LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine University wrestling team begins its final stretch of the regular season, heading out on the road for a Friday night doubleheader in Boiling Springs, NC against Presbyterian College and Gardner-Webb University.

The Knights will first take on Presbyterian on Friday, February 14 at 3 pm E.T. before facing off against Gardner-Webb at 6 pm E.T. Both matches will be held in Gardner-Webb's Paul Porter Arena.
Both the Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb duals were rescheduled from their original times. Originally, Bellarmine was slated to take on the Runnin' Bulldogs at 7 pm E.T. on Friday with the match against the Blue Hose originally set for 12 pm E.T. on Sunday, February 16 at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC.

Last weekend, Bellarmine closed out its home schedule with two wins, defeating The Citadel 23-17 and Davidson 42-3 in Knights Hall. On Friday night, the dual with The Citadel came down the last bout of the dual tied 17-17. Bellarmine heavyweight Daulton Mayer deliver a win for the Knights with a pin in 1:15. On Sunday, the Knights celebrated Senior Day in dominant fashion, winning nine of the ten weight classes. The two wins moved Bellarmine to 4-3 on the season and 3-2 in the Southern Conference, marking an above .500 record for the first time this year.

Thanks to his heroics on Friday and continued success with another pin on Sunday, Mayer was tabbed SoCon Wrestler of the Week, his first such honor of the season. Mayer is the second Knight to win the award this year, joining AJ Rallo, marking the first season since Bellarmine joined the Southern Conference with two Wrestler of the Week honorees.

With the recent success of the team, multiple Knights have been recognized in national rankings. Rallo, ranked No. 25 in FloWrestling's Top 33 wrestlers in the 141-pound weight class, was featured in the second NCAA Coaches' Poll, coming in at No. 32 in the 141-pound Top 33 rankings. The NCAA also released its first RPI rankings of the season which featured Devan Hendricks (184) and Andrew Liber (197) in its Top 33 rankings with Hendricks coming in at No. 25 and Liber at No. 29 in their respective classes. In TrackWrestling's Week 15 rankings, Mayer cracked the heavyweight Top 33, sitting at No. 21. Rallo, Hendricks and Mayer are all ranked as the top wrestler in their weight class in the Southern Conference by FloWrestling. As a team, Bellarmine recieved votes in the NWCA's most recent Division I Men's Mid-Major Coaches' Poll.

Gardner-Webb enters the matchup 5-8 on the year, 2-3 in the SoCon. The Runnin' Bulldogs are coming off a 39-7 win over Presbyterian. The win snapped a two-match losing skid that saw Gardner-Webb fall 22-20 to VMI and 38-8 to Appalachian State. Their other win in conference action came over Davidson (33-7) in January. Gardner-Webb features two highly ranked wrestlers on its roster in TK Davis (133) and Todd Carter (141). In the 133-pound weight class, Davis is ranked No. 26 in the NCAA Coaches' Poll, No. 19 in the NCAA RPI, No. 28 by FloWrestling, No. 26 by Intermat and No. 30 by TrackWrestling. In the 141-pound weight class, Carter is ranked No. 22 in the NCAA Coaches' Poll, No. 15 in the NCAA RPI, No. 24 by Intermat and No. 19 by TrackWrestling. Davis and Jeffrey Jacome (125) are ranked as the second-best wrestler in their class in the SoCon by FloWrestling with Carter ranked third. Bellarmine and Gardner-Webb have met four times in program history with GWU holding a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series. The Knights came out on top 23-15 in the most recent meeting on January 28, 2024 in Knights Hall. In their last meeting in Boiling Springs on January 13, 2023, the Runnin' Bulldogs pulled out a 22-13 victory.

Presbyterian enters the matchup 2-11 this season and 0-6 in the SoCon. The Blue Hose snapped a six-match losing streak on Wednesday with a shutout performance against Truett McConnell, winning 45-0 at home. Before that, their last win was a 45-9 victory over St. Andrews on January 15. Presbyterian's heavyweight, Morvis Saint Jean, is ranked the third best in the conference by FloWrestling. Bellarmine and Presbyterian have met four times previously with the Knights winning all four matches for a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series.

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