Kent State University
Mid-American Conference Championships
Flashes Bring Momentum to 2018 MAC Championships
3/1/2018 9:56:00โฏPM | Wrestling
Kent State travels to Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena this weekend where 25 automatic bids to the NCAA Championships will be on the line at the 2018 Mid-American Conference Championships.ย The two-day, eight-team tournament in Mount Pleasant features 80 wrestlers seeking 10 individual titles.
Start Times, Live Video & Scoring
Saturday's action begins at 5:30 p.m.ย with the quarterfinal round on three mats.ย Consolation round one (1 mat) and the semifinals (2 mats) will immediately follow the quarterfinals.ย Live video can be seen on ESPN3, while live scoring can be followed on Trackwrestling.ย ย
The finals are slated for Sunday at 1 p.m.
"I think we're starting to peak," Head Coach Jim Andrassy said of his team's final three duals.ย "We probably wrestled the best we did all year against Central Michigan.ย Even in our loss to Old Dominion, we wrestled really well.ย And then we closed out year wrestling well against Northern Illinois."
No. 3 Missouri finished its season 19-0 and will be vying for its sixth straight MAC tournament crown.ย Central Michigan was No. 20 in the final NWCA Coaches Poll.
"Outside of Missouri, it seemed like any team could win depending on who was hot at the time," Andrassy said of the regular season's dual meets. ย "If every one of our guys can wrestle above his seed or beat someone they lost to during the year, that's something to look back on and say 'I've gotten better.' "
Projected Opening Matchups
Quarterfinal Round
125: No. 7 Jake Ferri (11-16) vs. No. 2 Kyle Akins (5-20) Buffalo
133: No. 4 Anthony Tutolo (25-10) vs. No. 5 Noah Gonser (13-9) Eastern Michigan
141: No. 4 Tim Rooney (27-12) vs. No. 5 Mario Guillen (8-4) Ohio
149: No. 7 Chance Driscoll (14-12) vs. No. 2 Justin Oliver (22-3) Central Michigan
157: No. 3 Casey Sparkman (21-15) vs. No. 6 JJ Wolfe (6-16) Eastern Michigan
165: No. 4 Isaac Bast (21-17) vs. No. 5 Joseph Terry (12-11) Ohio
174: No. 5 Dylan Barreiro (x) vs. No. 4 Andrew McNally (16-14) Eastern Michigan
184: No. 8 Colin McCracken (12-20) vs. No. 1 Canton Marriott (22-5) Missouri
197: No. 5 Kyle Conel (20-9) vs. No. 4 Aaron Naples (7-12) Ohio
285: No. 4 Stephen Suglio (17-9) vs. No. 5 Matt Stencel (25-13) Central Michigan
Automatic NCAA Bids Available
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125 |
133 |
141 |
149 |
157 |
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4 |
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165 |
174 |
184 |
197 |
285 |
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1 |
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2 |
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MAC Tourney History
Since the MAC Championships began in 1952, Kent State has won 10 tournament titles, including six straight from 1977-82 under Head Coach Ron Gray. ย The Golden Flashes have finished second 26 times. Kent State had at least one individual MAC champion from 2006-2016 with 119 total conference champions since 1952.ย Central Michigan has won 14 of the last 20 tournaments, but Missouri has won each of the last five since joining in 2013.
Last year at Northern Iowa, Anthony Tutolo earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with a sixth place finish at the MAC Championships.ย Casey Sparkman earned a third place and an eventual at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. ย Isaac Bast (165) placed fifth, while Stephen Suglio was sixth at 197.ย Mike DePalma was the Flashes' last MAC champion in 2016.ย
Quick Shots
- Junior Casey Sparkman became the 17th wrestler in program history to earn his 100th career victory against Central Michigan.ย
- Stephen Suglio was named MAC Wrestler of the Week on Feb. 14 after going 2-0 in MAC duals.
- Tim Rooney leads the Flashes with 12 bonus-point victories this season (5 pins, 3 tech falls, 4 major decisions).ย
- Junior Anthony Tutolo was named MAC Wrestler of the Week in January after going 4-0 at the Virginia Duals.
- The NWCA honored Kent State for having the fourth highest grade point average in the nation last season at 3.423.
- Junior Kyle Conel is 26-6 in career dual meets.ย
- Conel, junior Devin Nye and freshman Colin McCracken all lead the team with five pins on the season. Nye's 31 career pins rank fifth among Kent State's all-time leaders.
- Conel won a 197-pound title at the Clarion Open this season, while Nye won a 285-pound crown at the Cleveland State Open for the second time in his career.ย Ferri also won a 125-pound title at Cleveland State.
- Rooney was named MAC Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 15, after going 5-0 at the Journeymen Duals and Journeymen Classic.ย
Up Next
Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena will host the 2018 NCAA Championships March 15-17.ย
Players Mentioned
