Annoucements made week beginning Jan. 23

 Herbert, Kish named Big 10 Wrestler of the Week

Jake Herbert of Northwestern and Roger Kish of Minnesota were named Big 10 Co-Wrestlers of the week.
Jake Herbert, Northwestern, SO, 174, Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny
Herbert, the nation's second-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds, extended his winning streak to 28 this past weekend by going undefeated in duals versus top-ranked Minnesota and No. 22 Wisconsin and outscoring his two opponents a combined 30-5.  Last Friday, Herbert earned a 13-3 major decision over the Golden Gophers' eighth-ranked Gabriel Dretsch. He followed that performance by topping the Badgers' Mike Felling, 17-2, by technical fall at 4:25. The win was Herbert's fourth-straight by fall, technical fall or major decision, and his 15th out of 22 matches this season.

Roger Kish, Minnesota, SO, 184, LaPeer, Mich./LaPeer West
Kish defeated a pair of top-10 opponents as the Golden Gophers improved to 14-0 and 2-0 in the Big Ten this past week. Last Friday night, Kish, the 13th-ranked grappler, earned a 6-2 decision at 184 pounds against 10th-ranked Mike Tamillow of Northwestern and helped his squad to a 24-11 win over the Wildcats.  On Sunday against No. 7 Iowa, Kish (24-3) upset No. 6 Paul Bradley, 4-1, rebounding from defeat against him at Big Tens and the NCAA Championships from a year ago. His victory was part of a 25-9 Minnesota win over the Hawkeyes, which marked the biggest victory for the Golden Gophers over the Hawkeyes since 1941.

 Nathan Morgan named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week

Nathan Morgan (Oklahoma State) has been named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for his performance during meets from Jan. 16-23.  Morgan receives recognition for the first time in his career.

Nathan Morgan, So., 133 pounds, Bakersfield, Calif.
Last week, the sophomore from Bakersfield, Calif., went 3-0 and helped the Cowboys to three dual victories.  Morgan defeated third-ranked Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly with a takedown in sudden victory overtime. He then posted a 13-3 major decision over Fresno State's Sean Carlson
and ended the week with a decision over Missouri's Tyler McCormick. Morgan has not lost to a Big 12 opponent during his career and boasts a team best record of 21-1.

 Degli Obizzi named ACC Wrestler of the Week

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Duke's Michael Degli Obizzi was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestler of the Week after posting a dual-match win in the Blue Devils' match with NC State. 

Degli Obizzi, a freshman from Newark, Del., opened the dual meet by claiming a 13-5 major decision victory over NC State's Jeff Breese at 133 pounds.  Although Degli Obizzi put Duke ahead 4-0 early, the Blue Devils fell 26-7 to the Wolfpack.

The Duke wrestling team will return to action at UNC Greensboro on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

 Sportelli named MAC Wrestler of the Week

Chad Sportelli of Kent State has been named MAC Wrestler of the Week.

MAC Wrestler Of The Week: Chad Sportelli, Jr., 125 pounds, Kent State: Sportelli went 3-0 in
dual meets and 1-0 in MAC competition last week, helping the Golden Flashes to a flawless 3-0 week as a team. He started off the week with a defeat of 18th-ranked Sean Clair of Eastern Michigan, 6-5, as Kent State went on to defeat the Eagles, 33-8. At Sunday's Wendy's Duals, he pinned Davidson's Patrick Coman in just 1:56, and then earned a 12-1 major decision over Slippery Rock's Chris Clarke. Sportelli is now 21-7 this season, and has won 11 of his last 13 matches. He was ranked 16th in last week NWCA/InterMat poll in the 125-pound division.

Other nominees for MAC honors
Kyle Cerminara - 197 pounds.- Buffalo, Sr. (Lewiston, N.Y.-Porter)
Cerminara tallied a technical fall and three major decisions to wrap up his sixth tournament title of the season at last weekend's New York State Collegiate Championship.

Bubba Gritter -285 lbs.- Central Michigan Jr./So. (Grandville, Mich.-Grandville)
Gritter pinned both of his opponents on Sunday at Wendy's Duals. He pinned Lock Haven's Tim Meyers at 2:06 in the - rst period, and He pinned Lock Haven's Tim Meyers at 2:06 in the first period, and Ashland's Tim Schanz at 2:05 in the first.

Phillip Plowman -133 lbs.- Eastern Michigan Sr. (Sunfield, Mich.-Sunfield)
Plowman won all three of the matches he wrestled in last week, including a win over MAC foe Kent State.

Johnny Galloway -165 lbs.- Northern Illinois, Jr. (Iowa City, Iowa-Iowa City)
Galloway, who has appeared in NIU's lineup sparingly this season, went Galloway, who has appeared in NIU's lineup sparingly this season, went 2-0 for the Huskies last week, including a win over Ohio's Kent Smith in an NIU dual MAC win.

Larry Reichard -197 lbs.- Ohio, R-Fr. (New Albany, Ohio-New Albany)
Reichard won all three of the matches he wrestled in at Sunday's Wendy's Duals. The Bobcats defeated Cleveland State, but dropped decisions to Lock Haven and host Ashland.

Masa and Cowen named CAA Co-Wrestlers of the Week

John Masa of Hofstra and Chris Cowen of Drexel were named CAA Co-Wrestlers of the Week. Mike Kessler of Rider was named CAA Rookie of the Week.

CAA Co-Wrestler of the Week
Jon Masa - Hofstra, Senior - 149 lbs. - Long Beach, NY/Long Beach 
Masa, a senior from Long Beach, NY (Long Beach), won all five of his bouts at the CAA Duals last week in impressive fashion. Currently ranked fourth in the nation at 149, Masa collected two falls, two tech falls and a major decision at the CAAs to improve to 22-5. Masa extended his winning streak to six matches. 

CAA Co-Wrestler of the Week
Chris Cowen - Drexel, Junior - HWT - Mexico, NY/Mexico 
Cowen, a junior from Mexico, NY (Mexico), won all three of his matches at the CAAs last week, collected a pair of pins. The defending CAA heavyweight champion, Cowen has now won six of his last eight bouts. 

CAA Rookie of the Week 
Mike Kessler - Rider, Freshman - 149 lbs. - Randallstown, MD/Owings Mills 
Kessler, a freshman 149 from Randallstown, Md. (Owings Mills), won all five of his bouts at the CAAs, including two victories over wrestlers who are ranked in the top five in the CAA, along with a major decision. Kessler improves to 6-0 in the CAA

Hulegaard named Iowa Conference Wrestler of the Week

Jestin Hulegaard of Buena Vista Univ. was named the Iowa Conference Wrestler of the Week.

Wrestling - Jestin Hulegaard, Buena Vista University, Anoka, Minn./Anoka

Hulegaard, a sophomore, went 5-0 during the week with two major decisions and won the 133-pound class at the Northwestern (Iowa) Red Raider Invitational.  In a Conference dual meet, he won by major decision over Cornell's Aaron Bingham, 10-2.  At the Red Raider Invitational, Hulegaard won by major decision over Dana's Sonny Silva (11-3), and by decision over Morningside's Chris Utesch (6-3), Wartburg's Jake Helvey (13-9) and Augsburg's Vanier Jafari (7-0).

Other Outstanding Weekly Performers
The IIAC also recognized the following outstanding athletic performances from the past week.
_      Loras College sophomore Jay Figgins (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) went 3-0 during the week including a pin of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Mitch Szwet with 19 seconds remaining in the match to give Loras a 23-21 victory.  Figgins was trailing 4-0 at the time of his pin.

  Acosta, Werner named NSIC Wrestlers of the Week

For the third consecutive week, an Upper Iowa University wrestler was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Wrestler of the Week.  Today, the honor went to Peacock senior Ralph Acosta (Orlando, Fla.).  The 133-pounder defeated Logan Hyman by fall in 2:32, helping #13 Upper Iowa to a 39-6 win over Northern State Friday.  The dual victory was UIU's first as an NSIC member against a rival league foe.  Upper Iowa is serving as an NSIC affiliate member in wrestling this season before beginning full conference membership in 2006-07.  

Acosta shared the honor with Joe Werner of Minnesota State Moorhead.

Acosta, a former Division III All-American and Iowa Conference Champion at Upper Iowa, improved to 15-4 on the year.  His four losses have all come at the hands of Division I opponents, including losses to Iowa State's Jesse Sundell and the University of Iowa's Daniel Dennis.  Earlier this season, Acosta defeated returning All-American Mike Hansen (Central Missouri State) by a 9-1 major decision at the NWCA National Duals.

Acosta follows Tyler Mumbulo (Jan. 9) and C.J. MacNaught (Jan. 16) as consecutive NSIC Wrestlers of the Week from Upper Iowa.  Brian Black also earned NSIC Wrestler of the Week honors for the Peacocks on Nov. 29.

College conferences that wish to have their Wrestlers of the week published on TheMat.com should send their selections to Gary Abbott at gabbott@usawrestling.org. These athletes will be honored weekly in a combined story.