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12/4/01
The top-ranked Golden Gophers battle Hofstra, Virginia Tech and James Madison this week in dual meet action. Minnesota takes on Hofstra Thursday, Dec. 6, at 7: 30 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion. The Maroon and Gold then travels to the state of Virginia to wrestle the Hokies and Dukes on Saturday, Dec. 8. Minnesota is at Va Tech at 1 p.m. and at JMU at 7 p.m.
Meet Webcasts: All of Minnesota's home dual meets will be webcast live on www.gophersports.com. Former Golden Gopher wrestlers Willy Short and Jesse Krebs will call the action from the Sports Pavilion or Williams Arena for the season. Listeners can access the webcast by clicking on the Gameday section of gophersports.com, the official Internet home of Golden Gopher athletics.
In addition, TheWrestlingMall.com will provide updated match-by-match results for the Hofstra, Virginia Tech and James Madison duals, and many other meets throughout the season.
About the Pride: Hofstra continues on its brutal trip through the Midwest with its meet against Minnesota. The Pride open up the season with duals at No. 6 Iowa State, No. 5 Iowa, No. 1 Minnesota and No. 23 Wisconsin before heading to the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill. So far, HU has fallen to both Iowa State (34-3) and Iowa (25-15).
Hofstra finished in 22nd place last year at NCAAs with two of its wrestlers earning All-America honors. The Pride are led by No. 9 Noel Thompson (165), No. 9 Tom Noto (125) and No. 17 Jason DeBruin (149).
About the Hokies: Virginia Tech finished in 23rd place at last year 's NCAA Championships. The Hokies are now in a rebuilding stage, even though they return 141-pound Sean Gray, who is a two-time All-American. He is a national title contender, and is very dangerous. 184-pound Scott Justus, a junior, is also very solid. He should contend for an All-American spot as well. Virginia Tech has seven new faces in its starting lineup.
The Hokies opened the season with a 22-15 loss to No. 14 Edinboro and a 43-7 win over Gardner-Webb.
About the Dukes: James Madison placed second in their conference last season. Conference champion Dave Colabella (184) and runner-up Pat Diaz (141) qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes return four wrestlers with quality NCAA experience and two other NCAA placewinners from last year. James Madison prepared for this season by redshirting two of their best wrestlers last year. 133-pound Jonathan Huesdash and 165-pound Seth Cameron are back and will lead this team. Both qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2000 and were impressive. 184-pound David Colabella is another All-American candidate. Up and down, this is a solid lineup, though 125, 149 and heavyweight are question marks. Those weights could be enough to hold this team back from competing for the CAA title. The meet against Minnesota is JMU's second dual of the season. The Dukes face Drexel on Thursday, Dec. 6, to open the dual meet campaign.
The Series: Minnesota holds a 3-0 advantage over Hofstra, dating back to 1999. Last year, the Maroon and Gold downed HU twice. This year's meets against Virginia Tech and James Madison will be the first meetings for the Golden Gophers.