Poster Credit @CDernlan
The 2019-2020 season gets underway this Satuday Nov 9 as the W&L Generals wrestling team travels to Washington, PA for the Washington & Jefferson Invitational. The Generals have participated in this tournament for the last several years, and this year’s event promises to again be a tough opening test. The Generals finished in 4th the last two years and will look to improve on that result this season. The teams participating (regional alignment) will be Heidelberg (Central), Lycoming (Southeast), Muskingum (Central), Penn State-Behrend (Southeast), Pitt-Bradford (Mid-East), Stevens (Southeast), Thiel (Southeast), Washington & Jefferson (Southeast), Washington & Lee (Southeast), and Waynesburg (Southeast). Most of the teams, including Lycoming, Stevens, W&J, and Waynesburg, are some of our top regional rivals, and also teams that we will not see again this year until the Regional tournament in February. Therefore, this competition is an important early season measuring stick for the Generals.
November
The following weekend the Generals compete a bit closer to home. We will travel to Salem, Virginia for the Southeast Duals (Saturday 11/16) and the Star City Open (Sun 11/17), both hosted by Ferrum College. At the Southeast Duals the Generals will wrestle Millikin University (Lower Midwest), Greensboro College (Southeast), Otterbein University (Central), and the Apprentice School. Action begins at 1 PM. The Star City Open will begin at 11 AM on Sunday 11/17 and will feature many of the same teams and will include wrestlers not getting a chance to wrestle in the duals.
The Generals will wrap up their 1st semester competitive schedule by traveling to Williamsport, PA for three duals hosted by Penn College of Technology. W&L will wrestle against York (Southeast), Penn College (Mideast), and Scranton (Mideast).
Looking Ahead- 2nd Semester
The 2nd semester schedule is packed with tough competition, starting with the Citrus Invitational in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. This is the Generals first trip to this event. The tournament features a number of the top teams in the country and should be a great test for our team. This tournament headlines a series of tough events almost every single weekend in January and February.
Among the highlights from the 2nd semester are the always tough Budd Whitehill Duals, hosted by Lycoming College on Jan 10-11. Also, two weekends of Centennial Conference Duals – Jan 25 and Feb 8 – will set the stage for the Centennial Conference Championships on Feb 15, hosted by Muhlenberg. The Generals were picked 1st in the Centennial Conference for the first time in their history in the coaches’ preseason poll.
The NCAA Southeast Regional will be hosted this year by Messiah College on Feb 28-29 and will determine the qualifiers for the NCAA National Championships, held in Cedar Rapids, IA on March 13-14.
Home Events
The annual Jim Crytzer Invite will be on the first Saturday of January and will have a number of teams from our region, including Ferrum College, Averett College, and Messiah College. On Wed Jan 22, the Generals host our first home dual meet of the season and welcome a tough Ferrum team who we defeated in a dual for the first time ever last season. Saturday Feb 1 will be Senior Night- a home dual against SVU at which we will honor 5 seniors – Rexx Hallyburton, Shane Conners, Andrew Taylor, Alec Horne, and Colby Boudreau.
