Eastern Michigan Athletics
Saturday, March 7
Columbia, Mo.
All Day
Eastern Michigan University
at
MAC Championships
Photo by: Steve King/KingStudios
Wrestling Gears Up for 2015 MAC Championships
3/6/2015 11:01:00 AM | Wrestling
The Green and White head to Columbia, Mo. for the 2015 Mid-American Conference Championships
Complete Notes
MAC Bracket
The 2015 Mid-American Conference Championships take place Saturday, March 7 through Sunday, March 8, on the campus of the University of Missouri. The Eagles look to build off last season's seventh-place finish, when they sent four grapplers to the NCAA Championships, including returners Vincent Pizzuto and Brandon Zeerip.
SCOUTING THE FIELD: The Mid-American Conference has built itself into one of the most formidable wrestling leagues in the nation. This year's field boasts two nationally-ranked teams including No. 1 Missouri, who is the only wrestling team to finish the regular season undefeated, and No. 22 Old Dominion.
Additionally, the conference has 20 nationally-ranked wrestlers between the 10 different weight classes with No. 1 Missouri holding a ranked wrestler in eight of the 10 divisions, while Old Dominion has four ranked grapplers, Ohio has three, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan each have two and Kent State has one wrestler ranked in the top-20 of their respective weight class.
LAST YEAR AT THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: After posting its first winning regular season in two years, the Eagles posted a seventh-place finish at the 2014 Mid-American Conference Championships, March 8-9, 2014, with 57.5 team points.
The Green and White had a second-place finish in then-senior Jared Germaine at 125 lbs., while Phillip Joseph punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships with a third-place finish at 184 lbs. Rounding out the top-five places for the Eagles was Vincent Pizzuto, who placed fifth at 133 lbs. to secure his first trip to the NCAA Championships. Then-senior Khodor Hoballah, along with Michael Shaw and Brandon Zeerip placed sixth in their respective weight classes before Zeerip was awarded an at-large bid to the national tournament.
UPPERCLASSMEN WANT BACK IN: Both Vincent Pizzuto and Brandon Zeerip have their eyes set on the NCAA Championships after making their first appearances in the 2014 season.
An NCAA berth would mark the second-straight season both grapplers would make the trek to the finals after Pizzuto grabbed a fifth-place finish in the Mid-American Championships a season ago to earn an automatic bid and Zeerip nabbed an at-large bid following a 20-14 regular season.
NEW FACES ON THE BIG STAGE: First year Head Coach David Bolyard will bring a different look to the 2015 Mid-American Championships after the Eagles lost four starters from a season ago. The Green and White will bring five new competitors who will be making the first conference championship appearances of their careers.
In the 125 lb. weight class, redshirt-freshman Blake Caudill will make his first appearance at the MAC Championships after taking over the weight class mid-way through the 2014-15 season for the Green and White.
Redshirt-sophomore Devan Marry will make his first conference championship appearance after starting six MAC duals for the Green and White in 2014-15 at 165 lbs.
Moving into the 174 lb. weight class, fans will see sophomore Austin Geerlings representing the Green and White after he moved up for the 165 lb. weight class mid-season due to an injury to redshirt-senior Colin Zeerip. Fans could also see an appearance from freshman Kayne MacCallum who wrestled
In his final season as an Eagle, redshirt-senior Mike Curby nabbed the starting role at 184 lbs. following the graduation of Phillip Joseph. The Osseo, Mich. native will make his first MAC Championship appearance after headlining the 184 lb. division the entire 2014-15 campaign.
Finally, redshirt-freshman Gage Hutchison will make the trek to Missouri for his first MAC Championship after posting an even 4-4 record in conference duals in the heavyweight division. Hutchison had six pins in his 14 wins this season, including a team-best pin in 26 seconds.
NCAA SETS NATIONAL QUALIFIER ALLOCATIONS: The NCAA has announced the qualifier allocations for the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships and the Mid-American Conference has received 33 spots, which is the third highest of any Division I College Wrestling Conference. The nine MAC wrestling programs will compete in the MAC Wrestling Championships March 7-8 in Columbia, Mo., at the University of Missouri to determine which wrestlers will qualify for the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
In addition, the individual wrestler rankings for the top 33 wrestlers in each weight class were released by the final coaches' panel rankings as well as by RPI.
After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 70 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 11. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition, qualifying event placement, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, RPI, coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
MAC Bracket
The 2015 Mid-American Conference Championships take place Saturday, March 7 through Sunday, March 8, on the campus of the University of Missouri. The Eagles look to build off last season's seventh-place finish, when they sent four grapplers to the NCAA Championships, including returners Vincent Pizzuto and Brandon Zeerip.
SCOUTING THE FIELD: The Mid-American Conference has built itself into one of the most formidable wrestling leagues in the nation. This year's field boasts two nationally-ranked teams including No. 1 Missouri, who is the only wrestling team to finish the regular season undefeated, and No. 22 Old Dominion.
Additionally, the conference has 20 nationally-ranked wrestlers between the 10 different weight classes with No. 1 Missouri holding a ranked wrestler in eight of the 10 divisions, while Old Dominion has four ranked grapplers, Ohio has three, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan each have two and Kent State has one wrestler ranked in the top-20 of their respective weight class.
LAST YEAR AT THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: After posting its first winning regular season in two years, the Eagles posted a seventh-place finish at the 2014 Mid-American Conference Championships, March 8-9, 2014, with 57.5 team points.
The Green and White had a second-place finish in then-senior Jared Germaine at 125 lbs., while Phillip Joseph punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships with a third-place finish at 184 lbs. Rounding out the top-five places for the Eagles was Vincent Pizzuto, who placed fifth at 133 lbs. to secure his first trip to the NCAA Championships. Then-senior Khodor Hoballah, along with Michael Shaw and Brandon Zeerip placed sixth in their respective weight classes before Zeerip was awarded an at-large bid to the national tournament.
UPPERCLASSMEN WANT BACK IN: Both Vincent Pizzuto and Brandon Zeerip have their eyes set on the NCAA Championships after making their first appearances in the 2014 season.
An NCAA berth would mark the second-straight season both grapplers would make the trek to the finals after Pizzuto grabbed a fifth-place finish in the Mid-American Championships a season ago to earn an automatic bid and Zeerip nabbed an at-large bid following a 20-14 regular season.
NEW FACES ON THE BIG STAGE: First year Head Coach David Bolyard will bring a different look to the 2015 Mid-American Championships after the Eagles lost four starters from a season ago. The Green and White will bring five new competitors who will be making the first conference championship appearances of their careers.
In the 125 lb. weight class, redshirt-freshman Blake Caudill will make his first appearance at the MAC Championships after taking over the weight class mid-way through the 2014-15 season for the Green and White.
Redshirt-sophomore Devan Marry will make his first conference championship appearance after starting six MAC duals for the Green and White in 2014-15 at 165 lbs.
Moving into the 174 lb. weight class, fans will see sophomore Austin Geerlings representing the Green and White after he moved up for the 165 lb. weight class mid-season due to an injury to redshirt-senior Colin Zeerip. Fans could also see an appearance from freshman Kayne MacCallum who wrestled
In his final season as an Eagle, redshirt-senior Mike Curby nabbed the starting role at 184 lbs. following the graduation of Phillip Joseph. The Osseo, Mich. native will make his first MAC Championship appearance after headlining the 184 lb. division the entire 2014-15 campaign.
Finally, redshirt-freshman Gage Hutchison will make the trek to Missouri for his first MAC Championship after posting an even 4-4 record in conference duals in the heavyweight division. Hutchison had six pins in his 14 wins this season, including a team-best pin in 26 seconds.
NCAA SETS NATIONAL QUALIFIER ALLOCATIONS: The NCAA has announced the qualifier allocations for the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships and the Mid-American Conference has received 33 spots, which is the third highest of any Division I College Wrestling Conference. The nine MAC wrestling programs will compete in the MAC Wrestling Championships March 7-8 in Columbia, Mo., at the University of Missouri to determine which wrestlers will qualify for the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
In addition, the individual wrestler rankings for the top 33 wrestlers in each weight class were released by the final coaches' panel rankings as well as by RPI.
After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 70 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 11. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition, qualifying event placement, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, RPI, coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
Players Mentioned
125
/ Wrestling
184
/ Wrestling
165
/ Wrestling
125
/ Wrestling
184
/ Wrestling
285
/ Wrestling
184
/ Wrestling
174
/ Wrestling
165
/ Wrestling
133
/ Wrestling
149
/ Wrestling
157
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