Wrestling: WVU Heads to National Duals
January 11, 2007 02:01 PM | General
January 11, 2007
MATCH NOTES
Jared Villers
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After a year hiatus, the West Virginia University wrestling team returns to the prestigious NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, Jan 13-14, at Northern Iowa’s UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
“We are very proud to be invited this season,” says head coach Craig Turnbull. “Just being invited is a major compliment to our program and all those involved.”
The National Duals annually pits the top 16 Division I wrestling programs in the country against each another. The tournament’s selection committee, much like the NCAA basketball selection committee, evaluates all teams and attempts to pick the most competitive field possible.
The tournament seeds the top eight programs and then randomly selects which teams will compete against each other. The Mountaineers (1-0) will wrestle No. 8 Northwestern (8-0) in their opening round match. The two schools have met four times previously with the Wildcats holding a 3-1 advantage. However, WVU claimed the last match up against Northwestern, a 35-5 victory in 1991. That win also occurred at the National Duals.
Both universities enter Saturday loaded with talent as the Wildcats currently have five wrestlers recognized in the NWCA Top 20 weight class rankings, while the Mountaineers have two. For Northwestern Ryan Lang (141) ranks first, Nick Hayes (174) ranks 15th, Jake Herbert (184) ranks first, Mike Tamillow (197) ranks second and Dustin Fox Jr. (HWT) ranks third.
The premier bout of the match will occur at 141 when Lang faces No. 7-rated Brandon Rader. Lang is 18-0 this season and 8-0 in dual meets, while Rader is 10-1 with a 1-0 dual mark. Both wrestlers earned All-America status last season with Lang taking fourth and Rader finishing sixth at nationals.
Another important match will take place in the 197-pound weight class when No. 14 Jared Villers tests Tamillow’s No. 2 ranking. Villers is 15-4 on the season with nearly half of his wins coming by either fall or technical fall (seven). Tamillow is 21-0 on the season and 7-0 in duals.
The Mountaineers will begin Saturday facing uphill battle from the start as they will not wrestle a 174-pounder due to starter Kurt Brenner and reserve Joe Clutter both out with injuries.
“Due to injury we don’t feel like we have the ability to put out the best line up we are capable of,” says Turnbull. “But we feel like we can put some very good wrestlers on the mat that will benefit our team heading down the stretch into the EWL and NCAA tournaments. We may not be able to reach our team goals this weekend but there plenty of individual goals to wrestle for.”
WVU has made a habit of participating in the tournament over the past 17 years; West Virginia has been invited nine times, including six invitations since 1999. West Virginia’s highest finish at the tournament occurred in 1998 when the Mountaineers claimed sixth place.
Sunday’s semifinals and finals can be watched by fans free of charge from their computers at livesportsvideo.com. The semis are set to begin at 11 a.m., while the finals start at 1 p.m.
