Hoosiers Set for Two Big Duals this Weekend

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– A busy weekend awaits Indiana Wrestling with two duals against nationally ranked squads. First, Indiana will host No. 3 Michigan at 7 p.m. on Friday at Wilkinson Hall. Then, the Hoosiers will travel to Columbus to face No. 6 Ohio State on Sunday for a 1 p.m. meet.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN:

The Wolverines enter the bout highly touted with a No. 3 national ranking and a 9-1 record.
Michigan boasts all 10 of their starters being nationally ranked in the latest InterMat rankings.
Six of their starters are ranked within the top 10 of their weight class.
They're led by No. 1 Nick Suriano (125) who is 6-0, No. 2 Myles Amine (184) who is 11-1 and No. 3 Mason Parris (285) who has a 10-2 record.
Michigan Head Coach Sean Bormet has a career 34-9 record as head coach of the Wolverines.
He is currently in his fourth season and had eight NCAA qualifiers a season ago.

BOUT WITH THE BUCKEYES:

Just as Michigan is, Ohio State is another highly touted Big Ten opponent on the docket.
Coming in at No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, Ohio State owns a 7-3 record on the season.
Nine of Ohio State's starters are ranked in the InterMat national rankings. Four of them are placed in the top ten of their weight classes.
Team leaders include No. 2 Sammy Sasso (149), No. 4 Carson Kharchla (165), and No. 6 Kaleb Romero (184). The trio have a combined 43-3 record this season.

ILLINOIS REWIND:

Nick Willham (197) secured a clutch victory by 3-1 decsision in Sudden Victory with a dramatic takedown to seal it.
Six of the ten bouts between the Hoosiers and Illini were decided by two points or less with two of them reaching Sudden Victory.

IN THE LATEST POLLS:

The Hoosiers placed three wrestlers in the most recent InterMat rankings.
Brock Hudkins (133) and Cayden Rooks (141) stayed put at their spots from last week, placing at No. 10 and No. 32, respectively.
Washington was slotted at No. 17 in the poll.

WINNING WILLHAM:

Junior Nick Willham (197) has been wrestling very well as of late.
The junior has won two of his last three bouts and is 10-5 on the season.
He is approaching 30 career victories and is currently at 28.

THE ANCHORS:

Building off Willham's success, he is part of a three-man core that has been one of the most reliable parts of the Indiana roster this season.
The back-end of the starting lineup that includes D.J. Washington (184), Willham (197) , and Jacob Bullock (285) have all been very impressive as of late.
Washington did not wrestle at Illinois but is 12-3 on the season with a recent victory over No. 30 Max Lyon, by a 7-3 decision.
Bullock lost his most recent outing in a close, 5-4 decision to No. 16 Luke Luffman of Illinois, but prior to that had two consecutive victories over ranked opponents against Maryland and Purdue.

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Bullock

Brock Hudkins

Cayden Rooks

Nick Willham

Indiana University Athletics