From The Morning Call — January 21, 2005
Lehigh to face stiff competition in Cleveland
By Gary R. Blockus
Of The Morning Call
There’s more to Cleveland than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Lehigh University’s wrestling team will find that out firsthand this weekend.
Lehigh, ranked No. 4 in the country, is traveling to Cleveland for this weekend’s NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals presented by Hershey’s SmartZone.
”I’m excited about this, seeing these kinds of teams wrestle,” said Lehigh coach Greg Strobel, whose team, should it live up to its seeding, would meet No.1 Oklahoma State in the Saturday night semifinals at Cleveland State. Oklahoma State is scheduled to visit Lehigh for a dual meet on Feb. 13.
The top 16 teams in the country have been invited to the national duals. Action will commence on eight mats Saturday morning with all 16 Division I teams competing at the same time.
Lehigh drew California Polytechnical in the opening round, and if the Mountain Hawks win that one, they will face the winner of Northern Iowa/Hofstra. Hofstra is the only team to defeat Lehigh in a dual meet so far this season, but the Flying Dutchmen are forfeiting at heavyweight and have a new 149-pounder in the lineup, so Strobel expects that if Lehigh wins against Cal Poly, Northern Iowa would be the next opponent.
Strobel was a little disappointed that Michigan was seeded No. 3 ahead of the Mountain Hawks, but likes Lehigh’s half of the bracket. Lehigh defeated Michigan this season, and last season, plus placed ahead of the Wolverines at the NCAA Championships last season.
Winners bracket matches will continue through the semifinals on Saturday night, with at least two rounds of consolation matches.
Sunday’s action includes consolation semifinals, followed by championship finals at 3 p.m., with teams wrestling off for first, third, fifth and seventh, all at the same time.
”I think this format favors teams who are in good shape,” said Strobel, ”and I thing our team is in pretty good shape after the last five matches we had.”
Lehigh (12-1) wrestled five duals in nine days through last Saturday at Navy, winning all five.
Strobel said his team is relatively healthy. Heavyweight Paul Weibel (Quakertown) is recovering from a sprained ankle suffered against Navy last week, but is ready to go. And No. 1 Troy Letters, the defending 165-pound national champion, has been working out all week despite sprained knee ligaments, and appears healthy.
Lehigh doesn’t expect any changes in its lineup, so Andrew Rizzi will lead off at 125 and David Nakasone will wrestle at 149.
The rest of the opening round in Lehigh’s bracket features No. 1 Oklahoma State against The Citadel, No. 8 Cornell against host Cleveland State, and No. 5 Hofstra against Northern Iowa. The lower bracket features No. 3 Michigan against Arizona State, No. 6 Minnesota against Central Michigan, No. 2 Illinois against West Virginia and No. 7 Oklahoma against Penn State.
Lehigh’s lineup features seven wrestlers ranked in the top 20: Matt Ciasulli (so., Easton) No. 6 at 133, Cory Cooperman (jr.) No. 4 at 141, Derek Zinck (jr., Upper Perkiomen) No. 11 at 157, Troy Letters (jr.) No. 1 at 165, Travis Frick (jr., Nazareth) No. 8 at 174 and Jon Trenge (sr., Parkland) No. 3 at 197.
Trenge may have the most difficult first day of all the Lehigh wrestlers if Lehigh and Hofstra win their opening-round bouts. Trenge lost to No. 2 Chris Skretkowicz of Hofstra earlier this season, which knocked the Lehigh wrestler from a No. 1 perch. Oklahoma State’s Jake Rosholt is currently ranked No. 1 at 197.
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