Devin Carter named ACC Wrestler of the Week
Virginia Tech 133-pound sophomore Devin Carter has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestler of the Week after capturing his weight class championship in the prestigious Midlands Championships at Evanston, Ill.

The fourth-ranked Carter defeated three fellow top-10 nationally-ranked opponents en route to the title, capped by a 6-4 sudden-victory over No. 3-ranked Tony Ramos of Iowa in the finals. Carter went 5-0 in the tournament, including an 11-5 decision over Stanford’s 10th-ranked Ryan Mango in the quarterfinals and a 17-7 major decision win over eighth-ranked AJ Schopp of Edinboro in the semifinals.

Carter also pinned Northern Iowa’s Ryan Jauch in 5:41 and scored a 17-7 major decision over Lehigh’s Mason Beckman.

Ramos was seeded No. 1 in the 133-pound field, while Schopp was seeded third and Mango seventh. Carter, who was seeded second, is now 19-1 on the season and 55-8 for his young career. The Christiansburg, Va., native’s strong effort helped the Hokies place fourth in the Midlands team scoring with 76.5 points.

Ben Clymer, Nick Gwiazdowski pick up CAA honors
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—Ben Clymer of Hofstra University is the Colonial Athletic
Association Wrestler of the Week and Nick Gwiazdowski of Binghamton University is the CAA
Rookie of the Week for all competition December 20-January 2.

Clymer, a senior 184 from Germansville, PA (Northern Lehigh), posted a 6-2 record at the
Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga to place fourth. He led Hofstra at the Scuffle with 15.5 team
points and raised his overall record to 14-5.

Ranked first in the CAA and 19th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, Clymer defeated the
11th ranked wrestler from Virginia and the 15th ranked wrestler from Navy at the Scuffle.

Gwiazdowski, a freshman heavyweight from Delanson, NY (Duanesburg), won by fall in
Binghamton’s dual meet win at Buffalo last week.

Ranked second in the CAA and 20th in the nation by WIN Magazine (13th by The Open Mat),
Gwiazdowski improved to 15-4 on the season, 5-1 in duals.

Nick Soto named SoCon Wrestler of the Week
Chattanooga freshman Nick Soto has been named Southern Conference Wrestler of the Week for all competitions from December 21 through January 3.

Soto finished second at 133 pounds in the 2012 Southern Scuffle on January 1-2 in Chattanooga. Soto, a true freshman from Spring Hill, Fla., ended up the star of the tournament for the Mocs.

He took on No. 5 David Thorn of Minnesota in the morning semifinals.  Neither individual was able to mount much offense and the match remained tied at one after regulation. In the second overtime, Soto got the crowd of 2,168 on its feet when he scored backpoints to go ahead.  He added in another escape and was able to hang on for a 5-1 decision and advance to the evening finals.  It was Soto's second win over a top-5 opponent in the last two weeks while the wrestler of the week honor is also his second straight.

David Taylor named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
Penn State Nittany Lion wrestler David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week for the week ending Jan. 2, 2012.  The honor is the first for the Nittany Lion sophomore.

Taylor, the 2011 Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and Big Ten Rookie of the Year, got the nod for a 5-0 run to the 165 pound Southern Scuffle title.  Taylor posted three pins, a tech fall and a major and improved to 14-0 on the year.  He majored #20 Kyle Blevins of Appalachian State in the semifinals before pinning Big Ten rival Cody Yohn, ranked #10, at the 2:34 mark in the championship finals.  Taylor was named the 2012 Southern Scuffle Most Outstanding Wrestler and was one of four Penn State individual champions.

Kyle Dake named Co-EIWA Wrestler of the Week
Big Red wrestling's Kyle Dake has earned a share of the EIWA Wrestler of the Week honor it was announced Wednesday. Dake is currently ranked No. 1 in the country at 157 pounds. The Big Red junior earns his second conference honor after winning his third-straight Southern Scuffle title.

Dake won all six of his matches at the Southern Scuffle without allowing a single offensive point. He notched three pins and added a major decision to help Cornell to a fourth place team finish. The two-time NCAA champion is 20-0 for the season. In the finals at the Scuffle, Dake shut out No. 10 Dylan Alton of Penn State, 3-0.

Dake shares his EIWA Wrestler of the Week honor with Lehigh's Robert Hamlin who won the 184 title at the Midlands last week.

Cornell will wrestle Lehigh at home on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 1 p.m. in Newman Arena. 

Chris Honeycutt named Co-PSAC Wrestler of the Week
Edinboro University’s Chris Honeycutt (North Ridgeville, OH/St. Edward) has been named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Co-Wrestler of the Week for the week ending January 1.  Honeycutt shares the award with Bloomsburg’s Frank Hickman.

Honeycutt was recognized after winning the 197 lb. title at the prestigious Midlands Tournament, hosted by Northwestern University.  He opened with a 20-4 technical fall at 6:09 over Josh Wood of SIU-Edwardsville.  He followed that up with a 20-8 major decision over Joe McMullan of Bucknell.

In the quarterfinals he posted a 5-2 decision over Illinois’ Mario Gonzales.  That left with a matchup against Byron Tate of Wartburg in the semifinals.  The 2010 runnerup at 197 lbs. at the Midlands, this was a rematch of the NWCA All-Star Classic bout in November.  Honeycutt recorded a first period pin against Tate, a two-time Division III national champion, in the first meeting.  This time around Honeycutt pulled away for a 17-9 major decision over the number five seed.

Honeycutt, the number one seed and ranked third by InterMat, met third-seeded Micah Burak of Penn, who is ranked ninth, in the finals.  He gained a 2-0 lead with a takedown midway through the first period, then rode Burak the rest of the period.  Following a scoreless second period, Honeycutt escaped to start the third for a 3-0 lead, and closed out the 4-0 decision with a point for riding time.    

Honeycutt remained undefeated on the season at 23-0 and improved to 113-20 for his career.  He moved into a tie for 14th in career wins.

Edinboro returns to action on January 7, hosting Buffalo in a 1:00 p.m. at McComb Fieldhouse.

Tad Merritt named NSIC Wrestler of the Week
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference named No. 1 ranked senior Tad Merritt (Canby) at 165-pounds as the Wrestler of the Week Tuesday morning.

Merritt had an impressive Saturday in pinning all four of his opponents in the 165-pound division at the Grand Canon Duals in Phoenix, Arizona to earn his second NSIC Player of the Week honors this season.

He won his first match in two minutes and 32 seconds against Bronson Gerl of California Baptist, which was the first Husky pin of the day.

Merritt then recorded a pin in 2:18 against No. 4 Dylan Granard of Colorado Mesa. 

Then then had the fastest pin of the day against Josh Shields of Mercyhurst, pinning the 2009 NCAA DII National Champion in just 55 seconds, before finishing the duals with a pin at the 5:49 mark against Justin Martin of Grand Canyon. He is now 13-2 this season.