Saturday and Sunday will be the last opportunity to see the Baker University wrestling team compete in Baldwin City before it begins a hectic road schedule that will take the Wildcats to four different states within the next month.
The Wildcats will host the Calumet College Dual at 7 p.m. Saturday in Collins Center and then make a quick turn around and host the Dan Harris Open at 9 a.m. Sunday, also in Collins Center.
“I think we will do pretty good,” sophomore Alan Callahan said. “We have a pretty good lineup for Saturday, and Sunday, everyone will be in it. So, I’m pretty sure everyone on the team is ready to get things rolling for the season.”
Baker will face a team similar to itself in Calumet Saturday. Just like Baker, this is the second year for the wrestling program at Calumet.
The Crimson Wave will also compete in the Dan Harris Open Sunday.
“Calumet is a newer program, like us, so it should be an interesting dual,” head coach Jimmy May said. “They are young like we are. Both programs are in our second year. It should be an interesting dual between two young programs going at it.”
Baker went 4-0 in its inaugural season in duals last year.
The dual and open this weekend will be the first non-intrasquad competition for the Wildcats.
The team hosted a wrestling clinic for high school wrestlers Oct. 16 and the Black and Orange Classic Oct. 27, which was an intrasquad competition at Collins Center.
May created a tougher schedule for his team after qualifying 10 wrestlers for the NAIA National Championships last season.
“We will take it a week at a time,” May said. “I’m sure we will have some tough weekends.”
After wrestling at home this weekend, Baker will travel to compete in Georgia, Nebraska, Texas and Iowa within the next month.
The Wildcats will begin their road schedule on Nov. 13 in Rome, Ga. in the Rome Open.
“It will give us a chance to see a lot of different competition,” senior Jason Schweer said. “We’ll see different styles of wrestling and I think we’ll benefit from competing against schools that are similar to our ability.”
The team will have two more competitions at home in February.
Baker will square off against Hastings College Feb. 4, and then bounce back five days later to host Willaim Penn University Feb. 9.
The Wildcats are excited to wrestle in Collins Center this weekend in front of a home crowd.
“Everyone is ready to put on a good show and wrestle hard,” Callahan said. “We don’t want to disappoint anybody, so we want to put on a great show for anyone who is coming out to see us for the first time, if they have never seen wrestling before.”
