Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes host Embry Riddle in last home dual Friday
2/3/2009 10:44:10 AM | Wrestling
For Grand Canyon, it means little that this is the last home dual of the season. At least that's what seems to emanate from the wrestling corridors inside the Old Gym.
What Friday's 7 p.m. dual with Embry Riddle does offer is an opportunity to entertain.
"Hopefully we'll put on a good show," Antelopes coach R.C. LaHaye said.
GCU lost to Embry Riddle 17 days prior to this weekend's dual in a match the Lopes posted some of their biggest individual wins of the season, what with Ryan Becerra knocking off the then-NAIA's top-ranked 184-pounder and Daniel Garay taking care of the then-No. 8 174-pounder.
If there's an area Grand Canyon is strong right now, it's the upper middle weights, where the Lopes have gone a combined 13-3 in the 165-184 divisions since tangling with Simon Fraser at Embry Riddle's Mile High Duals on Jan. 17.
"It seems (Jack) Porter, Garay and Becerra are all getting better," LaHaye said. "All three are wrestling well, and we need to keep improving to have a chance to qualify for nationals."
More than anything, those who are struggling have been given a clear-cut mandate by LaHaye: wrestle until the final buzzer sounds.
"We just hope to go out and wrestle with intensity for seven minutes," LaHaye said. "Guys are just expected, at the bare minimum, to wrestle for seven straight minutes."
