Wrestling (12-6, 7-2 MAC) placed fourth at the Mid-American Conference Championships Saturday in Athens, OH.
It marked the Bulls’ best team finish since placing second in the 2019 MAC Championships, as UB wrestled at or above its seeds in eight of nine weight classes.
Saturday’s MAC Championships saw graduate John Arceri and redshirt freshman Jay Nivison clinch an NCAA Championships bid for the first time in their careers.
Arceri advanced to a third place 149 lb. match due to a medical forfeit, but lost his next match in a 1-0 decision. Luckily, Arceri still earned fourth place and became one of the five wrestlers to qualify for the NCAA’s.
Nivison’s third place match was even tighter, as the redshirt freshman executed a takedown on George Mason’s Logan Messer with one second remaining to win the 174 lb. matchup. Nivinson then trailed his whole second match until a dramatic takedown of Ohio’s Sal Perrine with just three seconds to spare sealed a 3-2 win and an NCAA trip.
Arceri and Nivison will return to action in the NCAA Championships, starting March 17 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. She is a history major studying abroad for a year from Newcastle University in the UK. In her spare time, she can be found blasting The 1975 or Taylor Swift and rowing on a random river at 5 a.m.
