THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S WRESTLING… Upper Iowa men's wrestling travels to the University of Indianapolis to compete at the 44th Annual Midwest Classic on Saturday and Sunday. Fifteen of the top 20 teams in the NCAA Division 2 rankings will be in the field at this weekend's tournament.
LIVE OPTIONS… Live scoring and a webcast for the dual will be available through the links at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE and included with this story.
ABOUT THE EVENT … The Midwest Classic will feature 51 of the 67 total Division II teams in Indianapolis, Ind. this weekend. Following suit from the years prior, elite company will be present at the event as 21 of the top 27 ranked teams are prepared to compete. Seven out of the top 10 teams are at the tournament, along with current-No. 1 Lander and reigning national champion Central Oklahoma both making an appearance.
The two-day event will be held in the Ruth Lilly Center and Nicoson Hall Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 16-17. Action starts at 9 a.m. CST both days.
DEBRIEFING THE LAST DUAL… Upper Iowa has competed in one dual so far this season, defeating Davenport University 44-6 in their first conference event of the year.
Tate Murty,
Ethen Doty,
Lawson Losee and
Jordan Baumler each trumped their opponents by fall, while
Chase Luensman and
Colter Bye won by tech fall.
James Davis was victorious by major decision and
Treyton Ackman won by forfeit.
LAST YEAR AT THE MIDWEST CLASSIC… Upper Iowa placed sixth last season at the 43rd Annual Midwest Classic with 76.5 points behind four place winners in Indianapolis, Ind. Current wrestlers
Chase Luensman (165) placed second and
Tate Murty (141) placed fourth. Two individuals who have since graduated from the team were
Zach Ryg (285) won the fifth-place match, while
Dalton Hahn placed sixth at 197 pounds.
OVERLOAD AT 141 (Courtesy of FloWrestling, Ed Matthews)… This weekend, the 141-pound weight class may be the toughest from top to bottom. With all top five wrestlers in the rankings competing it should be a barnburner. The weight class features: #1 Donathan (Tiffin), #2 Jake Niffenegger (Mercyhurst), #3 Dylan Lucas (Central Oklahoma), #4
Tate Murty (Upper Iowa), #5 Cayden Henschel (UW-Parkside)
This is the first time that any of these wrestlers have seen each other this season and while Donathan is the reigning champion and clear favorite, there are plenty of others capable of taking home the title. Dylan Lucas is coming off a season in which he placed third at the NCAA tournament last season at 133 pounds and this is the first time we will get to see what he can do in the heavier weight class. Niffenegger and Murty squared off for seventh place at last year's NCAAs, with Niffenegger coming up with the 10-6 decision.
FORESHADOWING THE NCAA NATIONALS (Courtesy of FloWrestling, Ed Matthews) … The field at the Midwest Classic is loaded. With seven of the 10 weight classes featuring the #1- and #2-ranked wrestlers we could see a preview of the national tournament in these weight classes. This includes a potential NCAA finals rematch at 133 between Gavin Quiocho (Glenville State College) and Quentrevion Campbell (Chadron State College), in which Quiocho came out on top of a closely contested 4-3 match.
Another key match that may happen at the Midwest Classic includes a matchup at 149 pounds between #1 Wyatt Turnquist of Northern State and #2 Christian Small of Lake Erie. Turnquist is a returning All-American, finishing third last season and Small was a national runner-up at 141 pounds before moving up a weight this season.
There are also three returning national champions competing this weekend: Quiocho at 133 pounds, Zackary Donathan (Tiffin) at 141 and
Chase Luensman (Upper Iowa) at 165.
THE LEGACY… Head Coach
Heath Grimm returns for his 24th season at the helm of the men's wrestling team. He holds an overall dual meet record of 218-85-3 (.712) and a mark of 91-33 (.734) in the team's former league, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
During his tenure, Grimm has led the Peacocks to nine top-11 national finishes, including a second-place finish (program best) in 2002; in which six Peacocks were named All Americans (program best), a third-place finish in 2010, where UIU earned four All Americans including a National Champion, a National Runner Up, two third place finishers, and two fourth-place finishes (2011, 2018). In 2011 the Peacocks earned five All American including a National Champion, a third-place, a fifth-place and two sixth places. In 2018, UIU earned four All-Americans, including a National Champion and a National Runner-Up. In 2023, UIU earned three All-Americans, including a National Champion.
THE OPEN MAT RANKINGS… The Peacock men's wrestling team and several individuals were named in the most recent national rankings by The Open Mat. Upper Iowa is ranked No. 5 in the tournament-based rankings and No. 7 in the dual-based rankings, while UIU has a wrestler nationally-ranked in six weight classes.
Upper Iowa tallied 66 points to rank No. 5 in the tournament-based top 25. Upper Iowa is one of three GLVC teams in the tournament-based rankings with Indianapolis in seventh and McKendree in 17th. UIU is also one of three GLVC squads in the dual-based rankings, as McKendree falls in 10th and Indianapolis follows right behind them in 11th.
PROBABLE LINEUP FOR THE PEACOCKS…
UP NEXT… The Peacocks partake in their next event on Jan. 5-6 at the NWCA National Duals, held close to home in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
