Who Is The New Guy

Seems like just a month ago we were staring at thirty fresh faces, with eyes full of uncertainty about the future and the new guy Head Coach. We've asked much from the team since my arrival on campus; from academic success, one hundred percent effort in training and to be their best self in everything else. They've continued to push, grow and mature in response to it all.

I've created some short interviews with our guys so you can, "Get To Know An Eagle", more to come but you can watch them here: http://www.uofoathletics.com/sports/wrest/Videos_-_Get_To_Know

We worked through many hours of lifting and running in the fall in order to prepare for the demands of the season. I wanted to catch you all up and highlight the effort and commitment these student-athletes have put in since the beginning of the season.

Bus Rides and History

We started the season in early November at the Oklahoma City Open and the guys were excited to get on the mat. We've spent many hours on bus trips from Alabama to Iowa in order to be as prepared as possible. We most recently secured our first home dual meet victory in school history against Central Baptist College. There will be many more but you can't ever beat the first one! I am proud of the guys and happy for their work starting to pay off. I've linked to the recaps from our wonderful SID, Josh Peppas below:

• Pre-Season Kick Off
• OCU Open Recap
• Hatcher Duals
• Richland Hills Dual
• UT-A Southwest Open Tournament
• Bacone College Dual (Home)
• Dubuque Duals
• Under Armor Central Invitational
• St. Olaf Dual
• Huntingdon Duals
• Central Baptist Dual

Make sure to grab a cup of coffee and check out the results through this point in the season, and I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight four guys specifically for academic excellence during Fall Semester:

Championships Season

This is my favorite time of the year...we've worked through much of the learning curve initially faced by new college wrestlers, and we've found school footing. We've logged countless hours training to be technically better, stronger and faster. Now all that is left is a touch more work and the opportunity to perform. We're headed to Bacone College this week (February 1 @ 7pm) for our final dual meet of the year. We're excited for the chance to go battle.

After that match we look ahead to our first Southeast Conference Championship tournament (Hosted by Greensboro College, February 11th), our NCAA qualifying tournament Central Regional Championships (Hosted by Loras College, February 24th) and our first NCAA Championships individual qualifiers (Hosted by University of LaCrosse (WI), March 10th).Our conference foes shape up as follows:

• Ferrum University (2016 Conference Champions)
• Greensboro College
• Huntingdon College
• Averrett University (2017-2018 addition)
• Hampden-Sydney College
• Southern Virginia University

Our path to much sought after All-American and National Champion status is THE regional with the most likelihood of such an achievement. In the past year our Central Regional has crowned 21 All-Americans out of 30 qualifiers and in the past 4 years has produced 67 All-Americans for both the highest percentage (20.94%) of total AA's and percentage of Total Points (20.96%) at the National Tournament. The Eagles whom make it out of our Regional are already among the best in the country. We're excited for the opportunity to show how far we've come and battle it out. The willingness to fight is the key, and our guys will be willing to fight.