McNally, Rooney Earn Pre-Season MAC Rankings
10/30/2019 4:28:00 PM | Wrestling
KENT, OHIO-Senior Tim Rooney and junior Andrew McNally both ranked third in their respective weight classes as the Mid-American Conference released its preseason rankings Wednesday morning, and placed Kent State at 11th. out of 15 teams.
Last season saw Tim Rooney go 24-15 on the season with eight dual wins. Rooney won the Cougar Clash at 133 pounds and later went 5-1 and finished third at the Navy Classic. That latter performance earned Rooney the Mid-American Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Week. Â The fifth-year senior earned an automatic NCAA bid by placing third at MAC championships, going 3-1 with a pin and was named to academic All-MAC team.
Andrew McNally won the 184-pound title at Clarion open after going 5-0 with three pins and a major decision. He earned MAC wrestler of the week after an 8-0 week that included seven bonus point wins and 3-0 mark at the Kent State duals in debut with the Golden Flashes. McNally came on strong at the end of the season after earning a trip to the NCAA tournament with a 3-1 showing at the MAC Championships. McNally has slimmed down this season and will be wrestling at 174 to start the season.
This 2019-20 season the MAC welcomes seven new teams to the conference, with Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Rider, George Mason and Cleveland State all joining the MAC from the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) making the MAC the second largest NCAA Division I Wrestling conference.Â
Kent State Wrestling will kick things off Saturday November 2nd at 1pm for the Kent State Duals against Edinboro, Mercyhurst North East, and Ashland. The dual will start with the Edinboro Fighting Scots, one of the new editions to the Mid-American Conference, the match with the Fighting Scots will count towards the MAC standings. Edinboro was picked ninth in the pre-season poll, which can be viewed below.Â
2019-20 MAC November Rankings
1.        Missouri (41.0)
2.        Old Dominion (32.0)
3.        Lock Haven (24.0)
4.        Rider (20.0)
5.        Central Michigan (14.0)
6.        Northern Illinois (13.0)
7.        Clarion (12.5)
8.        Buffalo (11.0)
9.        Edinboro (10.0)
10.       Ohio (8.5)
11.       Kent State (8.0)
t-12.     George Mason (5.5)
t-12.     SIUE (5.5)
14.       Cleveland State (3.0)
15.       Bloomsburg (2.0)
Players Mentioned
