Courtesy UNI Athletics Communications –
CEDAR FALLS – UNI wrestling announces the signing of Tucker Black, Christian DuLaney, Drew Foster and Bryce Meyer for the 2014-15 season.
TUCKER BLACK – Black won the 152-pound weight class at Iowa’s high school state meet this last season. He is from Batavia, Iowa, and wrestled for Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. He took fifth at the state meet as a junior and qualified as a sophomore. He plans to major in business.
CHRISTIAN DuLANEY – DuLaney is a two-time runner-up at Minnesota’s high school state championship. He wrestled in the 220-pound weight class as a senior after moving up from the 182-pound weight class. DuLaney is from Shakopee, Minn., and plans to major in exercise science.
DREW FOSTER – Foster is a three-time state medalist at the Iowa high school championships. As a freshman, he wrestled in the 112-pound weight class and eventually moved up to 160 pounds as a senior. He took second last year. He was seventh as a junior at 138 pounds and took third in the 126-pound weight class as a sophomore. Foster grabbed his high school’s school record for the number of wins in a single season with 54. His six-second fall in 2010 is the school’s record for fastest pin. The Mediapolis, Iowa, native plans to major in exercise science and physical therapy.
BRYCE MEYER – The three-time medalist at the Iowa state high school championships is coming off a second-place win in the 126-pound weight class. He took third as a junior at 113 pounds and was sixth in the 106-pound weight class as a sophomore. Meyer is from Fort Madison, Iowa.
UNI was the only Division I wrestling team to finish the dual season undefeated (13-0) and saw the biggest jump in attendance in at least 14 seasons, posting the ninth highest numbers in the nation. Four home duals in the West Gym were sell-outs (2,060).
Seven Panthers earned automatic bids to the NCAA tournament, the most since 2007-08 when nine qualified. Five wrestlers earned a top-15 seed: No. 5 Dylan Peters (125 pounds), No. 1 Joe Colon (133 pounds), No. 11 Joey Lazor (141 pounds), No. 10 Cooper Moore (165 pounds), No. 15 Ryan Loder (184 pounds). The team took 15th overall.
Head coach Doug Schwab crowned his third, fourth and fifth All-Americans when Colon grabbed third place and Peters and Lazor took sixth. It was the most All-Americans since 2002. Peters became the first freshman to earn the honor since 1996.
Peters’ 13 falls against Division I opponents was the fifth most in the U.S. Colon had 10 tech falls, which was the same number as the nation’s Division I leader.
The team implemented its first Mid-American Conference schedule, and took second to Missouri at the championships, reaching as high as fifth in the national rankings.
