Nominations.

How many champs have MAC teams had?

WMU had an NCAA Champion way back in the day when I was a student at WMU. My memory isn't what it once was, so the details may be sketchy. I believe that the year was 1975-76 or thereabouts.

Doug Wynn, if I remember correctly. Don't remember the weight class but in the 170 lb range in the upper weights. I think he beat the undefeated defending champ from Oklahoma in the finals. Finished unbeaten and national champ.

As a result, WMU dropped wrestling (and swimming/diving, men's track & field). I joke but it is and was tragic to lose a sport like track where WMU always was good. I hated to lose them all - Title IX screwed up a lot of things.

CMU has a ton of great wrestlers.. i believe the one guy was Wynn Mahalik?? He wrestled at 197 when Buffalo had Kyle Cerminara who was an all-american at 197..

Toledo Rocket -Greg Wojociechowski-NCAA Champ and All-American Heavyweight.

(03-20-2011 12:20 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  Toledo Rocket -Greg Wojociechowski-NCAA Champ and All-American Heavyweight.

And hard luck Olympian as I recall-made the team the year the US boycotted. Also had to compete against Chris (last name is escaping me) who weighed over 400 pounds- Wojo was probably about 240 tops. Loved to watch UT matches back then-crowd would start chanting "Wojo! Wojo!" when he started loosening up and the other team's heavyweight would just melt.

Ask the question again after next season. Kent's Dustin Kilgore just won a national championship as a JR. I don't know if the MAC ever had a 2 time champ.

Dick Wilson from Toledo was second at the NCAA's three straight years to an Olympian. He also won three AAU national championships, a Pan American Games championship and was on 3 Olympic teams. That was back when almost every college had a wrestling team and it was much harder to win.

I think its to hard to say who the best is with rule changes, competition changes, and all the other viables. I think its easier to do best by decade.

(03-20-2011 07:19 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(03-20-2011 12:20 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  Toledo Rocket -Greg Wojociechowski-NCAA Champ and All-American Heavyweight.

And hard luck Olympian as I recall-made the team the year the US boycotted. Also had to compete against Chris (last name is escaping me) who weighed over 400 pounds- Wojo was probably about 240 tops. Loved to watch UT matches back then-crowd would start chanting "Wojo! Wojo!" when he started loosening up and the other team's heavyweight would just melt.

Chris Taylor from Dowagiac HS and Iowa State.

(03-20-2011 12:21 PM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  Dick Wilson from Toledo was second at the NCAA's three straight years to an Olympian. He also won three AAU national championships, a Pan American Games championship and was on 3 Olympic teams. That was back when almost every college had a wrestling team and it was much harder to win.

I'm not sure it's any harder to win. To wrestle at Div I, you've selected down the very best. Look at it this way, every state has a state champ for each weight class, most states have more than one division, so more than one state champ.

That means you have a least 100 state champs every year at 13 weight classes. Then you knock that down to to the 70-80 schools that offer Div I wrestling, w/ only 10 weight classes. Every wrestler at that level is essentially a state champ.

I don't see how it's any easier.

I'll have to go with Toledo's GREG WOJCIECHOWSKI. He was a national champion in 1971 and finished 2nd in both 1970 and 1972. If it weren't for Minnesota's Cole Conrad, that would arguably have made Wojo the best Heavyweight in NCAA wrestling history.

Being a CMU homer, I'll go with CASEY CUNNINGHAM as second best. Prior to Kilgore, he was the last MAC grappler to win a national championship. He won in 1999 and finished second in 1998. After being an assistant coach at CMU for several years, he went on to serve under Iowa State legend CAEL SANDERSON. Subsequently the coaches moved on to Penn State and proceeded to win the 2011 National team Championship yesterday.

MAC Wrestling Record Book

A little before my time at Miami, but in those years we used to talk about Harry Houska of OU being the greatest MAC wrestler, he finished second in 1963 and was a national champion in 1964.