Grand Canyon University Athletics
Victor Carazo
GCU Invited to National Duals
4/16/2010 12:26:11 AM | Wrestling
The Grand Canyon University wrestling team has been invited to the ultra-prestigious 2011 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, which will be held Jan. 8-9, 2011 at the UNI Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids.
Only 16 teams are invited to the tournament, and those that are selected are considered to be the nation's finest.
The 'Lopes, under Head Coach R.C. LaHaye, certainly fall into that category. Last season, just the third in the program's history, they ranked No. 18 in the final NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association poll of the season. Four of their wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships in Omaha, Neb. – junior Todd Wilcox (38-5), ranked No. 6 at 133 pounds; senior Stephen Towne (32-10) at 157 pounds; redshirt sophomore Victor Carazo (38-6), ranked No. 5 at 165 pounds; and junior Ryan Becerra (20-12) at 184 pounds. Carazo and Becerra became GCU's first wrestling All-Americans.
The 'Lopes return every point scored at the national tournament to next year's team.
Other squads invited to the National Duals include Nebraska-Omaha, the 2010 Duals champion and the 2009 and 2010 NCAA Division II national champions; Newberry, the 2010 Duals runner-up; Mankato, which finished third at last year's Duals; Upper Iowa, which finished fifth; and Wisconsin-Parkside, St. Cloud and Augustana (runner-up at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship), the sixth-, seventh- and eight-place teams, respectively.
In addition, Western State, Limestone, Findlay, UNCP, Moorhead, Central Oklahoma, Central Missouri and San Francisco State.
Western State and San Francisco State, like GCU, compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
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