CHADRON, Neb. -- November 11, 2022 -- The season unofficially got underway last weekend at the Colorado School of Mines Rookie Open, but the Chadron State College varsity will be in full swing this weekend at an open meet and a tough dual on the road.

The Eagles will send 16 wrestlers to compete at the Cowboy Open in Laramie, Wyoming on Saturday. The event is typically a tough way to open the season, and this year's edition promises to be no different. The open meet will feature the host, No. 21 Division I Wyoming Cowboys, as well as No. 16 Nebraska, No. 26 Northern Colorado, No. 28 Oregon State, Air Force Academy, Utah Valley, Division II No. 11 Colorado School of Mines, NJCAA No. 2 Western Wyoming, and No. 23 Northwest Kansas Tech.

Many of the same grapplers who attended the Rookie Open, where the Eagles had six placers, will compete at Wyoming on Saturday.

For 10 in the varsity lineup, a special opportunity is in store on Sunday. The Eagles will compete against the defending national champions, at noon Central Time, in Kearney.

The No. 1 Lopers return five national qualifiers and four All-American from last year's title-winning squad. Those include No. 1 Billy Higgins, a junior, at 184 pounds, No. 2 Lee Herrington, a senior, at heavyweight, senior No. 2 Austin Aldredge at 174, third-ranked junior Nick James at 141, and fifth-ranked senior Hayden Prince at 197.

Those highly regarded opponents were mostly victorious against their intrasquad rivals, in a scrimmage last Saturday, except for an overtime loss by Herrington.

The Lopers will dual Dakota Wesleyan, in Mitchell, South Dakota, on Saturday before hosting the Eagles.

Chadron State's lineup will change up slightly to start the season. Returning are five who wrestled varsity in 2021-22. Sophomore 125-pounder Quade Smith placed fifth at last year's Super Regional. Junior Ethan Leake, the defending regional runner-up at 141, was CSC's lone national qualifier. Junior Rowdy Pfeil, at 174, returns to his freshman weight class, where he placed fourth in the region in 2021. Senior Eli Hinojosa, who placed fourth at regionals last year and third the year before, will once again fill the 197-pound slot. Finally heavyweight Mason Watt returns after a fourth-place showing at the regional in 2020 and fifth place in 2022.

Newcomers to the lineup include junior Quen Campbell at 133, freshman Brandon Paredes at 149, redshirt freshman Luke Goncalves at 157, and redshirt freshman Keegan Gehlhausen at 184. Senior Javen Palmer has been in and out of the lineup on occasion, since his freshman year, and he will drop back to 165 to start in the Kearney dual.

Both the Cowboy Open and the Kearney dual will be streamed for a subscription fee. The open meet is broadcast on FloWrestling and the dual on the MIAA Network. Links can be found on the schedule page at ChadronEagles.com.