MANKATO, Minn. – Off to a strong start this season, Minnesota State wrestling (5-1, 2-1 NSIC) visits No. 21 Upper Iowa (1-0, 0-0 GLVC) on Saturday, January 3 at Dorman Memorial Gymnasium. The dual begins at 2 p.m. and is expected to feature several ranked wrestlers.
 
The Peacocks last competed at the University of Indianapolis Midwest Classic Dec. 13-14 and finished 17^th among 46 teams. The Mavericks collected three wins on Dec. 20 in the Jack Hancock Duals, with victories over Belmont Abbey, No. 17 Central Missouri, and No. 21 Colorado School of Mines.
 
LAST TIME VS. UPPER IOWA
The Mavericks are receiving votes nationally as they look to avenge a 29-9 home loss to the Peacocks last season on December 8. MSU picked up wins at 157 pounds and 165 pounds. Caleb Meunier (Winneconne, Wis.) won via tech fall 18-0 over UIU's Dalton Schams. Meunier escaped in the first 20 seconds of the third, and followed with his third takedown of the night, eventually adding a 3 pt nearfall to his score. In the final seconds, Meunier found another 4 pt nearfall, coupled with one point of riding time, to win by tech fall. Kole Marko (Amery, Wis.) also won at 165 by major decision 14-5.
 
MSU is 9-10 against Upper Iowa since 2007 but have lost each of the previous four matchups.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Minnesota State wrestling was golden in Golden, Colorado Saturday afternoon, with three dual wins, including a pair of victories over ranked opponents at Russell H. Volk Gymnasium in the Jack Hancock Duals.
 
The Mavericks began with a 35-11 victory over Belmont Abbey. Jacob Fitzpatrick, Caleb Meunier and Paolo Salminen all won by fall for MSU. 
 
Next, Minnesota State edged No. 17 ranked Central Missouri 17-16. Picking up crucial points were Fitzpatrick (125), Colton Hush (141), Walker Bents (149), Meunier (157) and Drake Hayward (174). Jesus Gonzalez held Torin Forsyth (UCM) to a decision at 285 to keep the Mavericks in front in the final match.

Chase Beckett, Hush, Meunier, and Salminen all won by fall in the final dual of the day, a 31-15 score over No. 21 Colorado School of Mines.
 
SCOUTING THE PEACOCKS
The Peacocks ended 2025 competing at the 46th annual Midwest Classic on Dec. 13-14. Redshirt senior Ethen Doty (149) took sixth at the event while all 10 Peacock wrestlers won a match over the weekend. 
 
Upper Iowa had five wrestlers advance to the second day in Doty, Dawson Schmit (133), Preston Klostermann (157), Lawson Losee (174) and Braxten Westendorf (184). Doty picked up four wins on the weekend with one win via tech fall, one win via major decision and two wins by fall.
 
The Peacocks have four wrestlers featured in the latest Open Mat rankings. Doty is ranked the highest at No. 7 at 149 pounds. Losee now ranks ninth at 174 pounds. Klostermann and Matthew Marcum rank 16th at 157 pounds and 197 pounds, respectively. 
 
FOR THE MAVERICKS
MSU's four ranked wrestlers in the NWCA poll are No. 12 Walker Bents (149), No. 13 Caleb Meunier (157), No. 15 Paolo Salminen (165) and No. 13 Drake Hayward (174). All four of those wrestlers are ranked in The Open Mat rankings. At 133 pounds, Chase Beckett is No. 20 in The Open Mat rankings.
 
Hayward and Losee have already met up once this season at the Luther College Open. Losee defeated Hayward in the finals by a 5-1 decision to take first place. 
 
Minnesota State is led by head coach Jim Makovsky in his 33rd season with the Mavericks. He has a 318-145-3 record at Minnesota State.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Fans unable to attend the games this weekend can stay connected with a pair of live options available at UIUPeacocks.com/Live, featuring access to live stats and a pay-per-view webcast through GLVCSN. Fans can also refer to the links attached to this story for all live options. 
 
In addition to GLVCSN.com, viewers can catch the Peacocks on the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile app, as well as the GLVCSN app on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.