Eastern Michigan Athletics
Thursday, March 20
Oklahoma City, Okla.
All Day
Eastern Michigan University
at
NCAA Championships
EMU Wrestling Sends Four Grapplers to the NCAA Championships
3/19/2014 4:28:00 PM | Wrestling
All four opponents will open wrestling Thursday, March 20-22 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.
NCAA Championships Website
Tournament Bracket (.pdf)
Complete Notes
Eastern Michigan University redshirt-seniors Jared Germaine, Phillip Joseph and Brandon Zeerip as well as redshirt-sophomore Vincent Pizzuto are headed to Chesapeake Energy Arena for the 2014 NCAA Championships Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
SCOUTING THE FIELD: The 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will see a field of 330 wrestlers (33 per weight class). Of those 330 spots, 290 of them were determined via automatic qualification, while the remaining 40 spots were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee.
GERMAINE'S ROAD TO OKLAHOMA CITY: Redshirt-senior Jared Germaine had a taste of the big stage when he made an appearance at the NCAA Championships in the 2011-12 campaign. The then-sophomore posted a 1-2 record at the championships after receiving an automatic bid with a third-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championships.
After spending half of his junior season on the sideline due to injury, Germaine came out on a mission in his final season donning the Green and White. The Saginaw, Mich. native boasted a 17-1 regular season record before capping off his year with a second-place finish at the conference championships.
Germaine is one-of-five MAC wrestlers nationally ranked in the 125 lb. weight class, coming in at No. 27 in RPI rankings and No. 15 in TheOpenMat.com rankings. Furthermore, the redshirt-senior has been ranked in the top-four of the conference all season at 125 lbs. and has not dropped below No. 18 in Amateur Wrestling News (AWN) polls in the past month. The Saginaw, Mich. native posts 12 decisions, four pins and two major decisions on the season, taking down two ranked opponents.
The 125 lb. representative heads to Oklahoma City, Okla. with a 19-2 overall record and an impressive 94-41 career record while at Eastern Michigan. Germaine currently ranks fifth in EMU laurels in wins and will be one-of-five wrestlers to surpass the 100 wins mark if he is able to capture six wins to finish the 2013-14 season. In order for the redshirt-senior to get 100 wins he would need to fall into the wrestleback bracket since a straight road to the finals is just four bouts in the championship bracket.
Germaine is set to take on No. 7 Bradley Taylor of Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Championships. Taylor comes into the bout with a 17-4 overall record and a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.
THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM: Redshirt-senior Phillip Joseph will make his third NCAA appearance when he travels to Chesapeake Energy Arena for the 2014 national tournament. The Lapeer, Mich. punched his third automatic bid ticket when he placed third at the Mid-American Conference Championships, March 8-9, in the 184 lb. weight class.
Joseph is 2-4 all-time on the national stage, picking up a win in each of his appearances. The Lapeer, Mich. native has competed at the national level at both 174 lbs. and 184 lbs., grabbing at least 20 wins in each of the two seasons. This year the redshirt-senior has boasted his best season with a 23-7 overall record and a 6-1 MAC record. The 20-win season marks the third of Joseph's career, while the 23 wins are a team-best and his 15 decisions rank second on the team.
This season, Joseph led his team to a narrow 18-16 victory over then-No. 23 Stanford with a pin over Thomas Kimbrell. The pin came just 59 seconds into the match, allowing the Eagles to take the victory from the Cardinal. In the Green and White's first tournament of the season, Joseph showed his leadership ability, picking up a third-place finish with three victories and only one loss at the MSU Open, Nov. 9, 2013.
The 184 lb. EMU representative heads to Oklahoma City, Okla. with an 84-49 career record, while also posting the best season record of his career donning the Green and White. Joseph's 84 career victories rank him seventh in EMU wrestling history, while three wins at the NCAA Championships would tie volunteer assistant coach Aaron Sulzer for the sixth-place spot among Eastern's finest.
Joseph is set to go up against No. 6 Jake Swartz of Boise State Thursday, March 20. Swartz come to Oklahoma City with a 13-1 overall record after winning his third-consecutive Pac-12 Championship.
UNDERCLASSMAN MAKES FIRST NCAA APPEARANCE: Redshirt-sophomore Vincent Pizzuto will make his first NCAA Championship appearance when he heads to Oklahoma City, Okla. this week. Pizzuto posted his second 20-win season, going 20-9 overall and 6-1 in the conference in the 2013-14 campaign.
After being plagued with injury in the first half of the 2012-13 campaign, Pizzuto made it back to the starting lineup just in time to compete in his first conference championships, where he went 1-3. The redshirt-sophomore came back this season, competing as the 133 lb. starter in 17 of EMU's 20 duals with a 15-3 record. The North Jackson, Ohio native tallied 13 decisions, three major decisions, two pins and one of the Eagles' five technical falls of the 2013-14 campaign.
Pizzuto took on eight ranked competitors this season, coming away with a 4-4 record in those bouts, including a seven-bout win streak in which he grabbed two decisions over top-ranked grapplers. The redshirt-sophomore grabbed his spot in the NCAA Championships with a decision over No. 18 Matt Manley of Missouri in the bout that would determine fifth at the MAC Championships, March 8-9.
In his career as an Eagle, Pizzuto holds a 60-27 overall record with a 28-5 season in his first year donning the Green and White where he won his respective weight class in three different tournaments.
The 133 lb. representative will take on No. 13 Cody Brewer of Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA Championships. Brewer enters his second championships with a 20-7 overall record after earning All-America honors just one year ago with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a redshirt-freshman.
PUNCHING HIS TICKET TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Redshirt-senior Brandon Zeerip had to wait to hear if he would be making the trip to Oklahoma City, Okla with his three teammates after placing sixth at the Mid-American Conference Championships. Zeerip's patience paid off when he got the news that he had received an at-large bid to compete in his first NCAA Championships.
The Fremont, Mich. native went 1-3 in his first MAC Championships and posted a 20-12 overall regular season record with a 4-3 conference record in his first year donning the Green and White.
The redshirt-senior has tallied 15 decisions, three major decisions and one pin on the season, including a five-bout winning streak at the Cleveland State Open that propelled him to a fifth-place finish, Dec. 14, 2013.
After sitting out two seasons at the University of Michigan due to injury, Zeerip has been granted a sixth year and will be back in the 2014-15 season in hopes of making a second-consecutive NCAA appearance for the Eagles.
Zeerip is ready to take on No. 7 Brian Realbuto of Cornell who posted a 33-7 overall record in his first collegiate season.
EAGLES BACK ON THE BIG STAGE: The 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships mark the fifth consecutive season in which Head Coach Derek DelPorto has sent two-or-more grapplers to the competition. Last season, the Eagles sent two wrestlers to Des Moines, Iowa for the national tournament, while four EMU grapplers made the trek to the NCAA Championships in 2012 where heavyweight Wes Schroeder became the first EMU wrestler since Phillip Plowman (133 lbs.) in the 2006 season to advance to in the championship bracket.
COVERAGE OF THE 2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Fans are encouraged to follow @EMUWrestling on Twitter for live updates of the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. and can join in on coversation using #FlyingHigher.
The first session of the championships is slated to start Thursday, March 20 at 11 a.m. ESPN will televise the semifinals and finals, while ESPNU televises the first and second sessions, the quarterfinals and medal round. Digitally, ESPN3 will carry individual mat feeds throughout the entire tournament and debut a special -- Inside the Mat -- during the finals. All six sessions are available on WatchESPN.
Tournament Bracket (.pdf)
Complete Notes
Eastern Michigan University redshirt-seniors Jared Germaine, Phillip Joseph and Brandon Zeerip as well as redshirt-sophomore Vincent Pizzuto are headed to Chesapeake Energy Arena for the 2014 NCAA Championships Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
SCOUTING THE FIELD: The 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will see a field of 330 wrestlers (33 per weight class). Of those 330 spots, 290 of them were determined via automatic qualification, while the remaining 40 spots were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee.
GERMAINE'S ROAD TO OKLAHOMA CITY: Redshirt-senior Jared Germaine had a taste of the big stage when he made an appearance at the NCAA Championships in the 2011-12 campaign. The then-sophomore posted a 1-2 record at the championships after receiving an automatic bid with a third-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championships.
After spending half of his junior season on the sideline due to injury, Germaine came out on a mission in his final season donning the Green and White. The Saginaw, Mich. native boasted a 17-1 regular season record before capping off his year with a second-place finish at the conference championships.
Germaine is one-of-five MAC wrestlers nationally ranked in the 125 lb. weight class, coming in at No. 27 in RPI rankings and No. 15 in TheOpenMat.com rankings. Furthermore, the redshirt-senior has been ranked in the top-four of the conference all season at 125 lbs. and has not dropped below No. 18 in Amateur Wrestling News (AWN) polls in the past month. The Saginaw, Mich. native posts 12 decisions, four pins and two major decisions on the season, taking down two ranked opponents.
The 125 lb. representative heads to Oklahoma City, Okla. with a 19-2 overall record and an impressive 94-41 career record while at Eastern Michigan. Germaine currently ranks fifth in EMU laurels in wins and will be one-of-five wrestlers to surpass the 100 wins mark if he is able to capture six wins to finish the 2013-14 season. In order for the redshirt-senior to get 100 wins he would need to fall into the wrestleback bracket since a straight road to the finals is just four bouts in the championship bracket.
Germaine is set to take on No. 7 Bradley Taylor of Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Championships. Taylor comes into the bout with a 17-4 overall record and a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.
THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM: Redshirt-senior Phillip Joseph will make his third NCAA appearance when he travels to Chesapeake Energy Arena for the 2014 national tournament. The Lapeer, Mich. punched his third automatic bid ticket when he placed third at the Mid-American Conference Championships, March 8-9, in the 184 lb. weight class.
Joseph is 2-4 all-time on the national stage, picking up a win in each of his appearances. The Lapeer, Mich. native has competed at the national level at both 174 lbs. and 184 lbs., grabbing at least 20 wins in each of the two seasons. This year the redshirt-senior has boasted his best season with a 23-7 overall record and a 6-1 MAC record. The 20-win season marks the third of Joseph's career, while the 23 wins are a team-best and his 15 decisions rank second on the team.
This season, Joseph led his team to a narrow 18-16 victory over then-No. 23 Stanford with a pin over Thomas Kimbrell. The pin came just 59 seconds into the match, allowing the Eagles to take the victory from the Cardinal. In the Green and White's first tournament of the season, Joseph showed his leadership ability, picking up a third-place finish with three victories and only one loss at the MSU Open, Nov. 9, 2013.
The 184 lb. EMU representative heads to Oklahoma City, Okla. with an 84-49 career record, while also posting the best season record of his career donning the Green and White. Joseph's 84 career victories rank him seventh in EMU wrestling history, while three wins at the NCAA Championships would tie volunteer assistant coach Aaron Sulzer for the sixth-place spot among Eastern's finest.
Joseph is set to go up against No. 6 Jake Swartz of Boise State Thursday, March 20. Swartz come to Oklahoma City with a 13-1 overall record after winning his third-consecutive Pac-12 Championship.
UNDERCLASSMAN MAKES FIRST NCAA APPEARANCE: Redshirt-sophomore Vincent Pizzuto will make his first NCAA Championship appearance when he heads to Oklahoma City, Okla. this week. Pizzuto posted his second 20-win season, going 20-9 overall and 6-1 in the conference in the 2013-14 campaign.
After being plagued with injury in the first half of the 2012-13 campaign, Pizzuto made it back to the starting lineup just in time to compete in his first conference championships, where he went 1-3. The redshirt-sophomore came back this season, competing as the 133 lb. starter in 17 of EMU's 20 duals with a 15-3 record. The North Jackson, Ohio native tallied 13 decisions, three major decisions, two pins and one of the Eagles' five technical falls of the 2013-14 campaign.
Pizzuto took on eight ranked competitors this season, coming away with a 4-4 record in those bouts, including a seven-bout win streak in which he grabbed two decisions over top-ranked grapplers. The redshirt-sophomore grabbed his spot in the NCAA Championships with a decision over No. 18 Matt Manley of Missouri in the bout that would determine fifth at the MAC Championships, March 8-9.
In his career as an Eagle, Pizzuto holds a 60-27 overall record with a 28-5 season in his first year donning the Green and White where he won his respective weight class in three different tournaments.
The 133 lb. representative will take on No. 13 Cody Brewer of Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA Championships. Brewer enters his second championships with a 20-7 overall record after earning All-America honors just one year ago with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a redshirt-freshman.
PUNCHING HIS TICKET TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Redshirt-senior Brandon Zeerip had to wait to hear if he would be making the trip to Oklahoma City, Okla with his three teammates after placing sixth at the Mid-American Conference Championships. Zeerip's patience paid off when he got the news that he had received an at-large bid to compete in his first NCAA Championships.
The Fremont, Mich. native went 1-3 in his first MAC Championships and posted a 20-12 overall regular season record with a 4-3 conference record in his first year donning the Green and White.
The redshirt-senior has tallied 15 decisions, three major decisions and one pin on the season, including a five-bout winning streak at the Cleveland State Open that propelled him to a fifth-place finish, Dec. 14, 2013.
After sitting out two seasons at the University of Michigan due to injury, Zeerip has been granted a sixth year and will be back in the 2014-15 season in hopes of making a second-consecutive NCAA appearance for the Eagles.
Zeerip is ready to take on No. 7 Brian Realbuto of Cornell who posted a 33-7 overall record in his first collegiate season.
EAGLES BACK ON THE BIG STAGE: The 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships mark the fifth consecutive season in which Head Coach Derek DelPorto has sent two-or-more grapplers to the competition. Last season, the Eagles sent two wrestlers to Des Moines, Iowa for the national tournament, while four EMU grapplers made the trek to the NCAA Championships in 2012 where heavyweight Wes Schroeder became the first EMU wrestler since Phillip Plowman (133 lbs.) in the 2006 season to advance to in the championship bracket.
COVERAGE OF THE 2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Fans are encouraged to follow @EMUWrestling on Twitter for live updates of the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. and can join in on coversation using #FlyingHigher.
The first session of the championships is slated to start Thursday, March 20 at 11 a.m. ESPN will televise the semifinals and finals, while ESPNU televises the first and second sessions, the quarterfinals and medal round. Digitally, ESPN3 will carry individual mat feeds throughout the entire tournament and debut a special -- Inside the Mat -- during the finals. All six sessions are available on WatchESPN.
Eastern Michigan - 2018 MAC Wrestling Championships Preview
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2018 MAC Wrestling Championships 165-lb Match:
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2018 MAC Wrestling Championships 197-lb Match:
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2018 MAC Wrestling Championships 285-lb Match:
Monday, June 04