NIU has two wrestlers in the finals of the MAC championships. Currently in 4th place as a team.

They ended up in 4th place overall. Brit Wilson won his Second MAC Title and was voted Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Congrats, Brit. I'm expecting All American honors out of him at the National Tournament (that's top 8).

Izak Olejnik finished 2nd. He lost to a highly ranked kid from Mizzou in the championship.

Anyone hear the total number of National Qualifiers?

(02-27-2021 10:20 PM)142niu Wrote:  They ended up in 4th place overall. Brit Wilson won his Second MAC Title and was voted Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Congrats, Brit. I'm expecting All American honors out of him at the National Tournament (that's top 8).

Izak Olejnik finished 2nd. He lost to a highly ranked kid from Mizzou in the championship.

Anyone hear the total number of National Qualifiers?

They have four national qualifiers.

Wilson, West, Cheloni, and Olejnik.

Unless you have followed wrestling for a while. Most fans will not recognize how tough the conference has become. There are some top notch teams in this conference these days. By adding Missouri and a few others. The MAC is a very tough conference.
A top 4 finish is not that bad compared to the old days.

With so many conferences dropping minor sports, I am glad to see it survive.
Good luck at the NCAA's. We did manage 4 guys getting in. That pretty good for a team that always have a disadvantage in this sport.

I would love to see at least one all american this year.

Go Brit and the rest of the qualifiers.

Missouri and Rider had amazing showings

Going into the NCAA's the MAC has 3 ranked teams in the top 25. MZ, CM and Rider. All 3 beat NIU in the team score. But, the fact we have 4 qualifiers says a lot about the conference strength.

We actually ended up with five qualifiers, as Mason Kauffman received an “at-large” bid at 174.

(03-10-2021 09:36 AM)HuskieDave Wrote:  We actually ended up with five qualifiers, as Mason Kauffman received an “at-large” bid at 174.

I saw that today. How awesome is that. Hopefully, we get at least one All-American this year. Brit's chances appear good.

https://twitter.com/NIUWrestling/status/...2093006850

Brit Wilson just pinned his opponent in the "blood round". All-American honors for Brit. It's been a while since we have had an All American! Congrats to Brit and Coach Ludwig!

Britt still has a chance to get third but a guaranteed 8th. ALL AMERICAN honors........

(03-19-2021 08:28 PM)142niu Wrote:  Brit Wilson just pinned his opponent in the "blood round". All-American honors for Brit. It's been a while since we have had an All American! Congrats to Brit and Coach Ludwig!

Britt still has a chance to get third but a guaranteed 8th. ALL AMERICAN honors........

https://twitter.com/NIUAthletics/status/...4886139908

Brit won his next match too. Guaranteed 6th now. If he wins one more tomorrow, he will go for 3rd/4th. Impressive run!

(03-19-2021 10:16 PM)142niu Wrote:  Brit won his next match too. Guaranteed 6th now. If he wins one more tomorrow, he will go for 3rd/4th. Impressive run!

https://niuhuskies.com/news/2021/3/19/wr...ships.aspx

Today’s bouts begin at 10am CT.

The NCAA does a really good job of broadcasting their Championship event with the All Matches stream complemented by the Individual Matt streams.

Go Brit and Go NIU!

Brit lost this morning in the Consolation semi-finals against his opponent from Northern Iowa. He will wrestle for 5th/6th place later today.

https://niuhuskies.com/news/2021/3/20/wr...award.aspx

Way to go Mason!

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brit Wilson finished in 6th place.
MAC schools:
Missouri finished tied for 7th
Rider finished 20th
CMU finished 22nd
NIU finished 29th

All in all, this was a very good showing for the MAC. 4 teams in the top 30.

Congrats to Brit for his 6th place All-American status.

Wrestling is a very tough sport. The years it takes to get to that level are physically difficult. The few guys I know who made it to the college level had at least one injury and either use it as motivation to get back to it or it ends their career.

Great job by this sport and NIU for surviving Covid19 and finishing the season strong.

Toughest sport in college. Make weight or you get passed over. I watched the last match (125lbs)of the championship finals; guy from Iowa who was a two time National Champ. During the match announcers made a comment about the kid wearing knee braces on both knees. In the interview after he won the title he said he tore his ACL 8 days earlier and they had kept it quiet. So kid's wrestling with two bad (non-existent) ACL's and wins his third straight title. Announcers asked him how he did it and he said " we aren't wussies in our room. Go out and do what ya gotta do." I just laughed because I had just told my wife these guys ain't wussies.

Coach Ludwig is doing a really nice job with NIU Wrestling. He recruits high character young men who excel in the classroom and on the mat.

https://niuhuskies.com/news/2021/9/21/wr...nsion.aspx