No. 14 Lehigh to Battle Two Oklahoma Foes Saturday in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – One day. One metropolis. Two duals. Two groups from Oklahoma. That’s what the Mountain Hawks are dealing with on the second weekend of the twin season. Lehigh will welcome No. 11 Oklahoma State to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall Saturday at midday earlier than heading over to close by Liberty High School to face Oklahoma at 3 p.m. as a part of Journeymen WrangleMania. The Mountain Hawks opened the twin season with wins over No. 19 Oregon State and Sacred Heart, which helped Lehigh soar three spots to No. 14 in the newest NWCA ballot. Lehigh gained six of 10 bouts towards a tricky Oregon State squad after which dominated Sacred Heart for its first shutout in almost two years. The Mountain Hawks held a 37-0 edge in takedowns and didn’t permit an offensive level.
 
Lehigh Probable Starters
125 Carter Bailey (Fy., Livermore, Calif.)
133 No. 30 Connor McGonagle (So., Danville, N.H.)      
141 No. 24 Malyke Hines (So., Kissimmee, Fla.)
149 Max Brignola (So., Rumson, N.J.)              
        No. 20 Manzona Bryant IV (So., Columbus, Ohio)  
157 No. 19 Josh Humphreys (Sr., Parkersburg, W. Va.) 
165 No. 28 Brian Meyer (Jr., Phillipsburg, N.J.) 
174 No. 29 Jake Logan (So., New Rochelle, N.Y.)         
184 No. 13 Tate Samuelson (Gr., Castle Rock, Colo.)    
197 No. 8 Michael Beard (So., Reading, Pa.)     
285 No. 26 Nathan Taylor (Fy., Brookville, Pa.)  
 
Lehigh secured a 2-0 opening weekend of twin motion with a 44-0 shutout of Sacred Heart inside Leeman-Turner Arena or Grace Hall. The Mountain Hawks gained all 10 bouts, securing bonus factors in 9 of the wins. Lehigh held a 37-0 edge in takedowns and didn’t permit an offensive level on the way in which to its first shutout since a 46-0 blanking of LIU on Jan. 31, 2021. Junior Elijah Jones delivered the one fall of the day, whereas sophomores Max Brignola and Michael Beard posted wins through technical fall. Connor McGonagle opened the twin with a win by choice, and the Mountain Hawks reeled off 9 consecutive bonus wins after that to declare the primary ever twin between the 2 applications.
 
Four Mountain Hawks made their twin debuts final weekend. Transfers Michael Beard and Tate Samuelson wrestled in each duals at 197 and 184, respectively whereas deferred first-years Carter Bailey (125) and Nathan Taylor (285) additionally wrestled their first official bouts for the Mountain Hawks. Taylor picked up an enormous win for Lehigh in the 20-13 victory over Oregon State, whereas Bailey wrestled in each duals, closing out the shutout of Sacred Heart with a technical fall victory. In their deferred years Bailey went 14-8 and gained the Clarion Open, whereas Taylor posted a 27-10 mark in opens, with a win on the Edinboro Open. Taylor was acknowledged as Lehigh’s Deferred Eligibility Wrestler of the Year on the year-end Lewis Wrestling Dinner.
 
Many Lehigh wrestlers do not have to enterprise removed from dwelling to wrestle for the Brown and White.  Fourth-year sophomore Luca Frinzi wrestled for close by Bethlehem Catholic High School, the identical program that produced Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. Third-year Mountain Hawks Karam Chakif (Dieruff), Connor Herceg (Nazareth) and Caden Wright (Emmaus) be part of Frinzi in wrestling for Lehigh Valley East Penn Conference applications. Senior Mike Sisselberger (Southern Lehigh) and first-year Ryan Crookham (Saucon Valley) are Lehigh Valley merchandise that competed for Colonial League applications. Sophomore Steven Storm (Pocono Mountain East) hails from a program in the EPC’s Monroe County Division. Fifth-year junior Brian Meyer hails from Phillipsburg, N.J., simply throughout the state line.
 
Lehigh has a wrestler ranked in all 10 weight lessons in the newest nationwide rankings from InterMat and WrestleStat, whereas six Mountain Hawks are ranked by FloWrestling and 5 by Amateur Wrestling News. Senior Josh Humphreys (157) and sophomore Michael Beard (197) seem in the highest 10 in all 4 polls, with Beard the highest-ranked Mountain Hawk in accordance to InterMat, FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News. InterMat and WrestleStat each rank wrestlers from 1-33, FloWrestling ranks 1-24 plus honorable mentions and Amateur Wrestling News ranks 1-20.
 
Oklahoma State opens its season Saturday in Bethlehem earlier than heading to Bucknell for a Saturday night twin. The Cowboys had been 13-4 in duals final season and went on to end fourth on the Big 12 Tournament and 14th on the NCAA Championships. Oklahoma State returns a pair of 2022 All-Americans in Daton Fix and Dustin Plott. Fix is a three-time NCAA finalist who’s the highest-ranked of the 9 ranked Cowboys. Oklahoma State has gained a NCAA-best 34 workforce nationwide championships in wrestling and has a Division I-best 143 particular person nationwide champions and 482 All-Americans. American wrestling legend John Smith is in his thirty second season as head coach at his alma mater.
 
This would be the 14th all-time assembly between Lehigh and Oklahoma State with the Cowboys main 11-2. Lehigh gained Oklahoma State’s final go to to Bethlehem in 2019. The Mountain Hawks’ different victory got here on the 2008 Northeast Duals in Pat Santoro‘s first season. Lehigh is 2-3 towards Oklahoma State underneath Santoro.
 
Oklahoma opens its twin season at Journeymen WrangleMania, the place the Sooners will face Buffalo and Lehigh. The Sooners despatched a big contingent to final weekend’s Michigan State Open and got here away with 9 top-five finishers. Josh Heindselman, Joey Prata and Mosha Schwartz all logged runner-up finishes to paved the way. Oklahoma has seven wrestlers in the newest InterMat rankings, led by Prata who’s 14th at 125, Mitch Moore (No. 16 at 149) and Heindselman (No. 17 at 285). Lou Rosselli is in his seventh season as Oklahoma’s head coach.
 
Lehigh and Oklahoma will meet for the twenty second time. The Mountain Hawks are 6-1-1 over the past eight duals after dropping 12 of the primary 13 conferences in the collection. Saturday’s twin would be the first between Lehigh and Oklahoma in Bethlehem since 2018 and the primary at a “neutral” website for the reason that 2010 Virginia Duals.
 
Saturday’s Lehigh-Oklahoma State twin begins at midday from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Tickets could be bought at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME throughout enterprise hours. Following the Oklahoma State match, Lehigh will make the quick trek to Liberty High School to face Oklahoma at 3 p.m. The Oklahoma match will likely be streamed stay on Rokfin with ticket information accessible at https://www.journeymenwrestling.com/tournaments .
 
The 2022-23 Lehigh wrestling season is introduced by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
 

 
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