LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock wrestling has been on the road for two months, stacking their resume with everything from Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week honors to ranked wrestlers and national recognition. On Friday, January 19 at 7 p.m. the Trojans will finally return to Little Rock for their conference opener, facing #24 Arizona State within the friendly confines of the Jack Stephens Center.
Veterans, military personnel and first responders are invited to the match free of charge with ID. For more information, please contact the Trojan Ticket Office at 501-916-3257, or email
lrtrojans-tickets@ualr.edu and ask about Military and First Responders Appreciation Night.
For those unable to make it, the dual will be streamed on the
Little Rock Sports Network. Trojans fans can also follow live tweets via the team page
@LittleRockWRES.
Coaches Corner
"Our expectations for tomorrow stay the same as they have all year," said head coach
Neil Erisman on what their focus will be tomorrow against the Sun Devils. "We want to continue to compete to score a lot of points and bring the intensity. This is a great opportunity for us, and the guys are pumped to be back in the Jack."
Another Opportunity for Another First
The dual against the Sun Devils on will be the fifth for the Trojans this season against a team listed in the NWCA Division I Men's Wrestling Coaches poll. It also presents an opportunity for Little Rock to knock off their first-ever win over a ranked team. The closest the program has come to doing so thus far has been against #13 Pittsburgh in December, where although the two teams tied, Pitt took home the win by criteria.
Little Rock will also be searching for their 10th dual win of the season against Arizona State, which would place the Trojans into double-digit dual wins for the first time. Last time out, the team wrestled four teams at the Davidson Duals,
going 4-0 over the two-day event to reach nine team wins this year. Those nine dual victories this season alone doubled the amount of wins that the program has ever earned in its short history, and with seven duals left on the schedule there's plenty of time to add more.
Other firsts that the Trojans have already collected this season includes
their first national recognition as a program, pulling in top-30 rankings from various publications as well as receiving votes in the NWCA Division I Men's Wrestling Coaches Poll.
This week, the Trojans are also receiving votes in the poll, sitting just five teams out of the coveted top 25.
Who's Up Next
The probables for this Friday's dual against Arizona State features several Trojans that have had success this year, including a program-record six Little Rock wrestlers ranked simultaneously in the weekly rankings and a program-high seven individuals ranked at some point during the season.
Going into this week, five Trojans are ranked across various national publications:
Nasir Bailey,
Joseph Bianchi,
Matty Bianchi,
Tyler Brennan and
Stephen Little. Bailey currently ranks fourth in the nation with eight technical falls over D1 opponents. Together, the five have recorded 69 wins this season, as Bailey leads the group with 16. With the addition of
Josiah Hill,
Jeremiah Reno and
Triston Wills, eight Little Rock wrestlers hold double-digit wins this year.
Like Little Rock, Arizona State has five ranked wrestlers in their roster, which means it may come down to some upsets when it comes to which team walks away with the team win. View all probables listed below.
Little Rock Probables
125:
Jeremiah Reno
133: #13
Nasir Bailey
141:
Brennan Van Hoecke or
Cael Keck
149:
Kyle Dutton
157: #27
Matty Bianchi or
Chase Tebbets
165: #27
Joseph Bianchi
174: #16
Tyler Brennan
184:
Triston Wills
197: #11
Stephen Little
285:
Josiah Hill
#24 Arizona State Probables
125: #11 Richard Figueroa or Tristan Mascarenas
133: #24 Julian Chlebove
141: Cody Foote
149: #4 Kyle Parco
157: #5 Jacori Teemer
165: Chance McLane
174: Cael Valencia
184: Shay Addison
197: Jacob Meissner
285: #5 Cohlton Schultz
*Rankings via InterMat
For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out
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