THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK WRESTLING… Upper Iowa is ready to get back on the mat and kick off 2023 in style at the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Kent. on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 6-7. The No. 9 Peacocks are locked into their first dual of the event against the No. 12 Bearcats of McKendree University on Friday at 10 a.m. EST. The event will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
LIVE OPTIONS… Fans that can't make the trip to Louisville can follow along through live scoring, bracket updates and pay-per-view streams of the action at the NWCA National Duals through the links at
UIUPeacocks.com/Live or by clicking the links at the top of this story.
TICKETS… Tickets are available at the following price points… Single Day – Adult $20/Student $15 or Both Days – Adult $40/Student $30. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time through the Kentucky Expo Center's TicketMaster site at
https://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/180664.
NEIGHBORS IN THE POD… The No. 3 Huskies of St. Cloud State University will take on the No. 18 Lakers of Mercyhurst University in the other first round match up in Upper Iowa's pod. Winners of the two duals will face each other in the quarterfinals looking to grab a semifinal spot and secure a place in Saturday's action. The losers of the two duals will face each other in the event's first elimination dual. A team must secure two wins on Friday to place in the top eight at the event and compete on Saturday.
FULL HOUSE… Louisville will serve as a proving ground this weekend with 14 of the NCAA Division II's 16 teams competing are in the latest NWCA Division II Top 25. The field includes No. 1 University of Central Oklahoma, No. 2 University of Nebraska at Kearney, No. 3 St. Cloud State, No. 4 West Liberty University, No. 5 Lander University, No. 9 Upper Iowa, No. 11 University of Mary, No. 12 University of Indianapolis, No. 12 McKendree, No. 14 Ft. Hays State University, No. 14 Gannon University, No. 16 Colorado Mesa University, No. 18 Mercyhurst, No. 24 Ashland University. The two non-ranked teams include fellow NSIC-member Augustana University, as well as Newberry College.
NWCA RANKINGS REVIEW… Upper Iowa jumped into the NWCA Division II Top 25 at No. 9 following a great weekend in Indianapolis at the Midwest Classic; the Peacocks were receiving votes in the last poll that was released at the beginning of December. UIU and the University of Wisconsin-Parkisde, a fellow NSIC wrestling member, share the No. 9 ranking to round out this ranking edition's top ten. One of six NSIC programs in the rankings, Upper Iowa has 34 points in the poll fueled by four nationally-ranked individuals. In addition to the six conference schools in the rankings, three more NSIC members are receiving votes in the poll. The four Peacocks ranked nationally in the NWCA rankings are No. 5
Tate Murty (141), No. 2
Chase Luensman (165), No. 9
Dalton Hahn (197), and No. 9
Zach Ryg (285).
QUICK NOTES ON THE MIDWEST CLASSIC… Upper Iowa is coming off a great weekend in Indianapolis prior to the holiday break placing sixth at the 43rd Annual Midwest Classic highlighted by four place winners in the form of Luensman (2nd), Murty (4th), Ryg (5th), while Hahn returned to action after two years away from the mat to place sixth. As a team, Upper Iowa scored eight falls at the event in a combined time of 24:49 and the ninth-most match points with 236. Murty led the team with three falls in a time of 4:18, while Hahn added a pair of falls in a time of 6:34.
PEACOCK LEADERS… Luensman has enjoyed a great start to his season with a 13-1 record which includes seven bonus-point wins thanks to a pair of falls, a tech fall and four major decisions. The lone blemish on the Monticello, Iowa product's resume is a 4-2 loss to No. 1 Shane Gantz of Parkside at the Midwest Classic in the 165-pound title bout. Murty is coming off a five-win weekend in Indy and has a 14-3 record so far this year. The Fountain City, Wis. native has seven wins by fall after his fourth-place finish at the Midwest Classic. Ryg has posted a 10-4 record in his transition from 197 to 285 pounds. UIU's heavyweight has registered three wins by fall including his fifth-place match over Parkside's Lloyd Reynolds at the Midwest Classic.
Kaden Anderlik (133) and
Eric Faught (157) both have 11 wins on the season, while
Scott Kellenberger (174) has reached double figures with 10 wins.
UIU'S PROBABLE LINEUP… As a team, Upper Iowa has posted 175 wins in 280 matches for a win percentage of 62.5% with 85 bonus-point wins including 56 falls, eight tech falls and 21 major decisions. The following 17 individuals are prepped and ready to suit up this weekend in UIU's duals in Louisville.
SCOUTING THE NO. 12 BEARCATS… McKendree is even in dual results this season with one win over Kentucky Wesleyan College, 40-4, and one loss to the University of Wisconsin Parkside 24-14. The team has competed in four tournaments including the Midwest Classic where they placed 15
th with a pair of place winners. The Bearcats head into 2023 as the No. 12 team in the latest NWCA Division II Rankings tied with the University of Indianapolis in that ranking position. Redshirt sophomore Cory Peterson (165) leads the trio at No. 3, while redshirt freshman Zeke Waltz (174) entered the ranks at No. 4 and senior Joshua Jones (184) sits at No. 11.
UPPER IOWA'S RECENT HISTORY AT THE NATIONAL DUALS... Upper Iowa has placed in the top eight in twelve of the last fourteen years at the National Duals. The 2021 National Duals were not held due to the COVID pandemic.
- 2008 – 8th place
- 2009 – 7th place
- 2010 – 5th place
- 2011 – Did not place (1-2)
- 2012 – 3rd place
- 2013 – 6th place
- 2014 – 7th place
- 2015 – 4th place
- 2016 – 5th place
- 2017 – 7th place
- 2018 – 7th place
- 2019 – 8th place
- 2020 – 7th place
- 2022 – Did not place (1-2)
BEST RUN AT THE NATIONAL DUALS… After a 1-2 record in 2011, the Peacocks returned in 2012 with their best-ever finish at the duals. Upper Iowa claimed third-place after dropping a tight match in the semis to St. Cloud State and then defeating Nebraska-Kearney. In 2015, UIU upset the Mercyhurst Lakers and the McKendreee Bearcats on the first day, but lost to Notre Dame and St. Cloud State on Saturday afternoon to place fourth. In 2016, the Peacocks placed fifth with a 4-1 record after defeating four ranked teams along the way including Wheeling Jesuit (24-15), Newberry (24-13), Tiffin (29-15) and Nebraska-Kearney (21-20) in an unreal finish in the fifth-place match.
LAST TRIP TO LOUISVILLE… Last January, the No. 14 Peacock wrestling team completed their competition on day one of the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals on Thursday with a 1-2 record. UIU started the day with an impressive 30-13 win over Tiffin University, before dropping a pair of duals to Newberry College and Fort Hays State University by scores of 25-18 and 24-15, respectively. Both Tiffin and Fort Hays State were receiving votes in the latest NWCA Division II Top 25. Upper Iowa had great three-win days at both 133 pounds and heavyweight with
Kaden Anderlik (2-0) grabbing two decisions,
Donny Schmit (1-0) claiming a win by fall in his match against Newberry, and
Jordan Baumler (3-0) posting a pair of tight decisions after winning by forfeit in Upper Iowa's opening dual of the day.
ON THE HORIZON… After the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Kent. on Friday and Saturday, the Peacocks will return to Fayette for the beginning of second semester classes. Upper Iowa will then head out on the road for their first two Northern Sun Conference duals of the season at Minnesota State University Moorhead in Moorhead, Minn. on Saturday, Jan. 14 and Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D. on Sunday, Jan. 15. Both duals are slated to begin at 2 p.m.
