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PARKERSBURG — Starting at 4:30 p.m. today inside Memorial Fieldhouse wrestling fans will have the opportunity to take in an NCAA Division II triangular featuring Fairmont State, No. 6 Tiffin and No. 10 Glenville State.

The Dragons and Fighting Falcons are set to open the tri with the Pioneers of head coach Dylan Cottrell and Tiffin squaring off around 6 p.m. and then the G-men will clash with FSU.

Former Big Red state champion and Pioneer All-American Nick Johnson will be back in his old stomping grounds. The Pioneers are coming off a 4-0 showing at last weekend’s Virginia Duals where Johnson went undefeated and was just named the Mountain East Conference’s Wrestler of the Week.

“It’s exciting. It’s a good tri and it’s pretty cool to get to wrestle back in Parkersburg for Nick and I’m sure he’ll love that and his family will like getting to see him wrestle there again at Memorial Fieldhouse,” admitted coach Cottrell of his 197-pounder who also is expected to be joined in the lineup by fellow All-American Colton Drousias at 125.

Although the G-men have had a solid season to date with the MEC tournament set for the end of the month, this year hasn’t gone exactly according to plan.

“For us right now we’re trying to get everybody healthy and be ready for the MEC tournament, but also you got a really big weekend with Tiffin being the number one team in the region and sixth in the country, and so that’s a great test for our guys,” said Cottrell.

“Not just wrestling, but a rivalry as well between Glenville State and Fairmont, so anytime we are playing them in anything we want to win. You get an MEC foe and we have them in a couple weeks in the MEC tournament, so you want to be dominant there.”

Each of the three programs are expected to have full lineups.

“We’ve got guys in each class. Some guys are on a pitch count here and there,” added coach Cottrell. “We’ve struggled and I mean there’s been a lot this year, not just us, just around the country a lot of injuries. I don’t think that with what we have right now in our room that we’ve been able to wrestle our best 10 guys yet this year and I don’t know if we’ll ever get to that. We’ll kind of see in the next couple weeks with some injuries and stuff.

“We’re getting pretty close and so hopefully you go through this weekend here injury free and get your guys ready for the conference and that postseason push for regional and NCAA. We’re definitely not full strength for what we have in the room, but at the same time it’s kind of been what it is this year. This is around the lineup that we’ve had to go with and a lot of guys got really good experience from this and that’s good for the future. You can only wrestle with the guys that you got. We’re excited and trust in those 10 guys that are going. We’re pumped for them to put on a good show.”

Fairmont State head coach Gennaro Bonaventura is expected to have former Ripley state champion Cooper Durst in the lineup at 184, while ex-Parkersburg South state champ Ryan Martin is listed as a probable starter at 141 along with teammate Trace Ragland.

“With Tiffin, like I said, it’s a really good challenge for our guys. They’re sixth in the country and they are the number one team in the region,” stressed coach Cottrell. “It gives you a little bit of a litmus test of where you need to be here in about a month because some of these guys are probably guys that we are going to have to beat to make the NCAA tournament.

“I think for what they sent in for their probables, I think they are bringing all of their starters except one so we’ll kind of see how that goes. They just wrestled in nationals duals. Sometimes coming out of that tournament you can be a little bit banged up. We’ll see exactly what they bring.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

NCAA Division II Tri at

Friday’s Schedule

4:30 p.m. – Fairmont State vs. No. 6 Tiffin

6 p.m. – No. 6 Tiffin vs. No. 10 Glenville State

7:30 p.m. – Fairmont State vs. No. 10 Glenville State

Probable Lineups

Glenville State – Tiffin – Fairmont State

125: Colton Drousias – Anthony Anciete – Jorden Williams or Jojo High

133: Zachary Parker – Cael Woods – Lucas Talley

141: Ethan Hardy – Bret Minnick – Ryan Martin or Trace Ragland

149: Egidio Difazio – Maddox Simcoe – Shane Hatfield or James Simms

157: Jimmie Bailes – Lane Thacker – Jim Green

165: Connor Holm – Nolan Gessler – Cole Turner or Brock Evans

174: Ethan Lopez – Emilio Arellano – Josh Woyan

184: Max Borton – David Davis – Cooper Durst

197: Nick Johnson – Max Millin – Jake Stephenson

HWT: Colby Whitehill – Jake Powell – Tyler Wise or Justin Bishop