Kent State University
NCAA Championships
Five Flashes Set to Grapple at the Garden for NCAA Championships
3/15/2016 1:33:00โฏPM | Wrestling
Bracketsย ย ย Notes ย ย ย ESPN Media Zone
Looking for an All-American in eight consecutive seasons and its second national champion in program history, Kent State will send five wrestlers to New York City's Madison Square Garden for the 86th NCAA Championships March 17-19. ย Action begins Thursday at noon with two sessions each day. All 10 weight classes will have 33-man brackets battling for All-America (Top 8) honors. ย
Four seniors will be closing out their college careers in Manhattan, including Mack McGuire and Ian Miller, who became just the seventh and eighth four-time NCAA qualifiers in program history. ย Miller can become just the second three-time All-American in program history. ย Mike DePalma will be making his third NCAA appearance, while Tyler Buckwalter and Kyle Conel will be making their NCAA debuts.ย
The 2015-16 season marks the 10th time in 11 years the Golden Flashes have sent five or more wrestlers to the national tournament and 11th consecutive season Kent State has sent four or more.ย
Opening Round Matchupsย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
133: No. 9ย Mack McGuire (24-5) vs. Richardson (Penn)/Bruno (Michigan) winner
149: No. 10 Mike DePalma (20-7) vs. Alex Griffin (14-7) Purdue
157: No. 4 Ian Miller (20-1) vs. Aaron Walker (28-7) Citadel
165: Tyler Buckwalter (24-11) vs. No. 3 Bo Jordan (16-2) Ohio State
197: No. 16 Kyle Conel (26-6) vs. Michael Woulfe (32-12) Navy
Every Session Televised, Every Match Covered, Every KSU Match on iHeart
All six sessions will be televised on either ESPN or ESPNU and every match will be carried on ESPN3 throughout the entire three-day competition. ย Friday night's semifinals (Session IV) and Saturday night's finals (Session VI) can be seen on ESPN, both beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. ย Sessions I, II, III and V can be seen on ESPNU. ย Adam Amin and Shawn Kenney will call the action and Quint Kessenich will be the reporter.
All eight individual mat feeds will be carried on ESPN3 throughout the entire tournament. ย Computer users will be able to view four different mats at one time.
โข All Kent State matches can be heard on Golden Flashes Radio on iHeart with Ty Linder and Matt Miller.
โข Live scoring of all matches will be available on TrackWrestling.com throughout the tournament. ย
โข Look for live updates on Twitter by following @KentStWrestl
Finishing Strong
The Golden Flashes closed out their regular season by winning nine straight dual meets. ย Their No. 15 ranking in the final NWCA Coaches Poll is among the highest in program history. ย Kent State's 15-3 dual meet record, matches the 2006-07 team's mark. ย The Golden Flashes have not had a better winning percentage since the 1981-82 season. ย Kent State's seven conference victories are tied for the most in program history. ย The only MAC setback came in December against No. 6 Missouri.
Tournament History
Since 2009, five Golden Flashes have combined for nine All-American finishes, including two national final appearances by Dustin Kilgore, who became Kent State's first national champion in 2011.
Twenty different Golden Flashes have combined for 25 All-American finishes at the NCAA Championships dating back to Cameron Falcone's third place finish in 1939. ย That season under Head Coach Joe Begala, the Golden Flashes finished 12th as a team. ย Begala's teams earned fifth place in both 1941 and 1942, the highest finishes in program history. ย Until Kilgore's championship in 2011, 1941 & 1942 were the only two seasons in which Kent State wrestlers (Mike Slepecky, Walter Porowski) earned spots in the championship finals. ย
With the efforts of Begala, the M.A.C. Center in Kent served as the host of the NCAA Championships in 1963 and 1967.
Last year in St. Louis, Ian Miller earned his second straight All-America finish with a fifth place at 157. ย Miller fell victim to a scoring error in the quarterfinals, but finished 5-2. ย Mack McGuire went 2-2. ย The Flashes finished 26th in the team standings. ย Penn State's four-year reign as national champions was ended by Ohio State.
2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship Scheduleย
Date | Time (ET) | Session | Network/WatchESPN Linkย | Number of ESPN3 Mat Feeds |
Thu, March 17 | Noon โย 3:30 p.m. | First Round | ESPNU | Eight Mats |
7 p.m. โ 10:30 p.m. | Second Round | ESPNU http://es.pn/1QMhh7P | Eight Mats | |
Fri, March 18 | 11 a.m. โ 2 p.m. | Third Roundย โย Quarterfinals | ESPNU | Eight Mats |
8 p.m. โ 11 p.m. | Fourth Roundย โ Semifinals | Six Mats | ||
Sat, March 19 | 11 a.m. โ 2 p.m. | Fifth Session - Medal Round | ESPNU | Three Mats |
8:00 p.m. โ 11 p.m. | Sixth Session โ Championship Finals | One Mat |
Players Mentioned
