Land of Lincoln welcomes back top non-Division I programs for NWCA National Duals

Springfield, Ill., will be the place to be this Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 12-13, when this Land of Lincoln community plays host to the NWCA Cliff Keen Multi-Divisional National Duals at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

While the tournament will not involve NCAA Division I teams — those schools will compete over two consecutive weekends, Feb. 17 and 24 — the top programs from Divisions II and III in the NCAA, the NAIA, NJCAA and women’s programs will compete in a dual tournament format which will come to an end on Sunday afternoon.

All five champions return to compete in this year’s event which is being held for a second straight year in Springfield. (This includes St. Cloud State in Div. II, Wartburg in Div. III, Grand View in NAIA, Iowa Central in the JUCO tournament and Oklahoma City in the women’s event.) Prior to that, these duals were held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for six years as part of an event which included NCAA Division I teams.

The event will begin with matches at 9 a.m. (CST) on Saturday and will continue with most of the championship matches beginning at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Most of the semifinals will start on Sunday at 11 a.m. First-round losers in the double elimination tournaments can finish as high as fifth place, with those matches taking place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The following is a breakdown of all five tournaments, which will take place under one roof, as well as some potential individual match-ups of ranked wrestlers.

To view the Division II tournament preview, click here:

To view the Division III tournament preview, click here:

To view the NAIA tournament preview, click here:

To view the NJCAA tournament preview, click here:

To view the Women’s tournament preview, click here: