Kent State University
NCAA Championships
Four Flashes Set to Take on the Nation's Best in Cleveland
3/14/2018 1:33:00โฏPM | Wrestling
Session III Live Video Links
| Mat 1 | Mat 2 | Mat 3 | Mat 4 |
| Mat 5 | Mat 6 | Mat 7 | Mat 8 |
Tournament Notesย ย ย Bracketsย ย ย Golden Flashes Radio
Four wrestlers will represent Kent State University at the 88th NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships March 15-17, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. ย All four Golden Flashes are Northeast Ohio natives, anxious to compete in front of hometown fans. ย
The 2018 season marks the 12th time in 13 years the Golden Flashes have sent four or more wrestlers to the national tournament. All 10 weight classes will have 33-men brackets battling for All-America (Top 8) honors. ย Thursday's opening session begins at 12 Eastern.
Projected Opening Matchups with Seeds
133: Anthony Tutolo (28-11) vs. No. 15 Ali Naser (21-11) Arizona State
157: Casey Sparkman (23-16) vs. No. 12 Mitch Finesilver (17-4) Duke
197: Kyle Conel (24-10) vs. Randall Diabe (19-7) Appalachian State (Pigtail Round)
285: Stephen Suglio (20-9) vs. No. 3 Nick Nevills (26-5) Penn State
Every Session Televised, Every Match Covered
All six sessions will be televised on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU and all 640 matches will be carried on ESPN3 throughout the entire three-day competition. ย Thursday night's Session II at 7 p.m., and Friday night's semifinals (Session IV) at 8 p.m., can be seen on ESPN. ย Saturday night's finals (Session VI) can be seen at 8 p.m on ESPN2. ย Sessions I, III and V can be seen on ESPNU. ย Mike Couzens and Shawn Kenney will call the action and Quint Kessenich will be the reporter.ย
All eight individual mat feeds will be carried on ESPN3 throughout the entire tournament. ย Announcers will be at each mat. ย
Live scoring of all matches will be available on TrackWrestling.com throughout the tournament. ย
Live audio can be heard on Golden Flashes Radio on iHeartRadio
Also look for live updates on Twitter by following @KentStWrestling.Tournament History
From 2009-16, Kent State carried an eight-year trend of having at least one All-American. ย It stood as the 10th longest streak in the nation. ย Ian Miller and Mike DePalma were the most recent All-Americans in 2016. ย Since 2009, six Flashes have combined for 11 All-American finishes, including two national final appearances by Dustin Kilgore, who became Kent State's first national champion in 2011.ย
Twenty one different Golden Flashes have combined for 27 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 The list of All-Americans includes current assistant coach Danny Mitcheff, who placed sixth in a loaded 133-pound bracket in 2010.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, Penn State won its sixth NCAA title in seven years.
Quick Shots
โข Three of Kent State's dual losses came against Top 5 opponents (Ohio State, Missouri, Oklahoma State), while two others came against Top 15 teams (Cornell and Northern Iowa)
โข The Flashes do have a Top 20 win against Central Michigan, a 21-13 home win on Feb. 11.
โข Junior Casey Sparkman became the 17th wrestler in program history to earn his 100th career victory against Central Michigan. ย
โข Stephen Suglio, ย Anthony Tutolo and Tim Rooney all earned Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week honors during the 2017-18 season.
โข The NWCA honored Kent State for having the fourth highest grade point average in the nation last season at 3.423.
โข Junior Kyle Conel is 26-6 in career dual meets. ย
โข 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.
โข Kyle Conel (Clarion Open), Devin Nye (Cleveland State Open) and Jake Ferri (Cleveland State Open) all won individual tournament titles this season.
Players Mentioned
