MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES WRESTLERS OF THE WEEK
MAC East Division: Wrestler of the Week
Larry Early, Old Dominion—Senior, Oak Park, Ill. (Oak Park River Forest High School)
Old Dominion senior Larry Early at 157 lbs., went a perfect 4-0 in his bouts at the 40th Annual Virginia Duals last weekend and was given the John Graham Outstanding Wrestler Award in the National College Division for his efforts. The Monarch senior earned two ranked victories, a 9-4 win by decision over No. 13 Anthony Artalona of Penn and a 7-3 win by decision over No. 24 Justin McCoy of Virginia. He also collected his first pin of the season against Fresno State's Beau Colombini after two minutes and 22 seconds of action. His fourth victory came in an 8-3 win by decision over Lucas Cardio in the Monarchs' fifth-place match against Maryland.
The All-American is currently riding a seven-match winning streak and improves his record to 10-3 overall this season. The Monarch senior is ranked in the top-15 in all four of the latest national polls, topping out at 12th in the nation in WIN Magazine's rankings.
Additional Nominees:
Seth Koleno, Clarion—Sophomore, Clarence, Pa. (Bald Eagle High School)
Clarion sophomore Seth Koleno at 133 lbs., went a perfect 4-0 in action last week - including two MAC wins, two wins by fall and a technical fall – as the Golden Eagles went undefeated in team matches against SIU-Edwardsville, Cleveland State, VMI and California Baptist. The sophomore 133-pounder pinned the Cougars’ Jake Blaha just 1:28 into their bout on Tuesday evening, helping the Golden Eagles to a 30-13 win over SIU-Edwardsville. His other win by fall came at the VMI Quad on Friday, when he pinned VMI’s Cliff Conway with 33 seconds remaining in the second period to boost Clarion to a 33-8 team win. He won his other two matches on Friday as well, including an important 6-4 decision over Cleveland State’s Justin Patrick and a second-period technical fall over California Baptist’s Christian Nunez. The former was part of Clarion’s 25-15 win over the Vikings, snapping Cleveland State’s three-match win streak to open the dual season. The latter was part of a 30-10 win over the Lancers. Since starting the season 0-3 in duals, the Golden Eagles have won six straight dual matches and three straight MAC duals. It is the team’s first single-season six-match win streak since they won seven-consecutive during the 2000-01 season.
Anthony Lombardo, George Mason—Graduate Student, Bethlehem, Pa. (Bethlehem Catholic High School)
George Mason grad student Anthony Lombardo at 174 lbs., defeated Brown’s Bryce Rogers for a victory last Saturday, Jan. 11th. The Patriots dual with Brown University on Saturday came down to the final match. With Mason leading by one, 16-15, going into the final bout at 174, the Patriots’ graduate student Anthony Lombardo prevailed with a 10-4 win over Bryce Rogers to give Mason the four-point margin of victory. He improved to 12-10 overall, 9-1 in dual action, including seven straight dual-match wins. Mason improved to 7-3 overall, Brown dropped to 0-2.
MAC West Division: Wrestlers of the Week
Tim Rooney, Kent State—Senior, Columbus, Ohio (St. Charles High School)
Kent State senior Tim Rooney at 133 lbs., went a perfect 5-0 record last week during a dual with SIUE and competing at the Virginia Duals. Rooney started with a 12-6 win over Jake Blaha in the Kent State win over SIUE. Against No. 22-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, he knocked off Louie Hayes, 3-1, Hayes came in ranked No. 18 at 133 lbs. In the victory over Penn, Rooney picked up his first fall of the year, capping a dominate performance against Carmen Ferrante. He finished off the perfect week with two more wins at the Virginia Duals, 5-4 over King Sandoval of Maryland and 5-2 win over Fresno’s Gary Joint, a 2019 NCAA qualifier. The 5-0 week moves Rooney to 19-8 overall on the season.
Additional Nominees:
Troy Keller, Buffalo—Senior, North Tonawanda, N.Y. (North Tonawanda High School)
Buffalo senior Troy Keller at 165 lbs., won by tech fall win over Chase Deihl in UB's conference win over SIU-Edwardsville on Friday night. Keller had a takedown and three four-point near falls in the first period to take a commanding 14-0 lead after one. The senior finished off the tech fall early in the second period.
Evan Cheek, Cleveland State—Senior, Milan, Ohio (Edison High School)
Cleveland State senior Evan Cheek at 141 lbs., went 3-0 last week as the Vikings took part in a quad dual hosted by VMI. He began the day with a second-period pin over fellow MAC opponent, Alex Blake of Clarion. He notched a second consecutive pin in his next bout, taking California Baptist's Adam Velasquez to the mat in just 32 seconds. Cheek finished his day with another shortened bout as he polished off VMI's Noah Roulo via a 17-1 technical fall early in the third period. Cheek's wins helped the Vikings to a pair of team victories on the day as he moved his overall record to 26-3 this season.
Brock Mauller, Missouri—Sophomore, Columbia, Mo. (Father Tolton High School)
Missouri sophomore Brock Mauller at 149 lbs., went 2-0 last week, with both of his wins coming over top-25 ranked opponents. Mauller defeated No. 25 Alec Hagan of Ohio Friday night, 2-0. Mauller came back and earned a huge 3-1 win over Northern Iowa’s No. 7 Max Thomsen on Sunday. The ranked wins were his second and third of the season and first since the opening weekend of action at Virginia Tech. The returning All-American is now 16-1 on the season and is ranked in the top five nationally in every major poll at 149 pounds.
Anthony Gibson, Northern Illinois—Redshirt Freshman, Westland, Mich. (John Glenn High School)
Northern Illinois redshirt freshman Anthony Gibson at 141 lbs., rallied from a 4-1 deficit to post a 7-4 victory over Cal Poly’s Jake Ryan and clinch NIU’s 23-9 victory over the Mustangs. Trailing 4-1 heading into the second period, Gibson recorded an escape and takedown to tie the match 4-4 heading into the final period. Gibson recorded a takedown in the third and earned the riding time point to win his second straight bout and improve to 8-4 on the season.
Zac Carson, Ohio—Senior, Akron, Ohio (Uniontown Lake High School)
Ohio senior Zac Carson at 157 lbs., earned a 3-2 win by decision sophomore Jarrett Jacques, ranked No. 12 in the country by InterMat Wrestling, last Friday, Jan. 10 in the Ohio wrestling team’s (2-5, 0-2 MAC) 22-12 setback to then No. 21-ranked Missouri in a MAC matchup at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo.
