LHU wrestling set for 2021 MAC Championships

LOCK HAVEN, PA – The Lock Haven University wrestling team is set to compete at the 2021 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, February 26-27, and hosted by Rider University at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, New Jersey.

When the Bald Eagles hit the mats Friday in Trenton, it will be nearly a full calendar year since their last competition, which came at the 2020 MAC championships (March 7-8, 2020). Last season (2019-20) marked LHU’s first year in the MAC as an affiliate member for wrestling and that 2020 championship marked Lock Haven’s official Mid-American Conference postseason debut.

Behind one individual champion and seven place-winners, the Bald Eagles placed fifth in their debut outing at the MAC championships last season. Two of those seven place-winners return for this year’s championship in the form of Luke Werner and Austin Bell. Werner was third last year at 125 and Bell placed seventh a year ago at 165.

Bell will compete at 174 pounds this weekend. Parker McClellan (197) is the third Bald Eagle who returns with MAC-championship experience from a year ago.

Looking to lead the way for the Bald Eagles this weekend will be Werner, who was named a 2019-20 National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Honorable Mention All-American. By way of a third-place finish at the 2020 MAC championships, Werner was set to make his NCAA championship debut before the tournament was cancelled.

Werner’s total body of work during the 2019-20 season was certainly impressive, and even more so considering the fact that he had originally planned to redshirt the season. He quickly dropped his redshirt in early December and never looked back on the way to a 31-5 overall record. Werner went 7-1 in duals and 4-1 in MAC duals. He went 5-1 at the MAC tournament on the way to the third-place finish. Last season, 22 of his 31 wins came by way of bonus point variety. Werner’s seven tech falls ranked No. 6 among all DI wrestlers last year, and he added seven pins and eight majors. He now has 87 (87-29) career victories at The Haven.

With Lock Haven back in the mix, Werner was quickly slotted back into a number of individual national rankings. This week, he checked in at No. 17 at 125, according to FloWrestling.

Jonathan Ross will also make his official return to the lineup this weekend after redshirting last season. Ross, who bumped up to 157 pounds last season, was nearly unstoppable in his 2019-20 redshirt-season. He capped his redshirt-season with a National Collegiate Open title after picking up over 50 wins last season at various tournaments.

Cole Manley will get the call at 141 pounds this weekend. Back in the fall, he was projected to be LHU’s starter at 133 and was nationally-ranked in several preseason polls. Competing at last season’s (2019-20) Southern Scuffle, Manley, who was unseeded at 133, capped his breakout performance with a fifth-place finish.

Matt Maloney got plenty of experience last season at 125 as a true-freshman, but he’ll also move up a weight class this weekend and compete at 133 pounds for the Bald Eagles. The aforementioned Bell came on strong for Lock Haven last year at the MAC tournament and he will look to carry over that important postseason-experience this weekend. He recorded over 20 wins for LHU last season.

The MAC on Tuesday released the pre-seeding for the championships and two Bald Eagles earned pre-seeds. Werner will enter the tournament seeded No. 4 at 125 and Bell is seeded at No. 8 at 174. The two earned their seeds by way of their status as returning MAC-championship place-winners. Without any other competition to date this season, no other LHU wrestler was eligible to receive pre-tournament seeds. For full pre-seeding information, visit https://getsomemaction.com/news/2021/2/23/mac-announces-pre-seeds-for-mac-wrestling-championships.aspx.

Please note, in accordance with safety guidelines, no spectators will be allowed to attend the 2021 MAC championships in New Jersey. Live video and live results will be available for the two-day tournament. Those links will be posted on the wrestling schedule page at GoLHU.com, the official website of Lock Haven University athletics, and the 2021 MAC championship website: https://getsomemaction.com/tournaments/?id=148&path=wrestling.

Recently the NCAA announced the pre-allocations and first coaches ranking for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Without competition to date this season, no Bald Eagles were eligible for the coaches’ rankings.

The MAC however was awarded 35 total pre-allocations for qualifying to the NCAA Championships. The weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic qualifier to the national championships. Outside from the individual champions at each weight class, the following qualifying spots were awarded to the MAC: 125 (3), 133 (4), 141 (3), 149 (3), 157 (3), 165 (1), 174 (2), 184 (2), 197 (2) and 285 (2).

The 2021 NCAA Division I National Championships are scheduled for March 18-20 in St. Louis.

Lock Haven Projected Lineup for the 2021 MAC Championships:
125: Luke Werner (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty)
133: Matt Maloney (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty)
141: Cole Manley (Altoona, Pa./Altoona)
149: Kollin Myers (Boiling Springs, Pa./Boiling Springs)
157: Jonathan Ross (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern York)
165: Tanner Updegraff (Hershey, Pa./Hershey)
174: Austin Bell (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon)
184: Colin Fegley (Mahanoy, Pa./Mahanoy)
197: Parker McClellan (Altoona, Pa./Altoona)
285: no entry