Wrestling Targets Top-Ranked Ohio State In Delaware Dual Friday

Sunday, December 10

New York City (Madison Square Garden)

4:00 PM

Princeton University

Virginia Tech

Photo by: Lisa Elfstrum

Wrestling Targets Top-Ranked Ohio State In Delaware Dual Friday

December 14, 2017 | Wrestling

The Princeton wrestling team entered December taking on the fifth-ranked team in the nation (Lehigh), and the Tigers will close the month at one of the most prestigious and competitive events (Midlands) during the season. In the middle, there's this little match on Friday against the top-ranked team in the country.

Head coach Chris Ayres wanted his team battle-tested for 2018, and there aren't many tests like this one.

Princeton will head to the Carpenter Center in Delaware to take on #1 Ohio State Friday night at 8 pm in a lead-up match to the 2017 Beast of the East competition. The match will conclude a doubleheader that opens with a women's match between #2 Campbellsville and #4 Cumberland, which is set to start at 5:30 pm. You can find ticket information here.

Princeton, which has dropped December matches to 5th-ranked Lehigh and 10th-ranked Virginia Tech, won't face many obstacles like the one it will see in the Carpenter Center. Ohio State is expected to start eight wrestlers currently ranked in the Top 11 of their weight — seven in the Top 6 — and that group doesn't even include two-time reigning NCAA heavyweight champion Kyle Snyder.

There could be two matches featuring two ranked wrestlers, with the featured match coming at 149. Princeton All-American Matthew Kolodzik rarely enters a match as the lower seed, but the 7th-ranked sophomore will likely do so Friday as he takes on 5th-ranked Ke-Shawn Hayes. Kolodzik went 2-3 against Top-5 opponents last year; he hasn't officially faced a Top-5 wrestler this season, though he did drop a one-point match to third-ranked Max Thomsen of Iowa State during the NWCA All-Star Classic.

The other potential showdown features both ends of the national rankings. Ohio State sophomore Kollin Moore is the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 197, where he won the Big Ten Championships and placed third at NCAAs last year. Moore will take on Tiger freshman Patrick Brucki, who moved into the Top 20 this past week after a highly contested 2-0 loss to third-ranked Jared Haught of Virginia Tech. Brucki, who opened his career by winning the Princeton Open, leads the Tigers with 10 wins on the season.

You can watch the match or follow the results via TrackWrestling.

PROJECTED STARTERS

Ohio State	Wt.	Princeton
Brakan Mead (6-8)	125	Jonathan Gomez (8-4)
#4 Luke Pletcher (14-0)	133	Ty Agaisse (0-0) or Trey Aslanian (0-2)
#6 Joey McKenna (2-0)	141	Pat D'Arcy (7-5)
#5 Ke-Shawn Hayes (15-1)	149	#7 Matthew Kolodzik (7-0)
#5 Micah Jordan (12-2)	157	Mike D'Angelo (9-2)
#11 Te'Shan Campbell (11-2)	165	Jonathan Schleifer (4-3)
#3 Bo Jordan (12-2)	174	Carlin Powell (5-5)
#2 Myles Martin (14-0)	184	Kendall Elfstrum (2-4)
#1 Kollin Moore (10-0)	197	#20 Patrick Brucki (10-2)
Kevin Snyder (12-6)	285	Christian Araneo (7-3) or Michael Markulec (3-4)