{"id":28033,"date":"2025-11-07T20:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/28033\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:50:08","slug":"lehigh-set-for-journeymen-wranglemania-collegiate-classic-this-weekend-in-bethlehem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/28033\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Set For Journeymen WrangleMania, Collegiate Classic This Weekend In Bethlehem"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 No. 8 Lehigh will compete close to home this weekend. The Mountain Hawks will open the dual season Saturday against Duke and Virginia as part of Journeymen WrangleMania at Liberty High School. Lehigh will then head to Freedom High School on Sunday for the Journeymen Collegiate Classic annual round-robin event. Twenty-two Mountain Hawks opened the 2025-26 season at the Nov. 2 Princeton Open, with sophomore Matty Lopes<\/a> (133) and junior Rylan Rogers<\/a> (184) winning individual titles. Lopes was competing unattached.
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\nOn Saturday, Lehigh will face Duke at 1:30 p.m. and Virginia at 3:30 p.m. Both duals will be streamed on FloWrestling.org. Sunday’s Journeymen Collegiate Classic begins at 9 a.m. with streaming video also available on FloWrestling.
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\nLehigh officially opened its 2025-26 campaign with a contingent of 22 wrestlers at the Nov. 2 Princeton Open at Jadwin Gym. Sophomore Matty Lopes<\/a> (133) and junior Rylan Rogers<\/a> (184) won individual titles to lead the Mountain Hawks, with Lopes competing unattached at the event. Lopes and Rogers were two of six top-six place winners for the Mountain Hawks at the season-opening tournament. Lopes opened his tournament with a technical and posted two decisions to reach the finals against Army’s Ethan Berginc, who defeated Lopes twice last season. This time, Lopes used a first period takedown and third period reversal to claim a 5-4 victory. Rogers began his day with two technical fall victories, then defeated Lehigh teammate Jack Wilt<\/a> 6-1 in the semifinals. In the finals, Rogers faced TJ McDonnell of Oregon State and won a 2-0 decision behind an second period ride out and third period escape. Sophomores Zeke Dubler<\/a> (174) and Jared Schoppe<\/a> (184) wrestled to third place finishes, while senior Jack Wilt<\/a> (184) and graduate student JT Davis<\/a> both finished in fourth place.
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\nEight Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from InterMat, FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News. Five Mountain Hawks appear in The Open Mat’s rankings, while nine are rated in the top 33 by WrestleStat. Lehigh has five wrestlers ranked in the top five by both InterMat and FloWrestling, led by sophomores Ryan Crookham<\/a> (133) and Luke Stanich<\/a> (141), who are ranked top three. Crookham, Sheldon Seymour<\/a>, Max Brignola<\/a>, JT Davis<\/a> and Nathan Taylor<\/a> are ranked across the board. InterMat, FloWrestling and WrestleStat rank from 1-33, while AWN and The Open Mat rank 1-20.
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\nGraduate student Sheldon Seymour<\/a> and senior Max Brignola<\/a> both competed at the NWCA All-Star Classic, Nov. 1 at Rutgers’ Jersey Mike’s Arena. Seymour dropped a 4-0 decision to Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca at 125, while Brignola dropped a tight 4-1 bout to Hunter Garvin of Stanford at 165. Seymour and Brignola are the first Mountain Hawks to compete at the annual exhibition since Connor McGonagle in 2023.
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\nLehigh has 20 wrestlers listed as probable starters for Journeymen WrangleMania, with 15 of the 20 having previously wrestled in a dual meet for the Mountain Hawks. Wrestlers who could make their first career dual appearances for the Mountain Hawks include junior Remy Brancato-Roed<\/a> (197), sophomore Jared Schoppe<\/a> (184), deferred first-year Dom Federici<\/a> (174) and true first-years Anthony Evanitsky<\/a> (149) and Rowan Holmes<\/a> (285).
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\nLehigh regularly sends a contingent to the Journeymen Collegiate Classic at nearby Freedom High School. Last year the Mountain Hawks had 17 wrestlers compete, with three wrestlers winning Hammer Awards for winning “A” brackets at the round robin event. Three other Lehigh wrestlers went undefeated to win at lower flight brackets. Lehigh’s three hammer awards were won by sophomore Luke Stanich<\/a> (141) and seniors Max Brignola<\/a> (165) and Michael Beard<\/a> (197). Stanich and Brignola were both competing unattached at the event. Deferred first-years Griffin Gonzalez<\/a> (157E) and Zeke Dubler<\/a> (165F) and junior Jack Wilt<\/a> (184D) all went undefeated to win their respective brackets.
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\nLehigh kicks off its 117th dual meet season against Duke. The Mountain Hawks are 12-5 in dual meet openers under Pat Santoro<\/a>. Lehigh has won just two of its last five dual openers, a 20-13 win over Oregon State at Stabler Arena in November 2022 and a 37-7 win over Morgan State last November.
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\nDuke won its dual opener 19-18 over Sacred Heart last weekend. The Pioneers jumped out to a 15-0 lead before the Blue Devils stormed back to win five of the last six bouts. The dual came down to 125 where Riley Rowan’s 2-0 decision secured the win for the Blue Devils. Duke has two wrestlers ranked in the latest InterMat poll. Heavyweight Connor Barket is ranked 23rd and Aidan Wallace comes in at No. 29 at 174. Glen Lanham is in his 14th season as Duke’s head coach.
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\nVirginia will open its dual season at Journeymen WrangleMania after the Cavaliers kicked off their campaign last weeked at the Navy Classic. Keyveon Roller went 4-0 to win the title at 125, leading the Cavalier contingent. Colton Washleski was runner-up at 157 and Virginia also had a trio of fifth-place finishers. Virginia has five wrestlers in the latest InterMat rankings with Washleski and Nick Hamilton (174) leading the way at No. 19. Roller is ranked 22nd at 125. Gable Porter is 33rd at 141 and Ryan Catka is 30th at 285. Steve Garland is in his 20th season as head coach at his alma mater.
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\nLehigh will next head to Tulsa, Okla., for the National Duals Invitational, presented by Paycom, Nov. 15-16 at BOK Center. Sixteen teams will battle in a team dual tournament across two days for a purse of more than $1 million, including a $200,000 grand prize for the winning team. The Mountain Hawks will open up against No. 2 seed Nebraska Nov. 15 at 12 p.m. ET\/11 a.m. CT. Lehigh’s second match will be against either Arizona State or Michigan.
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\nFollow Lehigh Men’s Wrestling on\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and like on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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