GREAT FALLS, Mont. – One more dual is all that's left for (7) University of Providence men's wrestling in the 2017-18 regular season. While the inaugural Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship and the following 2018 NAIA Men's Wrestling Championships are squarely on the Argo's radar, a season-ending road dual against rival (12) Montana State University-Northern will come first.
That dual will be held in Havre, Montana on Wednesday, February 7 at 7:30 p.m. and will be the second meeting of the two teams. UP is on a three dual winning streak against the Lights, including a 25-15 win at home back in November. The all-time series also favors the Argos, with UP holding a 16-10-1 record against Northern.
Three matches will feature two ranked wrestlers, including two matches where both are ranked in the top-10.
Based on the last meeting of the two teams, the 157 match will be one to watch. The favorite is (2) Brandon Weber from MSUN but in November, (7)
Casey Dobson came dangerously close to pulling the upset, losing a 2-1 decision that needed four minutes of overtime wrestling to conclude.
While Dobson didn't pull the upset, there was a stunning upset in the previous dual, only it didn't go the Argo's way. At 197, returning All-American
John Hensley, who was ranked 4th in the country at the time, lost to then unranked Isaac Bartel in a 9-5 decision. Since then, Bartel has proved himself and now ranks 6th in the nation, while Hensley has recovered from a slow start to the season and sits at 9th.
If Hensley can avenge his earlier loss to Bartel, it could have a significant impact on the seeding heading into the conference tournament.
The third ranked vs. ranked matchup will come at 184 but will feature a different ranked wrestler for UP than last time. When the Argos became the season, the team's depth at the upper weight classes looked much different, and the team's top 184 wrestler was redshirt-sophomore
Justin Harbison and he beat (14) Steeler French in a 10-4 decision.
Since then, UP's top 174 wrestler from 2016-17, (8)
Randy Keesler moved to 184, and transfer junior (10)
Tyler Webley also established himself as a nationally relevant wrestler at the same weight class. To spread out the talent, Harbison has then moved to 285 behind (8) Matt Hopkins.
It will be Webley who will take on French this time for UP, with Webley ranked 10th and French ranked 14th.
Both teams will have two matches with highly ranked wrestlers taking on unranked opponents. For Northern, (4) Matt Webber will face UP's
Jarren Komac at 141, and (9) Andrew Bartell will face either senior
Arram Price or sophomore
Joshua Beckler at 165. On UP's side, (5)
Shonn Roberts will face Dylan Veis at 149, and (5)
Adrian Lyons-Lopez will face either Chase Short or Chris Nile.
The Argos will also have the advantage of a free 6 points with Northern currently having an open spot at 285 with either Hopkins or Harbison waiting.
After the dual, UP will have 10 days to rest and get ready for the first ever CCC Tournament on February 17 in Ashland, Oregon.
