The Campbellsville University wrestling team will be heading out to Cedar Falls, Iowa this weekend for the National Duels.

"This is a huge wrestling event that brings the best teams from every division together under one roof," said coach Franky James.

Held in the dome at the University of Northern Iowa, wrestling will take place on 20 mats at the same time. The 16 best teams from NCAA I, II, III and the NAIA will all be competing. Also, the top 8 Junior College teams and the women's teams will be competing as well.

"You only compete against teams in your division." said James.

"The exposure we get from competing in the duels helps to get our name out," continued James. "It is streamed live and the finals are always on TV, so that is always great exposure for the teams that make the finals."

Sixteen teams compete with eight teams seeded and the other eight being drawn in, according to James.

"We have been drawn in and have No. 7 seed Missouri Valley at 11 a.m. on Saturday on mat 8," said James. "Missouri Valley could very well be the top team in the nation this year. They have been ranked as high as No. 3 this season and they have wins over  No. 4 McKendree, No. 5 Southern Oregon and  No. 3 Great Falls.

"I'm really not sure how Missouri Valley fell all the way to the No. 7 seed."

Notre Dame, Southern Oregon, Lindenwood, Great Falls, Missouri Valley, Grand View, Dickinson State or California Baptist are all top teams, according to James. The coach says the CU lineup is very strong and can compete with these teams if the team is healthy and ready to go.

"We are not getting many votes in the polls because we have not seen many of these teams this year. National Duels will be our chance to see everyone and find out where we are at this point in the season."

Campbellsville's lineup features the following wrestlers (with coach's comments):

125 Johnny Papesh: All American with 4th place national tournament finish.

133 Tommy Pretty: All-American currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.

141 Jacob Murton: Former All-American who placed 3rd at the national tournament.

"If all these guys are healthy and in the line up it will be hard for any NAIA team to match up with our first three weight classes."

149 Nick Waldrop: Having a great year. His only loss at 149 is to Mitch Smith who will be ranked No. 1 in the next NCAA II poll. Nick could really put himself on the map this weekend with a good showing.

157 Conor Young: Very talented and dangerous. Needs to have a good weekend and score a couple upset wins for the team.

165 James Linker: All-American with potential to beat anyone he will see this weekend

174 Phillip Oudhuis and Bryan Wells: One of these guys needs to step up and have a big weekend for our team to do well. Both are National Qualfiers that can compete with anyone they will see this weekend. We need them to get some big wins.

184 Spencer Adams: A returning All-American and ranked No. 3 in the nation.

197 Diante Wright: Has been really surprising us this year and showing a lot of potential. He could surprise some people this weekend.

- 285 David Coffey and Jeremiah Fennell: Both of these heavyweights are very strong and give us a great chance to finish off any duel with a big win at heavyweight.

"We will also weigh in Daphilo Succes at 133, Matt David at 141 and Allen Scruggs at 197," said James. "Daphilo should be ranked in the next NAIA rankings after his performance at the Midwest Classic. He is really coming on now and looks to have a great chance at being an All American this year."

James said that In duels you need to find a way to win at least five of the 10 matches and not give up bonus points when you do lose.  

"Nobody can get pinned and we have to get bonus points (pins, major decisions,  etc.) when we have the opportunity. I don't think many teams will have five All-Americans in their lineup at national duels. We do and we feel like we can win  five or six matches against any team we will see."


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