MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES WRESTLERS OF THE WEEK
MAC East Division: Wrestler of the Week
Luke Werner, Lock Haven—Junior, Bethlehem, Pa. (Bethlehem Catholic High School)
Lock Haven junior Luke Werner at 125 lbs., went 3-0 in action last week. In what proved to be a busy week for the Bald Eagles as they competed in three duals in three days, Werner went a perfect 3-0 for Lock Haven. He opened the week Thursday night with a 7-0 win over Sean Carter of Appalachian State before recording a pair of MAC East dual victories. On Friday, at Old Dominion, Werner won a top-25 showdown as he edged out No. 18 Killian Cardinale, 4-2. Werner, ranked No. 15 at 125, closed the busy stretch with a tech fall over Talha Farooq, 16-1 (3:45) on Saturday in Lock Haven’s win over George Mason.
Additional Nominees:
Ty Bagoly, Clarion—Sophomore, Reading, Pa. (Exeter Township High School)
Clarion sophomore Ty Bagoly at 285 lbs., won the deciding matches in Clarion’s 2-0 weekend in MAC competition, helping them extend their longest dual win streak in nearly three decades with victories over Buffalo and Bloomsburg. The Golden Eagles trailed the Bulls 16-13 heading into the heavyweight match on Friday, and Bagoly recorded the necessary criteria for a win over the Bulls with a 4-0 decision over Nolan Terrance. Bagoly led 1-0 late in the third period but needed a takedown to give Clarion the criteria tiebreaker for total match points, a takedown he got as time wound down to allow the Golden Eagles the team win. Clarion trailed Bloomsburg 15-13 heading into the final match on Sunday as well, and this time Bagoly defeated Jarrett Walters by a 6-0 decision to complete the comeback victory. With the victories, Bagoly improved to 10-0 in duals and 7-0 in MAC matches. The Golden Eagles have now won eight straight dual matches, their longest single-season dual winning streak since the 1993-94 season.
Kolby Ho, George Mason—Sophomore, Dubois, Pa. (Dubois Area High School)
George Mason sophomore Kolby Ho at 157 lbs., defeated former EWL Champion and two-time national qualifier Alex Klucker of Lock Haven in the Patriots match on Saturday afternoon. Ho earned a fall (2:59) against the No. 30 ranked wrestler.
Shane Jones, Old Dominion—Senior, Stroudsburg, Pa. (Stroudsburg High School)
Old Dominion senior Shane Jones at 165 lbs., won both of his bouts in dominating fashion this week against MAC East Division foes Lock Haven and No. 25 Rider, winning by a combined score of 24-3. In his bout against Lock Haven's Austin Bell, Jones was ridden the entire second period, but caught a second wind and rode Bell the entire third period and collected two four-point near falls to earn an 8-0 major decision victory. Against Rider's Joe Casey, Jones continued his dominating weekend by earning another major decision victory, 16-3. Jones improves to 14-11 this season with his two wins and has accumulated four major decision victories.
Jesse Dellavecchia, Rider—Senior, Great River, N.Y. (East Islip High School)
Rider senior Jesse Dellavecchia at 165 lbs., earned a pair of 1-0 decisions this week over Edinboro's Peter Pappas and Old Dominion's Larry Early, who was ranked No. 12 in the nation. Dellavecchia's win snapped the 2019 All-American's eight-match winning streak, while extending his own winning streak to eight matches since a Southern Scuffle setback to No. 2 Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State. The 2019 NCAA Qualifier has now posted a 22-2 record, with his lone losses coming to wrestlers ranked in the Top 5 in the nation.
MAC West Division: Wrestlers of the Week
Jarrett Jacques, Missouri—Sophomore, Columbia, Mo. (Father Tolton High School)
Missouri sophomore Jarrett Jacques at 157 lbs., went 2-0 last weekend, helping Mizzou to its 18th and 19th consecutive MAC dual wins, coming at Central Michigan and at Kent State. At Central Michigan, Jacques - ranked 14th nationally - went into the 157-pound dual with Mizzou trailing, 7-10 and against a top-15 wrestler in No. 12 Logan Parks, Jacques grinded out a 5-4 win that wasn’t as close as the score indicated as he was up 5-1 until a late escape and takedown for Parks made the score closer with less than 10 seconds remaining. That was part of a streak of six straight bout wins for Mizzou as his win flipped the dual in Mizzou’s favor. He then followed that up with a dominant technical fall win over Kent State’s Conan Becker Sunday, as he needed just 4:21 to earn the technical fall victory. Jacques is now 19-3 on the season after a 2-0 week.
Additional Nominees:
Evan Cheek, Cleveland State—Senior, Milan, Ohio (Edison High School)
Cleveland State senior Evan Cheek at 141 lbs., produced a big win in the showcase match of Cleveland State's dual with Ohio this past weekend. Wrestling Ohio's Shakur Laney, Cheek claimed a 10-3 victory over his in-state opponent to notch his 27th win of the season. Cheek secured a takedown late in the second period and went on to claim four near-fall points, opening up a 7-0 lead after five minutes. He added one more takedown in the final frame to polish off the win. Laney had entered the match inside the top 20 in multiple rankings, including being listed 14th by The Open Mat.
Drew Hildebrandt, Central Michigan—Junior, Granger, Ind. (Penn High School)
Central Michigan junior Drew Hildebrandt at 125 lbs., pinned both of his opponents in home dual meets with Missouri and SIU-Edwardsville, running his season record to 23-3 with five pins. Hildebrandt, who is ranked 12th nationally by flowrestling.com and No. 1 in the MAC, pinned Missouri’s Dack Punke in 4:40 on Friday, and then pinned Gage Datlovsky of SIU-Edwardsville in 1:42 on Sunday. Hildebrandt’s wins gave the Chippewas a 6-0 lead in both duals. Hildebrandt is 7-0 in dual meets and has scored bonus points in 11 of his wins.
Tim Rooney, Kent State—Senior, Columbus, Ohio (St. Charles High School)
Kent State senior Tim Rooney at 133 lbs., kept rolling last week against Ohio and Mizzou. Against the Bobcats, he dominated Trevor Giallombardo from the opening whistle, racking up a 16-1 tech fall victory in just 2:07. Against Mizzou, he took down Allan Hart with a late takedown into a pin with just 16 second remaining in regulation to earn his first MAC fall of the year. The two victories move Rooney to 20-8 on the season and 4-1 overall in the MAC.
Bryce West, Northern Illinois—Sophomore, Solon, Iowa (Solon High School)
Northern Illinois sophomore Bryce West at 125 lbs., set the tone early in NIU’s 38-4 victory over Little Rock Friday night at the Convocation Center. West scored a 13-10 decision over Jayden Carson in the first bout of the match. West improved to 13-8 on the season and 6-4 in dual match competition.
Alec Hagan, Ohio—Sophomore, Eureka, Mo. (Eureka High School)
Ohio sophomore Alec Hagan at 149 lbs., helped the Bobcats (4-5, 2-2 MAC) earn a pair of MAC victories during a weekend road trip to northeast Ohio, as the Bobcats topped archrival Kent State, 26-17, on Friday, Jan. 17 at the M.A.C. Center to win the Grudge Match for the second year in a row, then knocked off Cleveland State, 19-13, the following afternoon at Woodling Gymnasium. Hagan went 2-0 on the weekend at 149 pounds, posting a 6-0 win by decision over Kent State sophomore Kody Komara, then earning an 8-0 major decision win over Cleveland State freshman Gus Sutton.
Justin Ruffin, SIUE—Sophomore, McDonough, Ga. (Union Grove High School)
SIUE sophomore Justin Ruffin at 157 lbs., avenged one of his five losses this season with a 1:46 pin over Central Michigan’s Logan Parks on the road. Ruffin is 17-5 overall this year.
