MISSOURI'S J'DEN COX WINS SECOND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN WRESTLING
NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS - Final Bracket Results
NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS - Final Team Results
It was another historic wrestling day for the Mid-American Conference as Missouri junior J'den Cox became the 11th MAC wrestler in Conference history to win a National Championship, including the first two-time National Champion. Cox won the 197 weight class with a 4-2 win over Penn State's Morgan McIntosh Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City at the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships.
For Cox, he becomes the fourth MAC National Champion in the last six years -- joining Kent State's Dustin Kilgore in 2011 (197 weight class), Cox in 2014 (197 weight class) and Missouri's Drake Houdashelt in 2015 (149 weight class).
MAC National Champions (11):
1952 - Harry Lanzi, Toledo - 191
1964 - Harry Houska, Ohio - 191
1971 - Greg Wojciechowski, Toledo - HWT
1974 - Doug Wyn, Western Michigan - 167
1978 - Andy Daniels, Ohio - 118
1998 - Dwight Gardner, Ohio - 158
1999 - Casey Cunningham, Central Michigan - 157
2011 - Dustin Kilgore, Kent State - 197
2014 - J'den Cox, Missouri - 197
2015 - Drake Houdashelt - 149
2016 - J'den Cox, Missouri - 197
In addition, the MAC finished the 2016 season with 10 wrestlers earning All-America status. The 10 All-American MAC wrestlers were represented from six different programs as Missouri led the way with four earning All-American (J'Den Cox, Lavion Mayes, Daniel Lewis and Willie Miklus), while Kent State added two All-Americans (Ian Miller and Mike DePalma) and Central Michigan (Justin Oliver), Northern Iowa (Dylan Peters), Ohio (Cody Walters) and Old Dominions (Chris Mecate) each had one All-American.
2016 MAC All-Americans (10):
1st Place - J'den Cox, Missouri (197)
3rd Place - Lavion Mayes, Missouri (149)
4th Place - Daniel Lewis, Missouri (165)
5th Place - Chris Mecate, Old Dominion (141)
5th Place - Mike DePalma, Kent State (149)
6th Place - Dylan Peters, Northern Iowa (125)
6th Place - Ian Miller, Kent State (157)
6th Place - Willie Miklus, Missouri (184)
7th Place - Justin Oliver, Central Michigan (149)
7th Place - Cody Walters, Ohio (174)
The MAC was represented at the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships in New York City with 45 wrestlers competing in this year's championships.
NCAA Wrestling Championships FINAL Bracket
NCAA Wrestling Championships - Team Scores
MAC Programs in Top 30
6. Missouri, 74.5 points
16. Kent State, 28.5 points
25. Northern Iowa, 17.5 points
25. Old Dominion, 17.5 points
29. Ohio, 12.5 points
Central Michigan:
Freshman Oliver Goes From Backup To All-American
NEW YORK – Freshman year of college is a major transition, a year of growth, a year of self-discovery. For Central Michigan’s Justin Oliver, it was all that. And more, much more. Oliver defeated Geo Martinez of Boise State, 5-1, Saturday to claim seventh place at 149 pounds in the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Madison Square Garden. Oliver became CMU’s first freshman All-American since current Chippewa assistant coach Ben Bennett in 2010. The top eight finishers in each weight class earn All-America honors, and Oliver had accomplished that with his 6-5 win over Mitch Finesilver of Duke on Friday afternoon.
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Kent State:
DePalma Pins His Way to Fifth at NCAA Championships; Miller Finishes Sixth & Three-Time All-American
New York – Kent State's Mike DePalma (Jeannette, Pa.) won his sixth match of the NCAA Championships Saturday, capturing a fifth place inside Madison Square Garden. DePalma and Ian Miller (Oak Harbor, Ohio) gave Kent State two All-Americans in the same season for the first time since 2010.
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Missouri:
J'den Cox Wins Second National Championship at 197
J'den Cox Quotes
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Junior J'den Cox (Columbia, Mo.) became the second-ever two-time NCAA National Champion in Mizzou Wrestling history with a 4-2 win over Morgan McIntosh (Penn State) at Madison Square Garden in New York City, N.Y. on Saturday. Cox joined Ben Askren (2006, 2007) as the only Mizzou grapplers to finish a season atop of their weight class twice during their career.
Cox and McIntosh, two of arguably the most technical wrestlers in the nation, finished the first period scoreless. Cox nearly had a takedown near the end of the period, but McIntosh escaped Cox's grasp and got out of bounds for a restart. Cox and McIntosh traded escape points to start the second and third periods, respectively. McIntosh escaped with under a minute left in the match, tying the score, 1-1. At the time of the escape, Cox had just under a minute of riding time. With the buzzer nearing, Cox got both of McIntosh's legs to secure the takedown and the victory, 4-2 (point for riding time).
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Mayes finishes Third as Three Place in Medal Round; Lewis Finishes Fourth in NCAA Debut, Miklus Finishes Sixth
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Mizzou Wrestling redshirt junior 149-pounder Lavion Mayes placed third at the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships, defeating Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State), 3-2, in the third place match. Mayes closed out the season with a remarkable 32-3 record, finishing with All-American status for the second straight season. Following the medal round session, #TigerStyle sits in sixth place with 70.5 team points.
Redshirt freshman 165-pounder Daniel Lewis and redshirt sophomore 184-pounder Willie Miklus also placed in the medal round for Mizzou, finishing fourth and sixth, respectively. Mayes and Miklus are now two-time All-Americans, the 18th and 19th in program history.
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Northern Iowa:
Dylan Peters Takes Sixth at NCAA Championships
NEW YORK CITY – UNI wrestler Dylan Peters earned his second All-American honor with a sixth-place finish Saturday. After falling 6-4 to No. 15 David Terao of American, he medically forfeited his final match that gave him a shot at fifth place. Peters took sixth at the NCAA Championships in 2014, but did not place last year. He sat out most of December and January with injury and was bumped into the consolations by the top seed Nathan Tomasello of Ohio State.
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Ohio:
Walters Places Seventh At NCAA Championships
NEW YORK —Ohio redshirt senior Cody Walters (Macedonia, Ohio) finished seventh at 174-pounds at the NCAA Championships on Saturday at Madison Square Garden by outpointing Iowa’s Alex Meyer, 4-2. The match was scoreless through the first two periods and Meyer elected to start in the neutral position to begin the third. Walters landed a takedown in the third while Meyer reversed the position before regulation ended with a 2-2 tie.
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Old Dominion:
Two-Time All-American Chris Mecate Takes Fifth at NCAA Championships
NEW YORK -- Chris Mecate put an exclamation point on his decorated wrestling career Saturday morning, downing Solomon Chishko from cross-state rival Virginia Tech, 5-3, to finish fifth at the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships before 19,147 fans at Madison Square Garden. Mecate became ODU's seventh two-time All-American and finished with a career record of 115-37, which moves him into a tie for eighth place on the school's all-time wins list.
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