No. 19 Lehigh University’s wrestling team is set to compete against two top-10 ranked teams at the Collegiate Wrestling Duals in Nashville, Tennessee. The Mountain Hawks will face No. 10 Illinois and No. 3 Iowa State on Sunday at Montgomery Bell Academy, with matches scheduled for 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern Time respectively. Both events will be streamed live on FloWrestling.org.
Lehigh enters these duals aiming to improve after three consecutive losses in their recent schedule. In their last outings, the Mountain Hawks narrowly lost to Pittsburgh during their home opener on December 5 and were defeated by top-ranked Penn State on December 7. Senior heavyweight Nathan Taylor returned from a long injury absence, securing wins over two ranked opponents during these matches.
Against Pittsburgh, Lehigh split bouts evenly but ultimately lost due to bonus points earned by the Panthers. The upcoming match against Illinois marks the second meeting between the two programs this season; Illinois previously won their encounter at the National Duals Invitational in November.
The probable lineup for Lehigh includes several nationally ranked wrestlers: Sheldon Seymour (125 lbs.), Logan Rozynski (157 lbs.), Max Brignola (165 lbs.), Rylan Rogers (184 lbs.), and Nathan Taylor (285 lbs.). Taylor, a senior who recently returned from a season-ending injury suffered in late 2024, is currently ranked sixth nationally at his weight class according to InterMat.
In their recent dual against Penn State, Carter Bailey and Nathan Taylor secured individual victories for Lehigh, though Penn State claimed eight of ten bouts overall.
Illinois brings a record of five wins and two losses into the event and is coming off a third-place finish at the SIUE Cougar Clash earlier this month. The Fighting Illini feature eight wrestlers in the latest InterMat rankings, including Lucas Byrd—ranked first nationally at 133 pounds—and are led by head coach Mike Poeta.
Iowa State arrives as the No. 3 team in the NWCA Top 25 after winning its opening two duals of the season, which included a victory over rival Iowa. The Cyclones have achieved success at national tournaments this year with four individual champions at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and have a wrestler ranked in every weight class under head coach Kevin Dresser.
Sunday’s matchup will be only the sixth all-time meeting between Lehigh and Illinois, while Lehigh faces Iowa State for the first time since November 2003.
Following these duals, Lehigh may participate in the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships later in December before resuming home competitions early next year.
For more information or live coverage of Sunday’s matches, fans can visit FloWrestling.org.