Clarion will open its NCAA Division I Wrestling dual meet season this weekend as the Golden Eagles travel to West Virginia on Friday night (Dec. 7), then return home to host Penn State on Saturday night (Dec.8).

Friday’s EWL opener at WVU is set to start at 7:30pm at the WVU Coliseum. Saturday’s matchup against the Nittany Lions is set to get underway at 7pm at Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium.

All the Golden Eagle dual meets will once again be heard on WCCR-FM or WWCH Radio in Clarion. Friday’s match is on 92.7 WCCR FM, while Saturday’s dual will be on 1300AM, WCCR. Rich Herman and former coach Bob Bubb provide play by play and color commentary. Wrestling fans can also listen to all Clarion duals on the internet through Red Zone Media. Those interested can go to www.redzonemedia.com or to www. clarion.edu/athletics and click on the redzone link

Head coach Ken Nellis begins his fifth season directing the program having posted a four-year dual meet record of 25-32-2. Last year the Golden Eagles posted a quality 11-3 overall dual meet record and finished the EWL regular season in third place with a 5-2 league mark. Nellis’ Eagles went on to place 4^th at the PSAC’s, 4^th at the EWL’s and 42^nd at the NCAA Division I Nationals at Iowa.

In the recently opened 2001-2002 season, Clarion was 17^th at the Las Vegas Invitational last weekend.

"We are wrestling two very good wrestling teams to start our season," said Clarion’s Nellis. "West Virginia has an excellent, well-balanced team and comes to Clarion ranked 8^th in the nation. Penn State is ranked 23^rd and also has a very well-balanced lineup that will present some quality matchups at Tippin Gym. We know we’re the underdog in both matches, but we certainly look forward to the opportunity to wrestle two outstanding teams and programs."

West Virginia, led by former Clarion wrestling standout Craig Turnbull (24^th season at WVU), has a lineup that features seven nationally ranked wrestlers. Turnbull has a career record of 191-138-6, while his 2001-2002 Mountaineers are already off to an impressive start. WVU lost a close 24-16 dual meet decision at Iowa State on Nov. 25^th, and placed second last week at the Las Vegas Open. Leading the WVU charge will be #14 ranked Brandon Lauer (12-3) at 133, #15 Shane Cunanan (13-5) at 141, #10 Billy Smith (13-4) at 149, #8 Joe Carr (15-1) at 157, #7 Tom McMath (14-2) at 165, #6 Greg Jones (14-1) at 174 and #16 Ryan Kehlar (3-1) at heavyweight.

Penn State, coached by fourth year mentor Troy Sunderland, comes to Clarion for the Lions first dual meet of the season. Sunderland has a career dual meet record of 25-29, while PSU was 7-13 last year with a young squad. So far this season the Lions won the Mat Town Tournament at Lock Haven and had a strong showing last weekend at the PSU Open. Penn State’s lineup will feature four weight classes with ranked wrestlers. From nearby Franklin, Pa. brothers Josh and Scott Moore will likely be in the lineup at 133 and 141 respectively. Josh (19-2) is ranked 13^th, while Scott (16-4) is ranked #7. Also vying for the 133 spot is Marat Tomaev (10-1) who is ranked 8^th. Also anchoring the lineup will be #10 Mark Becks (8-1) at 184 and #20 Nate Wachter (12-3) at 149. Others include heavyweight Josh Walker (11-3), 165-pounder Doc Vecchio (13-3), 157-pounder Dan Waters (8-5), 125-pounder Justin Kast (8-5), Ryan Cummins 7-3) at 197 and Todd Brennan (8-6) at 174.

Clarion will counter with #5 ranked Rad Martinez (9-1) at 133, #16 Eric Mausser (12-3) at 197 and #13 John Testa (11-3) at heavyweight. Martinez won an individual title at Vegas to vault into the top 6 nationally, while Testa was 8^th at Vegas and first at the East Stroudsburg and WVU Opens. Mausser was third at East Stroudsburg to start the season. Also heading the Clarion lineup is Dominic Surra (4-3) at 149 (8^th at Las Vegas), Starlin Jimenez (5-3) at 125, Jared Moss (3-3) at 141, Jim Perry (4-4) at 157, Jamie Durkin (2-4) or Jason Robinette (0-0) at 165, Ryan Pataky (0-3) at 174 and Marcus Surin (1-4) at 184.

CLARION NOTES: The Golden Eagles are without PSU transfer Jeremy Reitz at 157 and Todd Schuchert (174) until after the completion of the first semester... Reitz was 21-7 last year at Penn State placing fifth at the East Stroudsburg Open through December... He is from nearby Brookville High where he was a PIAA Champion in 1999... Schuchert was 6-2 in November last year before a season ending injury ... Testa has already moved his career record up to 68-20 ... Mausser is now up to 66-30 ... Clarion defeated West Virginia 27-10 last year and has an all-time EWL record of 13-8-2 against the Mountaineers... The all-time record is 13-9-2 ... PSU defeated Clarion 37-6 last season and leads Clarion 4-21-1 in the all-time series ... Clarion’s last win over PSU came in 1981 (29-10) ... The Eagles tied PSU 21-21 in 1986 when the team went 17-0-1... Special thanks to WCCR & WWCH owner Bill Hearst for his support of Golden Eagle wrestling... Since Clarion re-started wrestling in 1959-60, the Golden Eagles have an overall dual meet record of 451-199-11...Clarion has won 13 PSAC titles, 3 EWL crowns and placed in the top 20 at Division I Nationals 16 times...Individual wrestlers have won 99 PSAC titles, 45 EWL crowns, 8 Div.I National Champions and 40 All-Americans.