No. 1 Ryan Flores and No. 13 Matt Mariacher have been selected as
Co-AU Student-Athletes of the Week presented by GEICO following
their individual titles at the 108th EIWA Championships in
Princeton, N.J., over the weekend.
Flores and Mariacher helped lead the 12th-ranked Eagles to a
third-place team finish at the event, setting a new program record
for the best finish. AU finished fourth last year, which set a
program record at the time, and ended up coming in fifth at the
2011 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia.
Flores, the No. 1-nationally ranked wrestler and top-seed in the
tournament, won his second straight and third career EIWA title
with a dramatic 3-1 sudden victory win over No. 2-nationally-ranked
Zach Rey of Lehigh in the finals. Rey pinned each of his first
three tournament opponents in 3:24, becoming the first Eagle to
ever win the Billy Sheridan Memorial Trophy, given to the wrestler
who records the most falls in the tournament in the shortest amount
of time. Flores will enter the NCAA Championships with a perfect
17-0 mark this season with 13 pins. Click here to watch the full video of
Flores' championship win over Rey.
After drawing a first-round bye, No. 13-nationally-ranked
Mariacher posted a perfect 3-0 record at the EIWA Championships to
claim his second straight conference crown. The fifth-seed in the
tournament defeated the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 seeds -- all of
whom were nationally-ranked -- en route to the title. Mariacher
pinned top-seeded Zack Kemmerer of Pennsylvania in the semifinals
before his exciting 6-4 decision over Cornell's Michael Nevinger,
the tournament's second-seed, in Sunday’s championship bout.
Mariacher will head to the NCAA Championships, looking to improve
upon his Round of 12 finish from last year. Click here to watch Mariacher's
championship match against Nevinger.
Flores, Mariacher, EIWA runner-up Kevin Tao, and returning All-American
Ganbayar Sanjaa have qualified
to the NCAA Championship as a result of their EIWA performances
over the weekend. At-large bids for the NCAAs will be announced on
Wednesday.
