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 Cedar Falls, Iowa. on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 5-6. The Peacocks are locked into their first dual of the event against the No. Central Oklahoma on Friday at 2 p.m. The event will be held at the UNI Dome on the Northern Iowa campus.
LIVE OPTIONS… Fans that can't make the trip to Cedar Falls 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.
FLASHBACK TO THE MIDWEST CLASSIC… Upper Iowa men's wrestling placed fourth at the 44th annual Midwest Classic in Indianapolis, Ind. behind five place winners.
Chase Luensman (165) placed second,
Tate Murty (141) and
Ethen Doty (149) came in fourth,
Eric Faught (157) took fifth in his first action of the season and
Colter Bye (184) placed seventh. UIU tied with Lander for a tournament-high of 11 pins in a combined time of 23:09 while recording a total 326 match points.
FULL HOUSE… The UNI-Dome will be a packed environment as they are expected to host 93 teams across the country spread over six divisions. There will be 35 mats in place for competition this weekend. On the men's side, the event will showcase up to 324 ranked wrestlers, while 215 ranked women's college wrestlers will be in attendance. On the women's side, there are 140 returning All-Americans in the women's group, while the men's field will feature around 150 wrestlers who have made their way to the podium at some point during their collegiate careers. Division II men have nine of the top-ranked wrestlers present at the event.
NWCA RANKINGS REVIEW… In the most recent rankings by the NWCA, Upper Iowa was voted 12th with 36 total points and four individuals ranked. The Peacocks in the top 12 are
Tate Murty (No. 4- 141),
Eric Faught (No. 7- 157),
Chase Luensman (No.2- 165) and
Colter Bye (No. 12- 184).
THE OPEN MAT RANKINGS… The Peacock men's wrestling team and a handful of individuals were named in the most recent national rankings by The Open Mat. Upper Iowa is ranked No. 10 in the tournament-based rankings and No. 7 in the dual-based rankings, while UIU has wrestlers ranked in the top 15 across six different weight classes. Upper Iowa collected 47 points to take the No. 10 spot in the team tournament, while they remained in the No. 7 slot in team dual with a record of 1-0.
The six Peacocks ranked by The Open Mat include
James Davis (No. 15 - 133),
Tate Murty (No. 4- 141),
Ethen Doty (No. 13- 149),
Eric Faught (No. 10- 157),
Chase Luensman (No. 2- 165),
Colter Bye (No. 12- 184).
UIU'S PROBABLE LINEUP…
THE COMPETITION… The Peacocks are set to go head-to-head with No. 1 Central Oklahoma in the first round of the tournament, who are two-time champions at the event. The Bronchos have eight wrestlers nationally ranked by the NWCA, including the returning national champion Dalton Abney who is tabbed No. 1 at 197. UCO has come out on top in 34 of their last 35 duals and claimed the Division II title last year at the National Championships in Cedar Rapids. There are head-to-head ranked matchups to keep an eye out between these two teams, one of them being the 141-pound match between returning All-Americans Dylan Lucas of UCO, ranked second, and fourth-ranked
Tate Murty.
Depending on the outcome of the first match, Upper Iowa will either take on Ashland or McKendree in the second round.
UPPER IOWA'S RECENT HISTORY AT THE NATIONAL DUALS... Upper Iowa has placed in the top eight in thirteen of the last fifteen 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)
- 2023- 6th place
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 McKendree 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… During the 2023 NWCA Duals last season, Upper Iowa claimed a sixth-place finish after going 3-2 at the event, including defeating No. 2 University of Nebraska at Kearney 21-14.
On the opening day, Upper Iowa collected a pair of wins in three matches. They won 13 of their 30 matches, but posted bonus-point wins in six matches including two falls, three tech falls and a major decision to highlight their two big wins. Upper Iowa's two wins came over No. 12 McKendree University, 21-13, and No. 14 Fort Hays State University, 24-18, while the loss came against No. 3 St. Cloud State University, 28-7.
They finished day two of competition with a 1-1 record to place sixth. Their big win over the Lopers on Saturday morning pushed the Peacocks into the 5th place match against No. 5 Lander University. Lander held on for a 22-18 win in the final dual of the weekend.
ON THE HORIZON… After the NWCA National Duals in Cedar Falls on Friday and Saturday, the Peacocks will return to Fayette for the beginning of second semester classes. Upper Iowa will then prepare to travel to Lebanon, Ill. to take on GLVC opponent McKendree University on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 6 p.m.
