NEWBERRY — After a great run at the Super Region II Duals and continued success in the ECAC schedule, the Newberry Wolves have vaulted three spots to third in the team rankings of Super Region II.
Newberry now sits behind only Wisconsin-Parkside and Lake Erie, neither of which will see the Wolves in action until the NCAA Division II qualifying tournament in Indianapolis at the end of the month.
Seven Wolves are ranked in the top six regionally in their weight class, including two wrestlers who moved up in their ranking and one wrestler new to the top six.
Huston Evans remains at the top of the region at 184 lbs. sporting a 30-5 record with 14 wins by fall. He has won 16 of his last 17 bouts, with his last four wins coming by fall.
A total of 10 of his pins this season have come against Division II opponents. He is tied for seventh in school history for most pins in a season and became the 29th wrestler in school history to win 30 matches in a year.
Trung Duong moved up to second in the region at 125 lbs. The junior has a 27-8 record with eight major decisions and four wins by fall. He is tied for sixth in school history for major decisions in a season and has won his last 10 bouts in a row.
The biggest mover of the rankings was Jordan Simpson, who moved up three spots to third in the region at 133 lbs. The sophomore pinned the former No. 1 in the region and has won eight straight matches, with seven of those by bonus points.
He was named D2Wrestle National Wrestler of the Week last week and has a 15-5 record on the year with six wins by fall.
New to the rankings this week is Nick Lankford, who is ranked fifth regionally at 141 lbs. The senior is 15-11 in the year, but has won five consecutive matches. He won by technical fall in the dual victories over Limestone and Belmont Abbey.
Three other wrestlers held their positions in the rankings: Lukas Gilmore, ranked fifth at 165 lbs., Cody Brundage, ranked fifth at 197 lbs., and Mike Kennedy, ranked fourth at 285 lbs.
Gilmore is 17-10 on the year with a six-match winning streak. His last five wins have come as bonus point wins.
Brundage carries a 24-10 record for the year with a five-match winning streak. He has won nine of his last 10, with his only loss in that span coming in a 3-1 decision to the No. 2 wrestler in the country.
Kennedy is 15-9 on the season and has won his last six matches running. He has earned pins in four of his last five bouts.