Princeton Seeks Statement Weekend With Jadwin Duals vs. #15 North Carolina, #3 Oklahoma State

Friday, January 11

Princeton, N.J.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

North Carolina

Photo by: Lisa Elfstrum

Princeton Seeks Statement Weekend With Jadwin Duals vs. #15 North Carolina, #3 Oklahoma State

January 10, 2019 | Wrestling

WEEKEND LINKS
#15 North Carolina (Friday, 7 pm): ESPN+ l International Video l Live Results l @TigerWrestling
#3 Oklahoma State (Saturday 1 pm): ESPN+ l International Video l Tickets l Live Results l @TigerWrestling

This type of weekend was almost unthinkable not too long ago, but two of the nation's top programs will make their way to Jadwin Gym to take on a nationally ranked Princeton wrestling team that features a trio of Top-10 wrestlers with NCAA championship aspirations.

Yes, the program has come quite a long way.

#25 Princeton, which ended long losing streaks to both Lehigh and Rider during the 2018 portion of the season, will try to make national headlines this weekend when it hosts both #15 North Carolina (Friday, 7 pm) and #3 Oklahoma State (Saturday, 1 pm) in Jadwin Gym. The North Carolina match will be free admission, while the Oklahoma State match is a ticketed event; you can order tickets here, or you can purchase them at the door.

Both matches will also be streamed live on ESPN+ (see links above).

Princeton (3-3) posted its best finish at the prestigious Midlands Championships at the end of 2018, a run that included the program's first two individual champions. Matthew Kolodzik, the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 149, became the first Tiger to win the title, while third-ranked 197-pounder Patrick Brucki scored a major decision in his final to grab the second title. Freshman Patrick Glory made his move into the Top 10 at 125 pounds by placing third at Midlands after an impressive final two periods in a semifinal loss to NCAA champion Spencer Lee of Iowa.

All three will face significant challenges over the weekend. Kolodzik may have the most daunting schedule since his brilliant run through the NCAA Championships in Cleveland last March. He is likely to open against #5 Austin O'Connor of North Carolina, who comes into the weekend with an 18-2 record overall and is riding an eight-match win streak. On Saturday, Kolodzik is likely to face #6 Kaden Gfeller of Oklahoma State, who is 19-6 on the season and the reigning Big 12 Wrestler of the Week. Both are freshmen who would love to shake up the top of the national poll against Kolodzik, who has won 25 of his last 26 collegiate matches dating back to last season.

Brucki (17-0) could face a Top 10 foe Saturday if he wrestles sophomore Dakota Greer, who comes into the weekend with a 17-2 record. The Princeton sophomore captain, whose appearance on the latest Higher Standard podcast is available below, already has seven wins against Top-20 competition this season, including a 9-1 major decision over Army's Rocco Caywood in the Midlands semifinal.

Listen to Patrick Brucki on the latest Higher Standard podcast.

Glory will face one of a pair of unranked freshmen Friday night, but then he will go head-to-head with #4 Nick Piccininni, a junior out of Oklahoma State who earned the sixth seed at the 2018 NCAA Championships. The Princeton freshman is 15-2 on the season, and both of his losses came against Lee.

Of course, team success will require wins from more than just that trio. Freshmen Quincy Monday and Travis Stefanik joined junior Kevin Parker as individual champions at the F&M Open, and all three will bring added confidence into a weekend where each should face at least one Top-20 opponent.

Friday night's match will have particular interest to the Monday family; Quincy's older brother Kennedy is a sophomore on the North Carolina team and enters the weekend ranked 14th at the weight class. Monday, who hasn't wrestled since Dec. 15 but is second on the team with 10 wins this season, had one of the biggest upsets of the 2018 NCAA Championships, a victory over #2 Joey Lavallee of Missouri. North Carolina could have as many as four starters inside the Top 20, including #15 Chip Ness at 184.

Oklahoma State could have as many as 10 — yes, the maximum — nationally ranked starters this weekend, including five inside the Top 6. Heavyweight Derek White is currently ranked third, while Daton Fix is ranked fourth at 133. Joe Smith, a potential Stefanik opponent Saturday, is ranked fifth at 174.

WEEKEND PROBABLES

Weight	Princeton	North Carolina	Oklahoma State
125	#10 Patrick Glory (15-2)	Joe Heilmann or Joey Melendez	#4 Nick Piccininni (17-0)
133	Jonathan Gomez (4-6)	Szymanski/Harding/Sherman	#4 Daton Fix (18-0)
141	Marshall Keller (15-8)	#19 A.C. Headlee or Jaime Hernandez	#12 Kaid Brock (9-3) or Mike Magaldo (3-1)
149	#1 Matthew Kolodzik (12-0)	#5 Austin O'Connor	#6 Kaden Gfeller (19-6)
157	Quincy Monday (13-8)	Josh McClure or Sawyer Davidson	#18 Andrew Shomers (6-2) or Jonce Blaylock (15-4)
165	Dale Tiongson (10-9)	Will MacDonald or #14 Kennedy Monday	#10 Chandler Rogers (14-2) or Wyatt Sheets (9-7)
174	Travis Stefanik (11-7) or Grant Cuomo (5-4)	Devin Kane or Ryan Karoly	#5 Joe Smith (9-1)
184	Kevin Parker (15-5)	#15 Chip Ness	#11 Jacobe Smith (13-2)
197	#3 Patrick Brucki (17-0)	Blair/Queen/Whitman	#10 Dakota Geer (17-2) or Andrew Marsden (8-3)
285	Obinna Ajah (2-6) or Kendall Elfstrum (4-5)	Cory Daniel	#3 Derek White (14-1)