July 18, 2006

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern juniors Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) and Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/Lakewood St. Edward) have earned preseason No. 1 rankings from wrestlingreport.com, making Northwestern one of just two schools to have a pair of grapplers ranked No. 1 in the poll.

Lang is rated No. 1 in the 141-pound weight class, while Herbert will move up this season and is No. 1 in the 184-pound class. Herbert finished as the Big Ten champion and was an NCAA finalist at 174 pounds last season. Despite being in a new weight class, Herbert has some familiarity with his competition. He defeated No. 2-rated Roger Kish of Minnesota in the championship match at the University Nationals in May.

Minnesota is the only other team in the nation to have two No. 1-rated wrestlers in the poll.

"We have a team where year-in and year-out we have guys who expect to win national championships," NU head coach Tim Cysewski said. "Preseason rankings are just opinions, but it is great to have two No. 1 guys up there."

Overall, six Wildcats are ranked in the poll and the team comes in at No. 11. Junior Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) is the fifth-rated heavyweight, junior Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) moves up to 197 pounds this season and is ranked No. 13, junior Nick Hayes (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Lewis Central) is No. 24 at 174 pounds and Greg Hagel (Linwood, N.J./Blair Academy) comes in at No. 30 in the 165-pound class.

For the complete rankings, link to Wrestlingreport.com. Northwestern opens the 2006-07 season on November 4 at the Eastern Michigan Open.