Clarion wrestles its first dual meet of the 2025-2026 season Friday, December 5, traveling east on Interstate 80 to scrap with MAC rival Lock Haven. Wrestling is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

The match is the second time this calendar year the teams will have met. Lock Haven won the previous encounter, 43-4, on February 8in Clarion. Travis Clawson got the Golden Eagles' only victory in that dual, scoring a major decision at 125 pounds.

Clarion at a Glance
The Golden Eagles have prepared for the dual meet portion of this season's schedule wrestling individual tournaments during November.

Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (165 pounds) had a particularly impressive performance in winning his pool two weeks ago at the Big Red Invitational. The redshirt senior won all four of his bouts by tech fall, two in the first period, while not giving up a point the entire tournament. He also won his pool at the Journeymen Collegiate Championship.

Like Herrera-Rondon, redshirt sophomore Wesley Barnes (157 pounds) and Clawson, a sophomore 125-pounder, were pool champions at both the Big Red Invitational and Journeymen. Barnes and Clawson each posted combined 5-1 marks.

Joey Fischer (133 pounds), a grad student, won his pool at the Big Red Invitational and was fourth at the season-opening Clarion Open.

Redshirt sophomore Scott Johnson (141 pounds) was a pool champion at the Journeymen, while freshman Matthew Smith (149 pounds) won his at the Big Red Invitational.

Lock Haven at a Glance
Defending MAC champion Lock Haven is 1-1 in dual meets this season, beating Long Island and falling to then 26th-ranked Indiana at the Journeymen Wrangle two weeks ago.
The Bald Eagles enter the match against Clarion boasting a quintet of ranked wrestlers – 133-pounder Gable Strickland (#27 Intermat), 141-pounder Wyatt Henson (#23 FloWrestling/#22 Intermat), 149-pounder Lucas Kapusta (#28 Intermat), 174-pounder Avery Bassett (#32 Intermat), and 197-pounder Tucker Hogan (#32 Intermat).

Henson was a MAC champion last season and Strickland won a conference title in 2023.

Bassett (2023, 2025) and Henson (2024, 2025) are two-time NCAA qualifiers, while Strickland advanced to the national championship tournament once (2024).

Clarion vs. Lock Haven
Since first squaring off in February 1968, Clarion and Lock Haven have wrestled 56 times. The Bald Eagles lead the series 30-24-2. They are 18-7-1 against the Golden Eagles at home.

Lock Haven holds a 3-2 advantage in the previous five matches and are winners of the last two.

The Golden Eagles' last dual meet win against their eastern foe came at home on January 22, 2023, a 22-14 victory.

Only three current grapplers have wins in the rivalry, all during a Feb. 2024-road loss (25-16). Fischer won at 125 pounds, decisioning then eight-ranked Anthony Noto, 9-6. Herrera-Rondon beat Connor Eck, now a Golden Eagle, 9-6 in sudden victory of the 157-pound bout. John Meyers collected a 7-4 decision at 285 pounds.

Of the potential bouts on Friday, Golden Eagle 197-pounder Ethan Wiant previously met Tucker Hogan (Feb. 2025), losing by tech fall, 17-1 (6:30), and Myers has faced Bald Eagles' heavyweight Kade Sottolano, coming out on the wrong end of a 5-2 sudden victory-decision (Jan. 2025).