UNI Sends Four Wrestlers to the NCAA Championships

Four University of Northern Iowa Panthers are headed to the 2015 NCAA Division I National Wrestling Tournament, as announced Wednesday.  The event will be held March 19-21 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO.

All-American Dylan Peters, Blaize Cabell and Cooper Moore will be making their second trips to nationals, while Basil Minto will be making his first appearance.

“We’re going to get those guys ready to win national titles,” said head coach Doug Schwab.

Cabell is UNI's highest seeded wrestlers at #7, and he is the only Panther to go undefeated in duals this season. His 16-0 record tied him for eighth among all Panthers for most duals won in a single season. He was the only Panther to be named MAC Wrestler of the Week. He knocked off No. 7 Ty Walz of Virginia Tech (seeded 10th) and No. 14 Devin Mellon (seeded 11th) two times during the season.

Four of his five losses have been to opponents in the top 15. He hasn’t given up any bonus points this season. He has four falls, two tech falls and six major decisions.

“Blaize doesn’t like losing,” said Schwab. “He won a lot of matches in a row, so he will rebound from his one loss at the MAC tournament.”

Peters is currently sixth among all Panthers for highest career winning percentage. Last year, he tied for fourth among all Panthers for most falls in a single season. He has added 11 more pins this season to tie for eighth among all Panthers for most career falls. Peters has notched seven first-period falls so far this year. His only losses have been to three wrestlers in the top 5, with two losses to No. 1 Alan Waters of Missouri, two losses to No. 3 Joey Dance of Virginia Tech and one loss to No. 4 Nahshon Garrett of Cornell.

“Dylan is ready to put himself back on the stand and put himself a little higher,” said Schwab. “He was sixth last year and wants to be higher.”

Moore took fourth at the Cliff Keen this year and won his first 10 duals. His only dual losses have been to second-seed Michael Moreno of Iowa State and the 11th seed, Tristan Warner. Moore avenged his loss to Warner at the MAC tournament to become the second Panther to repeat as a champion.

“I think Cooper Moore is wrestling the best he has all year,” said Schwab. “He is as healthy as he has been all year. You don’t usually have that this time of year. He wrestled through some injuries earlier in the year, but he is feeling pretty good right now.”

Minto took fifth at the NJCAA tournament two years in a row while competing for NIACC. This will be his first trip to the Division I NCAA tournament. Minto earned an automatic bid to the championships with a sixth-place finish at the MAC Championships.

“He lost some really close matches at the tournament,” said Schwab. “We just have to be able to close some of those out.”