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Team Opens National Duals Against No. 4 Lincoln
The seventh-ranked Northwest College wrestling team roars into 2012 at the National Duals in Springfield, Ill. The tournament, which features five of the nation’s top seven team, takes place this Saturday and Sunday.
“The good news is we’re healthy again,” said Trapper wrestling coach Jim Zeigler. “The break really served us well. We had to compromise our lineup in some duals the first semester, but now we’ve got a healthy squad.”
Northwest will need that lineup to remain healthy. The weekend promises to provide a strenuous test to begin the second semester. Regardless of how the bracket unfolds in Illinois, the Trappers will face three nationally ranked opponents in the span of 20 hours.
The Trappers’ lineup this weekend will begin with Kamron Day at 125 with Brandon Matlock also making the trip.
“Kamron will probably be the guy who gets the nod most of the way, but the thing about Brandon is he gives us flexibility,” Zeigler said. “If someone gets injured, he can go at 125 and 133 and that lets us bump people up a class if we need to.”
Whitey Gardner, Colton Thornton and Nathaniel Garcia will also fill the lighter weights in the Trappers’ lineup. All three are nationally ranked in the latest NJCAA poll (see related story). Cormick Eaton (149) will also make the trip to again provide the Trappers with flexibility and injury insurance near the middle weights.
Jaksen Cotterell will take the mat at 157 for Northwest. Behind him at 165 is Bernie Dupuy, who carries a nine match winning streak and a No. 4 national ranking into the National Duals.
“He finished last year wrestling extremely well,” said Zeigler. “He actually scored a 12-1 victory over the kid that’s ranked ahead of him during, so he could move up with a good appearance this week.”
Top-ranked Keithen Cast, now fully mended from an early-season ankle sprain, will nail down the 174-pound sport. Miles Nixon will go at 184 for the Trappers with Ben Price and Sean Sullivan nailing down the upper two weights for Northwest College.
The team returned to practice on Dec. 28 and was in two-a-day workouts until Wednesday.
“We went hard to get ready for this tournament, but now we’ll dial things back,” Zeigler explained. “We gave them Wednesday off. We’ll have one workout today (Thursday) and probably a couple light workouts on Friday while we’re on the road.”
The Trappers were scheduled to fly from Billings to St. Louis today (Thursday) before traveling by bus to Springfield on Friday. The competition starts Saturday with the Trappers taking on No. 4 Lincoln. Win or lose, the team will face two more nationally ranked opponents on Saturday.