WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University wrestling team is set to take the mat in its 74th season of competition when the Colonels open the 2019-20 campaign. The program enters with a 254-107-5 record under head coach Jon Laudenslager '99, now in his 17th season.

"We are looking forward to the current season and pushing onward with our historic wrestling tradition," Laudenslager said. "We have a shot of winning our 900th dual meet this season, which would be just the tenth team in NCAA history to accomplish that."

The Colonels have 883 wins entering the 2019-20 season following a 20-4 campaign last season. Wilkes will also be looking to extend its streak of sending at least one grappler to the NCAA Tournament to 14 consecutive seasons.

Wilkes will send a youthful team to the mat this season with 12 freshmen and eight sophomores making up the majority of the 27-member team.

"We have a very young team as we graduated four starting guys from our lineup, but we have a strong nucleus of freshmen and sophomore who will need to contribute in big ways if we are going to have a successful season," Laudenslager said. "I would expect us to get better throughout the season as the underclassmen get valuable college experience."

The seven upperclassmen will be led by senior Kyle Medrow (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) (141) and junior Moustafa Almeky (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) (197) who are both listed as Honorable Mentions at their respective weight classes in the first d3wrestle.com rankings of the season.

"The upperclassmen need to bring mental toughness, a championship attitude and challenge the large group of underclassmen every day," Laudenslager commented. "Many weight classes are extremely close, so each person needs to keep challenging themselves to improve each and every day."

Wilkes will kick off its season on Friday, November 1 with a home dual meet against Lackawanna College inside the Marts Center at 6:00 p.m. A highlight on the 17-date schedule will be the 87th Wilkes Open on Sunday, December 22nd with mostly Division I competition. The Middle Atlantic Conference Championships will be hosted by Lycoming College on January 18th and the Colonels will play host to the John Reese Duals on January 26th. The 2020 NCAA Southeast Regional will be held on February 28-29^th as the Colonels will look to move onto the NCAA Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Weight-by-Weight Preview

125 – Sophomore Nicholas Bauer (Coplay, PA/Wyoming Seminary) will head the weight-class after a 15-10 freshman season where he was the 125-pound champion at the Gettysburg Invitational and placed runner-up at the Futures Mideast Tournament. Freshman Jack Bauer (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central) will enter the program and add depth at the 125-pound weight-class and also compete at 133-pounds.

133 – Brock Horton (Towanda, PA/Athens) enters his junior season with a 17-20 career record. He finished his sophomore campaign with a 12-13 record and a third place finish at the Futures Mid-East Tournament. He will also see time at 141 for the Colonels. Freshman Benoit Chestnut (Roselle Park, NJ/Roselle Park) will join Horton at 133 after spending last season with the Colonels as a redshirt season.

141 – Senior Kyle Medrow (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) and junior Dylan O'Connor (Somerset, NJ/Bishop George Ahr), along with two freshmen, will provide a lot of depth and competition in this weight-class. Medrow has a career 77-36 mark on the mat after a junior season where he went 22-11 with a runner-up finish at the Gettysburg Invitational and a seventh place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional. He placed fourth at the 2017 NCAA Mideast Regional during his freshman season. O'Connor has a 28-28 record through his first two seasons. He went 16-11 last year with a third place finish at the Gettysburg Invitational and fifth at the NCAA Southeast Regional. Freshmen Alec Martin (New Milford, PA/Blue Ridge) and Kyle Tino (Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg) join the program this season. Tino will also see time in the lineup at 149.

149 – Like at 141, this weight-class will be competitive within the Wilkes wrestling room. Sophomore Cody Dix (Egg Harbor, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) finished his first season in the Navy and Gold with an 18-8 record and a third place finish at the Futures Mideast Tournament. Max Shaffer (Doylestown, PA/Archbishop Wood) also had a terrific freshman season as he went 18-9 last year with a fourth place finish at the Futures event. Fellow sophomore Liam Flaherty (Needmore, PA/Southern Fulton) had his freshman season cut short with an injury but is healthy for the 2019-20 campaign where he could also see time at 157. The trio of talented sophomores will be joined by freshman Christopher Mann (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan).

157 – Allen Kokilananda (Annandale, VA/Annandale) went 7-9 during his freshman season with the Colonels and he will be joined by two incoming freshmen in Trevor DuBoff (Stony Point, NY/North Rockland) and James Shaw (Campbell Hall, NY/Burke Catholic).

165 – Senior Cole Walters (Mifflintown, PA/Juniata) has a 12-29 career record including an 8-10 season last year. He could see time at 174 as well. Lackawanna College transfer Xavier Barber (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) joins the weight-class as a sophomore. Freshman Timothy Pawlicki (Delran, NJ/Holy Cross) will round out the depth at 165 for the Colonels.

174 – Junior Jason DeBoard (Avoca, PA/Pittston) has a 6-8 career record and he will be joined by freshman John Devito (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) at 174-pounds this season. DeBoard could also slid into the 165 lineup position. DeVito is set to see action from the outset of his Colonels career.

184 – Four newcomers will compete for time at 184. Sophomore transfer Dallas Henry (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) along with freshmen Jason Burklow (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock), Brady Mitchell (Bowdoin, ME/Mount Ararat) and Dawson Tallant (Cape May, NJ/Middle Township) will look to compete to earn the starting slot in the Wilkes lineup.

197 – Experience returns for Wilkes at this weight-class headed by junior Moustafa Almeky (Shavertown, PA/Dallas). He brings a 27-33 career record to the table after a terrific 21-12 sophomore season. Almeky placed second at the Gettysburg Invitational and fifth at the NCAA Southeast Regional last year. Austin Cominsky (Cape May Courthouse, NJ/Middle Township) finished with an 11-11 record as a freshman while competing for the Colonels at the 184-pound weight-class at the NCAA Southeast Regional. Cominsky will also see time at heavyweight this season.

285 – Roger Horton (Towanda, Pa./Athens) went 13-17 for Wilkes last season as the main heavyweight on the roster and having gained experience at the 2019 NCAA Southeast Regional. Horton competed at Lycoming College his freshman season where he went 10-8. He will enter his junior season with a 23-25 career record.