What: The UNI Open
Date: Saturday December 12th, 2015
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls, IA
Who: See below
This Saturday is the UNI Open, the annual tournament is held by the Panthers in early to mid December every year, and it will be this years last tune-up before UNI hits the road for the Midlands.
It’s pretty tough to know who will be wrestling at the open though. There are quite a few teams signed up, but registered wrestlers won’t be announced until Saturday morning. So far UNI and Luther are the only two teams to have registered over 20 wrestlers, but again who those wrestlers are is unknown. The only other squad to have over ten wrestlers registered is Maryville, a NCAA Division II school from Missouri.
It will be interesting to see who UNI sends out, as a few of their starters suffered injuries at the Cliff Keen Invite last weekend. 125 pounder Dylan Peters, and 157 pounder Bryce Steiert both injury-defaulted out of the tournament in Las Vegas, so we’ll learn more about the severity of the injuries this weekend.
Another interesting name comes up at 165, where Cooper Moore has come back from an injury last year, only to be injured again this year. Moore made his return during UNI’s dual with Missouri, but with the limited filed at the Open it will be interesting to see if Coach Doug Schwab will rest him or not.
UNI still has a few weights where the starter is up in the air: 149 isn’t locked down yet, with Gunnar Wolfensperger and Jarrett Jensen potentially still fighting it out. 174, 184 and 197 have been a bit up in the air as well, and this weekend should prove to be a big factor in who will start with the majority of the MAC season coming up soon.
The biggest-name schools on the list (other than UNI) are Missouri, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Those three, along with Iowa State, Michigan State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State are the Division I schools currently signed up to bring wrestlers. Missouri has three wrestlers signed up already, which is a little surprising as they host #8 Ohio State later Saturday night. Missouri probably won’t bring any starters to the open, I just thought it was a bit odd.
Tickets for the UNI Open are just $9.50, and UNI is accepting donations for the Toys for Tots program. Fans are encouraged to bring a toy for a great cause in the Cedar Valley.
We’ll be at the UNI Open all day, and we’ll be recording some of the better matches on the day. Hopefully we’ll have some good ones for you, check back for results!
2015 UNI Open
Grand View
Iowa Central
Iowa State
Iowa Western
Luther College
Maryville University
Menlo
Michigan State
Minnesota State-Mankato
Missouri
North Dakota State
North Iowa Area Community College
Northern Iowa
Northwestern
Purdue
South Dakota State
University of Wisconsin
Waldorf College