WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Messiah College highlights a group of 16 teams that will head to Lamade Gymnasium on Friday, Jan. 13, for the start of the two-day 29th annual Budd Whitehill National Duals hosted by Lycoming College, as the field is again a very strong and deep one according to the schedule released by the rankings committee on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
 
One of the premier events in Division III wrestling, the tournament is named for legendary coach Budd Whitehill, who coached the Warriors for 37 years and won 376 matches and 10 Middle Atlantic Conference titles.
 
The tournament will once again feature four groups of four competing in a round robin on Friday, with the winners of the four groups being reseeded into a championship bracket on Saturday, Jan. 10 and competing in a four-team tournament for the championship. Brackets for Friday's second, third and fourth-place group finishers on Saturday will ensure each team five duals during the event.
 
Messiah, ranked 11th in the nation, earned the top seed and will head Group A, which also features SUNY Cortland, Williams College and Trine. The group will begin its run at the tournament at 9 a.m. on Friday, also hitting the mat at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
 
Ohio Northern, ranked 25^th in the nation, earned the second seed and will head Group B, which also features SUNY Oswego, Springfield and York (Pa.) and will wrestle alongside Group B at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Group C will feature top seed Waynesburg as the top seed, Lycoming, Millikin and Wesleyan. Both groups will begin their run at 10:30 a.m., also wrestling at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Rounding out the tournament, Group D, which will wrestle alongside Group C, features top-seed RIT, which upset 23^rd-ranked Lycoming last weekend, TCNJ, Wis.-Eau Claire and Thiel.
 
Six rounds of the duals will take place on Friday, Jan. 9, with four matches taking place in each round on mats spread across Lamade Gymnasium. On Saturday, Jan. 10, the tournament will conclude with four rounds of wrestling. The championship round is set for 1:30 p.m. with the tournament awards following at 3 p.m.
 
Lycoming enters the duals with an 11-2 overall record, which includes most recently splitting a pair of matches at the Pa./N.Y. Duals, falling to RIT, 26-16, before downing Oswego, 23-14.
 
The squad is paced by two wrestlers in the most recent NWCA Division III Individual Rankings in seniors Nolan Barger (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield) and Seth Lansberry (Klingerstown, Pa./Line Mountain). Barger, a two-time All-American, is seventh at 165 pounds with a 22-1 record and Lansberry is first at 149 pounds with a 22-0 mark.
 
The Warriors are looking to place at the event for the 19th time in its 29 years. In 2016, the Warriors finished in 10^th place, winning bouts against Trine and Thiel and losing a heartbreaking 19-17 decision to Springfield in the ninth-place match. In 2015, the Warriors won their group during the first day of the duals, upsetting 28^th-ranked Coast Guard in the final match of the day to reach the championship bracket of the tournament, finishing third after falling to Williams in the semifinals.
 
Lycoming is seeded second in Group D and will open the duals by facing Wesleyan at 10:30 a.m. before facing Millikin at 1:30 p.m. and top-seed Waynesburg at 4:30 p.m. The Warriors are 74-45 (.622) all-time at the duals and have won titles in 1997 and 1999.
 
Round 1 – Group A + B - 9 a.m.
Mat 1    Messiah vs Trine                             
Mat 2    Cortland vs. Williams                                 
Mat 3    Ohio Northern vs. Springfield                                
Mat 4    York (Pa.) vs. Oswego
 
Round 1 – Group C + D – 10:30 a.m.
Mat 1    RIT vs. Thiel                        
Mat 2    TCNJ vs. Wis.-Eau Claire       
Mat 3    Waynesburg vs. Millikin
Mat 4    Lycoming vs. Wesleyan
 
Round 2 – Group A + B – 12 p.m.
Mat 1    Messiah vs. Williams                             
Mat 2    Cortland vs. Trine                                
Mat 3    Ohio Northern vs. Oswego
Mat 4    York vs. Springfield
 
Round 2 – Group C + D – 1:30 p.m.
Mat 1    RIT vs. Eau Claire                          
Mat 2    TCNJ vs. Thiel
Mat 3    Waynesburg vs. Wesleyan
Mat 4    Lycoming vs. Millikin
 
Round 3 – Group A + B – 3 p.m.
Mat 1    Messiah vs. Cortland
Mat 2    Williams vs. Trine                                
Mat 3    Ohio Northern vs. York                                  
Mat 4    Oswego vs. Springfield                        
 
Round 3 – Group C + D – 4:30 p.m.
Mat 1    RIT vs. TCNJ                       
Mat 2    Eau Claire vs. Thiel    
Mat 3    Waynesburg vs. Lycoming
Mat 4    Wesleyan vs. Millikin