INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA announced the 44 at-large selections for the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Prior to the MAC Wrestling Championships, the conference was awarded 30 automatic qualifying bids, and this week the MAC was awarded an additional 10 at-large selections.
Automatic qualifying bids were awarded through conference and regional qualifying tournaments. The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, rating percentage index, coaches ranking, qualifying event placement, and number of matches contested at that weight class.
Here is a look at each weight class with each wrestler and individual records.
Buffalo:
Bulls Send Four to Nationals
BUFFALO, NY - The Buffalo wrestling team will send four wrestlers to the NCAA tournament. Max Soria, Blake Roulo, Mark Lewandowski, and John-Martin Cannon all secured automatic bids to the upcoming national tournament.
"We qualified four for the national championships, and they're all four quality guys who can go out there and score points for us at nationals," head coach Jim Beichner said. "We weren't happy with not having conference champions, because that's why we're here, but we will prepare ourselves for the NCAA championships two weeks from now."
Soria came in to the MAC tournament as the fifth seed, with the top four finishers guaranteed an automatic berth. He opened the tournament with a mild upset of fifth seed Jared Germaine of Eastern Michigan, 11-7. He would lose to top seed Alan Waters of Missouri in the semifinals. In the consolation round, he beat Ryan Jauch of Northern Iowa to guarantee an automatic bid, as there could be no true placing match for fourth place because both wrestlers behind Soria were opponents he had beaten. Though he lost in the third-place match to Kevon Powell of Ohio, he will make his second trip to nationals.
Roulo came into the MAC tournament seeded sixth, and wrestled early with a purpose, upsetting third seed Bart Reiter of Northern Iowa 6-3. In the semifinal round, he matched up with two seed Donnie Corby of Central Michigan. Roulo trailed late in the match thanks to a controversial stalling call, but he then rebounded for a takedown in the final 15 seconds of the match to earn a 5-3 win and a trip to the finals. He would lose to Drake Houdashelt of Missouri, but held the true right to second place to make his first career trip to nationals after coming ever-so-close in 2012 as a freshman.
Lewandowski also came into the MAC tournament under-seeded, earning the third seed despite being the highest nationally ranked wrestler in the MAC. He would easily dispatch his first round opponent, Eastern Michigan's Jacob Davis, by a 9-2 score. That set up a bout against two seed Zach Toal. The two met at the national tournament in 2012, with Lewandowski winning 3-1. Mark would earn a similar results, winning 3-2, to make his third straight conference final.
He faced top-seeded Mike Ottinger in the final, and held tough in a match that would not be decided until the waning seconds of the third period. Ottinger would win 8-5 to claim the title, and Lewandowski's day ultimately would not be over. Because the MAC only received two automatic bids at 165, Lewandowski would have to defending his second place finish in a true-seeding match. He would face Kent State's Caleb Marsh and handled him with relative ease, winning 4-1 to keep the auto bid.
Cannon was the final auto qualifier for UB, finishing second at 174. Coming in as the fourth seed, he beat Craig Kelliher of Central Michigan 3-2 in the first round and then upset the top seed Todd Porter 3-2 in the semifinals. In the championship match, he faced Cody Walters of Ohio. Early on, Cannon was able to get a double leg and put Walters on his back, but the referees did not award him with a takedown or any back points. Walters would slow-play Cannon to slow his offense, ultimately drawing just two stall warnings. Walters would earn the 5-3 win, but Cannon will make nationals for the third time in his career.
Erik Galloway was the only other Bulls to place, going 2-2 for the tournament. Both of his wins would come over Kent State's Lukas Kern – 6-0 in the first round, and 3-1 in the fifth-place match.
Central Michigan:
Chippewas send eight to Des Moines for NCAA Championships
MOUNT PLEASANT - The National Collegiate Athletic Association has released seeds and brackets for the 2013 wrestling championships at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, March 21-23. In addition to the release of the full bracket, the NCAA also announced its at-large selections for each weight class, adding CMU senior Christian Cullinan (125), senior Donnie Corby (149) and junior Craig Kelliher (174) to the field.
The selections bring the Chippewas' roster for the championships to eight, as senior Scotti Sentes (133), redshirt freshman Lucas Smith (157), sophomore Mike Ottinger (165), senior Ben Bennett (184) and senior Jarod Trice (285) each punched their tickets with their performances at the Mid-American Conference Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday.
Bennett led a trio of Chippewas as the No. 2 seed at 184 pounds, while Sentes and Trice each earned the No. 10 seed at their respective weight class.
The NCAA Championships will begin Thursday, March 21 at 11 a.m., with pigtail and first round matches. The Chippewas' first-round matchups are as followed:
125: Christian Cullinan (21-7) vs. Joe DeAngelo (N.C. State, 7-7)
133: No. 10 Scotti Sentes (19-6) vs. Jimmy Morris (Rider, 24-12)
149: Donnie Corby (22-11) vs. Dan Osterman (Michigan State, 20-12)
157: Lucas Smith (22-10) vs. No. 7 Jesse Dong (Virginia Tech, 23-3)
165: Mike Ottinger (23-13) vs. Peyton Walsh (Navy, 28-11)
174: Craig Kelliher (21-11) vs. No. 3 Michael Evans (Iowa, 19-4)
184: No. 2 Ben Bennett (27-0) vs. Tony Dallago (Illinois, 19-13)
Hwt: No. 10 Jarod Trice (22-4) vs. Daniel Miller (Navy, 21-10)
Eastern Michigan:
EMU Wrestlers Joseph and Whitenburg Set for NCAA Championships
Both wrestlers open up against opponents from Northwestern, March 21
DES MOINES, Iowa – Eastern Michigan University redshirt junior wrestlers Phillip Joseph and Nick Whitenburg are headed to Wells Fargo Arena for the 2013 NCAA Championships Thursday-Saturday, March 21-23. Joseph (174 lbs.) makes his second trip in-a-row to the national tournament, while Whitenburg (197 lbs.) will participate for the first time.
Joseph fought his way to a fourth-place finish and an automatic bid to the tournament with a 2-2 record at the Mid-American Conference Championships, March 10. The Lapeer, Mich. native lost his opening round bout to top-ranked Todd Porter from Missouri by a close 11-8 margin. He then went on to defeat CMU's Craig Kelliher and Kent State University's Sam Wheeler by scores of 6-3 and 6-4, respectively.
This year, Joseph has wrestled to a 17-13 overall record with a 14-9 ledger in dual-meet competition. He was one-of-three EMU student-athletes to win at least three MAC regular-season bouts, going 3-1. His 10 decisions rank tied for third on the team as do his four major decisions. Last season, Joseph went 1-2 in St. Louis, Mo., defeating Brown University's Dave Foxen in the consolation bracket, 8-4.
Whitenburg posted a 3-1 record with two pins to capture third place at 197 lbs. at the MAC Championships and earn his first-career trip to the NCAA Championships with an automatic bid. The Temperance, Mich. native started the day off with a pin of Northern Illinois University's Parker Settecase at the 46-second mark. After falling to the consolation bracket, Whitenburg won his final two matches including the third-place bout against Ohio University's Phillip Wellington, 5-3.
It has not been an easy season for Whitenburg, who missed the first half of the year recovering from an injury he sustained at the season-opening EMU Open, Nov. 3. Since his return against Lock Haven at the Pitt Duals, Jan. 13, Whitenburg has roared back to amass a 17-10 record which includes a perfect 3-0 mark in MAC regular-season matches. Eight of his wins have come by way of pin.
On Thursday, Joseph opens the tournament against Northwestern University's Leroy Munster (24-7). Whitenburg takes to the mat in round one against Alex Polizzi (16-14), who is also from Northwestern.
“I feel like both these guys have a great chance to prove themselves,” said seventh-year Head Coach Derek DelPorto, who sends his 12th and 13th wrestlers to compete nationally since 2007. “Both wrestle a very hard pace and are good at what they do. The NCAA tournament is about 10 percent wrestling and 90 percent health, luck, bracket placement and toughness. If you are at the tournament, you are a good wrestler; it comes down to how bad you want to win.”
It is also the fourth consecutive season in which DelPorto has sent two-or-more grapplers to the competition. This time around, neither Joseph nor Whitenburg's first-round draw possesses a top-12 ranking. “This may be the first time since I have been coaching here that we didn't draw a seeded wrestler,” remarked DelPorto. “That is a good start!”
“No matter what happens out there, I am very proud of both these guys,” said DelPorto. “Phillip has stuck to his guns about moving down to 174 lbs. and it paid off. I love that kind of determination and confidence in the plan. Nick has battled through a season that most people would have laid down and quit. There is no quit in Whit.”
In 2012, four Eagles made the trek to the NCAA Championships, where heavyweight Wes Schroeder became the first EMU wrestler since Phillip Plowman (133 lbs.) in 2006 to advance in the championship bracket.
Kent State:
McGuire, Wheeler & Marsh Earn At-Large Bids
Kent State freshman Mack McGuire (Union, Ohio), sophomore Caleb Marsh (Marysville, Ohio) and redshirt freshman Sam Wheeler (Copley, Ohio) were awarded at-large bids to the 2013 NCAA Championships Wednesday, giving the Golden Flashes six NCAA qualifiers. Brackets for the three-day tournament at Wells Fargo Arena were also released.
“It shows how strong our schedule’s been and that we’re doing things right as a program,” Head Coach Jim Andrassy said of the three at-large bids. “I was a little surprised they’d give three spots to the same team, but going in to the MAC Tournament I thought we could get six guys into the NCAA Tournament, so ultimately we’re excited about it.”
On March 10th, seniors Dustin Kilgore (Berea, Ohio), Stevie Mitcheff (Lorain, Ohio) and Casey Newburg (Union, Ohio) each earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. For the eighth straight season Kent State will send five or more of its wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.
McGuire has 24 victories on the year and is ranked No. 27 in the final NCAA Coaches Panel. He recorded a pair of victories in a fifth place finish at 133 this past weekend at the MAC Championships. McGuire’s most notable victory was a 3-2 decision over Oklahoma State’s Jon Morrison, who is ranked No. 7. Morrison will get a rematch in Des Moines as the two drew each other in the opening round.
Marsh placed third at the MAC Championships, going 3-2 on the day with a 4-1 victory over No. 16 Zach Toal of Missouri. He is 23-10 in his first season in a Division I lineup. Marsh won an individual title at the Navy Classic at 165 and placed second at the Brute Invitational. He will take on three-time national champion Kyle Dake (Cornell) in the opening round in Des Moines.
Wheeler is ranked No. 25 at 174 pounds, carrying a 25-12 record. He has 10 bonus-point victories and has finished in the top three spots in three tournaments this season. Wheeler will battle No. 5 seed Josh Asper of Maryland in the first round.
Kilgore (39-0), who has been the consensus No. 1 at 197 all season, earned the No. 1 seed and will take on Iowa’s Nathan Burak in the opening round. The 2011 national champion looks to extend his 58-match winning streak and complete a perfect season.
Newburg (34-8) will face No. 3 seed Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) in the opening round. Mitcheff (28-11) will take on Oklahoma State’s Ed Klimara.
The Mid-American Conference received 10 at-large bids Wednesday, giving the conference 40 representatives at the NCAA Championships March 21-23.
Missouri:
Tigers Qualify All 10 Starters for NCAA Championships
For the second year in a row, all 10 starters have qualified for the 2013 NCAA Championships.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - On Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA announced all 330 qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA Championships that will be held in Des Moines, Iowa, starting next Thursday, March 21. Of the 330 selected, ten bids were dealt to Tiger grapplers from the University of Missouri.
The NCAA began announcing the Division I Championship fields by weight class starting at 12 p.m. in 30-minute intervals. Following this past weekend's MAC Championships, eight of 10 wrestlers had received automatic bids to this year's national tournament. Senior Nicholas Hucke and junior Zach Toal were the only starters that were hoping for At Large bids into this year's field.
At 1 p.m., the 141-pound field was announced, with Hucke receiving one of the four wildcard spots. Hucke had an up-and-down year for the Tigers, finishing with a 14-14 record at 141. This is his second NCAA appearance after automatically qualifying in 2012.
At 2:30 p.m., the news became official. Toal squeezed his way into the competitive 165-pound bracket that includes Cornell's No. 1 Kyle Dake and Penn State's David Taylor, who's ranked second. Toal finished the year with a 23-16 record. This will be Toal's third appearance in the NCAA Championships in his third year as a starter with the Tigers.
For a second consecutive season, Tiger Style will showcase a starter in every weight class. Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Penn State, and Virginia Tech are some other programs that have qualified all 10 starters this year. Mizzou was the only program in the nation to send all ten starters to the NCAA's last year, which were held in St. Louis.
Alan Waters (125) and Dom Bradley (HWT) open as the No. 1 seeds nationally in their bracket. Seniors Nathan McCormick, Mike Larson, and Brent Haynes round out the nationally seeded Tigers this year. Here are Missouri's first round matchups:
125- No. 1 Alan Waters (29-0) vs. David Thorn, Minnesota, (13-10)
133- No. 6 Nathan McCormick vs. Erik Spjut, Virginia Tech, (17-10)
141- Nicholas Hucke (13-13) vs. No. 3 Michael Mangram, Oregon State, (36-4)
149- Drake Houdashelt (28-9) vs. No. 11 Andrew Alton, Penn State, (26-4)
157- Kyle Bradley (26-13) vs. No. 4 James Green, Nebraska, (20-4)
165- Zach Toal (22-16) vs. Ryan Leblanc, Indiana, (22-8)
174- Todd Porter (31-10) vs. No. 2 Mathew Brown, Penn State, (25-4)
184- No. 11 Mike Larson (27-10) vs. Ophir Bernstein, Brown, (24-9)
197- No. 12 Brent Haynes (31-8) vs. Jackson Hein, Wisconsin, (20-10)
285- No. 1 Dom Bradley (35-1) vs. Stryker Lane, Cornell, (20-10)
Senior Todd Porter is making his first NCAA appearance in his first year as a starter. Larson and Haynes have qualified for the NCAA Championships for the fourth consecutive season.
The Tigers finished the regular season ranked No. 4 by the NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. This past weekend in Buffalo, the program claimed their second consecutive conference title in its first year as an affiliate member with the Mid-American Conference. In 2012, Mizzou left their former conference, the Big 12, as conference champions as well.
The NCAA Championships start Thursday, March 21 and run through Saturday, March 23 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Stay tuned on MUTigers.com for matchups and more on this year's NCAA Championships.
Northern Illinois:
Northern Illinois represented at NCAA national meet for 42nd consecutive season
INDIANAPOLIS - Huskie redshirt junior Matt Mougin will be Northern Illinois' lone representative at the 2013 NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, the association announced Wednesday.
The pick marks the 42nd straight season in which at least one Huskie wrestler has advanced to the NCAA Championships. It also marks the first time that the Columbus Junction, Iowa, native will move on to the national meet in his collegiate career.
Mougin's first opponent at the NCAA Championships will be Blake Stauffer of Arizona State. Stauffer, who will enter the tournament as the 11th seed at 174, has a 22-3 record so far in 2012-13. He placed second at the Pac-12 Championships after entering as the tournament's top seed. The redshirt freshman from Neosho, Mo., also placed third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and sixth at the Southern Scuffle.
Following the first match, the Huskie will face either Minnesota's Logan Storley or Cal State-Bakersfield's Bryce Hammond. Storley is the sixth-seeded wrestler at 174 with a record of 24-3 and finished seventh at the Big Ten Championships this past weekend. The sophomore out of Roslyn, S.D., earned All-American honors at the 2012 NCAA Championships with a sixth place finish. In tournament action this season, Storley won the Bison Open and took second at the Southern Scuffle.
Meanwhile, Hammond enters the tournament after taking the Pac-12 title at 174 with a 9-4 decision against Stauffer - Mougin's first opponent of the tournament. The redshirt freshman posted a 32-8 record on the season and finished on the podium at the Reno Tournament of Champions (fourth), Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (fifth) and Midlands Championships (seventh).
The NCAA Championships get started Thursday, March 21, at 11 a.m. with the opening rounds and continues through the finals on Saturday, March 23. The entire tournament will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks starting with Thursday's action on ESPN3 and continuing on Friday on ESPNU.
Northern Iowa:
UNI Wrestlers Earn Top-10 Seed for NCAA
UNI at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships
Site: Des Moines, Iowa
Venue: Wells Fargo Arena
Date: March 21-23
TV: ESPN networks
Live Stats: TrackWrestling.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Two University of Northern Iowa wrestlers earned a top-10 seed heading into the NCAA national wrestling championships set for March 21-23.
UNI's four representatives qualified automatically at the Mid-American Conference championships in Buffalo, N.Y., March 11:
1. Levi Wolfensperger (133 pounds)
2. Joey Lazor (141 pounds)
3. David Bonin (157 pounds)
4. Ryan Loder (184 pounds)
Lazor and Bonin were MAC champions, and Wolfensperger and Loder took second. Lazor was the only wrestler in the 141-pound weight class to automatically qualify from the MAC.
133 POUNDS: Wolfensperger (23-8) earned a ninth seed and will face Anthony Elias (11-8) of Davidson. Elias is a sophomore headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time. Wolfensperger took second at the MAC to Missouri's Nathan McCormick, who took the sixth seed. Wolfensperger, a sophomore, is a returning NCAA qualifier and was fourth at this year's Cliff Keen Invite.
184 POUNDS: Ryan Loder (30-4) earned a sixth seed and will face Cody Reed (18-13) of Binghamton in his first match. Reed, a junior, is a returning NCAA qualifier. This will be Loder's third appearance at the NCAA championships. His career record is the fifth-highest winning percentage among all UNI Panthers who have had at least 50 wins and competed at least two seasons in Division I. Ed Ruth of Penn State is the top seed in the 184-pound weight class. With 10 pins in 24 minutes, 50 seconds, he is eighth in Division I for falls this season. Ben Bennett of Central Michigan, the MAC champion at 184 pounds, is seventh in Division I for tech falls. Bennett ended Loder's 14-match win streak at the MAC championships. His second-place MAC finish was Loder's first loss since his fourth-place finish at the Midlands Championships on Dec. 30.
141 POUNDS: Lazor (32-7) will face Connor Hanafee (21-13) of Army in the first round. Hanafee is a senior headed to the tournament for the first time. Lazor redshirted last year with an injury. He has won his last 11 matches. His last loss was a 6-3 decision to the tournament's second seed Kendric Maple (25-0) of Oklahoma on Jan. 18. Lazor was seventh at this year's Midlands Championships.
157 POUNDS: Bonin will face Bobby Barnhisel (31-6) of Navy in the first round. Barnhisel, a senior, earned an at-large bid last year to the NCAA national tournament. Bonin, a senior, will be making his third appearance at the tourney. He has held a national ranking for most of the year and was fifth at the Cliff Keen Invite this year. Bonin leads the Panthers with nine major decision wins.
AT-LARGE BIDS: In addition to announcing the brackets and seeding today, the NCAA selected 40 at-large qualifiers to round out the field of 33 wrestlers per weight class for the national tournament.
The MAC had an at-large selection in nearly every weight class:
WEIGHT - WRESTLER (PLACE AT MAC CHAMPIONSHIP):
• 125 - Christian Cullinan of Central Michigan (eliminated from placing by UNI's Ryan Jauch)
• 133 - MacKenzie McGuire of Kent State (5th)
• 141 - Nicholas Hucke of Missouri (3rd)
• 149 - Donnie Corby of Central Michigan (3rd)
• 157 - Spartak Chino of Ohio (DNP)
• 165 - Caleb Marsh of Kent State (3rd) and Zach Toal of Missouri (4th)
• 174 - Craig Kelliher of Central Michigan (6th) and Sam Wheeler of Kent State (DNP)
• 197 - Phillip Wellington of Ohio (4th)
THE SCHEDULE: The NCAA wrestling championships are set for March 21-23 in Des Moines, Iowa:
• 11 a.m. Thursday, March 21 - ESPN3
• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21 - ESPN3
• 10 a.m. Friday, March 22 - ESPNU/ESPN3
• 6 p.m. Friday, March 22 - ESPNU
• 10 a.m. Saturday, March 23 - ESPNU
• 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23 - ESPN
Ohio:
Chino and Wellington Earn At-Large Bids to NCAA Championships
Bobcats to send five individuals to Nationals
ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio University redshirt freshmen Spartak Chino and Phil Wellington each received at large bids to the 2013 NCAA Championships to give the Bobcats five individual qualifiers for Nationals, which will be held March 21-23.
Chino (Wheaton, Ill.) received the at-large at the 157 weight class after he finished the year with a 20-13 record. He finished the year by winning three of his last four bouts, but dropped a pair of decisions at the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Wellington (Euclid, Ohio) earned an at large nod at 197 after posting a 22-14 mark during the 2012-13 season. This past weekend, Wellington took fourth at the MAC Championships. Wellington closed the regular season by winning six of his final seven bouts.
Chino and Wellington will join freshman Kevon Powell (Romeoville, Ill.) at 125, redshirt freshman Cody Walters (Macedonia, Ohio) at 174 and junior Jeremy Johnson (Broadview Heights, Ohio) at heavyweight - all of whom earned automatic bids at the MAC Championships.
Walters' 174 league title marked the second-straight season an Ohio wrestler has won the 174 conference crown.
The Mid-American Conference received 10 at-large bids Wednesday, giving the conference 40 representatives at the NCAA Championships March 21-23.
The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, rating percentage index, coaches ranking, qualifying event placement, and number of matches contested at that weight class.