BOONE, N.C. — The Southern Conference has three wrestling teams with unbeaten league records.
The first of the three highly anticipated, head-to-head matchups involving App State, Chattanooga and Campbell takes place Sunday in Varsity Gym.
Ranked 20th in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll, the Mountaineers (8-2, 4-0) face Chattanooga (7-8, 4-0) at 3 p.m. It's the annual Old Timers Match to welcome back App State Wrestling alums, as well as Heroes Day, with doors opening to spectators at 2 p.m. Varsity Gym does have a clear bag policy for wrestling duals.
Tickets are available by
clicking HERE. App State home duals are streamed live at by Yosef Media, with access available by subscribing to
The Grind's Rokfin channel with a pay-per-view rate of $10 per App State dual.
The result of Sunday's dual will affect what's then at stake when Campbell (13-8, 4-0) travels to Chattanooga on the following Sunday (Feb. 12) and when the Camels visit Boone a week later on Feb. 19.
The App State-Chattanooga duals have been tense, dramatic matchups for a long time, particularly in recent years.
Of the last eight meetings, seven have ended with no more than seven points of separation. The current seven-match winning streak in the series for App State includes six narrow margins.
From 2004-15, Chattanooga went 11-0-1 against the Mountaineers, who flipped the script with a 22-15 win in 2016 and followed that with what officially went down as a 17-16 victory in 2017 — the teams were tied at 16-all at the end of the dual, and App State received the tiebreaking point on criteria.
The Mountaineers then posted wins by scores of 18-16 in 2018, 21-14 in 2019, 27-12 in 2020 and 20-13 in 2021 before benefiting from other dramatic ending last year. Trailing 16-12 heading into the heavyweight showdown, App State needed a bonus-point victory to keep its conference record unblemished, and
Michael Burchell earned six team points with a clutch pin.
With two talented teams meeting Sunday in Boone, expect more fireworks.
App State has five starters with top-33 spots in the NCAA Coaches Rankings:
Caleb Smith (No. 11 at 125),
Jon Jon Millner (No. 9 at 149),
Tommy Askey (No. 28 at 157),
Will Formato (No. 26 at 165) and
Will Miller (No. 27 at 174). Chattanooga has three in Brayden Palmer (No. 13 at 133), Rocky Jordan (No. 11 at 174) and Matthew Waddell (No. 26 at 184).
Noah Castillo (149) was the SoCon Freshman of the Year last year as the third-place finisher in a weight class with two top-10 wrestlers, Franco Valdes (141) made the All-SoCon team in 2021, Weston Wichman (165) was the 2021 SoCon Freshman of the Year as a 157-pounder and Logan Andrew (heavyweight) qualified for the 2021 NCAA Championships as a 197-pounder.
In addition to Smith, Millner, Askey, Formato and Miller, who are all 4-0 in SoCon duals, unbeaten SoCon records currently belong to
Ethan Oakley (3-0 at 133) and
Carson Floyd (4-0 at 197).
Heath Gonyer (141) and
Luke Uliano (184) are both 3-1, while
Jacob Sartorio picked up his first dual victory Monday, two days after he went 3-0 to win an Appalachian Open title.
The 2022-23 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station. App State has posted its highest-ever ranking in the NWCA Coaches Poll this season — it was as high as No. 16 in InterMat's rankings, back in 2016-17.
Probable lineups (rankings from NCAA Coaches Rankings)
#20 App State
125: #11
Caleb Smith
133:
Ethan Oakley
141:
Heath Gonyer
149: #9
Jon Jon Millner
157: #28
Tommy Askey
165: #26
Will Formato
174: #27
Will Miller
184:
Luke Uliano
197:
Carson Floyd
Hwt:
Jacob Sartorio
Chattanooga
125: Logan Ashton
133: #13 Brayden Palmer
141: Franco Valdes or Dayne Dalrymple
149: Noah Castillo or Grant Lundy
157: Lincoln Heck
165: Weston Wichman or Jackson Hurst
174: #11 Rocky Jordan or Thomas Sell
184: #26 Matthew Waddell
197: Jake Boyd
285: Logan Andrew
