#4 NC State Wrestling takes on #2 Iowa – Monday Feb 22

State was selected as an at large team to participate in the 2016 NWCA Division I National Championships Dual Series. It is similar to the ACC/Big 10 Basketball Challenge, in that the top 8 Big 10 wrestling teams go against teams who have won the dual meet championship of their conference. Unfortunately in State’s case that would be VT. Fortunately though State was selected as a wild card and in my opinion, wrestles in the second best matchup against #2 ranked Iowa. Penn St. goes against OKSt. for the dual “championship” (kinda like the old BCS).

This will be yet another tough test for the Pack, but also another opportunity to raise the profile of Wolfpack wrestling. There are 16 undefeated wrestlers in the NCAA, Iowa and State have 2 each, with Gantt and Gwiz representing the Pack.

There’s only BTN streaming for video, but evidently go pack.com will have live audio.

Good info here:

http://www.gopack.com/news/2016/2/20/WREST_0220161705.aspx

Familiar Foes
Both teams competed at the prestigious Midlands Championships Dec. 29-30. Iowa won their third straight team title, with three individual titles (125, 149, 197), while the Wolfpack placed fourth and won two individual titles (157, 285). During that weekend in Evanston, Ill., there were four matchups between NC State and Iowa wrestlers. The two teams split the four matches, while NC State’s two wins were both for bonus points.

157: #6 Tommy Gantt major dec. Edwin Cooper – 17-6
184: #9 Sammy Brooks dec. #15 Pete Renda – 8-7
197: #4 Nathan Burak dec. #17 Michael Boykin – 8-2
285: #1 Nick Gwiazdowski major dec. #13 Sam Stoll – 10-1
(Rankings from 12/28 on FloWrestling)”

http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/021916aab.html

http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/021516aaa.html