Monarchs Host Ohio Friday, Head to American Sunday

NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion wrestling team (5-9, 1-5 MAC) will host MAC foe Ohio (7-5, 4-3 MAC) Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Ted Constant Center before heading to Washington, D.C. to take on American (3-8, 0-7 EIWA) at noon on Sunday. The first 100 fans to enter the arena Friday evening will receive a ODU wrestling t-shirt. 

The Monarchs are coming off a 23-10 dual meet win over Navy last Friday in Annapolis where seven ODU wrestlers earned victories, including Alex Madrigal and Larry Early, who earned major decision wins. 

Early debuted in the national rankings this week, checking in at No. 25 at 157 lbs. according to Trackwrestling. The redshirt freshman is now 12-5 on the season and has posted a 5-0 mark while representing Old Dominion. 

Jack Dechow remained ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation this week and retained his top-10 ranking across all five major polls after defeating Navy's Michael Coleman, 8-2, last Friday. Kevin Beazley surfaced as high as No. 12 by WIN and No. 14 by InterMat after turning in a convincing 10-4 decision over the Midshipmen's Steban Cervantes last week. 

The Ohio Bobcats (7-5, 4-3 MAC) come to Norfolk Friday after defeating Clarion, 21-17, last time out. Ohio boasts two nationally-ranked wrestlers according to InterMat, as 125-pounder Shakur Laney is No. 19 and 133-pounder Cameron Kelly is 14th. In last month's NCAA coaches panel rankings, Ohio also had 141-pounder Noah Forrider listed at No. 27 and 197-pounder Bailey Faust at No. 33. The Bobcats also return NCAA qualifier Austin Reese at 165 lbs. 

Ohio is 4-3 to date in MAC dual meets with victories over Kent State, Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Buffalo. 

In the last meeting between the Monarchs and the Bobcats, Ohio picked up a 25-13 win in Athens last February. 

On Sunday, ODU will head to Washington, D.C. to face the American Eagles (3-8, 0-7 EIWA). American is on a seven-match losing skid in the heart of its conference dual meet schedule, as the Eagles have fallen to Binghamton, Bucknell, Drexel, Penn and Lehigh as well as UNC and Army. Their three dual meet victories of the season came against Wyoming, Campbell and Clarion.

Individually, Josh Terao enters Sunday's match ranked No. 13 in the country by InterMat at 125 lbs. The Eagles had five other wrestlers appear in last month's NCAA coaches panel, as Esteban Gomez-Rivera was No. 27 at 133, Jack Mutchnik was No. 30 at 141, Michael Sprague checked in at No. 30 at 149, Jason Grimes came in at No. 30 at 184 and Jeric Kasunic surfaced at No. 27 at 197.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Old Dominion Monarchs (5-9, 1-5 MAC)

As always, follow @ODUWrestling on Twitter for live match updates and 'like' Old Dominion Wrestling on Facebook for results and match recaps.

UP NEXT 

The Monarchs return home on Sunday, Feb. 19 for their final dual meet of the season against Kent State at 1 p.m. on Senior Day.