CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State University wrestling team will split time on the road and at home this weekend, but the Vikings will remain in northeast Ohio the entire time.

CSU will begin the weekend by concluding a three-match road swing at Kent State Saturday, Feb. 1. The Vikings will then return home the following day to welcome Central Michigan for their second Mid-American Conference dual in as many days. Saturday's action at Kent will begin at 7:00 p.m. while the home match against CMU will begin at 1:00 p.m.

The Vikings are in the midst of a stretch of seven consecutive MAC duals that began in mid-January and continued with a road trip to the Central Time Zone last weekend. Cleveland State claimed a 21-14 win over SIU Edwardsville last weekend before proving competitive in a 20-12 loss to nationally ranked Missouri.

Redshirt senior Evan Cheek (141), true freshman Logan Heil (125) and sophomore Ben Smith (197) all went 2-0 last weekend. Smith notched a win by fall against the Cougars to effectively clinch the team win before defeating a nationally ranked wrestler in overtime against Missouri. In doing so, he now owns 21 wins on the season, 13 of which are of the bonus-point variety.

Cheek continues to lead the team with his 29 wins, 16 coming via bonus points, and is also 8-0 in dual action this season. Heil has 19 wins entering the weekend, and owns a 5-1 mark in MAC duals, as he seeks to become the third Viking with 20+ victories on the season.

Kent State is 6-9 on the season and owns a 2-4 mark in MAC duals. The Golden Flashes and Vikings have identical results against their four common opponents—wins over Buffalo and SIUE and losses to Missouri and Ohio. Junior Andrew McNally leads the team with 26 wins at 174 pounds while redshirt senior Tim Rooney has 21 victories at 133 pounds. Both McNally and Rooney were ranked third in the most recent MAC rankings. The bouts at 141, 174, 197 and 285 all could be rematches from bouts that happened at the Cleveland State Open in December.

CSU is 8-21-1 all-time against the Golden Flashes. The teams have met in 20 of the past 23 years, including each of the past three. The Vikings tallied three pins against Kent last year but came up on the short end of a 23-20 decision. Brady Barnett, Ryan Ford and Nico O'Dor all won bouts against the Golden Flashes in last year's dual.

Central Michigan is 3-4 entering the weekend and will compete at Ohio Friday evening. Three of their four setbacks, and one of their wins, came against nationally ranked foes as the Chippewas are 3-2 in the MAC. Four Chippewas are nationally ranked: 285-pounder Matt Stencel, a returning All-American, is fourth, 125-pounder Drew Hildebrandt is 11th, 141-pounder Dresden Simon is 13th and 157-pounder Logan Parks is 14th. Hildebrandt and Stencel are both ranked No. 1 in the MAC as well.

Cleveland State is 5-4 all-time against the Chippewas, but the two sides have not met in 15 years. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in Cleveland this century. The two programs have not sent their teams to the same tournament event either since November 2017.

Cleveland State will remain home next weekend as it hosts Northern Illinois Friday, Feb. 7.