Jan. 14, 2008

Upper Iowa (#7 NCAA) placed 8th at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals hosted by the University of Northern Iowa. The sixth seeded Peacocks tallied a 2-3 record through the two days of competition. The National Duals Division II bracket of 16 teams featured 13 schools that are ranked in the Top 20 of Division II. Upper Iowa defeated Indianapolis (#11 NCAA) in their first match, 29-16, and advanced to the quarterfinals to face the #3 seed Central Oklahoma (#3 NCAA). Upper Iowa fought hard in the primetime match up, but fell by the score 26-13. In Upper Iowa's first elimination match of the National Duals, the Peacocks defeated Central Missouri by the score, 25-16. The Peacocks faced off with MSU Moorhead (#17 NCAA) in their final dual of day one. In their fourth match of the day, Upper Iowa ran out of gas and was defeated by the Dragons, 22-16. The Peacocks stepped back on the mat at 9 a.m. Sunday morning against the Mountain Cats of Pitt-Johnstown (#6 NCAA), the #5 seed, in the seventh place match. Pitt-Johnstown defeated Upper Iowa 34-14 to end UIU's run in 8th place.

The Peacocks started day one at the National Duals by defeating the University of Indianapolis 29-16. The win was fueled by a few key matches. Tyler Mumbulo (125, #5 NCAA) began the day with a 14-0 major decision victory. After three straight losses the Peacocks trailed the Greyhounds 11-4, but Travis Eggers (157, #8 NCAA) began the UIU rally with a win by fall (3:44) and continued with Mitch Norton (165, #5 NCAA) who also won by fall (3:50). After a loss at 174 pounds, the dual was tied at 16-16 when Brady Hakeman (174, #5 NCAA) stepped up a weight class to earn a win by fall (4:48) at 184 pounds. Matt Norton (197) picked up a major decision win and Dan Goodson (285, #3 NCAA) won by decision to close out the victory for the Peacocks.

The reward for UIU's win was a match up with Central Oklahoma (#3 NCAA). Once again Tyler Mumbulo kicked off the dual with a victory. Mumbulo defeated Tyler Zuckerman, a National Runner-up last March, by decision 6-4. Mumbulo earned a reversal late to tie the match and then added two near fall points to win the match. UCO took a 10-3 lead after earning a major decision and win by fall at 133 and 141 pounds. The Peacocks came back at 149 and 157 with victories by Tee Adams (#3 NCAA) and Eggers. Adams defeated Colby Robinson (#7 NCAA) by major decision 11-2, while Eggers defeated Jason Leavitt (#5 NCAA), last year's National Runner-up, by decision 5-2. Mitch Norton lost his 165-pound match in sudden victory, 11-6, but Brady Hakeman tied the match at 13-13 by winning at 174 by decision 8-5. Stephen Swart surrendered a major decision loss at 184, but the Peacocks entered the last two matches with hope only trailing 17-13. The Peacocks dropped two close matches as Matt Norton went down early, but battled back only to lose by a riding time point, 14-13, and Dan Goodson was caught executing a takedown in overtime and was pinned in the first sudden victory period (7:29). The Peacocks dropped the match 26-13.

The Peacocks had less than a half hour to move from their battle with Central Oklahoma (3 p.m.) to a match up with Central Missouri (5 p.m.) in the consolation bracket. Mumbulo gave the Peacocks another great start as he earned a win by fall (3:27) and Jacob Pedersen (#4 NCAA) continued the Peacock effort with a 10-5 win by decision to give UIU a 9-0 lead. The Peacocks also picked up wins by Adams (major decision 11-3), Eggers (decision 10-5), Hakeman (decision 3-2), and Matt Norton gained a win via forfeit. With the match already decided, Coach Grimm forfeited the heavyweight match as the Peacocks won the dual 25-16.

The Peacocks after having wrestled at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m., Upper Iowa was making their way to the mat again for a 7 p.m. meeting with the Dragons of MSU Moorhead. UIU was once again off to a good start thanks to Mumbulo who won by decision 9-7. After losses at 133 and 141, the Dragons led 7-3. Adams and Eggers once again provided a rally and put Upper Iowa ahead 10-7. Adams won his match by decision 6-4, while Eggers dominated his match to win by major decision 15-1. The Dragons won three of the final five matches, two by fall. The two Peacock victories came at 184, where Hakeman won by decision 2-0, and 285, where Goodson won by decision 3-1. The Dragons won the dual 22-16 and sent the Peacocks to the seventh place match Sunday morning.

Less than eleven hours after getting back to the hotel, Upper Iowa was back at the UNI-Dome for weigh-ins at 8 a.m. Two Peacocks were unable to make weight on the second day and forced Upper Iowa to take the mat against Pitt-Johnstown without two probable starters. Mumbulo suffered his only defeat of the weekend losing by decision 10-9 before UIU forfeited the 133-pound match to fall behind 9-0. After a fall at 141, Adams won his fourth match of the duals with a 16-5 major decision win and Eggers completed his perfect weekend (5-0 in matches) with a 17-9 major decision. The Peacocks trailed 15-8, but only won the final match of the dual at heavyweight as Goodson won by fall (3:57). UIU fell in the match 34-14.

After the dual, Coach Heath Grimm said, "I am very proud of our effort over the weekend at the National Duals. The excitement that was generated during the Central Oklahoma dual was awesome. We had the attention of everyone in the building and the support for Peacock wrestling was tremendous. The win versus Central Missouri was huge when you take into consideration the time between matches and the reward for winning the match was earning a place in the prestigious duals. We had a lot of Iowa and Iowa State fans taking notice of our wrestling team. The team and I are all very proud of how we represented Upper Iowa this weekend at the National Duals. Travis Eggers, Tyler Mumbulo, Tee Adams, Brady Hakeman, and Dan Goodson all had solid weekends in leading us to our 8th place finish."

The Peacocks will begin the defense of their NSIC Championship in a dual this Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Dorman Gym. Upper Iowa will host the Marauders of the University of Mary.