Kent State University
MAC Championships
Mat MACtion Comes to Old Dominion
3/7/2019 9:20:00โฏPM | Wrestling
Kent State travels to Old Dominion's Ted Constant Center this weekend where 27 automatic bids to the NCAA Championships will be on the line at the 2019 Mid-American Conference Championships.ย The two-day, eight-team tournament in Norfolk features 80 wrestlers seeking 10 individual titles.ย No. 5 Missouri (16-1) enters the tournament with nine No. 1 seeds.
Start Times, Live Video & Scoring
Friday's action begins at 3 p.m., with the quarterfinal round on three mats.ย The semifinals are set for 6 p.m.ย Action resumes Saturday at 12 p.m., with the consolation finals.ย The championship finals are slated for 2 p.m.
Live video can be seen on ESPN+ Friday and Saturday
Live scoring can be followed on TrackWrestling.
Projected Opening Matchups
Quarterfinal Round
125: No. 7 Jake Ferri (13-16) vs. No. 2 Drew Hildebrandt (17-7) Central Michigan
133: No. 5 Tim Rooney (21-12) vs. No. 4 Alijah Jeffrey (16-8) Northern Illinois
141: No. 7 Cory Simpson (15-25) vs. No. 2 Cameron Kelly (16-2) Ohio
149: No. 6 Kody Komara (19-23) vs. No. 3 Alec Hagan (18-10) Ohio
157: No. 8 Richard Jackson (7-21) vs. No. 1 Larry Early (19-3) Old Dominion
165: No. 5 Isaac Bast (17-18) vs. No. 4 Colt Yinger (14-7) Ohio
174: No. 5 Kade Byland (9-18) vs. No. 4 Collin Lieber (9-16) Central Michigan
184: No. 3 Andrew McNally (29-6) vs. No. 6 Sergio Villalobos (10-12) SIU Edwardsville
197: No. 7 Shane Mast (10-17) vs. No. 2 Christian Dulaney (11-9) SIU Edwardsville
285: No. 7 Spencer Berthold (15-18) vs. No. 2 Zach Elaml (19-8) Missouri
2019 Automatic NCAA Bids Available
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125 |
133 |
141 |
149 |
157 |
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4 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
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165 |
174 |
184 |
197 |
285 |
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1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
Against the Field
Jake Ferri has dropped matches against each of the top six seeds.ย His closest bout was a 4-3 setback against Northern Illinois' Bryce West.ย Ferri also stayed competitive with No. 1 seed Michael McGee (Old Dominion) in a 5-1 loss.
Tim Rooney fell to each of the top four seeds in dual meets.ย His loss against No. 3 Derek Spann of Buffalo came in overtime.ย Rooney earned a 5-1 victory over Old Dominion's Trevon Majette at the Navy Classic.
Cory Simpson scored a 12-8 dual meet win over SIU Edwardsville's Lucas Bernal, but dropped matches against the top six seeds.
Kody Komara recorded dual wins over Buffalo's Jason Estevez (4-1) and Central Michigan's Dresden Simon (6-4). Komara dropped matches against each of the top five seeds, with his closest bout coming against Ohio Alec Hagan, a 4-3 decision.
Richard Jackson endured losses against all seven MAC opponents.
Isaac Bast had a major decision over SIUE's Nate Higgins and pinned Old Dominion's Shane Jones.ย Ohio's Colt Yinger and Northern Illinois' Kenny Moore both edged Bast 3-1.
Kade Byland joined the lineup late in the season and pinned Jake Lanning of Buffalo, the No. 3 seed.ย Byland's two losses came against No. 2 Brit Wilson and No. 4 Collin Lieber.
Andrew McNally went 6-1 in MAC duals with wins over the No. 4 through No. 8 seeds.ย McNally lost to Antonio Agee (Old Dominion) in November and Dylan Wisman (Missouri) in December.
Shane Mast defeated No. 8 Max Ihry in overtime in his most recent MAC dual.ย Mast lost to each of the top five seeds, but has not faced No. 6 Derek Hillman (Ohio).
Spencer Berthold pinned No. 5 Caleb Gossett (Northern Illinois) and Ohio's Zack Parker.ย Berthold has lost to the top three seeds and No. 6 Colton McKiernan (SIUE).
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 Mike DePalma (149) was the Flashes' last MAC champion in 2016.
Missouri has won each of the last six tournaments since joining the MAC in 2013.ย Prior to that, Central Michigan had won 14-of-15 tournaments.
Last year at Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena, the Golden Flashes placed fourth of eight teams with 98.0 points.ย Casey Sparkman, Kyle Conel, Anthony Tutolo and Stephen Suglio all earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Sparkman reached the finals and placed second at 157 pounds. ย Conel (197) battled his way back for a true second place, going 4-1 over two days. Tutolo (133) and Suglio (285) each placed third.ย Isaac Bast (165) and Dylan Barreiro placed fourth, while Tim Rooney was fifth.ย
McNally Exceeding Expectations
Sophomore 184-pounder Andrew McNally (Uniontown, Ohio) ranks fifth in the nation in pins with 12.ย A transfer from Eastern Michigan, McNally also leads the Flashes in wins (29), bonus-point victories (23) and major decisions (9).ย In the final NCAA Coaches Rankings, McNally was No. 17 at 184.ย He was named MAC Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 20, after winning a 184-pound title at the Cleveland State Open.ย
McNally recently had an 11-match winning streak come to an end.ย He was also named MAC Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 7, after winning a Clarion Open title and going 8-0 in his opening weekend.ย In Kent State's win over Michigan State, McNally pinned previously undefeated Cameron Caffey.
Quick Shots
- Isaac Bast (165) has the most career wins (94) on the roster.ย Bast joined McNally with a title at the Clarion Open.ย Bast was presented with the team's Jerry Petrofes Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
- At the South Beach Duals, the Flashes topped a Big Ten opponent (Michigan State) for the first time since 2013.
- Five of the Flashes' losses have come against Top 15 opponents (Penn State, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin)
- Junior Tim Rooney won a 133-pound title at the Cougar Clash on Dec. 2.
- In November, Rooney was named MAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Week, after going 5-1 in a third place finish at the Navy Classic.ย The fourth-year junior carries a 3.833 GPA.
- Spencer Berthold (285) and Cory Simpson (141) each placed sixth at the Cleveland State Open after winning four consecutive consolation bracket matches.
- Berthold now has nine pins on the season, including one at Cleveland State, completing a Kent State comeback in the final three bouts of the dual to overcome a 20-9 deficit.
- McNally, Bast and Kody Komara (149) all placed fourth at the Navy Classic.
- The NWCA honored Kent State for having the second highest grade point average in the nation last season at 3.497, trailing only Harvard.
- Since 2005-06 (Jim Andrassy's third season), Kent State is 165-105-1 in dual meets.
Last Time Out
Jake Ferri, Tim Rooney, Kody Komara and Isaac Bast all ended their regular season on a high-note in Kent State's loss to Binghamton.ย Bast earned a 14-6 major decision on his Senior Night over Matt Swanson.ย Komara and Rooney also claimed major decisions.ย Three different matches were tied in the third period, but went in Binghamton's favor.
Up Next
Pittsburgh's PPG Paints Arena will host the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships March 21-23.ย
Players Mentioned
