LAKELAND, Fla.—Three ranked teams will battle at The Fire Pit on Saturday as Southeastern wrestling hosts its first two dual meets of the season.
The 16
th-ranked Fire, along with No. 6 Cumberlands and No. 18 Reinhardt will all square off on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.
A total of six SEU wrestlers are ranked at their respective weight classes, including last week's NAIA National Wrestler of the Week, Olson Delisca, who checks in at sixth at 125. Ethan Owen is ranked sixth at 133, and is 4-1 on the year. Chris Williams went a perfect 5-0 at the Patriot Open, and is ranked 12
th at 184. Dylan Chatterton went 4-1 at the Patriot Open, and is 14
th at 149.
At 165, Both Angel Del Cueto (9-3) and Matthew Cates (9-3) have been ranked; currently, it's Cates that is ranked 20
th. Aris Knight is also 20
th at 285, and has posted a 7-4 record thus far.
Saturday will be an opportunity for wrestlers to move up, and also gain some additional notoriety for their teams. Cumberlands will bring in seven ranked wrestlers, and Reinhardt an additional eight.
Cumberlands is off to an impressive start, picking up a 31-13 dual win over then No. 3 Indiana Tech, and also downed NCAA Division II Bellarmine 26-17. The Patriots have had a significant amount of individual success, winning six of the 10 brackets at the Dan Gable Open on November 11
th.
At 133, Jake Sinkovics is ranked No. 1. Hayden Lee (fifth at 125), Tres Leon (fourth at 149), and Tristan Macri (fourth at 165) are also among the top five in their weight classes. Leon and Sinkovics are returning All-Americans, with Sinkovics placing fifth, and Leon fourth at the NAIA National Championships last season.
Reinhardt has won its lone dual of the year, a 46-5 victory over NCAA Division III Huntingdon. The Eagles' highest ranked wrestler is Chase Zemenak at 141, where he's third.
The Fire will wrestle Cumberlands at 1 p.m., followed by Reinhardt and Cumberlands at 2:30 p.m. SEU will then face Reinhardt at 4 p.m. All three matches will be streamed live at seufire.com/watch.
