By Brian Reinhardt
USA Wrestling

Plenty of dual action this past weekend, let’s look at some of the highlights.

An Ohio State-Ment 

After dropping the opening bout at 125 pounds, #2 Ohio State won the next four, two went for bonus, and ran away with a 26-10 win over #9 NC State.

The win pushed the Buckeyes’ record to 8-0. A stretch that includes four Top-10 wins, and they have outscored their foes a combined 275-44 (115-31 against those four top-10 foes).

#1 Jesse Mendez continues to make his push for a third straight national title at 141 pounds, as he scored a second-period tech fall against #7 Ryan Jack (21-6). It was Mendez’s second tech fall this year against a ranked foe.

The Buckeyes also captured slight upsets at 149 and 174 pounds. #5 Ethan Stiles scored a controversial third-period takedown to defeat #4 Koy Buesgens, 4-3. #6 Carson Kharchla downed #3 Matty Singleton, 8-4. It was the first loss of the season for both Wolfpack wrestlers.

Trumble Establishes Himself 

A positive to come out of the dual for NC State was the steady progress Isaac Trumble has continued to make since returning from injury. It was in a battle of top five heavyweights.

In just his second match of the year, Trumble scored a first-period takedown and accumulated over 90 seconds of riding time to take out #2 Nick Feldman, 5-1.

Trumble’s return last weekend was also a ranked win, a 9-1 major decision over #17 Hunter Catka of Rutgers.

Trumble injured his knee before the ACC Championships and had it scoped that week. He had to injury default out of that tournament, but at the NCAA Championships, he tore the knee in his third bout. He still went on to capture All-American honors and a fourth-place finish before having surgery after the season.

Start Paying Attention To UNC 

North Carolina passed its first ranked test of the season, easily defeating #17 West Virginia, 27-7, to improve to 6-0 this year.

UNC scored four ranked wins on the night, including upsets by a pair of unranked wrestlers: Jake Dailey over #19 Ian Bush at 184 pounds (5-3) and Robert Platt over #21 Rune Lawrence at 197 pounds (10-7).

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 12-0 advantage, earning decisions from 125-to-149 pounds. UNC also closed the dual with three straight decisions from 184 to heavyweight.

The 6-0 start is the best for the program since 2005-06, and the fifth time in history the Tar Heels have won their first six duals of the season.

The Tar Heels will have a true road test this upcoming weekend with trips to both #6 Nebraska and #15 Northern Iowa for duals.

The Curious Case Of Gabe Arnold 

It’s not just Iowa fans, but many fans around college wrestling are wondering if Gabe Arnold can crack the Hawkeyes lineup this year.

Iowa was dominant in a pair of duals this weekend, 37-6 over Chattanooga and 33-7 over Utah Valley. But it was the placement of Arnold that had people talking.

According to the Iowa radio broadcast, and pushed out by Tanner Lafever, Arnold weighed in at 179.5 pounds. Down from 184 pounds, where we have seen him the last two years. 

But he was up at 197 pounds for both duals as #3 Massoma Endene had the weekend off. He started with a 17-4 major decision over Chattanooga before being pushed in a 4-2 win over Utah Valley. Mind you, giving up 17 pounds in each bout.

It is believed that Arnold is making his descent down to 174 pounds to challenge #5 Patrick Kennedy for the starting spot. Most presume they will both be in action at the Soldier Salute (Jan. 3-4).

The Streak Continues 

A 40-7 win at Wyoming was #1 Penn State’s 75th consecutive dual win. The Nittany Lions are a win away from tying the all-time DI record of 76 straight dual wins set by Oklahoma State (1937-51).

Penn State goes for history this weekend at the Collegiate Wrestling Duals, first against North Dakota State to tie the record, and then it could be broken with a win over Stanford later in the day.

Boomer Sooner 

The Oklahoma football team kicks off CFP action this Friday night, but it was the Sooners’ Wrestling team that was making headlines this past weekend.

In a dual that came down to the final bout, a ranked battle that went into overtime, Oklahoma went into New Jersey and came away with a 19-14 win over #12 Rutgers.

The Sooners trailed 14-6 through six bouts, but the four upper weights (174-heavyweight) all came out victorious, and all four defeated ranked foes.

In the winner-take-all heavyweight battle, it was #26 Juan Mora getting the lone takedown of the bout in extra time to take out #19 Hunter Catka, 5-2.

The win over #12 Rutgers was the highest-ranked opponent Oklahoma has defeated in head coach Roger Kish’s three years at the helm of the program.

The Sooners were in comeback mode once again at Rider on Sunday. This time, Oklahoma fell behind 15-0 after the first four bouts but swept the final six for the 26-15 win.

Big 12 Battles 

Sunday saw conference action around the Big 12.

#15 Northern Iowa got the home win over #14 Missouri, 22-14. UNI won five of the first seven matches to go up 17-6, before the Tigers got it to 17-14 going into the final bout at heavyweight. #11 Wyatt Voelker closed the door on any kind of Missouri comeback with a dominating 21-6 tech fall over #29 Jarrett Stoner.

#5 Oklahoma State powered to a 34-3 win at #17 West Virginia. The Cowboys won nine-of-10 matches, three for bonus points. The match began with a WVU win at 133 pounds, but that was their lone win of the night. The marquee bout came at the end, as long-time conference rivals #8 Troy Spratley and #9 Jett Strickenberger faced off for the fourth time. Spratley evened the all-time series 2-2 with his 6-2 win.