Dual Meet Season is Here! VMI & Campbell Preview

Tonight we wrestle VMI and Campbell University.  Here is a look at both teams…

VMI has been led by John Trudgeon for twenty-six seasons.  Chris Skretkowicz has been his top assistant for the past seven years.  New on staff this year is Ben Sprunger.  Coach Trudgeon has won 153 dual meets at VMI and the team finished 5^th in the Southern Conference (SoCon) last season.  They have only wrestled two duals so far this year.  Here is a look at their line-up.

125 Pounds – Armando Herrera-Dos Reis is the Cadet’s starter.  He is a true freshman with three wins so far this season.

  
133 Pounds – Andriy Onufriyenko is a starter as a freshman for VMI.  He currently has five wins.

141 Pounds – Ryan Goodsell is a multiple-year starter for VMI.  He is a senior with six wins on the season.  Last year he finished his season with seven wins.

149 Pounds – Zeb Stewart is a returning starter for the Cadet and is a sophomore.  He has five wins so far this year and won seventeen matches last season.  Also, he took fourth in the SoCon last season.

157 Pounds – Ted Gottwald is in his third year as a starter.  He won seven matches last season and has three wins so far this year.  He was named as a member of the SoCon All-Freshman Team two years ago.

165 pounds – Mark Darr is a freshman who is having a good year for the cadets.  He has nine wins already this season.

174 Pounds – John Dommert is a multiple-year starter and a senior.  He currently has five wins on the season and won nine matches last year.

184 Pounds – Johnathan Jones is a sophomore for the Cadets.  He has five wins so far this season.  Last year, his top finish was second at the Rat Rumble Open.

197 Pounds – Urayoan Garcia is a sophomore with eight wins on the season.  Garcia is one of the Cadet’s top performers and took third at the Wolfpack Open earlier this season.  He is a two-year starter and finished fourth in the SoCon last season. 

285 Pounds – Juan Adams is a junior and the top grappler on the team.  He has a team leading twelve wins so far this season after producing just nine wins in the last two years combined.  He has placed in the top six this season in both the Wolfpack Open and the Hokie Open.

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Campbell’s head coach is Joe Boardwine and his assistant is C.C. Fisher.  Coach Boardwine has greatly improved the program in his three years at Campbell.  Last season, they won eleven dual meets and finished 4^th in the SoCon. Here is a preview of their expected line-up.

125 Pounds – Eric Montoya is Campbell’s top wrestler.  He is a freshman from New Mexico, where he was a four-time state champion.  Montoya has almost twice as many wins as anyone else on the team.  He has a 22-10 record so far this season.  Just last week, he placed seventh at the Southern Scuffle.  Also this season, he placed eighth at the PSU Open, won the Citadel Open, and finished in the top eight at the Reno Tournament of Champions.

133 Pounds – Tanner Bidelspach is a redshirt junior and is in his third year as the starter for the Camels.  He finished fourth in the SoCon last season.  He has started in every event this year and has competed at the Southern Scuffle, PSU Open, and the Reno Tournament of Champions.  Also, he finished in the top twelve at the Hokie Open this season.

141 Pounds – Brent Jorge is a redshirt junior and one of the top wrestlers on the team.  He had some early injuries that prevented him being on the mats for some of the early competition, but has returned to form.  He has seven wins so far this season all coming from tournament competition.  He is a very dangerous wrestler as he is capable of beating some of the best in the country.  Last season during his redshirt year, he beat NCSU All-American Darius Little.  Another option for the Camels is freshman, Michael Dahlstrom.  Dahlstrom started off the season at 133 pounds but has since moved up to 141 pounds.  He won three matches at the Wolfpack Open earlier this season.

149 Pounds – Daniel Luty looks as though he has established himself as the starter after seeing time in the line-up last year.  This is a deep weight class for Campbell as they have wrestled a few different wrestlers in dual meets at this weight.  He has four wins on the season and is a sophomore.

157 Pounds – Either Nick Rex or Brad Merriman could start for the Camels.  Rex is one of the top wrestlers on the team but has not competed since placing third at the Hokie Open and has a 5-1 record.  The redshirt junior won twenty-five matches last year and finished second in the SoCon.  If healthy, he will be a force for the Camels.  Merriman has started in three matches for Campbell this season and is also a redshirt junior with four wins on the season.  Merriman has been in the starting line-up a lot over the last three years.

165 Pounds – Paul Duggan is a sophomore with the second most wins on the team.  He has a 12-10 record this season and has started every competition.  He took second at the Citadel Open and finished in the top eight at the Reno Tournament of Champions.  He also saw time in the starting line-up last season.

174 Pounds – This is an interesting weight for Campbell.  Taylor McGiffen (freshman), Matthew Cox (redshirt senior), and Cody Ryba (redshirt freshman) could either be here or at 184 pounds.  McGiffen appears to be the cream of the crop and is third on the team in wins with a 10-8 record.  He won the Citadel Open at 184 pounds earlier this season but has since dropped to 174 pounds.  McGiffen is a freshman and started in four duals up at 184 pounds.  Ryba has six wins on the season.  He has started in every dual meet so far at 174 pounds.  He won the Citadel Open earlier this season at 174 pounds.  Cox has eight wins on the year with a top six finish at the Citdel Open at 184 pounds.  Cox, like McGiffen, started the season at 184 pounds and started in an early season dual at 184 pounds before dropping to 174 pounds.

184 Pounds – James Cook is a redshirt sophomore with three wins on the year.  He has yet to wrestle in a dual meet this season but has competed in three tournaments.  He won twenty-two matches last season and finished second in the SoCon.  Do not be surprised to see McGiffen, Cox, or Ryba up at 184 for the dual meet.

197 Pounds – John Merickel is the only senior on the team.  He is a four-year starter and enters the dual with seven wins on the season.  Last year, he finished fourth in the SoCon Championships.  Earlier this season, he finished in the top six at the Citadel Open.

285 Pounds – Joe Nolan is a sophomore and a returning starter for the Camels.  He has only wrestled in limited competition this season but has two wins.  Last season, he won 16 matches and finished fourth in the SoCon Championships.

Campbell wrestles VMI at 5PM tonight.  NCSU will wrestle VMI immediately after that dual meet.  Then, the last dual of the evening will be NCSU against Campbell.  Follow our results on twitter @packwrestle.  The Campbell University website will also livestream the dual meets for a fee of $3.95 (click here).

Click here for the GoPack.com press release on tonight's duals.