LARAMIE – The Pokes knew entering the season they had a potent one-two punch with the return of All-American Joey Novak at 197 pounds and the addition of explosive heavyweight Christian Carroll.
 
The firepower was on display against top-ranked Penn State when Novak and Carroll had the program record crowd of 4,686 buzzing after closing out Wyoming's match with wins. No. 5 Nebraska, which fell 26-12 to the reigning national champions, is the only team to score more points in a dual with the Nittany Lions this season than the Cowboys did in the 40-7 loss in December at the Arena-Auditorium.
 
Now UW is surging toward the postseason with a dominant triple threat at the back end of the lineup with the emergence of Eddie Neitenbach. The sophomore is ranked No. 9 at 184 pounds with a 15-5 record, including a team-leading eight ranked wins.
 
Novak is ranked No. 4 in his weight class and Carroll is ranked No. 7. The Pokes are benefiting from this iron sharpening iron situation.
 
"You see the residual effects that these guys have on each other. It starts to expand and trickle in both directions," UW head coach Mark Branch said. "Now I think you're even starting to see it trickle down to Riley (Davis) a little bit (at 174 pounds). He had a good weekend and Riley trains with those guys every day. (Tuesday) he was on the mat with Joey and Eddie. His competition matches aren't more challenging than the practice room."
 
Neitenbach, who is from Valley City, Ohio, and won a state title for Buckeye High School, is the latest significant recruiting win for the program in Big Ten country. Novak is from New Prague, Minn., Carroll is from Elkhart, Ind., and Gabe Willochell and Luke Willochell are from Greensburg, Penn.
 
Before reluctantly making the trek to 7,220 feet, Neitenbach visited Campbell, Columbia, N.C. State and Ohio State.
 
"The University of Wyoming was my last visit, and I was kind of hesitant to come on the visit," Neitenbach said. "I came out and it was awesome. I fell in love with it, the town, the guys, the coaches. The facilities were great. I knew it would be a great fit.
 
"Wyoming fits my personality and the rest is history."
 
After recovering from an injury in the summer upon arriving on campus, Neitenbach cracked the starting lineup and posted a 15-9 record during the 2024-25 campaign. He had a 6-8 mark against ranked competition, and made it to the NCAA Championships as a true freshman.
 
"Eddie has been a great fit," Branch said. "I think he really enjoys this team and Laramie and this location. It has been a home run for us, especially him being able to come in last year and have success as a true freshman and build upon that."
 
Neitenbach finished fourth at the Big 12 Tournament with two major decisions and went 2-2 at the national championships as a No. 19 seed last season.
 
"I think I kind of did surprise myself," Neitenbach reflected. "At the beginning of the year before I wrestled any college matches I didn't have as much belief in myself as I did after (competing against) Campbell and Oklahoma State. After that I viewed myself as one of the best in the country and kind of kept growing. …
 
"I would have liked to perform a lot better last year (at NCAAs) but it was a great experience going there and taking it all in, getting to participate. I know if my mental was better I could have done a little bit better. This year I'm treating it like just another tournament. I'm going to stay focused on the task and that's that."
 
Neitenbach disposed of No. 28 Aidan Brenot via major decision, 14-3, which mathematically put the dual against NDSU out of reach at 23-9. UW won 30-9 with Novak coming back from injury to collect a win and Carroll winning a major decision.
 
The 24^th-ranked Cowboys are currently focused on Friday's match at Northern Colorado. UW concludes the dual season against No. 16 Oklahoma at 1 p.m. Sunday in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
 
"These last two matches I'm trying to dominate, score points, not worrying about tiring or giving up points," Neitenbach said. "I feel like I'm peaking right now. Practice has been great, nutrition, mindset, everything is awesome."
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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