Bloomington, IN - The Binghamton wrestling team (0-1, 0-0 EIWA) heads to Bloomington, Indiana for three dual meets this Sunday, November 26. The Bearcats will face Indianapolis (0-1) at 10 a.m., B1G Indiana (1-0) at 11:30 a.m. and Eastern Michigan (2-1) at 1 p.m. This is the second time this season head coach Matt Dernlan's squad has faced a B1G school, with two more premier matches still to come in 2017. Binghamton wrestled No. 1 Penn State (3-0) Friday, November 17 in the Events Center. Of the 14 teams that make up the B1G conference, 10 are currently ranked in the top 24 of the NCAA team rankings.

"This is where you start to see us jumping levels as a program," Dernlan said. "Five years ago, I set the goal for what challenges we needed to take on to face the kind of opponents we want to face. The B1G is the premier wrestling conference in the country, and I think that facing four of its teams this year is a testament to where the program has evolved and how our staff thinks we've progressed."

Indiana is currently 1-0 with a close 19-18 win over Bloomsburg to start their season. The Hoosier's earned a third place team finish at the Clarion Open earlier in the season, placing three wrestlers in the tournament. Most recently, Indiana placed five at the Navy Classic, earning a fourth place finish with two runner-ups and eight quarterfinalists.

Indianapolis is currently 0-1 with a 20-16 loss to the Wheeling Jesuit to start the season. Currently ranked at #10 in the NCAA Division II poll, the Greyhounds fill out their roster with four ranked wrestlers. At 125, returning National Qualifier Ana Abduljelil debuts at #8, while three-time All-American Nick Crume is in the #2 spot at 141.  At 157, 2017 All-American Heath Lange is ranked #5, while two-time National Qualifier Dylan Faulkenberg is #8 at heavyweight.

Eastern Michigan is currently 2-1 with wins over Gardner-Webb (21-11) and American (22-16) to start the season. The Eagles returned seven starters from last year's lineup including two of their three national qualifiers in redshirt sophomore Noah Gonser (Grand Blanc, Mich.-Grand Blanc) and redshirt senior Gage Hutchison (Buchanan, Mich.-Buchanan). The Green and White were picked fifth in the MAC preseason conference poll. EMU also had four wrestlers picked in the top-four of their respective weight classes.

The Bearcats are coming off of a successful weekend at the Black Knight Invitational where 10 wrestlers placed in the tournament. Redshirt juniors Joe Russ (141), Mark Tracy (197) and redshirt sophomore Frankie Garcia (149) placed second in their respective weight classes while redshirt senior Jake Nicholson (133), and redshirt sophomores Tristan Rifanburg (157) and Connor Calkins (285) all placed third. Redshirt sophomore Steven Bulzomi (125) placed fourth along with redshirt junior Vincent DePrez (165) and redshirt sophomore Anthony Lombardo (174) while redshirt freshman Nunzio Crowley(174) placed fifth.

At the NYS Championships the same day, six Bearcats, wrestling unattached, also placed. Sophomore Audey Ashkar (125) placed fifth, freshman Matt Swanson (141) placed fourth, redshirt freshman Parker Kropman (149) placed third, freshman Aidan Monteverdi (165) placed sixth and freshmen Lou DePrez(184) and Joe Doyle (197) placed second in their respective weight classes.

The Bearcats begin their travel through the Midwest Friday, November 24 and will compete on Sunday, November 26. Sunday's match against Indiana University will be live streamed on BTN Network and FloWrestling Stream and live stats will be available through TrackWrestling. Live stream and live stats for Indianapolis and Eastern Michigan will not be available. Follow along with @BearcatsWrestle on twitter for live updates during competition.