BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The Campbell wrestling team is set to face off against the Wyoming Cowboys in the Battle in the Barn Friday evening.
The event, taking place at Deerwood Ranch in Centennial, Wyoming, will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
MATCH INFORMATION
When: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Deerwood Ranch, Centennial, Wyo.
Watch: UFC Fight Pass
The dual will be a one-of-a-kind college wrestling event. Coaches will be dressed in blue jeans, cowboy boots and cowboy hats while sitting on hay bales as part of the event. This will be the second meet in a non-traditional venue for the Camels this season, who opened the campaign in a Fort Liberty hangar in the Battle at Liberty against Army.
Wyoming (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) is off to their best start in 15 seasons, with wins over Western Wyoming (31-10), CSU Bakersfield (40-3), and California Baptist University (28-12).
The Fighting Camels (1-1) are looking to get back in the win column after a defeat at the hands of #9 Nebraska last week.
Six different Camels were ranked in Intermat's top-30 in this week's rankings, including true freshman Chris Earnest, who made his debut at No. 30. He's joined by Domenic Zaccone (No. 14), Austin Murphy (No. 23), Caleb Hopkins (No. 23), Levi Hopkins (No. 26) and Taye Ghadiali (No. 15).
Below are the probable matchups:
Campbell vs. Wyoming
125: Anthony Molton (0-0) vs. #13 Jore Volk (1-0) -or- Garrett Ricks (1-1)
133: #14 Domenic Zaccone (1-0) vs. Cooper Birdwell (1-2)
141: Chris Rivera (3-3) vs. Cole Brooks (2-0)
149: Justin Rivera (2-4) vs. Gabe Willochell (2-0) -or- Aidan Noonan (2-0)
157: #30 Chris Earnest (5-2) vs. Cooper Voorhees (1-1) -or- Paolo Salminen (1-0)
165: Dom Baker (4-2) vs. Brett McIntosh (2-1)
174: #23 Austin Murphy (4-1) vs. Riley Davis (2-0)
184: #23 Caleb Hopkins (3-3) vs. Ethan Ducca (3-0)
197: #26 Levi Hopkins (4-2) vs. Joey Novak (2-0)
HWT: #15 Taye Ghadiali (6-0) vs. Kevin Zimmer (3-0)
Individual rankings according to Intermat
QUOTABLE
125 Anthony Molton
On his emotions getting on the mat for the first time this season:
"A lot of excitement, and a little bit of nerves for the first time back and everything. But I'm really excited. I've been putting in a lot of work, a lot of rehab, a lot of recovery just to get back out here as soon as possible, and here we are. Now it's time to get at it.
On how the environment at the Battle in the Barn and being on UFC Fight Pass adds to the excitement:
"It adds a lot to the excitement. It gets you kind of antsy to get out there, because you're going up in front of all these people, and a lot of nerves come with that. But once you step on that mat, you don't even know what's going on outside. It's a lot of fun, I'd say, doing things like this adds a lot of fun to the sport."
On his mindset going into matches:
"Main thing going into any match is to focus on my style, how I wrestle, making sure I'm the one attacking, I'm the one finishing every go. Every time the whistle blows, I'm the one at the end of it getting the last touch. That's just my mindset: continuing, going, pushing every time, and that wins matches."
133 Domenic Zaccone
On his excitement getting back on the mat for the first time since Army:
"It's a really long season, so staying mentally prepared the whole time. It doesn't matter if you take off two weeks, two days, a whole month, the goal is the same at the end – to be on top of the podium. Coming into Wyoming, I'm super hungry, you know what I mean? I had some unfinished business against Army with the potential I had to score more points. Whether I came out on top or lost, it doesn't matter. The focus is scoring more points the whole time. So that's what I'm about this weekend."
On what the individual rankings mean to him and how he approaches the season:
"Number one or number 10 right now, I have a goal to be number one at the end, so it doesn't matter what ranking it is, as long as I stay on track. Rankings don't mean anything as we saw in the first and second weeks. What matters is who goes out there the hardest and scores the most points. Rankings are just a number next to your name, I'm not really paying attention to it much until I'm on top of the podium."
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