2017 MAC WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY ONE UPDATE
MAC Wrestling Brackets - Day One
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Track Wrestling - Live updates
After day one of the 2017 MAC Wrestling Championships, four-time defending MAC Tournament Champion Missouri Tigers have posted the early lead as the Tigers have 117.5 team points for first place along with six wrestlers competing in Championship matches on Sunday afternoon.
Missouri has six wrestlers slated for Sunday's Championship matches, including five wrestlers as No. 1 seeds -- Jaydin Eierman (141), Lavion Mayes (149), Joey Lavallee (157), Daniel Lewis (165) and J'den Cox (197), along with No. 2 seed John Erneste (133) represent the six Tigers slated for Sunday's Championships.
Northern Iowa has five wrestlers who earned spots in Sunday's Championship matches, including No. 1 seed's Taylor Lujan (174) and Drew Foster (184), No. 2 seed Bryce Steiert (165), No. 3 seed Max Thomsen (149) and No. 6 seed Dylan Peters (125). The Panthers completed Saturday ranked second in the team standings with 90.5 points.
Buffalo, Ohio and Old Dominion each have two wrestlers advancing to Sunday's Championship matches. Representing Buffalo are No. 4 seed Bryan Lantry (133) and No. 5 seed Jake Gunning (285). For Ohio, No. 1 seed Shakur Laney (125) and No. 2 seed Noah Forrider (141) advanced, while Old Dominion's No. 2 seed's Jack Dechow (184) and Kevin Beazley (197) will represent the Monarchs.
Also competing in Sunday's Championship matches are Central Michigan's Colin Heffernan (157) as a No. 2 seed, Northern Illinois' Trace Engelkes (174) as a No. 3 seed and Eastern Michigan's Gage Hutchison (285) as a No. 6 seed. Eight of the nine MAC programs have at least one wrestler competing in a Championship match on Sunday.
Old Dominion is ranked third with 82.5 points, Central Michigan ranks fourth with 72 points, while Northern Illinois is fifth with 64 points and Buffalo sixth with 61.5 points.
Missouri entered the MAC Wrestling Championships as the No. 10 ranked team in the nation with a 11-4 overall record, including 7-1 within the MAC. Missouri is seeking its fifth consecutive MAC Wrestling Championship. MAC Regular Season Champion Northern Iowa is ranked No. 14 in the country with an 11-3 overall record and were undefeated in the MAC with an 8-0 record. Central Michigan entered this weekend also ranked as No. 17 in the country.
The 2017 MAC Wrestling Championships conclude on Sunday, March 5 beginning at Noon ET from the McLeod Center on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Sunday's Championship Matches begin with consolation semifinals at 1:00 pm ET/Noon CT followed by Championship matches at 3:00 pm ET/2:00 pm CT.
Team Standings - Day One
1. Missouri, 117.5
2. Northern Iowa, 90.5
3. Old Dominion, 82.5
4. Central Michigan, 72.0
5. Northern Illinois, 64.0
6. Buffalo, 61.5
7. Eastern Michigan, 56.0
8. Ohio, 53.0
9. Kent State, 41.5
2017 MAC Wrestling Championships Schedule of Events:
Sunday, March 5
11:00 am CT Doors Open
11:55 am CT National Anthem
12:00 pm CT Consolation Semi-Finals (3 mats)
1:45 pm CT Championship Finals Parade and Face Off Introductions
2:00 pm CT Championship Finals; 3rd & 5th Place Matches (3 mats)
2017 MAC Wrestling Championship Matches -- Sunday, March 5:
125: No. 1 seed Shakur Laney (Ohio) vs. No. 6 seed Dylan Peters (Northern Iowa)
133: No. 2 seed John Erneste (Missouri) vs. No. 4 seed Bryan Lantry (Buffalo)
141: No. 1 seed Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) vs. No. 2 seed Noah Forrider (Ohio)
149: No. 1 seed Lavion Mayes (Missouri) vs. No. 3 seed Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa)
157: No. 1 seed Joey Lavallee (Missouri) vs. No. 2 seed Colin Heffernan (Central Michigan)
165: No. 1 seed Daniel Lewis (Missouri) vs. No. 2 seed Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa)
174: No. 1 seed Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa) vs. No. 3 seed Trace Engelkes (Northern Illinois)
184: No. 1 seed Drew Foster (Northern Iowa) vs. No. 2 seed Jack Dechow (Old Dominion)
197: No. 1 seed J’den Cox (Missouri) vs. No. 2 seed Kevin Beazley (Old Dominion)
285: No. 5 seed Jake Gunning (Buffalo) vs. No. 6 seed Gage Hutchison (Eastern Michigan)
Team Updates:
Buffalo:
Lantry and Gunning Highlight Day One of the MAC Championships
CEDAR FALLS, IA – Bryan Lantry and Jake Gunning will compete for Mid-American Conference titles on Sunday after impressive showings on day one of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Championships. Lantry first earned a 6-1 decision over Central Michigan's Corey Keener to earn a spot in the semifinals. Lantry won a 3-2 decision over top-seeded Josh Alber of Northern Iowa, in front of Alber's home crowd, to punch his ticket to the finals. Lantry will face second-seeded John Erneste of Missouri in the finals tomorrow afternoon. Erneste beat Lantry, 8-5, in a dual earlier this season. Gunning, a five seed, upset fourth-seeded Newton Smerchek of Central Michigan, 2-1, to advance to the semifinals. A penalty point assessed to Smercheck proved to be the difference. Gunning was dominant in the semifinals with a 9-1 major decision over top-seed Zack Parker of Ohio.
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Central Michigan:
Rough Day One For Chippewas
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Central Michigan wrestling coach watched his team stumble on several fronts Saturday on Day 1 of the Mid-American Conference Championships at Northern Iowa's McLeod Center. Just one Chippewa, junior 157-pounder Colin Heffernan, survived the day unscathed and is scheduled to wrestle Joey Lavallee of Missouri for a league title on Sunday. Heffernan was one of four Chippewas who entered the tournament seeded second. The others, Brent Fleetwood (125), Justin Oliver (149) and CJ Brucki (174), each lost a match on Saturday to fall into the consolation bracket.
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Eastern Michigan:
Wrestling Completes Day One At MAC Championships
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team completed day one of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Championships, Saturday, March 4, at the McLeod Center. EMU had a successful day, with six of 10 wrestlers still alive heading into day two, including redshirt junior Gage Hutchison, who is into tomorrow's heavyweight title bout by winning his two matches today. By doing so, he locked up his second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Hutchison will look for EMU's first individual MAC title since 2009, when John McClure won the 197 lbs. weight class.
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Kent State:
Seven Flashes Taste Victory on Saturday
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Kent State sent three wrestlers to the semifinals Saturday at Northern Iowa's McLeod Center during the first day of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Championships. However, the Golden Flashes streak of 11 years with at least one MAC champion will come to an end Sunday. Sophomore Anthony Tutolo knocked off No. 3 seed Cam Kelly of Ohio 5-2 in the quarterfinals. Tutolo gave up an opening takedown and trailed 2-1 after the first period. He took the lead with a reversal midway through the second and locked up the win with a takedown in the third.
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Missouri:
Six Advance to the Finals, Missouri in First Place after Day One of MAC Championships
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Six Mizzou Wrestling grapplers advanced to the finals of the Mid-American Conference Wrestling Championships on Saturday as the Tigers finished the first day of competition in first place with 117.5 points. In all, Mizzou won 16 of 20 bouts wrestled on Saturday at the McLeod Center, scoring bonus points in 10 of those victories as all 10 Tiger wrestlers are still alive for the second day of competition on Sunday. Senior 197-pounder J'den Cox and redshirt sophomore 165-pounder Daniel Lewis each advanced to the finals with back-to-back pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals. It will be Lewis' second consecutive and Cox's fourth straight trip to the MAC finals.
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Northern Illinois:
Huskies Return Full Lineup For Day Two
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – All ten Northern Illinois University wrestlers are still alive after the first day of competition at the Mid-American Conference Championships, hosted by Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center. In the pigtail rounds, Alijah Jeffery and Caleb Gossett walked away victorious and qualified for the quarterfinals. Jeffery, at 133-pounds, held his opponent scoreless to win in a 4-0 decision. At 285, Gossett had an early takedown to take the lead and never looked back as he was awarded bonus points in a 6-1 decision.
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Northern Iowa:
Five Panthers In The Hunt For MAC Titles
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- No. 27 Dylan Peters has a shot at his second MAC title at 125 pounds. In his first match of the day, he notched his 38th career fall to move ahead of Moza Fay on the Panthers' all-time list for career falls. Peters is third in the nation for career falls among all active Division I wrestlers. He is now fifth among all UNI wrestlers. Peters won the MAC as a redshirt freshman in 2014 and was second the last two years. Joey Lazor and Cooper Moore are the only two Panthers who have won two titles. Peters, a two-time All-American was seeded sixth coming into the MAC Championships.
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Ohio:
Bobcats Finish Day One Of MAC Wrestling Championships
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Ohio sophomore Shakur Laney and redshirt junior Noah Forrider advanced to the championship round of the Mid-American Conference Championships Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Laney took his quarterfinal match over Old Dominion’s Steven Simpson in a 11-4 decision and took his semifinal matchup over Eastern Michigan’s Noah Gosner in a 6-4 decision en route to the championship match in the 125-class. Laney will face Northern Iowa’s Dylan Peters in the championship match on Sunday.
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Old Dominion:
Dechow and Beazley Advance To MAC Championship Finals
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Old Dominion wrestlers Jack Dechow and Kevin Beazley punched their tickets to the MAC Championship finals as well as the 2017 NCAA Championships, as both veteran Monarchs went 2-0 at the University of Northern Iowa's McLeod Center on Saturday. The pair will wrestle back-to-back in the conference finals tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN3. Jack Dechow started the tournament with a dominant 15-3 major decision over Eastern Michigan's Kayne MacCallum in the quarterfinals. In Saturday afternoon's semi-finals, Dechow converted a second period flurry into a takedown to top longtime rival Jordan Ellingwood of Central Michigan, 3-2, in a rematch of the 2016 MAC finals at 184. Dechow, now a four-time MAC finalist, will look for his third conference crown against Northern Iowa's top-seeded Drew Foster in tomorrow's championship finals and has already guaranteed himself a bid to the 2017 NCAA Championships to be held March 16-18 in St. Louis.
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