Schleifer, Kolodzik Set For Top-5 Opponents During NWCA All-Star Classic Sunday At Jadwin

After months of planning and anticipation, the NWCA All-Star Classic is set for this Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3 pm inside Jadwin Gym. Princeton, one of the breakthrough programs in the sport over the last five years, will be one of four programs to send two wrestlers into the main event; following the announcement that All-American Matthew Kolodzik would face fellow All-American Max Thomsen of Northern Iowa, it was recently announced that Tiger senior Jonathan Schleifer was set for a Mercer County showdown against Rider All-American Chad Walsh.

Princeton is one of five teams that will send multiple wrestlers into the main event, joining reigning NCAA champion Penn State (Mark Hall, Nick Nevills), NC State (Kevin Jack, Pete Renda), Northern Iowa (Thomsen, Drew Foster), and Rider (Walsh, BJ Clagon).

ORDER TICKETS FOR THE NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC HERE.

Kolodzik and Schleifer, who are the only Princeton wrestlers to have earned Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors, will be the sixth and seventh Tigers to ever compete in the main event of the All-Star Classic. Last year, All-American Brett Harner earned an invite and lost a tightly contested 7-4 decision to Minnesota's Brett Pfarr.

Kolodzik carried lofty expectations as a freshman last season, but he more than surpassed them. A 30-match winner, he placed seventh at the NCAA Championships to become Princeton's 10^th All-American, and its first as a freshman. Kolodzik won the 2017 EIWA title with a 3-2 decision over Lehigh's Randy Cruz (whose brother, Darren, won the 2017 NCAA title and will compete at 125 in the all-Star Classic), and he had six wins over wrestlers who were ranked in the Top 20.

The Princeton sophomore moved up to 149 in the offseason, where he is ranked fifth in the InterMat preseason ranks, and he will face a sophomore who excelled at that weight last season. Thomsen, the 24th wrestler to win four high school state championships in Iowa, placed fifth at the 2017 NCAA Championships and is currently ranked third at 149. He defeated four Top-20 wrestlers in St. Louis, and both of his losses came at the hands of wrestlers seeded in the Top 4.

While Thomsen may be an unknown to the local fans, the Schleifer-Walsh match will be the complete opposite. Schleifer, a starter from Day 1 of his Princeton career, enters his senior season with 66 victories and three trips to the NCAA Championships — no Tiger wrestler has ever gone four times. Schleifer, a 2014 New Jersey state champion, became the first Princeton wrestler to reach the finals at Midlands (2015), and he had a pair of Top-20 wins last season.

While Kolodzik moved up a weight in the offseason, Schleifer actually moved down a weight. He will wrestle at 165 this season, the same weight he competed at during his freshman season, and he enters the season ranked 18th at the weight.

Walsh, a four-time New Jersey state placewinner, is a returning All-American for nearby Rider, and he had a memorable run in St. Louis with wins over three of the top seven seeds at the NCAA Championships. Walsh, currently No. 5 at the weight, is 3-0 in duals against Princeton, including winning the deciding match in a 17-16 comeback win over the Tigers in 2016, but he didn't face Schleifer in any of those matches.

Here is a look at the full schedule for the All-Star Classic, which will feature two mats running simultaneously. Men's matches will be held on one mat, while women's matches will be held on the other.

Men
125: Darian Cruz, Sr. (Lehigh) vs. Nick Piccininni, So. (Oklahoma State)
133: Seth Gross, Jr. (South Dakota State) vs. Stevan Micic, So. (Michigan)
141: Kevin Jack, Sr. (NC State) vs. Bryce Meredith, Sr. (Wyoming)
149: Max Thomsen, So. (Northern Iowa) vs. Matthew Kolodzik, So. (Princeton)
157: Alec Pantaleo, Jr. (Michigan) vs. B.J. Clagon, Sr. (Rider)
165: Chad Walsh, Sr. (Rider) vs. Jonathan Schleifer, Sr. (Princeton)
174: Mark Hall, So. (Penn State) vs. Zahid Valencia, So. (Arizona State)
184: Pete Renda, Sr. (NC State) vs. Drew Foster, Jr. (Northern Iowa)
197: Kollin Moore, So. (Ohio State) vs. Jared Haught, Sr. (Virginia Tech)
285: Tanner Hall, Jr. (Arizona State) vs. Nick Nevills, Jr. (Penn State)

Women
101: Marina Doi, Sr. (King) vs. Hiba Salem, Jr. (Menlo)
109: Maria Vidales, So. (Emmanuel) vs. Charlotte Fowler, So. (Campbellsville)
116: Fayth Woodward, Jr. (Emmanuel) vs. Makayla Bourbon, Sr. (U. of the Cumberlands)
123: Dom Parrish, Jr. (Simon Fraser) vs. Amber Pair, So. (Eastern Oregon)
130: Megan Black, Sr. (McKendree) vs. Shelby Hall, Sr. (Campbellsville)
136: Kayla Miracle, Sr. (Campbellsville) vs. Solin Piearcy, So. (Menlo)
143: Mallory Velte, Sr. (Simon Fraser) vs. Desiree Zavala, So. (Grays Harbor)
155: Niauni Hill, Sr. (Lindenwood-Belleville) vs. Kiera Gabaldon, Jr. (Warner Pacific)
170: Brandy Lowe, Sr. (McKendree) vs. Kacie Moorehouse, So. (Grays Harbor)
191: Paige Baynes, Jr. (Grays Harbor) vs. Alyssa Cantu, Sr. (Missouri Valley)

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