December 17, 2012

BUFFALO, NY - The Buffalo wrestling team will open its home schedule with the biggest name in college wrestling on Monday night, welcoming in the Iowa Hawkeyes for the fourth annual Takedown Cancer dual and fundraiser. The team hopes to not only make history on the mat, but also set new donation records to help the team Takedown Cancer and honor its former teammate and friend, Jeff Parker.

Raffles and auctions will start when fundraising portion of the event kicks off at 5 pm on Monday. Aside from numerous gift baskets and prizes generously donated by local companies and program supporters, there will be three main prizes drawn from the $10 raffle tickets that are currently on sale. The grand prize for the event is a pair of round-trip plane tickets proudly donated by Delta Airlines, to anywhere in the lower 48 states. Other major prizes includes a dinner party for 10 people at Ilio DiPaolo's restaurant in Blasdell, NY, and four tickets to an upcoming Buffalo Bills game on Dec. 30, with seats in the Jim Kelly Club.

Through the first three Takedown Cancer Fundraisers, the wrestling program has raised over $85,000 for the Jeff Parker Foundation and Carly's Club at Roswell Park. Added to the money raised for the two organizations, the team has also started a tradition of "adopting" a family that is in need and donating a portion of the proceeds to help alleviate their financial burdens.

With all that is happening off the mat, fans will also be treated to arguably the biggest dual in Buffalo wrestling's history. This will be the first-ever meeting with a legendary Iowa program that come into the week ranked as high as second in the nation by many media outlets. Two-time national champion Matt McDonough and 2011-12 national runner-up Derek St. John both come to Alumni Arena as the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at their weight classes (125 and 157, respectively). As a whole, the Hawkeyes offer six wrestlers who are ranked in the top eight nationally.

Iowa is currently 7-0 this season in dual meets, and will have two more duals this Sunday as part of the "Grapple at the Garden" series held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The team will face Hofstra at 10 am and then take on Bucknell right after.

The Bulls opened its dual season last Saturday at Central Michigan, losing 28-7 to the eleventh-ranked Chippewas. Six matches were decided by two points or less, with the Bulls losing five of the six, and neither the Chippewas or the Bulls would score more than four points in a single bout until the final three matches of the day. John-Martin Cannon won a 4-3 decision, and Angelo Malvestuto earned a 14-1 major decision in his first dual meet as a Bull.

A trio of UB wrestlers are in the national rankings this week. Mark Lewandowski is the highest ranked at number 22 in WrestlingReport.com's Top 33 rankings, while Malvestuto comes in at number 26 and Cannon comes in at number 31.

The dual is scheduled to start just after 7 pm Monday, and tickets are still available. Fans who are interested in attending can call 1-877-UB-THERE for more information.

IOWA
Weight	Rank	Name	Year	2012-13 Record
125	#1 / -	Matt McDonough or Matt Gurule	Sr./So.	7-0/4-3
133	#2	Tony Ramos	Jr.	7-0
141	#15 / -	Mark Ballweg or Josh Dziewa	Sr./So.	7-0/10-2
149	- / #22	Brody Grothus or Mike Kelly	Fr./So.	2-1/7-2
157	#1	Derek St. John	Jr.	7-0
165	#18	Nick Moore	So.	5-0
174	#8 / -	Mike Evans or Grant Gambrall	So./Sr.	5-0/3-2
184	#8	Ethen Lofthouse	Jr.	7-0
197	#20 / -	Nathan Burak or Tomas Lira	Fr./Jr.	9-4/4-3
HWT	#5	Bobby Telford	So.	7-0
BUFFALO
Weight	Rank	Name	Year	2012-13 Record
125		Max Soria	So.	12-7
133		Erik Galloway or Justin Farmer	So./Jr.	9-4/4-8
141		Andrew Schutt	Jr.	8-8
149		Blake Roulo	So.	5-6
157		Wally Maziarz or Clay Reeb	So.	17-8/8-4
165	#22	Mark Lewandowski	Sr.	13-2
174	#31	John-Martin Cannon	Sr.	1-1
184		Tony Lock	Fr.	6-8
197	#26	Angelo Malvestuto	So.	13-7
HWT		Justin Heiserman	So.	7-7