Hunter Steiber named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Hunter Stieber, a freshman on the No. 7 Ohio State wrestling team, was named wrestler of the week, the Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday. Stieber, a native of Monroeville, Ohio, downed No. 3 Montell Marion, 4-2, en route to helping the Buckeyes defeat No. 2 Iowa, 21-9, Friday night in front of 5,684 fans in St. John Arena. 

Stieber, who moved to sixth from seventh place in the Intermatwrestle.com polls Tuesday, limited Marion, a two-time senior All-American, to just two escapes in the match. With the win Stieber improved to 18-3 overall and 4-1 in the league. 

This is Stieber’s first-career Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honor and the fourth for Ohio State this season. 

The Buckeyes (9-2; 3-2 Big Ten) will travel to State College, Pa., for a 2 p.m. matchup at Penn State (8-4; 4-1 Big Ten) Sunday. The match will be streamed live on BTN.com. 

Mike Dessino named EWL Wrestler of the Week
BLOOMSBURG—Bloomsburg University wrestler Mike Dessino (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) has been named the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) and co-PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Wrestler of the Week for his performance this past weekend.
 
Dessino picked up two wins over ranked opponents to lead the Huskies to two big road wins. On Saturday night Dessino traveled to West Virginia University to take down #19 Lance Bryson (2-1). He followed that up the next night with a 7-4 win over #13 Nick Purdue at Ohio University. The Huskies beat WVU 25-10 and Ohio 25-6 to improve to 14-4 on the season.
 
Individually Dessino, the defending EWL Champion at 174 pounds and a 2011 NCAA qualifier, is 22-8 on the year.
 
Bloomsburg will wrestle at Edinboro on Friday at 7 p.m.

Zach Neibert named ACC Wrestler of the Week
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Virginia Tech 141-pound redshirt sophomore Zach Neibert has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestler of the Week.

Neibert went 2-0 as the Hokies finished ACC play with a 4-1 team mark for the season. On Saturday, Neibert ranked 20th in the country, built a lead thanks to two takedowns and three back points and won by a 9-3 decision over Duke's Tanner Hough. The Dayton, Ohio, native’s efforts helped Virginia Tech go on to a 30-6 win over the Blue Devils.

On Sunday, in a swing match at 141 pounds, two ranked wrestlers took to the mat as No. 20 Neibert took on No. 18 Evan Henderson of North Carolina.  Neibert controlled from the start as he scored two three-point near-falls in the first period and pinned Henderson at 4:39. Neibert's pin was his second of the season and it sealed the match for Tech, giving the Hokies a 26-12 lead in an eventual 29-12 victory.

Josiah Simburger named NAIA Wrestler of the Week
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Josiah Simburger of Northwestern (Iowa) has been named the NAIA National Wrestler of the Week, the national office announced Wednesday. Simburger was selected based on his performances from Jan. 16 – 22.

Simburger, a 5-foot-6 senior, went 6-0 on the week and won the York (Neb.) Open in the 141-pound class. In those victories, he defeated the 12th-ranked individual, Christian Hernandez of Bacone (Okla.), by major decision, 16-5, and also knocked off No. 2 Alex Stepanek of Concordia (Neb.). The native of Mandan, N.D., also picked up a win against NCAA Division I grappler Chad Stroh from Nebraska.

Simburger is currently ranked No. 9 in the 141-pound weight class and stands 30-9 overall.
The next Wrestler of the Week announcement will be made on Feb. 1.

Kevin Smith named MAC Wrestler of the Week
For the first time this season and the fourth time for his career, senior Kevin Smith was named the Mid-American Conference's Wrestler of the Week. The Mexico, NY native earned the honor thanks to a dominating 4-0 weekend at the New York State Collegiate Tournament. This marks the second straight week that a UB wrestler was honored. Smith was also named the MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week, his second time this season.

Buffalo senior Kevin Smith was named the New York State Collegiate Tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler on Sunday after winning all four of his matches en route to the 141-pound title. Wrestling as the top seed in his bracket, Smith got a pin in his opening round and then followed with a 7-4 win over eighth seed Ryan Guynup of Jamestown CC to end the first day of wrestling. 

On Sunday morning, he edged out Army's Casey Smith 1-0 before earning the title in an emphatic way with a pin 5:45 into the bout with second-seeded Brian Bistis of SUNY Cortland. With the trio of titles, Smith becomes just the second Buffalo wrestler to ever pull off the feat, joining Ray Pfeiffer's three titles in 1975-1977. Only 19 other wrestlers in the tournament's history have won three.

Joe LeBlanc named WWC Wrestler of the Week
OREM, Utah (Jan. 24, 2012) University of Wyoming 184-pound senior Joe LeBlanc (Meeker, Colo./Meeker HS) on Tuesday was named the Western Wrestling Conference Wrestler of the Week after a stellar performance on the mat last weekend. Wyoming wrestlers have won or shared the honor seven times this season.

LeBlanc, the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 184 pounds, had one of his most impressive performances of the season Jan. 20 versus Cal Poly, in which he wrestled at 197 pounds. The three-time All-America honoree from Wyoming moved up to take on the 18th-ranked Ryan Smith of Cal Poly. 

LeBlanc built an 11-0 advantage over Smith and kept up the pressure throughout the match, as he ended up winning with a 12-1 major decision. The next night, LeBlanc followed up his outstanding effort by pinning Utah Valley's David Prieto in the first period (2:23). 

The two victories give LeBlanc 20 for the season and the win over Smith was his sixth of the year over a ranked opponent. The WWC weekly honor is LeBlanc's second of the season and fifth of his career.

Matthew Brock named SoCon Wrestler of the Week
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – VMI senior Matthew Brock has been honored as the Southern Conference Wrestler of the Week for all competitions from January 18-24.

Brock was 2-0 last week in SoCon dual meets against The Citadel and Gardner-Webb.

In Friday’s 22-15 victory against Gardner-Webb, Brock pinned the Running Bulldogs’ Aaron Rubin at the 3:35 mark to give the Keydets a lead they would not relinquish.

The senior’s biggest accomplishment of the week came on Sunday as the he earned a 3-1 sudden victory win over The Citadel’s Turtogtokh Luvsandorj, who was ranked No. 18 in the nation at the time.

On the year, Brock is 24-8, and he has recorded nine consecutive victories entering Thursday’s match at Millersville.