Eastern Michigan Athletics
Thursday, March 15
Cleveland, Ohio
All Day
Eastern Michigan University
vs
NCAA Championships
Five Wrestlers Descend Upon Cleveland for NCAA Championships
3/13/2018 3:31:00 PM | Wrestling
The five qualifiers tie a school record set in 1989 and matched in 1996
| 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships | |
| Date | Thursday, March 15- Saturday, March 17 |
| Location | Cleveland, Ohio | Quicken Loans Arena |
| @EMUWrestling | |
| Match Notes | PDF Notes |
| Live Results | Track Wrestling |
| Live Stream | ESPN 3/WatchESPN App |
| Bracket | 2018 Bracket (PDF) |
| Schedule | NCAA.com |
CLEVELAND, Ohio. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team concludes the 2017-18 season when it sends five wrestlers to the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships held at Quicken Loans Arena, Thursday-Saturday, March 15-17.
The five descending upon The Land are redshirt sophomore Sa'Derian Perry at 141 lbs., redshirt senior Kyle Springer at 149 lbs., redshirt sophomore Zac Carson at 165 lbs., redshirt junior Kayne MacCallum at 184 lbs., and redshirt senior Gage Hutchison at heavyweight.
All matches will be streamed on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app, with the prime time matchups being broadcast on ESPN and ESPNU. The championship bouts will be on ESPN2, Saturday night. Live results and brackets can be found on TrackWrestling.com. EMU's progress can also be tracked by following @EMUWrestling on Twitter.
HIGH FIVE!: With EMU qualifying five wrestlers into the 2018 NCAA Championships, it has tied a program record for national qualifiers in one season with the 1989 and 1996 teams. In both of those seasons, EMU had an All-American with Joel Smith (Fifth Place, 158 lbs.) in '89 and current Arizona State Assistant Coach Lee Pritts (Sixth Place, 118 lbs.) in 1996.
HISTORIC MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Eagles had one of their most successful MAC Championship performances when they took third place with a 120.5 team score. EMU finished only behind nationally-ranked Central Michigan and Missouri in the team standings, for its highest finish since 2012. Eastern also qualified four grapplers into the championship match for the first time since '12, while 184 pounder Kayne MacCallum was the first individual champion since 2009.
BOLYARD NAMED NWCA COACH OF THE YEAR FINALIST: Head Wrestling Coach David Bolyard was named a finalist for the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Theraworx Division I Wrestling Coach of the Year the association announced Friday, March 9. Bolyard was one of eight finalists for the award that goes to the top coach in the country as decided by the NWCA.
THE MATCHUPS: Each of the five EMU wrestlers has their work cut out for them in the first round, as all five face nationally seeded wrestlers, with two facing the top grappler at their weight class:
Sa'Derian Perry vs. No. 9 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa)
Kyle Springer vs. No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State)
Zac Carson vs. No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois)
Kayne MacCallum vs. No. 16 Jordan Ellingwood (Central Michigan)
Gage Hutchison vs. No. 14 Michael Boykin (NC State)
EMU HISTORY AT THE NCAA's: Including this season, EMU has qualified 66 wrestlers to the Division-I national tournament all-time. Of those 66, 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 fifth place at 158 lbs. EMU's best team finish was also in 1989, when they took 24th overall.
Players Mentioned
165
/ Wrestling
HWT
/ Wrestling
184
/ Wrestling
141
/ Wrestling
149
/ WrestlingEastern Michigan - 2018 MAC Wrestling Championships Preview
Monday, June 04
2018 MAC Wrestling Championships 165-lb Match:
Monday, June 04
2018 MAC Wrestling Championships 197-lb Match:
Monday, June 04
2018 MAC Wrestling Championships 285-lb Match:
Monday, June 04