WICHITA, Kan. — With exactly a month passing since its last day of competition, the Newman wrestling team kicks off its MIAA dual meet season with back-to-back duals this week, hosting Lindenwood Wednesday at Fugate Gymnasium before hitting the road to face Central Missouri Thursday.
At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, prior to the Jets' matchup with Lindenwood, the Derby and Maize youth wrestling clubs will face off in a dual meet.
SCOUTING NEWMAN
It will be the first dual of the season for the Jets (0-0, 0-0 MIAA), who had their scheduled debut at the UCM Duals canceled. They start a busy week against the Lions and Mules before heading to Kearney, Nebraska for the Midwest Duals on Saturday, and host Central Oklahoma Jan. 19 to wrap up the seven-day stretch.
Newman will be looking for its first MIAA victory as it starts its third year in the league. The Jets bring in a pair of wrestlers who have already hit double digits for the season in freshmen Heath Gray and Garrett Whitson. Gray (174 lbs.) is 15-5 and owns a pair of individual titles so far in his young career, including the top spot on the podium at last month's Reece Wright-Conklin Jet Invitational. Whitson (141) is 12-9 and has three top-four finishes in five events this year.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The No. 10 Lions (4-1, 0-0 MIAA) open up their conference season Tuesday night at Central Oklahoma before heading to Wichita, but started off the year with four straight dual victories before falling last weekend to No. 6 Wisconsin-Parkside in the finale of the Lindenwood Duals. Nine different Lindenwood grapplers have at least 11 wins thus far, and eight are ranked at their weight in D2wrestle.com's Super Region 3 Rankings. Daniel Swan (14-1 at 125) and Terrel Wilbourn (11-1 at 165) each have just one loss on the year.
The Mules (1-3, 0-0 MIAA) earned a 46-6 win over Wentworth to start the season, but suffered three straight tough losses last weekend at the National Duals. Two of those losses came to No. 9 Lake Erie and No. 18 Newberry, with the other coming at the hands of McKendree, which like UCM is receiving votes in the national poll. The Mules bring six wrestlers into the match who have already locked up double-digit wins on the year, but only Archie Williams has won more than one match in the dual-meet setting.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Jets are ranked No. 9 in Super Region 4, and feature junior Dustin Reed, who is slotted third in the country at 125. Joining Reed in the region rankings are sophomore Tyler Mies (No. 4 at 149) and Gray (No. 5 at 174). In the Basford rankings, Reed is third in the nation, newcomer Kyle Ryan is an honorable mention at 184 and the Jets are No. 18.
The Lions are ranked 10th by D2wrestle and eighth by Basford. Hunter Haralson (No. 6 at 133) and Wilbourn (No. 3 at 157) are ranked national by D2wrestle, with Haralson coming in fifth, Wilbourn first and Kyle Jolas No. 8 at 165 in the Basford ranks. In total, eight Lindenwood wrestlers are picked in the top six in the Super Region 3 rankings.
The Mules are receiving votes in the D2wrestle poll and are an honorable mention in the Basford team rankings. Williams is ranked fourth and seventh, respectively at 174, while Tyl Loethen is an honorable mention at 184 in the Basford individual rankings.
HISTORY
Since the 2008-09 season, the Jets and Lions have only met in each of the past two season, with Lindenwood taking both matchups.
Central Missouri is the only team that Newman has faced in a dual every season in that time period, and the Mules have won in each of the past two seasons to take a 5-3 advantage in the series.
COVERAGE
For updates, follow along with Newman Athletics on Twitter, @Newman_Jets. For full coverage, visit www.newmanjets.com.
