Kent State University
MAC Championships
Six Wrestlers Earn Top-8 Seed for MAC Championships
2/24/2021 11:16:00 AM | Wrestling
KENT, OHIO- The Golden Flashes will head east to Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Rider University for this weekend's 2021 Mid-American Conference Wrestling Championships.
The two-day event will start on Friday morning at 11 a.m. eastern. The championship meet will be held without spectators, but Rider will provide a stream for each of the four mats for Friday's opening round, quarterfinals and semi-finals. On Saturday, the coverage starts at noon eastern with the consolation quarterfinals and semi-finals. The championship round is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start on Saturday. A full schedule of the championships can be seen below. Links to watch can be found on the wrestling schedule page.
The NCAA announced that 35 bids to the NCAA Championships have been allocated to the Mid-American Conference. The MAC will receive four bids at 133-pounds, three bids at 125, 141, 149 and 157. Two spots have been allocated at 174, 184, 197 and 285 pounds, respectfully while one bid is up for grabs at 165 pounds.
The Flashes are coming off a strong showing on Friday, February 12th when they hosted Edinboro and Northern Illinois in a round-robin. Six wrestlers will hold a top-8 ranking in this weekend's tournament. If seeding holds Kent State would send five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.
Jake Ferri ran his win streak to 10 during the round robin and now at 10-1 is ranked 20th at 125 pounds by InterMat. He will be ranked third in this weekend's championships. Ferri is 1-0 this season against the MAC's top-8.
125
1. Drew Hildebrandt, Central Michigan, Senior
2. Connor Brown, Missouri, Junior
3. Jake Ferri, Kent State, Junior
4. Luke Werner, Lock Haven, Senior
5. Jonathon Tropea, Rider, Senior
6. Josh Jones, George Mason, Sophomore
7. Lucas Rodriguez, Edinboro, Junior
8. Tristan Daugherty, Buffalo, Freshman
At 133 pounds, Brendon Fenton picked up two more wins during that round robin and is now 7-0 on the season. Patrick Gould has seen action at both 133 and 141 pounds this season, he is 5-3 at 133 pounds and 0-3 at 141. Avry Mutschler has been the incumbent at 141 pounds, he's wrestled hard all year and been bit by some bad luck, dropped four straight one-point decisions. Both weights should be wide open with only one MAC wrestler ranked by InterMat at 133 pounds while four MAC wrestlers are ranked at 141. Fenton will be seeded second in this weekend's championships and is 1-0 against the MAC's top-8. The rankings for 133 and 141 are below
133
1. Matthew Schmitt, Missouri, Junior
2. Brendon Fenton, Kent State, Sophomore
3. Drew Marten, Central Michigan, Junior
4. Tye Varndell, Edinboro, Sophomore
5. Mario Guillen, Ohio, Senior
6. Bryce West, Northern Illinois, Junior
7. Justin Patrick, Cleveland State, Senior
8. Aaron Schulist, SIUE, Sophomore
141
1. Allan Hart, Missouri, Junior
2. Dresden Simon, Central Michigan, Senior
3. Saul Ervin, SIUE, Sophomore
4. Derek Spann, Buffalo, Senior
5. McKenzie Bell, Rider, Freshman
6. Caleb Brooks, Northern Illinois, Sophomore
7. Kyle Schickel, Clarion, Freshman
8. Josh Mason Bloomsburg, Sophomore
Kody Komara goes into the Championships at 8-4 on the season as the starter at 149 pounds. The MAC only has one InterMat ranked wrestler with Missouri's Brock Mauller ranked third. Ian Senz has been the starter at 157 and will look to close 2021 strong. Komara will be seeded fourth at 149 pounds at this weekend's championships, he's 2-2 against the MAC's top-8.
149
1. Brock Mauller, Missouri, Junior
2. Anthony Cheloni, Northern Illinois, Junior
3. Tyler Vath, Edinboro, Senior
4. Kody Komara, Kent State, Junior
5. Ben Freeman, Buffalo, Junior
6. Marcus Robinson, Cleveland State, Sophomore
7. Corbyn Munson, Central Michigan, Sophomore
8. Seth Koleno, Clarion, Junior
157
1. Jesse Dellavecchia, Rider, Senior
2. Jarrett Jacques, Missouri, Junior
3. Justin Ruffin, SIUE, Junior
4. Alex Carida, Bloomsburg, Junior
5. Jordan Slivka, Ohio, Freshman
6. Johnny Lovett, Central Michigan, Freshman
7. Anthony Gibson, Northern Illinois, Sophomore
8. Michael Petite, Buffalo, Sophomore
Only one bid is currently up for grabs at 165 pounds this weekend. James Limongi returned to action during the round-robin and went 2-1. Limongi gave NIU's Izzak Olejnik, #20 in the InterMat rankings, everything he could handle in a close loss by decision. Two MAC wrestlers are ranked in the InterMat top-20, Olejnik at 20 and Keegan O'Toole of Missouri, who is ranked 9th.
165
1. Keegan O'Toole, Missouri, Freshman
2. Izzak Olejnik, Northern Illinois, Sophomore
3. Colt Yinger, Ohio, Sophomore
4. Jake Silverstein, Rider, Sophomore
5. Alex Cramer , Central Michigan, Sophomore
6. Riley Smucker, Cleveland State, Sophomore
7. Kolby Ho, Clarion, Junior
8. Cornelius Schuster, George Mason, Junior
Andrew McNally earned two strong wins during the round-robin as he knocked off InterMat's #14 and #15 wrestlers in Mason Kauffman of NIU and Jacob Oliver of Edinboro. The wins moved McNally up to #7 in the InterMat rankings and tops in the MAC. McNally's only loss of the season came against Clarion when he had to forfeit due to an injury. He will be the top seed at this weekend's championships and is 3-0 on the season against the MAC top-8.
174
1. Andrew McNally, Kent State, Senior
2. Peyton Mocco, Missouri, Sophomore
3. Mason Kauffman, Northern Illinois, Junior
4. Angel Garcia, Rider, Freshman
5. Paul Pierce, George Mason, Junior
6. Jacob Oliver, Edinboro, Junior
7. Anthony Rice, Cleveland State, Freshman
8. Austin Bell, Lock Haven, Senior
Two MAC wrestlers are ranked at 184 pounds in Brit Wilson of NIU ranked 6th and Missouri's Jeremiah Kent ranked 11th. Tyler Bates enters the weekend at 5-4 on the season, with two of those losses coming to top-10 wrestlers and the other two coming on one-point decisions. Bates is seeded 7th at 184 pounds and is 1-3 against the MAC's top-8.
184
1. Brit Wilson , Northern Illinois, Junior
2. Jeremiah Kent, Missouri, Sophomore
3. George Walton, Rider, Junior
4. Deandre Nassar, Cleveland State, Sophomore
5. Max Wohlabaugh, Clarion, Senior
6. Kyle Davis, George Mason, Junior
7. Tyler Bates, Kent State, Sophomore
8. Ryan Yarnell, SIUE, Junior
Colin McCracken is among the MAC's best at 197 pounds, entering the Championships at 8-3 on the season. Like Bates, two of his three losses have been to top-10 wrestlers. He's been consistently #3 in the MAC at 197, behind two InterMat ranked wrestlers in Clarion's Greg Bulsak, ranked 10th and Missouri's Rocky Elam, ranked 13th. In MAC play, McCracken is 7-1 and rides a three-match win streak into the championships. He will be seeded third at this weekend's championships and is 3-1 against the MAC top-8.
197
1. Greg Bulsak, Clarion, Senior
2. Rocky Elam, Missouri, Freshman
3. Colin McCracken, Kent State, Junior
4. Ben Smith, Cleveland State, Junior
5. Landon Pelham, Central Michigan, Senior
6. Austin Stith, George Mason, Sophomore
7. Cody Mulligan, Edinboro, Sophomore
8. Gage Braun, Northern Illinois, Sophomore
Jacob Cover has been the starter all season at 285 pounds for the Golden Flashes. Cover this season is 4-7 overall and 3-4 in the MAC. The MAC is well-represented in the InterMat top-20at heavyweight, led by two top-10 wrestlers in Matt Stencel of CMU, ranked 4th and Ethan Laird of host Rider, ranked 8th.
285
1. Matt Stencel, Central Michigan, Senior
2. Ethan Laird, Rider, Senior
3. Zach Elam, Missouri, Sophomore
4. Sam Schuyler, Buffalo, Junior
5. Jon Spaulding, Edinboro, Senior
6. Colton McKiernan, SIUE, Junior
7. Max Ihry, Northern Illinois, Senior
8. Tyler Bagoly, Clarion, Junior
Schedule of Events
Friday, February 26
• 11:00am Opening Round (70 Matches, 4 Mats)
• 1:45pm Championship Quarterfinals (40 Matches, 2 Mats)
Consolation Round 1 (40 Matches, 2 Mats)
• 4:30pm Championship Semifinals (20 Matches, 2 Mat)
Consolation Round 2 (40 Matches, 2 Mats)
(Consolation Round 2 moves to all four mats once Semifinals are concluded)
Saturday, February 27
• 12:00pm Consolation Quarterfinals (20 Matches, 4 Mats)
• 1:00pm Consolation Semifinals (20 Matches, 4 Mats)
• 2:20pm Championship Finals Parade & Face off Introductions
• 2:30pm Championship Finals, 3rd Place, 5th Place, 7th Place Matches and
9th Place matches where applicable (4 Mats)
Players Mentioned
