Three Eagles Prepared for NCAA Wrestling Championships

2017 NCAA Championships
Date	Thursday, March 16- Saturday, March 18
Location	St. Louis \| Scottrade Center
Twitter	@EMUWrestling
Live Results	Track Wrestling
Live Stream	ESPN 3
Bracket (PDF)	2017 NCAA Championships Bracket
NCAA Website	NCAA.com

ST. LOUIS (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team is poised to send three student-athletes to compete in the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Thursday-Saturday, March 16-18, at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Redshirt freshman Noah Gonser (Grand Blanc, Mich.-Grand Blanc), redshirt senior Nick Barber (Cleveland, Ohio-St. Edward), and redshirt junior Gage Hutchison (Buchanan, Mich.-Mich.) will represent the Green and White at 125, 149, and 285 lbs. respectively.

Action from St. Louis will begin at noon on Thursday with the first round, followed by the evening session beginning at 7 p.m., featuring the second round and consolation matches. Action resumes at 11 a.m. on Friday with the quarterfinal and continued wrestle back rounds, followed by the semifinals and more consolations at 8 p.m., Friday evening. The tournament will conclude Saturday with the All-American seventh, fifth, and third place matches taking place at 11 a.m. The championship matches will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

All matches will be streamed on ESPN 3, with the primetime matchups being broadcast on ESPN and ESPNU. Live results can be found on TrackWrestling.com. EMU's progress can also be tracked by following @EMUWrestling on Twitter.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
All times listed as EST

Thursday, March 16
Session I: Noon (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3)
Session II: 7 p.m. (TV: ESPN/ESPN3)

Friday, March 17
Quarterfinals: 11 a.m. (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3)
Semifinals: 8 p.m. (TV: ESPN/ESPN3)

Saturday, March 18
Championship Medal Round: 11 a.m. (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3)
Finals: 8 p.m. (TV: ESPN/ESPN3.com)

THE MATCHUPS:
Noah Gonser vs No. 12 Sean Fausz (NC State)
Fausz, a redshirt sophomore, is a returning NCAA qualifier at 125 lbs., where he went 1-2 in last season's tournament. This year, he began the season at 133 lbs., where he went 16-4 before returning down a weight class to finish the season, going 9-2 for an overall ledger of 25-6. He most recently took runner-up honors at the ACC Championships, with his only loss coming to No. 2 seeded Joey Dance of Virginia Tech.

Nick Barber vs Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven)
Barber will wrestle the redshirt freshman in the pigtail rounds for a chance to face off against No. 16 Jordan Laster of Princeton in the first round. Shoop is 38-15 in his first season as Lock Haven's 149 lbs. starter, including a 9-7 dual record. He most recently took third at the EWL Championships, earning an at-large spot in the championships.

Gage Hutchison vs No. 4 Jacob Kasper (Duke)
Kasper enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed after a 27-3 redshirt junior campaign, with two of his loses coming in duals versus Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, and the third coming at the hands of No. 3 seeded Ty Walz in the ACC Championship bout. This will be Kasper's second NCAA Championship appearance, his first coming as a 184 lbs. sophomore in 2015. He redshirted in 2015-16 while training for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Each of the three wrestlers for EMU had different paths to an NCAA bid, overcoming much adversity along the way. Here is how each one got to the big stage:

Barber: Barber earned his second straight trip to the NCAA's with a 16-12 overall record in 2016-17, including 7-5 in duals. After taking sixth at the 2017 MAC Championships, Barber got an at-large bid with his strong body of work in the regular season, as well as his 28^th place ranking in the coach's panel. Barber's 80 career wins ranks 12^th all-time in EMU history.

Gonser: Gonser became just the second EMU freshman since 1984 to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships when he got an at-large slot. He finished 2016-17 with a 16-10 record, including wins over three ranked opponents, two of which are in the 2017 tournament (Barlow McGhee and Elijah Oliver). Gonser was ranked within the top-20 of the major outlets most of the season, and finished No. 25 in the coach's panel. He capped the season with a sixth place finish in the loaded 125 lbs. class of the 2017 MAC Championships.

Hutchison: Hutchison will also be making his second straight NCAA appearance, earning an automatic bid this year after a runner-up finish at the 2017 MAC Championships. Hutchison led the Eagles with a 25-13 record, including 9-5 in duals, for his second straight 20-win campaign. The heavyweight owns wins over three ranked opponents this season, as well as six wins over opponents in this year's field. The highlight of his year came at The Midlands, where he put together six victories on his way to a fourth place finish. Hutchison also earned the quickest pin of the tournament in 10 seconds. He was ranked within the top-20 of the major outlets most the season, and finished No. 23 in the final coach's panel.

EMU HISTORY AT THE NCAA's: Including this season, EMU has qualified 57 wrestlers to the Division-I national tournament all-time. Of those 57, four have earned All-American status as a top-eight finisher. The last EMU All-American came in 1999 when Mike Feeney took eighth place at 174 lbs. Eastern's top finisher at the national tournament all-time was Joel Smith in 1989, finishing with a fifth place status at 158 lbs.

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Players Mentioned

Nick Barber

Noah Gonser

Gage Hutchison

Eastern Michigan Athletics