Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Wrestling to Begin Season at SIUE and Maryville Open
11/3/2022 2:45:00 PM | Wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––– The 2022-23 Indiana Wrestling season is set to begin this weekend as the Hoosiers are set for two dates of road competition.
On Friday, Indiana will wrestle at Southern Illinois Edwardsville and on Saturday, the team will participate in the Maryville Kaufman/Brand/Bayly Open in Saint Louis, Mo. The Hoosiers plan to have 24 wrestlers compete in the Maryville Open.
RETURNING EXPERIENCE:
-Indiana enters the season with loads of experience returning to the Hoosier lineup.
-Of Indiana's ten regular starters from last year, the Hoosiers retained eight of those wrestlers.
-Eight of Indiana's expected ten starters are upperclassmen.
THREE LEADERS:
-Of Indiana's plethora of returning experience, three wrestlers have emerged over the years as leaders, Graham Rooks, Cayden Rooks and D.J. Washington.
-All three of them have wrestled at the NCAA Championships before. Washington is a two-time qualifier (2021, 2022) while the Rooks brothers both made the NCAAs in 2021.
-The trio leads Indiana in every career statistical category (wins, matches wrestled, pins, bonus point victories) for active roster members.
-Graham Rooks is the oldest and longest tenured wrestler on the team as a redshirt senior. He is also the only wrestler still on the team who was part of Coach Escobedo's first season at Indiana in 2018-19.
SIUE PREVIEW:
-Indiana's first dual of the season comes on Nov. 4 when it faces SIUE in Edwardsville to open the season.
-This will be the second year in a row that Indiana opens the season with SIUE. Last year, the Hoosiers competed against the Cougars in Louisville, Ky. and won the dual, 40-3.
-Indiana leads the all-time series over SIUE, 31-7.
-In the preseason rankings, SIUE has two wrestlers in the preseason rankings. Saul Ervin at 141 lbs. and Colton McKiernan at HWT are both ranked No. 30 for their respective weight classes.
-With Ervin being ranked No. 30 at 141 lbs., a ranked matchup is expected as Cayden Rooks is ranked No. 32 by InterMat and No. 20 by FloWrestling in the same weight class.
-Indiana freshman Henry Porter is set to wrestle in his first action as a Hoosier in the dual after winning the starting spot at 133 lbs. in Indiana's Wrestle-Offs last week.
-SIUE is coming off of a 1-14 season last year and did not have any NCAA Qualifiers.
MARYVILLE OPEN:
-Saturday's Maryville Open will be Indiana's first open competition of the season with 24 Hoosier wrestlers planning to compete.
-For a number of Hoosiers this will be their first collegiate competition. There could be up to eight freshmen who wrestle collegiately for the first time in their careers.
-The Maryville Open is one of four regular season invites that Indiana will compete in. The next time will be the Black Knight Invite, hosted by Army in West Point, N.Y.
-Before the new year, Indiana will travel to the Tournament of Champions on Dec. 19 in Reno, Nev. and take part in the prestigious Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
-There will be 17 teams with wrestlers competing in the open. Of the 17, fellow Big Ten opponent Illinois will be there, as well as preseason, top-five ranked Missouri.
COACHING HOMECOMING:
-Indiana added two familiar faces to its coaching staff this past off-season in associate head coach Mike Dixon and volunteer assistant coach C.J. Red.
-Dixon previously worked on Coach Escobedo's staff as an assistant in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. He also wrestled for Indiana in his collegiate career, graduating from IU in 2001.
-In the two years between this season and his last on the Indiana staff, Dixon was the Director of Wrestling and Enrichment for the club Beat The Streets Chicago, helping Chicago youth develop in life and wrestling.
-For Red, its his first time at IU, but he has always been a Hoosier. Red made a name for himself as an Indianapolis native and four-time state champion at New Palestine High School with an 183-0 career record.
-He wrestled at the University of Nebraska from 2016-2022 and was one of the best wrestlers in the nation.
-Red was a three-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier in his Cornhusker career. He also finished on the podium four times at the Big Ten Championships.
NEW FACES:
-There are lots of new names on Indiana's roster this year. The Hoosiers added 12 true freshmen and two transfers in the off-season.
-The two transfers are Michael Spangler and Clayton Fielden. Spangler comes by way of Pratt Community College and Lock Haven at 125 lbs. He was a two-time NJCAA National Champion at Pratt in 2020 and 2021.
-Fielden is a junior and returns to his home state after two years of seeing mat time in the lineup at Army.
-Each of the 12 freshmen have either been state-placers at their high school or placed in national competition.
-Three of the freshmen, Jacob Kaminski, Daniel Sheen and Mason Alley all went to high school outside of their home state and attended prep schools.
-Kaminski and Sheen were teammates at Wyoming Seminary College Prep in Pennsylvania. They are both Illinois natives.
-Alley is originally from New Mexico but went to The Baylor School in Tennessee.
-Two of the freshmen are Indiana natives.
On Friday, Indiana will wrestle at Southern Illinois Edwardsville and on Saturday, the team will participate in the Maryville Kaufman/Brand/Bayly Open in Saint Louis, Mo. The Hoosiers plan to have 24 wrestlers compete in the Maryville Open.
RETURNING EXPERIENCE:
-Indiana enters the season with loads of experience returning to the Hoosier lineup.
-Of Indiana's ten regular starters from last year, the Hoosiers retained eight of those wrestlers.
-Eight of Indiana's expected ten starters are upperclassmen.
THREE LEADERS:
-Of Indiana's plethora of returning experience, three wrestlers have emerged over the years as leaders, Graham Rooks, Cayden Rooks and D.J. Washington.
-All three of them have wrestled at the NCAA Championships before. Washington is a two-time qualifier (2021, 2022) while the Rooks brothers both made the NCAAs in 2021.
-The trio leads Indiana in every career statistical category (wins, matches wrestled, pins, bonus point victories) for active roster members.
-Graham Rooks is the oldest and longest tenured wrestler on the team as a redshirt senior. He is also the only wrestler still on the team who was part of Coach Escobedo's first season at Indiana in 2018-19.
SIUE PREVIEW:
-Indiana's first dual of the season comes on Nov. 4 when it faces SIUE in Edwardsville to open the season.
-This will be the second year in a row that Indiana opens the season with SIUE. Last year, the Hoosiers competed against the Cougars in Louisville, Ky. and won the dual, 40-3.
-Indiana leads the all-time series over SIUE, 31-7.
-In the preseason rankings, SIUE has two wrestlers in the preseason rankings. Saul Ervin at 141 lbs. and Colton McKiernan at HWT are both ranked No. 30 for their respective weight classes.
-With Ervin being ranked No. 30 at 141 lbs., a ranked matchup is expected as Cayden Rooks is ranked No. 32 by InterMat and No. 20 by FloWrestling in the same weight class.
-Indiana freshman Henry Porter is set to wrestle in his first action as a Hoosier in the dual after winning the starting spot at 133 lbs. in Indiana's Wrestle-Offs last week.
-SIUE is coming off of a 1-14 season last year and did not have any NCAA Qualifiers.
MARYVILLE OPEN:
-Saturday's Maryville Open will be Indiana's first open competition of the season with 24 Hoosier wrestlers planning to compete.
-For a number of Hoosiers this will be their first collegiate competition. There could be up to eight freshmen who wrestle collegiately for the first time in their careers.
-The Maryville Open is one of four regular season invites that Indiana will compete in. The next time will be the Black Knight Invite, hosted by Army in West Point, N.Y.
-Before the new year, Indiana will travel to the Tournament of Champions on Dec. 19 in Reno, Nev. and take part in the prestigious Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
-There will be 17 teams with wrestlers competing in the open. Of the 17, fellow Big Ten opponent Illinois will be there, as well as preseason, top-five ranked Missouri.
COACHING HOMECOMING:
-Indiana added two familiar faces to its coaching staff this past off-season in associate head coach Mike Dixon and volunteer assistant coach C.J. Red.
-Dixon previously worked on Coach Escobedo's staff as an assistant in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. He also wrestled for Indiana in his collegiate career, graduating from IU in 2001.
-In the two years between this season and his last on the Indiana staff, Dixon was the Director of Wrestling and Enrichment for the club Beat The Streets Chicago, helping Chicago youth develop in life and wrestling.
-For Red, its his first time at IU, but he has always been a Hoosier. Red made a name for himself as an Indianapolis native and four-time state champion at New Palestine High School with an 183-0 career record.
-He wrestled at the University of Nebraska from 2016-2022 and was one of the best wrestlers in the nation.
-Red was a three-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier in his Cornhusker career. He also finished on the podium four times at the Big Ten Championships.
NEW FACES:
-There are lots of new names on Indiana's roster this year. The Hoosiers added 12 true freshmen and two transfers in the off-season.
-The two transfers are Michael Spangler and Clayton Fielden. Spangler comes by way of Pratt Community College and Lock Haven at 125 lbs. He was a two-time NJCAA National Champion at Pratt in 2020 and 2021.
-Fielden is a junior and returns to his home state after two years of seeing mat time in the lineup at Army.
-Each of the 12 freshmen have either been state-placers at their high school or placed in national competition.
-Three of the freshmen, Jacob Kaminski, Daniel Sheen and Mason Alley all went to high school outside of their home state and attended prep schools.
-Kaminski and Sheen were teammates at Wyoming Seminary College Prep in Pennsylvania. They are both Illinois natives.
-Alley is originally from New Mexico but went to The Baylor School in Tennessee.
-Two of the freshmen are Indiana natives.
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