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Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Wrestling: WVU Grapplers Ready for Midlands

NetNews
Wrestling: WVU Grapplers Ready for Midlands

By Scott Castleman for MSNsportsNET.com
December 28, 2005

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Five members of the West Virginia University wrestling team are set to compete at the 43rd annual Midlands Classic from Dec. 29-30 in Evanston, Ill. The tournament is hosted by Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“The Midlands is one of the premier wrestling tournaments in the country,” says head coach Craig Turnbull. “Our guys that are competing should gain valuable experience that will pay off in the EWL and NCAA tournaments.”

The Mountaineer grapplers that are slated to compete are sophomore Larry Hall (149), junior Jared Villers (197) and seniors Matt Lebe (157) and Eric Mullen (165). Junior Zac Fryling (157) is wrestling unattached at the tournament.

Senior Matt Lebe is the only WVU wrestler competing that earned a top eight seeding in the tournament’s early seedings as he was tabbed the fourth best in his weight class. The Jeannette, Pa., native is 15-1 so far this season and is ranked No. 5 in the latest Intermat rankings. Lebe will be challenged stiffly on the weekend as all four wrestlers ranked in front of him by Intermat are slated to compete at the Midlands.

WVU is coming off of its first dual meet of the season on December 20, in which it fell 29-16 to No. 12 Missouri in Morgantown. Four Mountaineers claimed wins at the meet including Lebe, Villers and freshmen Brandon Rader (141) and David Jauregui (149). Rader’s pin of No. 19-rated Chris McCormick earned him Eastern Wrestling League wrestler of the week.

Results from the first day of competition will be available on MSNsportsNET.com tomorrow evening as they become available

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