25th-ranked Lycoming tied for 4th in MAC poll
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With two of the top 10 wrestlers in Division III in their respective weight classes, the 25th-ranked Lycoming College wrestling team will head into the 2023 MAC Wrestling Championship projected to finish tied for fourth in a pre-championship poll conducted by the league's coaches, the conference office in Annville announced on Tuesday.
Junior 197-pounder Gable Crebs, a Montoursville graduate, is ranked ninth in the country heading into the MAC Championships, two spots behind York's Cam Farrow. The pair are the only nationally-ranked grapplers from the MAC in the weight class.
Senior heavyweight Connor Fulmer is ranked third in the country and is the top-ranked MAC grappler in his weight class. Alvernia's Palmer Rodenhaber is ranked ninth and is the only other MAC heavyweight ranked.
Live results and video coverage will be available on the championship central page. The entire championship can be followed by live results, but only the championship bouts will have live video coverage on MACtv.
The brackets will be released after weigh-ins on Saturday morning prior to the start of the championship.
Heading into this year's championship, four teams are currently ranked in the NWCA Division III Tournament Team Rankings (and also make up the top four slots in the poll) including Stevens (No. 3), Alvernia (No. 17), York (No. 23) and Lycoming (No. 25). Delaware Valley tied with the Warriors for fourth in the pre-championship poll ahead of Wilkes, Messiah and King's, who round out the poll.
A total of 12 conference wrestlers are currently ranked across eight weight classes by the NWCA, including:
125: 3. Luke Hoerle (Stevens); 14. Jared Kuhns (York)
133: 7. Dalton Rohrbaugh (York); 15. Nico Diaz (Sevens)
141: 3. Kyle Slendorn (Stevens)
149: 3. Hunter Gutierrez (Stevens)
165: 2. Matt Lackman (Alvernia)
174: 3. Stefan Major (Stevens)
197: 7. Cam Farrow (York); 9. Gable Crebs (Lycoming)
285: 3. John Fulmer (Lycoming); 9. Palmer Rodenhaber (Alvernia)
It is the 76th MAC Wrestling Championship dating back to the first championship in 1936. There was no championship from 1944-46 due to World War II, and from 2007-13 the MAC did not sponsor wrestling. The 2019 (Winter Storm Harper) and 2021 (COVID-19) championship were both canceled.
Delaware Valley and Lycoming lead all current and former conference members with 15 conference wrestling team titles each. Wilkes is third with 14 titles. The Aggies won four-straight (2002-06) titles. Since 1977, Lycoming and Delaware Valley have combined for 28 of the 32 titles. From 1966-75, Wilkes won seven-straight titles. The only other team to claim that many consecutive titles was former MAC member Gettysburg College from 1949-55.
Lycoming leads all schools with 113 individual MAC titles, while Delaware Valley has 111. Wilkes has 67 individual titles to tie Gettysburg for third, Messiah has 44 and King's has 19. In two championship appearance, Stevens collected two team titles and 10 individual titles.
The 2023 MAC Wrestling Championship merchandise is now available on SquadLocker! Fans can order their MAC Championship gear and have it shipped directly to their homes. Available merchandise includes casual and performance t-shirts (short- and long-sleeve), tank-tops, sweatshirts, hoodies and more. There will be no merchandise sold at the site of competition.