KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Eagles will be represented at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships, as American University junior Maximilian Leete will compete for AU in the 133-pound weight class this week. The event is slated for Thursday-Saturday, March 21-23 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

NCAA Championships

• Leete is American's second NCAA qualifier since 2021 and the second for head coach Jason Borrelli, now in his third year at AU.
• The Eagles have had 92 NCAA qualifiers dating back to 1973, and one national champion in Josh Glenn at 197 pounds in 2007.
• Eleven Eagles have earned a total of 19 All-America honors.
• Leete was assigned the No. 31 seed at 133 pounds, and will face No. 2 seed Ryan Crookham of Lehigh in the first round. Crookham, who was the 2024 EIWA Champion, is undefeated at 18-0 this season.
• Also in the travel party for American is graduate student Will Jarrell, who is the first alternate at heavyweight. Jarrell is 19-15 this year and placed ninth at EIWAs.
• The action begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday with the first session, and continues at 6 p.m. that evening.
• Morning rounds each day will be televised by ESPNU, with evening rounds on ESPN. All rounds can be seen on ESPN+.

Borrelli at the NCAA Championships

• Third-year head coach Jason Borrelli is just three years removed from coaching a national champion in his final year at Stanford in 2021.
• Shane Griffith, at 165 pounds, was one of two All-Americans for the Cardinal that season, and was Stanford's first national champion since 2004.
• Over Borrelli's 13 seasons, the Cardinal sent 35 different wrestlers to the NCAA Championships a total of 64 times. In 2016-17, Stanford set a program record with nine NCAA qualifiers.

The Leete Files

• Leete, who is 18-11 this season, earned the fifth and final allocated spot for the EIWA at 133 pounds. He went 4-2 over the two-day conference championships and finished well above his seed of 10th.
• Of Leete's two losses, one was to No. 3 Vito Arujau of Cornell, the reigning World Champion. One of Leete's wins was against No. 31 Brendan Ferretti of Navy.
• Leete was ranked as high as No. 31 in the NCAA rankings during the 2023-24 season. Last year, Leete led American with 22 total wins and ranked third in NCAA Division I with 12 pins.
• This season, Leete has earned five wins by fall, and his 23 career pins rank seventh already at AU after three seasons.

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