Wrestling Returns Home for Jam Packed Final Weekend

Wrestling vs No. 15 Central Michigan (7-2, 4-2 MAC) & Michigan State (4-10, 1-7 B1G)
Date	Friday-Sunday, Feb. 10-12 \| 7 p.m./2 p.m.
Location	Bowen Field House/ Convocation Center
Game Notes	PDF Notes
Twitter	@EMUWrestling
Results	CMU MSU
Live Stream	ESPN3 (Sunday Only)

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team wraps up dual action this weekend when its hosts Central Michigan, Friday, Feb. 10, followed by the season finale against Michigan State, Sunday, Feb. 12. CMU's dual will be a "Beauty and the Beast" event with EMU gymnastics at Bowen Field House, starting at 7 p.m. Sunday's Senior Day dual at the Convocation Center is set to begin at 2 p.m.

   The duals can be tracked live on Twitter by following @EMUWrestling. Full results can be found on TrackWrestling.com. The MSU dual will be streamed, on ESPN 3 with Joel Godett and Eric Olanowski on the call.

CHIP DIP: CMU enters the weekend ranked No. 15 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll. The Chippewas are 7-2 on the season, as well as 4-2 in the MAC. They own two wins over ranked opponents, Virginia and Michigan, as well as MAC wins over Ohio, Old Dominion, Northern Illinois, and Buffalo. The conference losses have come at the hands of Northern Iowa and Missouri.
   Individually, CMU has seven of ten starters ranked in the NCAA Coaches Panel. They have two grapplers in the top-10, with Justin Oliver ranked sixth at 149 lbs., and Colin Heffernan ranked seventh at 157 lbs.

ALL TIME VS CMU: Friday marks the 69th all-time meeting between the longtime rivals. CMU holds the edge in the series by a count of 57-10-1. Eastern's last victory came in the 2013-14 season, an 18-16 triumph, Feb. 13. In that dual, current assistant coach Scott Mattingly got a 6-1 decsion win over redshirt senior Nick Barber at 149 lbs.

LAST TIME WE MET: EMU fell to in-state rival, Central Michigan University, on the road, Feb. 5. Anthony Abro and Gage Hutchison recorded wins for the Eagles, who also got a forfeit at 125 lbs., in the 22-12 loss to No. 23 CMU.

EMU/CMU CONNECTIONS: Head Coach David Bolyard ('05), as well as his assistants, Luke Smith ('08), and Scott Mattingly ('14), are former members of the CMU wrestling team. Bolyard was an All-American in 2004, while Smith qualified for nationals all four years for the Chippewas. Meanwhile, Mattingly was a four-time MAC placer, earning an appearance in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
   On the mat, Nick Barber and Jacob Davis were high school teammates of CMU 157 pounder, Colin Heffernan, at St. Edward High School in Cleveland, Ohio.

CLASHING WITH THE SPARTANS: Michigan State is 4-10 overall entering the weekend, including 1-7 in the difficult Big Ten Conference. It has wrestled common opponents CMU, a 23-12 loss, as well as Clarion, which was one of its four wins, 23-9.
   The Spartans have three wrestlers in the NCAA Coaches Panel, including NIU transfer Austin Eicher (33, 133 lbs.), Javier Gasca (21, 141 lbs.), and Drew Hughes (22, 165 lbs.).

ALL-TIME VS MSU: EMU and MSU will meet for the 21st time on Sunday, with the Spartans holding a 17-3 advantage in the series.
The series dates back to the 1976-77 season, with both teams meeting annually since the 2007-08 campaign.

LAST TIME WE MET: Behind a dominating all-around performance from all 10 of their starters, the Eagles shutout Michigan State, 34-0 in a dual, Wednesday, Dec. 2. The victory marked the first shutout for the Eagles since the 2012-13 season when the Green and White blanked Itasca Community College 57-0, Nov. 24.

SENIOR DAY: Sunday will mark the final home dual for six EMU seniors. Nick Barber, Blake Caudill, Jacob Davis, Mitch Malott, Devan Marry, and Shayne Wireman will have their EMU careers honored in a pre-match ceremony.

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1974: In the 27-12 dual win over Kent State, Feb. 5, EMU defeated the Golden Flashes for just the second time in program history and the first time since the 1973-74 season.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Friday will be a "Beauty and the Beast" meet, as EMU wrestling will compete alongside gymnastics for the second straight season. They will take on Kent State at Bowen Field House.

FIVE EAGLES IN NCAA COACHES PANEL: When the first NCAA Coaches Panel was revealed, Jan. 20, the Eagles had five of its ten wrestlers ranked in the top-33. Leading the way were Noah Gonser and Gage Hutchison, both coming in at 17th, while Nick Barber checked-in at 27th, Shayne Wireman was 31st, and Kyle Springer snuck in at 33rd.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Redshirt senior Nick Barber has 79 victories in his EMU career, which ranks 12th on the all-time list. Barber trails David Wade and Vincent Pizzuto by two wins for 10th all-time. Meanwhile redshirt junior Gage Hutchison has moved his way into the record book this season, as his 73 career wins rank 15th all-time. Recent EMU Hall of Fame inductee Steve Brown holds the all-time record with 117 wins.

20-WIN CLUB: With dual match wins over Adrian and Missouri, redshirt junior Gage Hutchison got to 20 wins for the second consecutive season after notching 21 all of last season. In EMU's history, only 12 wrestlers have notched more than 30 wins in a season, most recently by Kyle Springer, who had 31 in 2014-15.

UP NEXT ON THE MATS: With the regular season wrapping up this weekend, EMU will not be back in action until the Mid-American Conference Championships, March 4-5. The weekend-long tournament will take place in Cedar Falls, Iowa at the McLeod Center.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Anthony Abro

Nick Barber

Blake Caudill

Jacob Davis

Noah Gonser

Gage Hutchison

Mitch Malott

Devan Marry

Vincent Pizzuto

Kyle Springer

Shayne Wireman

Eastern Michigan Athletics