Friday, February 16, 2018
Senior Night
#21 Rider Broncs (12-4) vs. #18 Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-6) – 7 p.m.
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Alumni Gymnasium
Tickets – GoBroncsTix.com
Live Video – BroncVision
Twitter – Twitter.com/RiderWrestling

What You Need To Know
- Rider snapped a two-match losing skid with a 22-21 win over Hofstra on Feb. 7. They'll wrestle No. 18 Minnesota at home on Friday night before finishing the dual slate with another Big 10 opponent, Maryland, on the road on Sunday afternoon.  
- Minnesota leads the all-time series with Rider, 1-0. The lone win came in the 1996-97 season.
- Prior to the match, the Broncs will honor their eight-member senior class. The group includes student manager Jordan Gervasi, as well as Tyson Dippery, Mauro Correnti, Jesse Rodgers, Wayne Stinson, J.R. Wert, B.J. Clagon and Chad Walsh.  
- The Broncs are ranked as highly as No. 21 in the national polls this week. Intermat has Rider at No. 21 this week, while WrestleStat ranks the Broncs at No. 23. Rider is also receiving votes in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll.   
- Rider clinched a share of the EWL Regular Season Championship at 5-1 in league dual matches. Edinboro (4-1, Saturday match vs. Cleveland State) remains in contention for a share of the title.
- Chad Walsh (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) is individually ranked as highly as No. 6 at 165 by both Intermat and The Open Mat. Amateur Wrestling News has him at No. 10, while WrestleStat ranks Walsh No. 11 and FloWrestling slates him in at No. 12.   
- Five Rider wrestlers were ranked in the Top 33 on the recently-released NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings, headlined by No. 8 Walsh at 165. B.J. Clagon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South) also ranks 21st at 157, while Anthony Cefolo (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park Regional) is 23^rd at 133. Tyson Dippery (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin [Rutgers]) comes in at No. 25 at 141, while J.R. Wert (Christianburg, VA/Christianburg) rounds out the ranked Broncs at No. 31 at 125.
- Minnesota features seven wrestlers ranked by various publications, headlined by Ethan Lizak at 125. He's ranked No. 6 by Intermat and No. 8 by The Open Mat, Amateur Wrestling News and FloWrestling. Nick Wanzek is ranked as highly at No. 7 at 165, setting up a must-see match against Walsh. Mitchell McKee is ranked as highly as No. 11 at 133. An NCAA rematch from a year ago pits Clagon against Jake Short, who ranks as highly as No. 16. Clagon used a late takedown to defeat Short, 4-2, last season.  Tommy Thorn (#14 – TOM, AWN), Steve Bleise (#19 - Flo) and Owen Webster (#19 - Intermat) are not projected to wrestle Friday.
- Rider has defeated Iowa State, Penn, Columbia, North Dakota State, Franklin & Marshall, George Mason, Princeton, Cleveland State, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Hofstra this season. Prior to a pair of tightly-contested losses at Clarion and Drexel, its lone setbacks had come to then #4 Missouri and then #7 Iowa.
- Rider snapped Edinboro's 24-match EWL winning streak on Jan. 21 in Western Pennsylvania. The streak dated back to Feb. 22, 2013, when the Fighting Scots fell to then-EWL member Pittsburgh.
- Walsh is 20-1 on the season, including a 15-1 mark in dual matches. Not included in the mark is an NWCA All-Star Classic win over Princeton's Jonathan Schleifer by a 4-3 decision. Clagon also beat nationally-ranked Alec Pantaleo of Michigan in the event.
- Three different Broncs have been named EWL Wrestler of the Week this season. Walsh earned the honor on Dec. 4 after earning a 6-2 decision over Penn's May Bethea. Wert took the distinction on Dec. 31 after going 4-0 at the South Beach Duals, including a win over Missouri's Barlow McGhee, who ranked as highly as No. 17 nationally. Finally, Dean Sherry (Brick, NJ/Brick Township) earned the award on Jan. 22 following a pair of victories over foes from Cleveland State and Edinboro.  
- Rider was selected as the favorite to win the 2018 Eastern Wrestling League Championship.