nahshon Garrett, ranked 2^nd nationally, of Cornell.

133 pounds – Chris Wilkes will enter his second tournament of the season for the Wolfpack.  He is coming off a 2-1 showing at the North East Duals.  Chris is 9-2 on the season.  If Chris opens up and is offensive, he will have a great weekend.  In this weight class, there are six top twenty ranked wrestlers with another two wrestlers who were ranked in the top twenty last week.  The highest ranked wrestler in this weight class is #4 Joe Colon of Northern Iowa.

141 pounds – Sam Speno is coming off a great showing at the North East Duals.  Sam is 10-1 so far this season.  He went 3-0 last weekend and is looking to make a name for himself this weekend.  There are ten wrestlers in this weight class who have been ranked in the top twenty nationally over the last two weeks.  Defending NCAA Champion Logan Stieber is the wrestler to beat at 141 pounds.  Speno was pre-seeded eleventh.

149 pounds – Brian Hamann (10-2) notched his first win over a top fifteen ranked wrestler this past weekend.  He is looking to build momentum with that win.  He will have plenty of chances to do that this weekend as he will see eight wrestlers ranked in the top fifteen and nine wrestlers in the top twenty nationally.  Defending NCAA Champion, Kendric Maple anchors the list of title contenders this weekend.

157 pounds – Tommy Gantt is looking to rebound from last weekend’s performance.  Tommy is 8-2 so far this year.  Watch for him to “upset” some ranked wrestlers this weekend.  The 157 pound weight class features seven top twenty wrestlers, highlighted by #4 ranked Jake Sueflohn of Nebraska.

174 pounds – Peter Renda (9-1) is coming off a breakout performance this past weekend where he beat a top ten ranked wrestler.  Watch for more of that this weekend.  There are nine top twenty wrestlers in his weight class, including NCAA Champion Andrew Howe of Oklahoma.  Peter was pre-seeded twelfth.

184 pounds – Shayne Brady (6-2) has been a steady performer as a freshman.  He is looking for his first breakout win of the season.  With nine top twenty wrestlers in this weight class, he will have the opportunity to get some great wins.  Fourth-ranked Ryan Loder is the highest ranked wrestler in the weight class.

197 pounds – Lee Davis will start for the Pack this weekend.  Lee wrestled well in his last competition at the Wolfpack Duals.  He is 8-5 on the season and is improving every week.  There are seven top twenty ranked wrestlers in this weight class, including #2, #3, #5, and #6.

285 pounds – Nick Gwiazdowski has dominated the competition so far this year.  He is 10-0 and has picked up bonus points in every match.  With eight top twenty wrestlers in this weight class, he will see several quality opponents.  TJ Felix of Boise State is the second highest ranked wrestler in the weight class (to Gwiazdowski) as he enters with a #5 ranking.  Nick is seeded first.

Pat's Pop In

Pack Preview: Northeast Duals

A Wolfpack Thanksgiving

Pat's Pop In

Featured Freshman Series: Micah Perez

Micah Perez

125 lbs.

Central Union High School (El Centro, CA)

• 2nd Place NHSCA Senior Nationals (120 lbs)
• 2X 3rd Place California State Championships (103 & 113 lbs)
• 7th Place California State Championships (120 lbs)
• 3rd Fargo Junior Freestyle Nationals
• 2nd NHSCA Freshman Nationals (103 lbs)
• Undefeated (8-0) at 2011 Junior Freestyle National Duals
• Freestyle Champion Western Junior Regional (112 lbs)
• Greco Champion Western Junior Regional (112 lbs)
• 2nd Place Doc Buchanan 2012 (113 lbs)
• Las Vegas Freak Show Champion 2010
• 2nd Place Las Vegas Freak Show (2011 & 2012)
• 2nd Place Temecula Valley Battle for the Belt 2011 (103 lbs)
• 3rd Place Temecula Valley Battle for the Belt 2013 (120 lbs)

• Favorite Athlete: Johnny Hendricks
• Favorite Movie: Django Unchained
• Fun Fact: Considers himself an excellent dancer

This concludes our Featured Freshman Series for the 2013-2014 season.