ACC/Big Ten Clash a premier tournament this weekend
Jeff Breese InterMat Wrestling
11/12/2008

The third week of the season will again be a mix duals and opens, but the featured event will be the ACC/Big Ten Clash on Saturday. The third installment of the ACC/Big Ten Clash pits three ACC and three Big Ten schools against each other in round robin format.

The ranked teams involved in the event are No. 9 Illinois, No. 12 Wisconsin, and No. 21 Virginia, with Michigan State, NC State, and North Carolina completing the field.

The team aspect of the ACC taking on the Big Ten is interesting, but the truly exciting part of the event is the individual bouts that put highly ranked wrestlers up against one another early in the season. The ACC/Big Ten Clash also provides wrestlers on the fringe of the rankings a chance to put their name on the map sooner rather than later.

Some of the potential individual match-ups are:

285- No. 3 Kyle Massey (Wisconsin) vs No. 13 Justin Dobies (North Carolina)
184- No. 9 Rocco Caponi (Virginia) vs No. 10 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin)
149- No. 4 Darrion Caldwell (NC State) vs No. 7 Kyle Ruschell (Wisconsin)
141- No. 13 Zach Tanelli (Wisconsin) vs No. 18 Joe Caramanica (NC State)
141- No. 15 Troy Tirapelle (Illinois) vs No. 18 Joe Caramanica (NC State)
165- No. 13 Roger Smith-Bergsrud (Illinois) vs Keegan Mueller (North Carolina)
174- No. 12 John Dergo (Illinois) vs No. 15 Chris Henrich (Virginia)
285- No. 6 John Wise (Illinois) vs No. 13 Justin Dobies (North Carolina)

Additionally, five other ranked wrestlers will be in action in Chapel Hill on Saturday. NC State’s Ryan Goodman would provide another ranked wrestler and two more duals with ranked wrestlers. However, Goodman will likely be out of the line-up, due to competing on the Wolfpack football team, as well.

Outside of the ACC/Big Ten Clash, there are a few other notable duals taking place this week. No. 5 Missouri opens its season with duals against Lock Haven and Bucknell on Saturday and Sunday. No. 7 Penn State takes on Hofstra on Sunday and No. 18 Oklahoma starts its season against Division II No. 6 Central Oklahoma on Thursday. Also, in Division II, No. 15 Limestone will host No.7 Newberry and No. 13 Mercyhurst for a tri-meet.

The open tournament scene continues with tournaments throughout the country this weekend, most notably the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open. It is still early in the season, but many important matches are being wrestled, especially in Division I because of the new qualification system. Every win and every loss means a little bit more this year.

There is a lot of action going on between now and March, so make sure to get out and catch it in person at a college in your area.