Top 10 teams to kick off Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals weekend
<< Back to Articles
Rob Sherrill (NWCA)
01/16/2003
The most exciting weekend of collegiate dual-meet action this season begins with a little something for fans of high school wrestling, too. Six of the top teams in the Midwest will battle starting at 4 p.m. EST Friday, warming up St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio for the Division I, Division II, and Division III Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals that will follow on Saturday and Sunday. St. Paris Graham High, ranked No. 2 nationally, is the top attraction in the event, which includes three rounds of wrestling. The Falcons will meet No. 10 Evansville, Ind. Mater Dei High, which is taking to the road in top-flight dual-meet competition for the second consecutive weekend. Last week, the Wildcats blew away the competition in the St. Louis, Mo. Oakville Duals, including a 63-13 pasting of Granite City (Ill.) High, ranked No. 5 in that state's big-school Class AA. Parkersburg South, W.Va. High, always the road warriors, also are in the field. The Patriots are coming off a fourth-place finish in the National High School Division of the Virginia Duals last weekend, where they split with Nazareth, Pa. High and beat Virginia's second-best team, Christiansburg High. The meet could feature a rematch between four-time Cadet National champion Dustin Schlatter (No. 7) of Graham and Shane Grogg (No. 17) of Parkersburg South. Grogg beat Schlatter 6-5 in the consolation semifinals of the Walsh Ironman Invitational last month in a match marred by a scoring controversy. Grogg has a pair of 2-1 losses this season, one to Blair Academy ace Rob Preston (No. 4) in the Ironman quarterfinals and the other to Nazareth's Joe Provini, who came down from his season-long weight of 130 pounds for the match. Mater Dei senior Craig Macke, a three-time Indiana state placewinner, also will be a stern test for either wrestler. The other three teams in the event hail from Ohio. Liberty Township Lakota East High is led by Cadet National freestyle champion heavyweight Tony Johnson (No. 9). Lisbon Beaver Local High and Ashville Teays Valley High are the other teams entered.