Kent State University
Mid-American Conference Championships
NCAA Spots Up For Grabs This Weekend at MAC Championships
3/2/2017 3:07:00 PM | Wrestling
Kent State travels to Northern Iowa's McLeod Center this weekend where 37 automatic bids to the NCAA Championships will be on the line at the 2017 Mid-American Conference Championships. The two-day, nine-team tournament in Cedar Falls features 90 wrestlers seeking 10 individual titles.
"I think we wrestled as well as we have all year against Old Dominion," Head Coach Jim Andrassy said of the Golden Flashes' most recent competition. "And this is about peaking at the right time. Now it's a matter of who can go out there and upset some guys to get a spot in the national tournament."
Start Times, Live Video & Scoring
Saturday's action begins at noon Eastern (11 Central) with the No. 8 and 9 seeds in the opening pigtail round. Live video on ESPN3 begins at 1 p.m. Eastern during the quarterfinal round.
Action on Sunday begins at 1 p.m. Eastern with the consolation semifinals. Coverage on ESPN3 begins at 2 p.m. Eastern with finals slated for 2:45. Live scoring of all matches will be available on TrackWrestling.com throughout the tournament.
Projected Opening Matchups
Pigtail Round
125: Cory Simpson (10-20) vs. Steve Simpson (5-20) Old Dominion
141: Chance Driscoll (19-15) vs. Jake Hodges (9-10) Northern Iowa
149: Tim Rooney (16-22) vs. Kade Kowalski (5-9) Ohio
184: Shane Mast (13-13) vs. Dontae McGee (8-9) Ohio
Quarterfinal Round
133: No. 6 Anthony Tutolo (18-5) vs. No. 3 Cam Kelly (20-8) Ohio
157: No. 4 Casey Sparkman (22-10) vs. No. 5 Cullen Cummings (11-15) Ohio
165: No. 7 Isaac Bast (9-14) vs. No. 2 Bruce Steiert (17-3) Northern Iowa
174: No. 6 Jerald Spohn (14-15) vs. No. 3 Trace Engelkes (17-3) Northern Illinois
197: No. 5 Stephen Suglio (19-16) vs. No. 4 Austin Severn (21-8) Central Michigan
285: No. 7 Devin Nye (17-17) vs. No. 2 Austin Myers (12-12) Missouri
Automatic NCAA Bids Available
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133 |
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157 |
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184 |
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The Opponents
The final NWCA Coaches Poll includes three MAC Teams: No. 10 Missouri (11-4), No. 14 Northern Iowa (11-3) and No. 17 Central Michigan (9-3).
MAC Tourney History
Since the MAC Championships began in 1952, Kent State has won 10 tournament titles, including six straight from 1977-82 under Head Coach Ron Gray.  The Golden Flashes have had at least one individual MAC champion in each of the last 11 seasons with 119 total conference champions since 1952. As a team, Kent State has finished second 26 times, including seven of the last 11 seasons. Central Michigan has won 14 of the last 19 tournaments, but Missouri has won each of the last four since joining in 2013.
Last year at Eastern Michigan, Mike DePalma won a 149-pound MAC title as the Golden Flashes placed fourth. Three Flashes earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, while two others later earned at-large bids. Missouri won its fourth straight tournament title with 127.5 points. Central Michigan and Ohio placed second and third respectively with the Flashes just a half point behind the Bobcats. Anthony Tutolo and Devin Nye are the Flashes' two lone returners from the 2016 MAC Championships.
Quick Shots
- Cory Simpson and Isaac Bast each earned their first career MAC dual victory at Old Dominion on Feb. 19.
- Jerald Spohn went down a weight class to 174 for the first time all season at Old Dominion and earned an 11-2 major decision.
- Devin Nye leads the team with eight pins, while Casey Sparkman and Stephen Suglio each have seven wins by tech fall.
- The Flashes' eight straight years with at least one All-American is the 10th longest active streak in the nation.
- The Golden Flashes do not have a single senior on their roster
- Kent State concluded its 2015-16 season with a 16th place finish at the NCAA Championships and two All-Americans.
- The NWCA honored Kent State for having the fifth highest grade point average in the nation last season at 3.325.
- Nine Flashes placed in the Top 6 spots at the Navy Classic (Nov. 19).
- The Flashes finished second of 15 teams at the Lock Haven Classic (Dec. 19) that included four top four finishes.
- Since Head Coach Jim Andrassy's third season (2005-06), the Golden Flashes have gone 145-81 in dual meets and 48-23-1 in MAC dual meets.Â
Three Scholar Athletes of the Week
In January, junior Chance Driscoll (Aurora, Ohio) gave Kent State wrestling its third Mid-American Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Week honor in just over a month's span. The 141-pounder went 4-0 at the Virginia Duals. An economics major, Driscoll carries a 3.63 cumulative grade point average.Â
Two weeks earlier, redshirt freshman Tim Rooney earned MAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Week honors. An exercise science major, Rooney carries a 3.9 cumulative GPA.
The award also went to sophomore Anthony Tutolo in December. A communications major, Tutolo carries a 3.6 GPA.
Up Next
The Scottrade Center in St. Louis will play host to the 2017 NCAA Championships March 16-18. The NCAA will release its 33-men brackets on Wednesday, March 8.
Players Mentioned
