Wheeling, W. Va. - On Thursday, the Wheeling University Wrestling team announced a schedule update for their dual meet against Bluefield State. The dual, which was originally scheduled as part of the Wheeling Quad on January 7th, will now be played on Thursday, February 10th, inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. It will serve as the first home event of the 2021-2022 season for the Cardinals as they get to wrestle in front of their home crowd. 

The last time the Cardinals took the mat, they fell in a conference match to Fairmont State 42-6. The night started off strong for the Cardinals as freshman Christian Zickefoose earned a victory via forfeit in the 125-pound weight class. However, the Cardinals were forced to forfeit a lot of their matches due to injuries. The other two Cardinals who got to wrestle on the night were Chase Montgomery and Clarouly Meca. Montgomery lost a 12-5 decision in the 141-pound match before Meca's exciting battle at 285. 

The match was a deadlock for most of the night, and the two wrestlers would force the match into extra time. Meca took the lead early with an escape point and held that lead until the third round when Fairmont's TJ Boyd scored an escape point to tie the match at 1-1. As the game went into extra time, it was Boyd who would get the advantage with a takedown and ended up winning the extra time match 3-1. 

Next up for the Wheeling Wrestling team is the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championships happening January 29th at West Liberty University. The Cardinals are still building their young program towards competing for a MEC Championship, but they have some individual wrestlers to watch in this tournament. Meca in the 285-pound weight class has been one of the strongest competitors for the Cardinals this season, and Christian Zickefoose brings up another name to watch for the Cardinals. These two wrestlers are looking for strong performances on the mat. 

The MEC Wrestling Championships are scheduled for this Saturday on the campus of West Liberty University.