Wrestling primed and ready for the weekend's NCAA Super Region 1 Championships

Saturday, February 23

Erie, Pa

10:00 AM

Millersville University

NCAA Super Region 1 Championships

Wrestling primed and ready for the weekend's NCAA Super Region 1 Championships

2/20/2019 3:00:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Ryan Small, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

MILLERSVILLE WRESTLING MATCHDAY INFORMATION
DATE	TIME	LOCATION	LIVE VIDEO	LIVE STATS
Saturday, Feb. 23	9 a.m.	Erie, Pa. Mercyhurst Athletic Center	Watch	F ollow
Social Media: Instagram (@VilleMarauders), Twitter (@VilleMarauders), Facebook (MillersvilleAthletics)
		Record: 4-8, 1-7 PSAC Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Coaches
		TOURNAMENT CENTRAL \| DIRECTIONS $15 Adult All Day Pass $10 Student/Senior All Day Pass $10 Adult admission Ticket (Championship Session) $7 Student/Senior Ticket (Championship Session)

ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
• Led by Shane Ruhnke (165), the 25th-ranked Millersville University wrestling team travels to Mercyhurst University for the NCAA Division II Super Region 1 Championships on Saturday, Feb. 23. The Marauders are coming off a win over Franklin & Marshall that regained the Rupp Cup. The Marauders now switch back to the tournament environment after wrestling in eight straight duals.
• Millersville is heading into the championships on a two-match winning streak. The last time the Marauders finished the regular season with two consecutive wins was in the 2007-08 season when they picked up victories against Princeton and Franklin & Marshall.
• In the individual regional rankings, the Marauders have five wrestlers ranked. Ruhnke holds the top spot in the 165-pound weight class with senior Colton Dull earning the No. 2 spot at 197. Freshman Ryan McGuire is making his collegiate debut in the postseason and enters ranked third at 133. At 285, redshirt senior David Wuestner is appearing in his third regional tournament. He is ranked fourth. Junior Evan Morrill is making his third career appearance at the super regional and is ranked sixth at the 184-pound weight class.
• Ruhnke finished third at last season's super regional, earning Millersville's first NCAA Championships qualifier at the Division II level. Ruhnke is primed for another postseason run after winning the PSAC Championships and "Shorty" Hitchcock Memorial Classic. Ruhnke won 20 matches and has a team-high 10 pins including three in his last four matches. Since the David H. Lehman Open on Jan. 5, Ruhnke has totaled eight pins. In a tournament environment, Ruhnke owns an 11-1 record with his only loss coming in the championship match of the David H. Lehman Open against Rich Durso of Malvern Wrestling.
• After a mid-season injury, Dull has returned to form. Dull finished the regular season with a 10-5 record and a team-high six technical falls. When healthy, Dull was able to go deep in tournaments as he placed second at the conference championships.
• McGuire has shown promise in his first collegiate season, recording an 18-10 record and a 10-6 tournament record. McGuire's tournament finishes have included third-place finishes at the W&J Invitational and the PSAC Championships. McGuire is riding a four-match winning streak including picking up wins in his last seven of eight duals.
• Wuestner is 4-4 in his last eight duals. Wuestner goes into the Super Regional with 13-11 overall record but is 8-6 in tournaments with his best finish coming at fourth at the "Shorty."
• Despite dropping down a spot in the regional rankings, 184-pound Morrill is 4-4 in his last eight matches, winning the past two.
• Coming off two crucial wins against Shippensburg and F&M, freshman Anthony Yacovetti finished his first year regular season with a 9-8 record.

MILLERSVILLE SUPER REGION 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
2013-14: 9th/12
2014-15: 13th/15
2015-16: 13th/15
2016-17: 13th/15
2017-18: 8th/15

THE LAST YEAR AT NCAA SUPER REGIONAL
• Ruhnke became the first Marauder to qualify for nationals since 141-pound Mike Greck reached the NCAA Division I Championships in 2011. Dull came up just short of a nationals berth, placing fifth. The Marauders placed eighth out of 15 teams with 39.5 points. This was Millersville's highest placement as a Division II program.
• Morrill made it to the second day of competition, finishing in the consolation quarterfinals. Morrill lost his opening bout and then answered with winning the next two but then finished his season with a loss to Ethan Cole Ritchie of Alderson-Broaddus.

SUPER REGION RUNDOWN
• The top three of each weight class will advance to the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio on March 8-9.
• The regional includes 10 teams. This year the NCAA changed the number of super regionals from four to six with fifth-ranked Notre Dame College (Ohio) moving away from Super Regional 1 Championships. The regional consists of five nationally-ranked teams including No. 6 Pitt-Johnstown, No. 7 Kuztown, No. 16 Mercyhurst and LIU Post and the Marauders who are tied for 25th.
• The Marauders have faced all of those four opponents, putting up a fight against LIU Post before falling, 31-23. In the beginning of the season, the Marauders faced both Pitt-Johnstown and Mercyhurst where the result did not go the Marauders way.
• Pitt-Johnstown has national No. 1 Chris Eddins at 149 and Levi Biebauer as the third-ranked at 197. Kuztown has five wrestlers in the nationally rankings, led by top-ranked Jeff Reimel.
• Eight teams in the super regional are from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). Rounding out the group is American International and LIU Post.
• Gannon is also contending for the championship. Gannon closed out its season with a tightly-contested 19-18 triumph over crosstown rival Mercyhurst to claim a share of the PSAC crown with Kuztown and Pitt-Johnstown. The Golden Knights concluded the regular season with a 7-3 mark, led by 157-pound George McGuire, who has a 15-3 record and has pinned eight opponents.

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