The Indiana wrestling program’s schedule was officially released Wednesday and includes non-conference opponents for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Indiana will begin the year on Nov. 6 with a trip to Louisville, Kentucky, to take on Bellarmine University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in a tri-duel. The team will then attend the Mountaineer Invite on Nov. 14 in Boone, North Carolina, at Appalachian State University.
Head Coach Angel Escobedo enters his fourth year with the program with a 12-28 record, including 4-22 in conference.
“We are grateful to be back in action this season with both non-conference and conference opponents,” Escobedo said in a press release. “We’ve added two new out-of-conference opponents in Ohio and Bellarmine and we will return to the prestigious Midlands Championships this year.”
After going 2-6 in a conference-only schedule in 2020, the Hoosiers return with three NCAA qualifiers with juniors Cayden Rooks, Graham Rooks and Donnell Washington. The trio, along with graduate student Brock Hudkins, ranked in InterMat Wrestling's top 33 of their weight classes.
Indiana’s first home match at Wilkinson Hall will be on Nov. 20 against Duke University. On Dec. 11, Indiana then heads to Cleveland for the Cleveland State Open and the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships on Dec. 29 and 30 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Non-conference matchups officially end Jan. 4, 2022, in Athens, Ohio, when Indiana takes on Ohio University.
This is the first wrestling season with divisions, where Indiana faces six Big Ten East division teams with two crossover matches against the Big Ten West teams, similar to the layout for football.
According to InterMat wrestling, 11 of the 14 Big Ten wrestling programs are ranked in the top 25. Indiana faces five of those programs this season, starting with No. 14 ranked Rutgers on Jan. 7 in Piscataway, New Jersey. On Jan. 9, Indiana travels to University Park, Pennsylvania, for a match against No. 4 Penn State.
Indiana has a home stretch from Jan. 9 to 29 with matches against Michigan State, Maryland and No. 22 ranked Purdue.
Indiana goes on the road to face No. 21 ranked Illinois on Feb. 6. Indiana hosts No. 5 ranked Michigan on Feb. 11. Indiana’s final road trip will be Feb. 13 at No. 7 ranked Ohio State.
Indiana will wrap up the season Feb. 20 at home against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
This year's Big Ten Championships will be held March 5-6, 2022, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The NCAA Championships will take place March 17-19, 2022, in Detroit.
