Wrestling Readies for NCAA Championships

NCAA Championships
Date	Thursday, March 17- Saturday, March 19
Location	New York City \| Madison Square Garden
Twitter	@EMUWrestling
Live Results	Track Wrestling
Live Stream	ESPN 3
Bracket (PDF)	2016 NCAA Championships Bracket

NEW YORK CITY (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team concludes the 2015-16 season when it sends four wrestlers to the 2016 NCAA Championships at Madison Square Garden in NYC, Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19.

The Eagles qualified four grapplers into the national tournament for the third time in five seasons. The four wrestlers competing for the national title will be redshirt senior Anthony Abro (Canton, Mich.-Canton) at 197 lbs., redshirt junior Nicholas Barber (Cleveland, Ohio-St Edwards) at 149 lbs., redshirt sophomore Gage Hutchison (Buchanan, Mich.-Buchanan) at heavyweight, and redshirt freshman Dakota Juarez (Grand Haven, Mich.-Grand Haven) at 165 lbs.

THE MATCHUPS: Each of the four EMU wrestlers will face tough roads to the crown, with each set to square off against nationally seeded wrestlers in the first round. Starting at 149 lbs, Barber will go up against second-seeded Brandon Sorensen of the University of Iowa, who holds a 25-1 record on the season, and was an All-American last year, finishing in fourth.

Juarez will face ninth-seeded Tanner Weatherman of Iowa State University, who enters the NCAA tournament with a 28-8 record. Weatherman is a four-time NCAA qualifier.

Abro enters the bracket with a matchup against No. 13 seeded Zachary Nye of the University of Virginia, who holds a 24-10 record in 2015-16. Nye is a three-time NCAA qualifier.

Finally Hutchison gets the toughest draw of the tournament, as he will face No. 1 overall seed Nick Gwiazdowski of North Carolina State University. He is undefeated on the season at 29-0, and is a two-time NCAA Champion.

ROAD TO THE GARDEN: Each of the four wrestlers for EMU had different paths to an NCAA bid, overcoming much adversity along the way. Here's how each one got to the big stage:

Abro: The 197 pounder makes his second straight trip to the NCAA's in his final season. He posted his second straight 20-win season in 2015-16, finishing with a 20-8 mark, including a 10-5 dual record. He captured the title at the Keystone Classic, Nov. 22. At MAC's, he took fourth place. Reaching the semifinals after getting revenge on No. 4 seeded Shawn Scott of Northern Illinois, Abro avenged his loss in the dual earlier in the season. He improved upon his fifth-place finish last season at the MAC's.

Barber: Barber makes his first trip to NCAA's, as the 149 pounder finally broke through in his fourth season at EMU. Barber posted an 18-9 mark in 2015-16, wrestling one of the toughest schedules of the four EMU qualifiers. His dual record settled in at 8-6 on the season, and he placed second at the Keystone Classic, Nov. 22. Barber earned the automatic bid at the MAC's with a third-place finish. His biggest win came against reigning All-American Alex Richardson of Old Dominion in the consolation semifinals, avenging his loss to him earlier in the dual season.

Hutchison: The heavyweight earned the lone at-large bid for EMU this season. He posted his first 20-win season at 21-13 in his first full year as the heavyweight starter, including 10-5 in duals action. He was the lone EMU placer at the Midlands, going for seventh place. Despite being ranked at the No. 2 seed in the MAC's, he placed fourth in his weight class, missing out on the lone automatic bid. His overall body of work, though, gave the redshirt-sophomore his first ever bid into the national tournament.

Juarez: The 165 pounder, in his first season in the starting lineup, went 14-10 on the year, including 6-4 in duals. In the MAC Championships, he made two upsets as the No. 6 seed, over No. 3 seeded Austin Reese of Ohio, and two-time defending MAC champion No. 2 seeded Cooper Moore of Northern Iowa. He fell in the finals match, locking up second place and an automatic bid. He is the first freshman to qualify for the NCAA's for Eastern since 1984.

EMU HISTORY AT NCAA's: Including this season, EMU has qualified 54 wrestlers to the Division-I national tournament all-time. Of those 54, four have earned All-American status as top-eight. The last EMU All-American came in 1999 when Mike Feeney took eighth place at 174 lbs. Eastern's top finisher at the national tournament all-time was Joel Smith in 1989, finishing with a fifth place status at 158 lbs.

COVERAGE OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: All matches of the 2016 NCAA Championships will be broadcast live on ESPN 3 throughout the three days. Live results will also be posted on trackwrestling.com. To follow the EMU action live on Twitter, please follow @EMUWrestling.

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Players Mentioned

Anthony Abro

Nick Barber

Gage Hutchison

Dakota Juarez

Eastern Michigan Athletics