MAC Wrestling Championship Central

CLEVELAND – The Mid-American Conference announced the pre-seeding for the 2016 MAC Wrestling Championships on Tuesday afternoon following a conference call with all nine of the league’s wrestling head coaches ahead of the beginning of the postseason this weekend at Eastern Michigan.

Steve Bleise (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) earned the highest seed among Northern Illinois University wrestlers, with the redshirt freshman garnering the No. 3 seed at 141 pounds. Meanwhile, Trace Engelkes (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) and Shawn Scott (Holly, Mich./Holly) earned No. 4 seeds at 174 and 197 pounds, respectively.

Looking to send at least one wrestler to the NCAA Championships for the 45th consecutive season, Tuesday’s seeding announcement gives NIU’s two ranked wrestlers, No. 14 Bleise and No. 20 Scott, the opportunity to automatically qualify for nationals if they match or better their MAC seeding in their weight class. Engelkes and the rest of the Huskies will need to better their seeding in order to earn automatic berths to NCAAs.

A full breakdown of the MAC’s allocated automatic berths to the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City from March 17-19, is listed below, along with the seeding for each Huskie. The MAC earned a total of 41 automatic berths to nationals, the third most of any Division I wrestling conference in the nation.

Nine of the 10 Huskies heading to this weekend’s MAC Championships at Eastern Michigan were seeded in the top seven of their weight class, earning spots in Saturday’s quarterfinals action. Gabe Morse and Andrew Morse (Alto, Mich./Lowell) earned No. 6 seeds at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively, as did Arthur Bunce (Munith, Mich./Dansville) at heavyweight. Alijah Jeffery (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar) and Austin Eicher (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) were given No. 7 seeds in the 125- and 133-pound weight classes, with Shaun’Qae McMurtry (Lockport, Ill./Nebraska) earning the same seed at 165 pounds.

With the entire season leading up to this moment, NIU will take six Michigan natives to Ypsilanti for the MAC Championships, which begin Saturday, March 5 at 12 p.m. CT and continue on Sunday, March 6 at 11 a.m. CT.

NIU Seeds for 2016 MAC Championships
125: Alijah Jeffery, No. 7 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 4
133: Austin Eicher, No. 7 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 6
141: Steve Bleise, No. 3 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 4
149: Gabe Morse, No. 6 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 5
157: Andrew Morse, No. 6 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 5
165: Shaun’Qae McMurtry, No. 7 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 4
174: Trace Engelkes, No. 4 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 3
184: Quinton Rosser, No. 8/9 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 4
197: Shawn Scott, No. 4 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 5
285: Arthur Bunce, No. 6 Seed, NCAA Auto Bids: 1

Follow @NIUWrestling on Twitter throughout the postseason.

--NIU--