Lehigh Mountain Hawks invade the RAC Saturday evening at 8 with a 13-2 dual meet record and the # 6 ranking in the country. They will be favored over our Scarlet Knights as they beat Oklahoma and Minnesota in common opponents and lost to Nebraska who we defeated. They bring a bunch of highly ranked wrestlers and have a long history of defeating us in dual meets. Lehigh has a few wrestlers out with injury so it will be interesting as to whether any of them are back for the Saturday dual. Mitch Minnotti at 157, Ryan Preisch at 165 and Elliott Riddick at 174 all have been out of the lineup recently but Lehigh has strong back ups and a heavily laden junior and senior team of wrestlers. At 141 Ashnault defeated Randy Cruz at last years NCAA wrestlebacks 3-2 and Hrymack and Bolich split bouts with Bolich winning 7-5 and Hrymack winning 6-5. Darian Cruz defeated MCabe in 2014 in their only match up. We need to wrestle our best to upend the hawks. Gravina, if ready, wil meet top ranked Nate Brown at 184 who was second in the nation last year. Wessell is ranked above Billy Smith at 285 and is known for his throws. At 133 Mason Beckman has not had his best year but Anthony Giraldo has to show increased aggressiveness to prevail here. Tyson Dippery was pinned by Gardner in their only meeting.
Lineups:
125 Sean McCabe vs Darian Cruz
133 Anthony Giraldo vs Mason Beckman
141 Anthony Ashnault vs Randy Cruz
149 Tyson Dippery vs Laike Gardner
157 Rich Lewis vs Ian Brown or Mitch Minotti
165 Anthony Perrotti vs Drew Long or Ryan Preisch
174 Phil Bakuckas vs Gordon Wolf or Elliot Riddick
184 Nuck Gravina or Anthony Parfumi vs Nathaniel Brown
197 Hayden Hrymack vs John Bolich
Billy Smith vs Max Wessell
Lehigh's record:
w Bucknell 23-12
w Minnesota 22-12
L Nebraska 6-26
w Pitt 27-7
w Edinboro 36-6
w Rider 26-12
w Princeton 34-3
w Oklahoma 30-7
w Navy 34-3
w Penn 27-10
w F & M 40-6
w Cornell 25-13
w American 32-8
L Penn State
w Bloomsburg 54-0
Lineups:
125 Sean McCabe vs Darian Cruz
133 Anthony Giraldo vs Mason Beckman
141 Anthony Ashnault vs Randy Cruz
149 Tyson Dippery vs Laike Gardner
157 Rich Lewis vs Ian Brown or Mitch Minotti
165 Anthony Perrotti vs Drew Long or Ryan Preisch
174 Phil Bakuckas vs Gordon Wolf or Elliot Riddick
184 Nuck Gravina or Anthony Parfumi vs Nathaniel Brown
197 Hayden Hrymack vs John Bolich
Billy Smith vs Max Wessell
Lehigh's record:
w Bucknell 23-12
w Minnesota 22-12
L Nebraska 6-26
w Pitt 27-7
w Edinboro 36-6
w Rider 26-12
w Princeton 34-3
w Oklahoma 30-7
w Navy 34-3
w Penn 27-10
w F & M 40-6
w Cornell 25-13
w American 32-8
L Penn State
w Bloomsburg 54-0