Michigan
Northwestern
Wolverines to Hit the Road for B1G Duals at Northwestern, No. 8 Minnesota
1/15/2025 12:13:00 PM | Wrestling
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) will hit the road this weekend for a pair of Big Ten Conference duals. The Wolverines will face Northwestern (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. CT on Friday (Jan. 17) at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., before taking on No. 8 Minnesota (4-1, 0-1 Big Ten) at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday (Jan. 19) at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn. Both duals will be streamed live on B1G+.
Notes
• Michigan looks to bounce back from its first dual loss of the season, 19-18 via the second tiebreaker (most falls), against Maryland last Friday (Jan. 10). U-M is 3-0 in dual meetings with wins over Columbia (28-9, Nov. 17), Duke (35-11, Nov. 22) and Virginia (29-12, Nov. 24), claiming seven matches in each dual and earning 18 total bonus wins, including seven against the Blue Devils.
• The Wolverines currently have seven wrestlers ranked nationally at their respective weight classes, including three in the top 15 according to InterMat: No. 11 Sergio Lemley (141), No. 15 Chase Saldate (157), No. 21 Beau Mantanona (165), No. 28 Joseph Walker (174), No. 20 Jaden Bullock (184), No. 3 Jacob Cardenas (197) and No. 10 Josh Heindselman (Hwt).
• Heindselman, who joined the Wolverines as a graduate transfer this semester, is 13-0 on the season, having won each of his three tournament appearances in December and his dual-meet debut against Maryland, and boasts 10 bonus wins -- three pins and seven tech falls. He owns back-to-back ranked wins, earning a gritty 5-4 win over Indiana's No. 23 Jacob Bullock in the Midlands finals and a 4-2 decision against the Terrapins' No. 13 Seth Nevills. Heindselman was a four-time NCAA qualifier at the University of Oklahoma, where he posted an 82-46 record over four seasons.
• Cardenas, a graduate student, is also undefeated this season with a 9-0 record and nine bonus wins, including seven technical falls. He captured the 197-pound title at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where he earned three ranked wins -- against Iowa State's No. 14 Christian Carroll (16-1), Virginia Tech's No. 8 Andy Smith (12-0) and Northwestern's No. 13 Evan Bates (Fall 4:34). He was the Wolverines' sixth CKLV champion in seven years.
• Sophomore/freshman Beau Mantanona returned to the Michigan lineup with a 6-4 decision over Maryland's Alex Uryniak after making his season debut at the Bobby Kauffman Open the previous week (Jan. 4) with a 4-1 record and third place at 165 pounds. He suffered what was thought to be a season-ending knee injury a week before the season started in November but on closer inspection, it did not require surgery and he has rehabbed it back to health. His brother, freshman Beau Mantanona, held down the 165-pound spot last semester, posting an 11-3 record with two ranked wins and a seventh-place finish at the CKLV. Brock has one date remaining to maintain his redshirt this season.
• Lemley, a sophomore, also remains unbeaten in dual-meet action with a 4-0 mark and a pair of technical falls. Lemley, who went 9-2 in duals last season, earned a 6-3 decision over Maryland's Dario Lemus in the Big Ten opener.
• Eleven wrestlers have made their debuts in the Michigan starting lineup so far this season, including six who have earned their first varsity win in a U-M singlet: grad transfers Cardenas, Saldate and Heindselman, senior/junior Dzhabrail Khurshidov, junior/sophomore Codei Khawaja and freshmen Brock Mantanona and Cameron Catrabone. Senior/junior Christian Tanefeu has also earned a pair of bonus wins -- his first, though not in his debut -- in duals against Columbia and Maryland.
• Fifth-year senior Dylan Ragusin will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season after suffering a knee injury at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Dec. 6-7). Ragusin, who has already had surgery to repair the injured knee, is a 2024 All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier. He was ranked No. 4 at 133 pounds to start the season after coming out of redshirt midseason to go 28-4 last year and claim a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He is 82-30 in his career and will have one more year of eligibility after medical hardship.
• Northwestern is 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in Big Ten duals after falling to both Purdue (31-13, Jan. 10) and Illinois (33-7, Jan. 12) last weekend. The Wildcats own five nationally-ranked wrestlers, notably No. 10 Trevor Chumbley (157 pounds) and No. 12 Evan Bates (197). The Wolverines lead the all-time series against Northwestern, 76-8-3, winning the last seven meetings, including a 20-17 decision on the road in 2020 with an upset win in the final bout of the dual.
• Minnesota owns a 4-1 record this season and 0-1 in Big Ten action after falling to Nebraska, 21-13, last Saturday (Jan. 11) in its conference opener. Nine Gophers are ranked nationally at their respective weight classes, including eight in the top 10, led by No. 7 Cooper Flynn (125 pounds), No. 8 Vance Vombaur (141), No. 4 Max McEnelly (184) and No. 1 Gable Steveson (Hwt). Michigan holds a narrow 34-31-2 advantage in the all-time series against Minnesota, dating back to 1944. The Wolverines claimed four of the final five bouts to rally to a 20-14 win in the last series meeting in 2022 in Ann Arbor.
Players Mentioned
