Super Region I Rankings
National Rankings: Team | Individual
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University wrestling team has four wrestlers ranked in the top-seven of Super Region I, two of which moved up in their weight class, while KU's heavyweight remains ranked in the national poll leading into the weekend.
As a team, Kutztown received votes in the national poll, as did its opponent this Saturday, Gannon University. In the region, Kutztown is ranked ninth as Gannon will walk in as the No. 2 team in the region.
Senior heavyweight
Ryan Appleby (Belvidere, N.J./Belvidere) slid from third to fifth in the nation. He went 2-1 since the last national poll, with his only loss coming to then-No. 4, and now-No. 3 Dylan Faulkenberg of Indianapolis. Appleby is 11-3 this season with a team-high five tech. falls – fourth in Division II – and looks ahead to a nationally-ranked matchup Saturday. Gannon comes to Keystone Arena with the seventh-ranked heavyweight in the country, Nick Budd. Appleby and Budd are also ranked second and third in the region, respectively.
Both heavyweights are returning All-Americans, as Budd won last year's matchup in Erie by a 6-3 decision.
Austin Petril (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby (Ursinus)), also a returning All-American, moved up to third in the region at 125 lbs. He moved up one spot, jumping Mercyhurst's Eric Bartos, whom Petril defeated by a 10-4 decision last weekend. Petril is 4-4 this season and could face off Saturday against Jake Dunlap, the No. 5 125-pounder in the region.
Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) remained third at 184. He went 2-2 since the last poll, and is coming off back-to-back wins by pinfall. He is 8-7 this season for the second-most wins on the team. Reimel will also have a strong opponent Saturday in Nick Costa, ranked second in the region and 10th in Division II. Costa is 2-0 over Reimel the last two years, both coming by decision.
Both wrestlers were national qualifiers last year.
Mikey O'Brien (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) rounds out Kutztown's quartet of regionally-ranked wrestlers. O'Brien moved up one spot to seventh and is 4-5 on the season. He is coming off a win over the previously-ranked No. 3 wrestler in the region at 157 pounds last Saturday, and is set to face Eric Lewandowski of Gannon on Saturday, ranked fourth in the region and 12th in Division II.
Match time on Saturday, Jan. 20, vs. Gannon is 12 p.m. from Keystone Arena.
