College Week 9 Preview

AMINE VS FACUNDO REMATCH HIGHLIGHTS AN ACTION PACKED COLLEGE WEEKEND

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Michigan travels to Happy Valley tonight to take on #1 Penn State at Bryce Jordan Center. The Wolverines are 7-0 in duals this season and ranked #3 in this week's Coaches Poll. Michigan won the Big Ten Championship last season, upsetting Penn State at the Big Ten tournament.  Penn State returned the favor at the NCAA tournament, finishing 1st, as the Wolverines earned a runner-up finish.

Penn State will roll out a brutal lineup that includes 4 returning NCAA champions. Roman Bravo-Young (133lbs), Carter Starocci (174lbs), Aaron Brooks (184lbs), and Lowell HS graduate Max Dean (197lbs) all won NCAA titles this past season. Add #1 Greg Kervliet to the mix, and half of PSU's dual lineup is ranked first and/or a returning national champ.

Although there are 18 ranked wrestlers in this dual creating 8 ranked match-ups, we are picking two featured matches. The first is at 165lbs, where we are hoping to see part three of the Amine vs Facundo trilogy. While at Detroit CC and Davison, respectively, the two split matches. Facundo has been out of the lineup as of late, but Coach Cael Sanderson has recently commented that he will be back this weekend. The second premier match is at 285lbs, where we will see #1 vs #2. Kerkvliet won the last match against Parris a season ago.

Projected Lineups:
125 - #23 Jack Medley vs Gary Steen
133 - #12 Dylan Ragusin vs #1 Roman Bravo-Young
141 - #21 Cole Mattin vs #4 Beau Bartlett
149 - #21 Chance Lamer vs #14 Shayne Van Ness
157 - #10 Will Lewan vs #17 Levi Haines
165 - #5 Cameron Amine vs #16 Alex Facundo
174 - #30 Max Maylor vs #1 Carter Starocci
184 - #9 Matt Finesilver vs #1 Aaron Brooks
197 - Brendin Yatooma vs #4 Max Dean
285 - #2 Mason Parris vs #1 Greg Kerkvliet

Michigan will stay on the road this Sunday as they travel to New Jersey to take on Rutgers. Rutgers has four ranked wrestlers, which will create four ranked match-ups in this dual. The dual will start out with two ranked matches at 125 and 133. The match to watch in this dual is at 125lbs. Medley is coming off a big win over #5 Eric Barnett of Wisconsin, and he will be looking to pick up another top-15 win against Rutgers. Michigan will be looking for bonus points at 149, 165, and 285lbs.

Projected Lineups:
125 - #23 Jack Medley vs #15 Dean Peterson
133 - #12 Dylan Ragusin vs #14 Joe Heilmann
141 - #21 Cole Mattin vs Joseph Olivieri
149 - #21 Chance Lamer vs Tony White
157 - #10 Will Lewan vs #23 Andrew Clark
165 - #5 Cameron Amine vs Connor O'Neill
174 - #30 Max Maylor vs Jackson Turley
184 - #9 Matt Finesilver vs #16 Brian Saldano
197 - Brendin Yatooma vs Billy Janzer
285 - #2 Mason Parris vs John O'Donnell

CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

The Chippewas already kicked off their weekend with a win, extending their winning streak to three duals. CMU traveled to Durham, North Carolina, on Thursday to take on Duke. CMU won 9 of 10 matches, including three by bonus points and won by forfeit, en route to a 33-4 victory over the Blue Devils.

Sean Spidle kicked things off with an 8-0 major decision over Logan Agin before Vince Perez earned 6 team points by forfeit at 133lbs. Corbyn Munson improved to 18-8 on the season with yet another pin, this time over Preston Decker in the 2nd period. Tracy Hubbard was the last Chippewa to earn bonus points, winning 10-2 at 157lbs.

Central Michigan 35, Duke 4
125: Sean Spidle (C) major dec. Logan Agin, 8-0
133: Vince Perez (C) won by forfeit
141: Jimmy Nugent (C) dec. Jarred Papcsy, 7-3
149: Johnny Lovett (C) dec. Patrick Rowland, 6-5
157: Corbyn Munson (C) pinned Preston Decker, 4:11
165: Tracy Hubbard (C) major dec. Gabe Dinette, 10-2
174: Alex Cramer (C) dec. Conor Becker, 8-2
184: Ben Cushman (C) dec. Luke Chakonis, 5-3
197: Cameron Wood (C) dec. Brayden Ray, 3-1
285: Jonah Niesenbaum (D) major dec. Bryan Caves, 11-3

Up Next: Central Michigan will travel to Campbell for the second annual Chippewa Challenge, which is a unique dual quad where all coaches of the respective programs have CMU ties. CMU will host CSU-Bakersfield, American, and Campbell, schools that are coached by Chippewa alums Luke Smith, Jason Borelli, and Scotti Sentes. Wynn Michalak, another CMU alum, also serves as the associate head coach at Campbell.

The Chippewa Challenge will take place on Sunday starting at 11am. CMU will take on CSU-Bakersfield at 11am, following by American at 1pm and Campbell at 3pm.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

MSU is off to a great start in duals this season, boasting a 7-1 record with their only loss coming to #3 Michigan. The Spartans have a great opportunity to pick up a Big Ten win on Friday in New Jersey against Rutgers. There are four ranked matches, and on paper, MSU is favored in two of them. 125, 133, 157, and 197 are the big swing matches in this dual. The Spartans will likely need to win at least two of those matches, and they could be looking for big bonus points from Fish at 165lbs. Our match to watch here is 133lbs, where Rayvon Foley is looking to rebound from a loss on Sunday against #15 Nagao. If he can beat #14 Heilmann, the Spartans could be in a good spot for a top-25 win.

Projected Lineups:
125 - #24 Tristan Lujan vs #15 Dean Peterson
133 - #16 Rayvon Foley vs #14 Joe Heilmann
141 - Jordan Hamdan vs Joseph Olivieri
149 - Peyton Omania vs Tony White
157 - #15 Chase Saldate vs #23 Andrew Clark
165 - #25 Caleb Fish vs Connor O'Neill
174 - Caesar Garza vs Jackson Turley
184 - #15 Layne Malczewski vs #16 Brian Saldano
197 - #14 Cam Caffey vs Billy Janzer
285 - Ryan Vasbinder vs John O'Donnell

On Sunday, MSU will face #1 Penn State, who is returning four NCAA champs. The Spartans will be looking to start off the dual with a win at 125lbs, and there are numerous other opportunities for points here. At 157lbs, Saldate vs Haines is a big swing match, and MSU will be hoping Saldate will continue to stay hot. At 165lbs, we could see a rematch between Fish and Facundo, which is a match Fish won a season ago. Similarly, Caffey beat Dean in the dual last year, so that could be a highly anticipated rematch at 197lbs.

Projected Lineups:
125 - #24 Tristan Lujan vs Gary Steen
133 - #16 Rayvon Foley vs #1 Roman Bravo-Young
141 - Jordan Hamdan vs #4 Beau Bartlett
149 - Peyton Omania vs #14 Shayne Van Ness
157 - #15 Chase Saldate vs #17 Levi Haines
165 - #25 Caleb Fish vs #16 Alex Facundo
174 - Caesar Garza vs #1 Carter Starocci
184 - #15 Layne Malczewski vs #1 Aaron Brooks
197 - #14 Cameron Caffey vs #4 Max Dean
285 - Ryan Vasbinder vs #1 Greg Kerkvliet

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