North Carolina State University Athletics
Wrestling Begins Dual-Meet Season At Oklahoma
11/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
RALEIGH, N.C. With a weekend tournament at home for a tuneup, the NC State wrestling team hits the road this week to begin the dual-match portion of the 2007-08 schedule.
The Wolfpack will face No. 21 Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., on Thursday at 8 p.m., then will take on Purdue and Michigan State on Saturday in Chapel Hill at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Pack will face Purdue at 2 p.m. and Michigan State at 4 p.m. Both matches will be at the Eddie Smith Field House. Admission is free to the public.
NC State opened its season in the NC State Open. With most of the participants, including the Wolfpack, wrestling unattached, team scores were not kept. Individually, several NC State wrestlers performed well, led by 10th-ranked sophomore Darrion Caldwell, who easily won the bracket at 149 pounds.
Redshirt-sophomore Taylor Cummings took third at 125 pounds, with redshirt-sophomore Ryan Tice fourth at 133, redshirt-freshman Ray Ward third at 157, junior Jalil Dozier fourth at 165, freshman bobby Isola fourth at heavyweight.
Oklahoma comes into action against NC State with a 3-0 record after defeating Oklahoma Central, Missouri Valley and Neosha Community College on November 4 at Oklahoma City. Michigan State is 0-1 after a 20-16 loss to Old Dominion on November 9. Purdue has not wrestled a dual match.
The Sooners feature five wrestlers ranked in the latest Intermat or Amateur Wrestling News rankings, led by fourth-ranked Joel Flaggert at 197 pounds. Oklahoma also will line up No. 16 Zach Bailey at 141, No. 12 Will rowe at 149, No. 13 Max Dean at 165, and No. 15 Josh Weitzel at 184.
Purdue has three ranked wrestlers, all in the heart of its lineup. No. 8 Jake Patascil is at 149, followed by No. 18 Jack Murphy at 157, and No. 12 Justin Fraga at 165. Michigan State has No. 11 Joe Williams at 184 pounds.
“We’re going to find out about our team really quickly,” Wolfpack head coach Carter Jordan says. “We face Oklahoma, Purdue and Michigan State this week, then face Iowa and two other teams next weekend in a tournament in Ohio. A week after that we go to the Las Vegas Invitational, which is always the top in-season tournament in the country. We want our guys to be tested, to see what the top competition is like.”
Following are the probable starting lineups for NC State and its three opponents this weekend
NC State
125 - Taylor Cummings
133 - Ryan Tice or Darrius Little
141 - Joe Caramanica
149 - #10 Darrion Caldwell
157 - Ray Ward or William Gilleland
165 - Jalil Dozier
174 - Randy Goodman
184 - Dane Coffee
197 - Mark Jahad
Hwt - Bobby Isola or Chris Sutton
Oklahoma
125 - Joey Fio
133 - Henry Roman
141 - #16 Zach Bailey
149 - #12 Will Rowe
157 - Chad Terry
165 - #13 Max Dean
174 - Jeff James
184 - #15 Joshua Weitzel
197 - #4 Joel Flaggert
285 - Nathan Fernandez
Michigan State
125 - Joel Trombly
133 - Franklin Gomez
141 - Jeff Wimberley
149 - Eddie Skowneski
157 - John Fulger
165 - Rex Kendle
174 - John Murphy
184 - Nick Palmieri
197 - #11 Joe Williams
Hwt - Alan O'Donnell
Purdue
125 - Akif Eren
133 - Sean Schmaltz
141 - Mett Redmond
149 - #8 Jake Patascil or Mark Powell
157 - #18 Jake Murphy or Nick Bertucci
165 - #12 Justin Fraga or Luke Manuel
174 - Nick Corpe
184 - A.J. Kissell
197 - Logan Brown
Hwt - Chris Kasten
