WASHINGTON - Three strong teams will be the first dual meet opponents for American University wrestling this season, as the Eagles take on Wyoming, Army and UNC at the West Point Duals on Saturday, Jan. 4. First up is Wyoming at noon, followed by host Army at 2 p.m. and UNC at 4 p.m.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES

• Leading the way for AU this season are a pair of wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in the nation. 
• Kizhan Clarke, with an outstanding record of 23-2 overall, comes in at No. 9 in the 149-pound weight class and took fifth place at the prestigious Midlands Championships.
• Also ranked ninth is Tanner Harvey at 184 pounds. Harvey is 13-2 overall and will be back in action after battling illness and injury in recent meets.
• Sal Profaci is coming off an eighth place finish at Midlands, and is 15-4 this season with a couple of top 25 rankings at 141 pounds.
• Ranked as high as 17th in the nation at 125 pounds, Gage Curry is 16-5 overall and earned a win earlier this season at AU's Round Robin.
• Other definite starters for the Eagles include Daniel Kidd at 133 (4-9), Will Jarrell at 197 (5-11) and Niko Camacho at 285 (10-5). Multiple wrestlers are possible contenders at 157 (Ethan Karsten, Elijah Murphy), 165 (Anthony Wokasch, Tim Fitzpatrick) and 174 (Conner Allshouse, Ben Root, Connor Bourne). 
• The Eagles took 15th place of 35 teams at the Midlands Championships, their best team finish since 2011.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

• In the latest NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll from Dec. 17, North Carolina comes in at No. 17, Army is at No. 21 and Wyoming is the top team receiving votes.
• Both Army and UNC are already 4-1 in dual meets, with UNC's results including an early-season win over No. 19 Michigan. Wyoming is 2-4 in dual meets so far.
• Austin O'Connor of UNC is the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 149 pounds, and will face Kizhan Clarke of AU in a bigtime matchup for both.
• Army's Noah Stewart (184) and Markus Hartman (157) are both ranked in the top 15 nationally and will provide big tests for AU's Tanner Harvey and Ethan Karsten/Elijah Murphy.

UP NEXT

• The first home dual meets for AU are on Friday, Jan. 10 vs. Brown and Saturday, Jan. 11 vs. Drexel, both at 7 p.m.

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