Two UNI Wrestlers Earn Top Seed at MAC Championships

UNI wrestling at the MAC Championships - PDF OF FULL NOTES PDF OF MAC SEEDING PDF OF BRACKET

March 5-6, 2016
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Eastern Michigan Convocation Center – 799 N. Hewitt
LIVE stats: Trackwrestling.com
LIVE stream on the MAC site and ESPN3 starting at noon CT Saturday.

TICKET INFORMATION

$25 all-session pass
$15 adult day pass
$10 youth day pass (K-12)
Parking is $5.
All seating is general admission. Each school will be assigned a suite for its team and coaches, and seating will be available below each suite for fans to sit where they would prefer. Tickets are available online at EMUEagles.com/Tickets or by calling the EMU Athletics ticket office at (734) 487-2282.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016 (CT)

11 a.m. Preliminary matches
12 p.m. Quarterfinals (2 mats)
3 p.m. Consolation Round 1 (1 mat) / Championship Semifinals (2 mats)
4:45 p.m. Consolation Round 2 (3 mats)

SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2016 (CT)

11 a.m. Consolation semifinals (3 mats)
12:05 p.m. Championship finals parade
12:20 p.m. Championship finals, third place matches and fifth place matches (3 mats)
NCAA Qualifying Spot Matches to follow if necessary

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Two Panthers earned the top seed for the MAC Championships set for March 5-6 at Eastern Michigan.

A trio of wrestlers will be the only Panthers returning to the MAC Championships. Cooper Moore is one of seven returning MAC champions. Moore is the second Panther to win two consecutive MAC titles. Peters won as a redshirt freshman and went on to be an All-American in 2014. He took second last year. Cabell was third as a sophomore and took second as a junior last year.

PANTHER LINEUP (NCAA rankings)

125 pounds – No. 5 Dylan Peters - No. 1 seed (take four)
Peters will be wrestling for the first time since Feb. 6. He is on a four-match win streak that includes two bonus-point wins. With 33 pins, he is sixth among all Panthers for most falls in a career. Moza Fay is fifth with 37 falls.
Peters has only lost to two MAC opponents in his career. Last year, he lost twice to top-ranked Alan Waters of Missouri, who took third at the NCAA championships. Waters is the only MAC dual loss on Peters' record. His only other MAC loss was in 2012 to Jared Germaine of EMU at Midlands.
The two-time NCAA qualifier is UNI's only returning All-American.
133 pounds – No. 12 Josh Alber / No. 9 RPI - No. 5 seed (take six)|
Alber has four top-20 wins heading into the MAC. He was the Panthers' highest medalist at Cliff Keen (fifth) and Midlands Championships (second). His season losses to MAC opponents set to wrestle at the championships have been to No. 10 Cameron Kelly (Ohio), No. 16 Zach Synon (Missouri), No. 25 Corey Keener (Central Michigan) and Emilio Saavedra (Old Dominion). Alber avenged his loss to Saavedra in a dual.
141 pounds – No. 32 Trevor Jauch / No. 25 RPI – No. 5 seed (take four)
Jauch has two top-15 wins, including a decision over the MAC's second-seeded No. 13 Chris Mecate of Old Dominion. He earned MAC's Wrestler of the Week honors after beating Virginia Tech's Sal Mastriani 10-3 at 149 pounds before dropping down to 141 pounds to beat then-ranked No. 9 Mecate, 5-3.
The championships will be the first time Jauch has competed since Feb. 5.
149 pounds – Adam Perrin – No. 9 seed (take five)
An injury in late 2014 sidelined Perrin for two years. He returned to competition Jan. 31 and has a win over 2015 Big 12 runner-up Dante Rodriguez of Iowa State. This will be Perrin's first trip to the MAC Championships.
157 pounds – No. 21 Bryce Steiert / No. 13 RPI – No. 3 seed (take five)
UNI hasn't had a freshman in the starting lineup since former All-American Joey Lazor in the 2009-10 season. He was the Panthers' second highest finisher at the Cliff Keen, taking sixth. He has three top-20 wins. His only MAC losses are to No. 3 Ian Miller of Kent State and No. 10 Luke Smith of Central Michigan.
165 pounds – No. 17 Cooper Moore / No. 21 RPI – No. 2 seed (take four)
Moore is the reigning MAC champion at 165 pounds. He is 18-1 in career MAC duals. His only MAC losses this year went to Buffalo's Tyler Rill by injury default at the Midlands Championships and No. 5 Daniel Lewis of Missouri at the Cliff Keen Invite. He avenged a loss to No. 10 Tanner Weatherman of Iowa State for his only top-10 win of the year. He is a two-time NCAA qualifier.
174 pounds – Kyle Lux – No. 8 seed (take three)
Senior Lux will make his MAC Championship debut after settling in at 174 pounds for the Panthers. He also has competed at 165 pounds and 184 pounds during his UNI career. He is 1-5 against MAC opponents this year. Three MAC opponents are ranked in the NCAA's top-10. Jacob Davis of Eastern Michigan slipped in at No. 32.
184 pounds – Drew Foster – No. 7 seed (take four)
Foster moved up a weight class to step into the dual lineup at 184 pounds mid-January. He placed at two open tournaments at 174 pounds earlier in the season. Five MAC wrestlers have earned NCAA rankings. He is 1-3 against MAC opponents at 184 pounds this year.
197 pounds – Cody Krumwiede – No. 8 seed (take five)
Krumwiede stepped into the dual lineup starting Feb. 5. He has only wrestled two MAC opponents this year. He was edged out 6-4 by No. 12 Kyle Conel of Kent State, who is seeded second. He also lost 2-0 to the seventh seed James Benjamin of Buffalo.
285 pounds – No. 15 Blaize Cabell / No. 14 RPI – No. 1 seed (take one)
Cabell has dominated the MAC this year, earning bonus points in five of his eight MAC duals. He pinned Arthur Bunce (Northern Illinois) and Andrew Snyder (Old Dominion). He earned tech falls over James Romero (Missouri) and Jesse Webb (Ohio). He beat Newton Smerchek (Central Michigan) by a 15-5 major decision. He has won 17 consecutive MAC duals, with his last loss being Feb. 9, 2014.
Cabell is looking for his first MAC title and third berth to the NCAA championships. He was third in 2014 and second last year.

MAC ALLOTMENTS
Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data. Each wrestler was measured on the following: Division I winning percentage at the weight class; rating percentage index (RPI); and coaches ranking.

For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his qualifying tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each qualifying tournament, with automatic qualifying status, was awarded a minimum of one wrestler per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA tournament spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at the tournament based solely on place-finish.

After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 9. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage.

Conference	125	133	141	149	157	165	174	184	197	285	Total
Atlantic Coast Conference	4	3	4	2	3	5	2	3	5	3	34
Big 12 Conference	6	4	3	3	3	3	4	3	4	3	36
Big Ten Conference	7	9	7	6	7	6	9	7	6	7	71
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association	3	3	6	5	6	4	7	7	4	6	51
Eastern Wrestling League	1	1	1	3	2	2	1	1	3	2	17
Mid-American Conference	4	6	4	5	5	4	3	4	5	1	41
Pacific-12 Conference	2	1	3	3	1	3	2	2	1	3	21
Southern Conference	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	3	13
TOTAL QUALIFIERS	28	28	29	28	29	28	29	28	29	28	284

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