NDSU Opens Against The Citadel & #24 Virigina at the Virginia Duals

Friday, January 13

Hampton, Va.

9 a.m. ET

North Dakota State

The Citadel

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

NDSU Opens Against The Citadel & #24 Virigina at the Virginia Duals

1/12/2017 9:51:00 AM | Wrestling

NDSU Wrestling Release.pdf
Virginia Duals Bracket.pdf
Virginia Duals Web Site

North Dakota State (8-1, 2-1 #Big12WR) is scheduled to open competition at the #VirginiaDuals37 against The Citadel (1-2, SoCon) at 8 a.m. Central Time Friday, Jan. 13, and No. 24-ranked Virginia (5-2, ACC) at noon Central Time Friday, Jan. 13 in the York River Pool ... NDSU has won both previous meetings against The Citadel, both coming at the Virginia Duals in 2006 and 2012 ... The Bison trail 3-1 in the series with Virginia including a 24-15 loss to the Cavaliers at home last season ... Other teams competing at #VirginiaDuals37 include No. 5 Virginia Tech, No. 15 Oklahoma, No. 19 Arizona State, Bucknell, Campbell, Kent State, Lock Haven, Old Dominion, Chattanooga ... Winners of each pool will then be placed in the Gold Bracket, which will wrestle in the semifinals at 1 p.m. CT Saturday with the winners facing off at 7:30 p.m. CT Saturday night ... The four pool winners will be re-seeded following the completion of the pools ... The Silver and Bronze pools will also be populated and re-seeded based on maximizing competitive matchups for each team ... The Silver and Bronze pools will wrestle again 2 p.m. Friday afternoon and 9 a.m. Saturday morning ... Live Results and live video for the Virginia Duals will be provided through TrackWrestling.com ... For more information, http://www.virginiaduals.org/

NDSU at the Virginia Duals
North Dakota State is set to make it's eighth trip to the Virginia Duals. The Bison have compiled a 14-15 record in seven previous trips including 3-2 performances at the 2013 and 2012 tournaments ... NDSU 125-pound redshirt senior Josh Rodriguez is the lone Bison wrestler with Virginia Duals experience ... Rodriguez went 2-3 at the 2013 event with wins over Arizona State and Binghamton.

Bison in the Rankings
North Dakota State received votes toward the USA Today/National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Top 25 Poll for the sixth time in seven polls on Jan. 10 ... The Bison were tied for 22nd in the Track Wrestling rankings and 22nd in WIN Wrestling Magazine's Tournament Power Index.

Individually, in the InterMat.com (Jan. 10) rankings, redshirt senior Josh Rodriguez (12-0, 9-0) is No. 4 at 125 pounds and redshirt junior Clay Ream (13-3, 8-1) is No. 19 at 157 pounds ...

In TheOpenMat.com (Jan. 10) rankings, Josh Rodriguez was No. 4 at 125 pounds and redshirt freshman Andrew Fogarty (15-4, 6-1) is No. 17 at 165 pounds ...

In the Asics/Flowrestling rankings (Jan. 9), Josh Rodriguez is No. 6 at 125 pounds and Clay Ream is No. 15 at 157 pounds ...

In the Track Wrestling (Jan. 10) rankings, Josh Rodriguez is No. 4 at 125 pounds, Clay Ream is No. 17 at 157 pounds and Andrew Fogarty is No. 20 at 165 ...

In the WIN Wrestling Magazine (Jan. 9) rankings, Josh Rodriguez is No. 3 at 125 pounds ...

In the Amateur Wrestling News (Jan. 10) rankings, Josh Rodriguez is No. 7 at 125 pounds and Andrew Fogarty is No. 17 at 165 pounds.

Tynan, McNutt Pins Highlight NDSU Wrestling 36-7 Win Over Boise State
North Dakota State 285-pounder Ben Tynan and 184-pound Tyler McNutt each had pins to highlight the Bison 36-7 win over Boise State in a non-conference dual Jan. 8, before 491 spectators in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex ... It was the seventh straight dual win for the Bison ... NDSU recorded wins in the first five matches to race out to a 24-0 lead, starting with Tynan's second pin of the weekend and fourth overall at 5-minutes, 44-seconds over Gabriel Gonzalez ... The Bison won eight matches overall including No. 4-ranked Josh Rodriguez forfeit win at 125, 133 Cam Sykora's 23-5 tech fall, 141 Taylor Nein's 3-1 decision, 149 Mitch Friedman's 10-1 major decision, 174 Dylan Urbach's 4-3 decision, 184 McNutt's pin at 4:16, and Cordell Eaton's 3-2 decision at 197.

Fast Start, Strong Finish Lift NDSU Wrestling to 29-16 Big 12 Win Over UNC
North Dakota State raced out to a fast start, but needed a strong finish to shut the door for a 29-16 win over Northern Colorado in a Big 12 Conference dual on Jan. 6, before 452 spectators in the Scheels Center ... The Bison won four of the first five matches to build a 16-4 lead, but UNC stormed back with a pair of pins ... That's where 197 Cordell Eaton and 285 Ben Tynan took over. Eaton grinded out a 4-1 decision, while senior Tynan recorded his third fall of the season ... No. 4-ranked 125-pound senior Josh Rodriguez hooked up with a former Western Wrestling Conference foe in Trey Andrews and fashioned a hard-fought 13-4 major decision ... It would be a preview of things to come as five of the seven Bison wins came via bonus points, major decision, tech fall or fall ... Collectively, NDSU finished with 17-minutes and 43-seconds of riding time during the dual including 5:31 from Rodriguez ... North Dakota State 133 Cam Sykora and 174 Dylan Urbach each recorded their first dual wins, while 149 Mitch Friedman notched a 15-1 tech fall and 157 Clay Ream claimed a 16-5 major decision.

Fogarty Places Eighth at #Midlands54 Championships
North Dakota State 165-pounder Andrew Fogarty placed eighth at the 54th annual Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30 at Northwestern University's McGaw Hall ... Fogarty, a redshirt freshman from Jordan, Minn. (Scott West H.S.) compiled a 5-3 record with a pair major decisions and a pin at the Midlands Championships ... He is now 15-4 on the season ... Unattached Paul Bianchi, a 125-pound freshman from Two Rivers, Wis. (Two Rivers H.S.), advanced to the second day at #Midlands54 ... Overall, Bianchi won 3 of 5 matches at the Midlands and improved to 14-5 overall.

Rodriguez Named Big 12 Conference Co-Wrestler of the Week
North Dakota State 125-pounder Josh Rodriguez was named Big 12 Conference Co-Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 12 ... He earned the honor for the first time in his career ... Rodriguez, a senior from Guadalupe, Calif. (Righetti H.S.), won a pair of matches including a 24-9 tech fall over Maryland's Michael Beck and his third pin of the season against Trevor Mello of George Mason ... The two-time NCAA qualifier is ranked in the top-six by six wrestling publications.

Pair of NCAA Qualifiers Return for North Dakota State
North Dakota State returns a pair of two-time NCAA qualifiers in 125-pounder Josh Rodriguez and 157-pounder Clay Ream ... Rodriguez and Ream are two-time NCAA national qualifiers ... Ream moves from 149 to 157 this season ... Rodriguez, a redshirt senior from Guadalupe, Calif. (Righetti H.S.), has compiled an 12-0 record this season including 9-0 in duals with six tech falls and three pins ... His updated record (thru Jan. 8) is 90-33 including 37-13 in duals with 14 pins ... Rodriguez placed third at the Big 12 Championships and was a win away from earning All-America honors last season ... He is 5-4 in two NCAA appearances ... Ream, a redshirt junior from Wentzville, Mo. (Holt H.S.), was the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Elite 90 Award winner ... Ream has grinded to an 13-3 record including 8-1 in duals with five pins and three major decisions ... His updated record (thru Dec. 30) is 60-35 overall, 22-10 in duals with 15 pins ... He placed third at the Big 12 Championships ... Ream has a 3-4 record in two NCAA appearances ... He was also named to the NWCA All-Academic and Academic All-Big 12 Conference Wrestling Team.