BOONE, N.C. — It will be App State's first conference dual of the year and Davidson's first dual of any kind this season. For Bellarmine, it will be the Knights' first-ever Southern Conference dual.
On Sunday in Varsity Gym, App State will open its league schedule by playing host to a SoCon tri-meet with Bellarmine and Davidson. After those two teams face off at 1 p.m., the Mountaineers (0-1) are scheduled to face Bellarmine at 2:30 p.m. and Davidson at 4 p.m.
There is no admission for the general public, but the event will be streamed live by Yosef Media, and access to the stream is available by subscribing to The Grind's Rokfin channel. App State Wrestling alums Terreyl Williams and Savva Kostis will be on the call.
In the past six seasons, App State's 37-4 conference record ranks No. 5 nationally in all of Division I wrestling behind just Missouri, Oklahoma State, Cornell and Penn State. Bellarmine, meanwhile, is in its fifth season of wrestling and its first season as a Division I program. The Knights, who will be traveling from their campus in Louisville, Ky., competed previously in Division II and are 0-2 this season.
The 0-1 record for App State, which is unofficially No. 29 in this week's NWCA Coaches Poll, comes from a 24-12 loss at No. 4 NC State. Victories from
Jonathan Millner (149 pounds),
Will Formato (165),
Thomas Flitz (174) and
Julian Gorring (184) cut the deficit to 14-12 with two matches remaining against a Wolfpack team that increased its overall winning streak to 19 matches.
This week, Formato was named both the SoCon's Wrestler of the Week and Student-Athlete of the Week. He posted a 4-0 decision against No. 7 Thomas Bullard in the NC State dual, then went 2-0 at the Wolfpack Round Robin event to outscore his three NC State opponents by a 12-0 score over two days.
Elsewhere in App State's projected lineup,
Anthony Brito (141),
Cody Bond (157) and
Tim Warren (285) made their first career dual starts for App State in Raleigh and will potentially be looking for their first career dual victories.
The 2020-21 wrestling season is presented by Hungry Howies and Penn Station.
