UNI Opens Dual Season with Triangular

Date: Friday, November 11, 2016
Time: UNK vs UVU – 4PM, UNI vs UNK – 5:45PM, UNI vs UVU – 7:30PM (or 15 minutes after UNK vs UNI)
Location: West Gym, Cedar Falls, IA
Live States: Trackwrestling – Link for UNK dual, Link for UVU dual
Video: Flowrestling ($)

#19 UNI Panthers 0-0
125- Tanner Rohweder or Jay Schwarm (Projected Starter)
133- #14 Josh Alber
141- Jake Hodges (Projected Starter) or Jake Koethe
149- #15 Max Thomsen
157- #12 Bryce Steiert (Projected Starter) or Paden Moore
165- #12 Cooper Moore
174- Taylor Lujan
184- Drew Foster or Jacob Holschlag (Projected Starter)
197- Jared Bartel
285- JJ Everard

UNK Lopers (0-0)
125- Vlad Kazakov
133- JR Rader or Bryce Shoemaker
141- Jeff Bizzle
149- Walker Johnson
157- #1 Destin McCauley or Seth Harrington
165- Richie Miranda
174- Isaac Deaton
184- #8 Zach Stodden
197- Corey Van Dorn
285- Jarrod Hinrichs

UVU Wolverines (0-0)
125- Mitch Brown
133- Jarod Maynes
141- Trevor Willson (Projected Starter) or Chase Call
149- Grant LaMont (Projected Starter) or Matthew Ontiveros
157- Raider Lofthouse
165- Dalton Harmon (Projected Starter) or Koy Wilkinson
174- Kimball Bastian
184- Will Sumner
197- Tanner Orndorff
285-Jordan Karst or Dustin Dennison

The Northern Iowa Panthers open their 2016-17 dual season with a double-header against the University of Nebraska-Kearney and Utah Valley University. This is the first time that the Panthers and the Lopers have met, while the UVU Wolverines come into the dual 1-1 against UNI all-time. The two programs are former members of the Western Wrestling Conference. The Panthers went to the Grand View Open last Saturday and crowned six champions.

The biggest thing that Head Coach Doug Schwab wants to see out of his Panthers is growth. And that’s not only from last season, but from last week’s GV Open. Starters who didn’t win the open – Josh Alber, Jake Hodges, Jake Koethe, Cooper Moore, and JJ Everard – all need to have a good showing on Friday night.

Alber took second at 133 pounds, losing by Jacob Colon of Grand View in the finals. Alber had an up and down year last season, something that had been attributed to his weight. But both Alber and his coach have said that weight control was a focus going into the season and its under control now. He does have two matches that he is heavily favored in, so we’ll see if Alber can get back on track with some wins.

The match of the night will come at 157 pounds, where #12 Bryce Steiert is expected to take on #1 (Division II) Destin McCauley. McCauley is a two-time All-American for the Lopers, which includes winning it all last season at 149 pounds. Steiert was UNI’s first true freshmen to make the NCAA tournament last year since 2003, and he had four wins over top-20 opponents. Steiert was right there with the top of the weight last year and this will be a great early season test to see where he stands now.

Neither Hodges nor Koethe won the GV Open at 141 pounds, and both lost to Iowa State’s Kanen Storr by 8-4 decisions. The open was set to provide UNI a guide as to who would start, but as it stands now we’re not 100% sure who we’ll see on the mat this Friday. Koethe was ranked pre-season by some, but since that first performance has fallen out a bit. Hodges was the next man up in 2015 at the MAC Championships, could this be the year we see Hodges wrestle an entire season for the Panthers?

Two debuts fans are very interested in seeing are at 149 and 197 pounds. Max Thomsen, the nation’s #15 overall ranked recruit, is set to see action at the lighter weight. The four-time state champion from Union redshirted last year, going 20-4 as an unattached wrestler, but fans still haven’t seen him wrestle in purple. This is his big debut with high expectations from all sides.

At 197 pounds UNI has some options, but after two years of waiting I think fans really want to see Tyler Hoffman take the mat. The two-time NJCAA Champion at 184 pounds has bumped up a weight and that may have been a bit of a problem for him at the GV Open, where he went 1-2 on the day. Jared Bartel also returns for the Panthers after taking 6th at the MAC Championships last season and going 6-9 overall.

Generally the Panthers should win both of these duals handily; look for everybody to be putting on a show and lighting the scoreboard up for home fans. The squad went 0-5 last season at home and that needs to turn around for them to have a better season. We’ll be in the West Gym on Friday night covering all both UNI duals, action is scheduled to start at 5:45 and we’ll have a live play-by-play thread going, so be sure to check in with us!

Wrestle Stat Predictions, with the projected starters listed above, for UNI vs UVU – Northern Iowa over Utah Valley 30 – 6