AUeagles.com Live Blog
Complete EIWA Notes
Princeton's Live Video Broadcast
The No. 12 American University wrestling team is set to compete in the 108th EIWA Championships this Saturday and Sunday, March 3-4 at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J. The tournament will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and will conclude with the championship round at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Expectations are high for the Eagles at this year's tournament coming off a program-record fourth place finish at last year's EIWA Championships with three champions.
AUeagles.com will host a live interactive blog all tournament long, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and running through Sunday's finals. Fans are encouraged to comment and following will keep supporters up-to-date with all the action in Princeton. Click here for the direct link to the live blog's homepage.
"We're really excited once again for this live blog as our seniors take the mat for the last time at the EIWA Championships," commented Head Coach Teague Moore. "The EIWAs are a crucial event on our calendar and to be able to bring our alumni and friends of the program this kind of real-time access and information is really cool. We hope that many of our supporters can join the conversation like they did last time and any comments of encouragement that are posted on the blog will be passed on directly to our wrestlers throughout the weekend."
What to Watch For
American is currently projected to finish fifth at the tournament, which would mark the third-straight year that the Eagles would earn at least a top-five team result.
Individually, senior
Ryan Flores is the defending EIWA champion at heavyweight and will look to continue his perfect season. The national runner-up a season ago has been the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the country for 14 straight weeks and has a 13-0 record this season with 10 falls. He is preseeded No. 1 in the tournament.
Classmate
Ganbayar Sanjaa, a returning All-American, sits at No. 3 in the country at 157 lbs. He is 18-2 on the season with four major decisions, three falls, and one technical fall. Sanjaa placed fourth last year at the EIWAs at 149 lbs., and is preseeded No. 2.
Defending EIWA Champion
Matt Mariacher enters the tournament as the No. 13-ranked wrestler in the country at 141 lbs. The NCAA Round of 12 qualifier last season leads AU with 20 victories this year. Mariacher is slotted to place fourth in the 141 lbs. preseeds.
How to Follow
AUeagles.com will be hosting a live interactive blog from mat-side at Jadwin Gym, which can be accessed by
clicking here. It will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday and run through the tournament's conclusion on Sunday afternoon. Visit AUeagles.com for the direct link. Additionally, AU wrestling fans can follow the action on Twitter
@AU_Wrestling.
NCAA Qualifying
The EIWA Championships will serve as American's qualifying tournament into the NCAA Championships. This year, a total of 46 automatic qualifiers have been allocated to the EIWA, which is the second most among all conferences behind only the Big Ten. Each weight class has been assigned a specific number of automatic qualifiers based upon each individual's Div. I winning percentage, RPI and the NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings. The remaining 40 at-large qualifiers will be chosen after all qualifying tournaments have been completed and will be announced on March 7. The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in person to determine these at-large bids.
Automatic Bids
The EIWA was awarded 46 automatic bids to the 2012 NCAA Championships, second-most only to the Big Ten which received 74 automatic bids.
Weight Bids AU's Lineup (Preseed*) 2011-12 Record
125 lbs. - 3 Thomas Williams (4) 17-10
133 lbs. - 5 Corey Borshoff (N/A) 3-9
141 lbs. - 6 Matt Mariacher (5) 20-7
149 lbs. - 6 Kevin Tao (8) 15-13
157 lbs. - 6 Ganbayar Sanjaa (2) 18-2
165 lbs. - 4 Sean McCarty (N/A) 11-11
174 lbs. - 4 Phillip Barreiro (N/A) 8-18
184 lbs. - 4 Thomas Barreiro (N/A) 12-19
197 lbs. - 5 Daniel Mitchell (4) 17-7
285 lbs. - 3 Ryan Flores (1) 13-0
* Based on the EIWA's consensus preseeds, released on March 1
High Expectations
American is projected to finish fifth at the 108th EIWA Championships behind defending team champion Cornell, Lehigh, Rutgers, and Penn. American finished a program-best fourth at last year's tournament, building the momentum en route to a fifth-place team finish at the 2011 NCAA Championships.
Owning the Podium
AU returns two defending EIWA Champions for this year's event -- No. 1 heavyweight
Ryan Flores and No. 13
Matt Mariacher at 141 lbs. Current Volunteer Assistant Coach
Steve Fittery was AU's third champion, taking the title at 157 lbs. a year ago. The Eagles also return No. 3-nationally ranked
Ganbayar Sanjaa at 157 lbs., who finished fourth last year at 149 lbs., along with
Daniel Mitchell, the third-place recipient at 197 lbs. a season ago.
Chasing Perfection
Flores has been the No. 1 nationally-ranked heavyweight for the last 14 weeks. The returning national runner-up, All-American, and NWCA Academic All-American has posted a perfect 13-0 record this season with 10 falls. The senior from Clovis, Calif., has captured two EIWA titles in his career, which came last season as well as in 2009 when he attended Columbia. Flores is preseeded as the No. 1 heavyweight wrestler at this year's tournament.
Flores and Rey to Meet Again?
Flores and Lehigh's Zach Rey, the current No. 2-ranked heavyweight and defending national champion, squared off four times last season, including on the biggest stage in college wrestling at the NCAA Championships. Rey won the first two matchups, a 5-2 decision at Midlands and a 5-3 decision in a dual meet at Lehigh. Flores got the better end of it in the EIWA Championship bout, a 4-2 overtime decision to win the title, although Rey earned a tight 2-1 decision in the national championship match in Philadelphia in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN.
National Recognition
On the heels of the program-record fifth place finish at the 2011 NCAA Championships, the Eagles have been ranked in the top-12 all season long in InterMat's tournament-strength rankings. AU has climbed to as high as No. 7 in the polls.
NCAA Outlook
Last week, the NCAA released the final coaches' panel rankings and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2011-12 season, two of the criteria for selecting at-large bids for the upcoming NCAA Championships. Flores was tabbed as the No. 1 heavyweight in the coaches' panel rankings, while Sanjaa was No. 2 in the RPI and No. 3 in the coaches' poll. Other Eagles to find spots in the rankings included Mariacher (No. 14 in RPI, No. 14 in coaches' panel), Mitchell (No. 10 in RPI, No. 18 in coaches' panel), Williams (No. 28 in RPI, No. 32 in coaches' panel), and Tao (No. 32 in coaches' panel).
Twice as Nice
Flores and Sanjaa were both selected to compete in the 2011 NWCA All-Star Classic this past November, marking the first time in program history that multiple wrestlers have participated in the prestigious event. For the second straight year, Flores picked up a victory at the event, defeating then No. 6 Spencer Myers of Maryland, 11-2. Sanjaa, meanwhile, dropped a tight 8-5 decision to No. 3 Jason Welch of Northwestern.
New Face of American Wrestling
Moore is in his first season at the helm of the AU wrestling, taking over for last year's NWCA National Coach of the Year Mark Cody. Moore, formerly the head coach at Clarion, was named the PSAC Coach of the Year last season. He has experience with the EIWA as he served as an assistant coach at Harvard in 2005-06 in a season, where the Crimson crowned two EIWA Champions and registered four total finalists. Moore graduated from Oklahoma State in 1999, and was crowned the 1998 National Champion and earned All-America status three times in his wrestling career.
Click here to read the complete EIWA notes.
