Redshirt senior captain Greg Flournoy will take the mat for his final collegiate wrestling event in the 2016 NCAA Championships held at Madison Square Garden.

Flournoy will start the championships against a familiar Eastern Wrestling League foe, Rider's Chad Walsh who is the 15 seed in the 157 pound weight division. Although Flournoy was defeated by Walsh at the EWL Championships March 5, the redshirt senior's familiarity with his opponent could provide him an edge going into Thursday's match.

What: 2016 NCAA Championships

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.

When: All Day March 17-19

Live Scoring: Follow the action live through Trackwrestling.com or watch on ESPNU or ESPN3 online.

Greg Flournoy's Season at Mason:

·       Redshirt senior captain Greg Flournoy(157) finished the season with a 31-10 record and 4-1 record in the EWL regular season; in the EWL Championships Flournoy went 3-2.

·       Flournoy led Mason in wins each of the past two years, with 31 and 28, respectively.

·       The captain led the team with five falls and six victories by major decision.

·       Flournoy is a first time captain for Mason and has qualified for the NCAA Championships two straight years; the Patriot went 1-2 last year in St. Louis, Mo.

·       Flournoy earned a third place finish at the EWL Championships, losing to Walsh in a match for second place by major decision, 8-0.

·       The Rappahanock County, Va. native was included in several top 25 polls throughout the season according to Intermat.com and FloWrestling.com while wrestlingreport.com currently ranks Flournoy at 22 in the 157 pound weight class.

·       Other notable accomplishments for Flournoy include a third place finish at the Navy Classic and going 3-1 in the Virginia Duals to lead Mason to a first place finish in the bronze round.

157 pound weight division preview: 

·       Depending on how Flournoy's match with Walsh goes, he could either see 2nd ranked and undefeated Thomas Gantt of North Carolina State or Andrew Morse of Northern Illinois.

·       Gantt competed in Fairfax, Va. earlier in the year at the RAC when he defeated Zackary Velasquez of Grand Canyon by technical fall, 22-6.

·       The top seed, Isaiah Martinez of Illinois, has enjoyed a massively successful career and is only in his second season of collegiate wrestling; Martinez won the NCAA Championship, Midlands, Big 10 Championship and went undefeated all at 157 pounds in 2015.

·       Flournoy has wrestled against Northern Iowa's Bryce Steiert, Spartak Chino of Ohio, Walsh, John Boyle of American, Edinboro's Austin Matthews, Markus Scheidel of Columbia, VMI's Neal Richards and Ian Miller of Kent State this season, giving the Mason veteran plenty of experience against top competition; Flournoy defeated Steiert, Chino, Scheidel and Richards and lost to Walsh, Boyle, Matthews and Miller.

Wrestler Quote:

“It's an honor to compete at the most prestigious wrestling tournament and I'm grateful to be given a second opportunity to become an All-American for George Mason,” Flournoy said. “Not many people get this opportunity so I'm trying to make the best of it.”

Quotes from the Coaching Staff:

“Greg's a great leader for our program and he's the perfect person to represent George Mason at the NCAA Championships.” Head Coach Joe Russell said. “I'm excited to watch him compete in front of a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden.”

“Ever since I've known Greg, he's been a winner.” Assistant Coach Israel Silva said.

“Greg set a new standard for George Mason wrestling through his attitude, consistency, heart and work ethic.” Assistant Coach Tom Carr said.