WHAT: MAC Championships
WHERE: Northern Illinois
WHEN: March 7-8
INFO: Championship Central
LIVE COVERAGE: Saturday, March 7^th:  There will be four individual mat streams for Saturday afternoon coverage leading up to the ESPN+ coverage:
MAT 1
MAT 2
MAT 3
MAT 4
Saturday, March 7^th ESPN+  (4:55 pm ET/3:55 pm CT through end of day)

The Patriots wrestling team will compete at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship for the first time in school history, Saturday and Sunday, March 7-8 at Northern Illinois in DeKalb, Illinois. 

 
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) released its brackets for the 2020 MAC Wrestling Championships on Friday night.
 
Each weight class will feature a 16-man bracket and feature full double-elimination. 
 
The Patriots finished the season 9-9, matching last season's win total. In the first season in the MAC Eastern Division, the Patriots finished 3-5 with wins against Clarion, Edinboro, and Bloomsburg. 
 
New Conference
Mason and the six other members of the former Eastern Wrestling League (EWL), joined the MAC last spring and formed the nation's second largest wrestling conferences with 15 members.
 
MAC Pre-Seeded Top-8 

• Redshirt-senior Colston DiBlasi is a third seed in the 149-weight class. DiBlasi finished the season 29-8 overall, 6-1 against opponents in MAC duals.
• Redshirt-sophomore Neil Schuster is a No. 4 seed at 165 pounds. After missing six weeks of the season due to injury, Schuster has won four straight matches. He is 21-6, 11-2 in dual matches. 
• The Patriots Alex Madrigal and Anthony Lombardo are seeded seventh at 141 and 174 respectively. Madrigal is 25-12 overall, 10-6 in duals this season. Lombardo is 16-15, 11-6 in dual matches.

 
First-Round Match-ups
125 | Talha Farooq (4-21) vs. 7-seed Logan Heil (Cleveland State)
133 | Josh Jones (16-10) vs. 5-seed Josh Mason (Bloomsburg)
141 | 7-seed Alex Madrigal (25-12) vs. Shawn Orem (Bloomsburg)
149 | 3-seed Colston DiBlasi (29-8) vs. Tyler Vath (Edinboro) 
157 | Kolby Ho (22-12) vs. 6-seed Logan Parks (Central Michigan)
165 | 4-seed Cornelius Schuster (21-6), first-round bye 
174 | 7-seed Anthony Lombardo (16-15) vs. Alex Cramer (Old Dominion) 
184 | Paul Pierce (10-15)  vs. 6-seed Antonio Agee (Old Dominion)
197 | Ramses Montalvo (2-20) vs. 2-seed Ethan Laird (Rider)
285 | Jake Slinger (12-15) vs. 3-seed Jordan Earnest (Ohio)  
 

• Josh Jones will look to redeem a loss to Bloomsburg's Josh Mason, seeded fifth at 133 pounds. Mason earned an 8-0 major decision over Jones on February 16.
• Redshirt Senior Alex Madrigal won by technical fall, 18-2 (4:26), over Bloomsburg's Shawn Orem earlier this season.
• DiBlasi defeated Tyler Vath in a 4-0 decision at Edinboro on Dec. 20.
• Neil Schuster drew a bye for the first round. He will prepare to face the winner of the match between No. 5 seed Shane Jones from Old Dominion and Bloomsburg's Nate Newberry. The sophomore wrestled both possible opponents this season and won both matches. He defeated ODU's Jones in overtime, 6-4 and blanked Newberry, 6-0. 
• Alex Cramer (Old Dominion) defeated graduate student Anthony Lombardo, 9-0, in a match earlier this season. 
• Paul Pierce fell to ODU's Antonio Agee in a 6-3 decision on Feb. 16.

 
100!
Redshirt senior Colston DiBlasi picked up his 100^th win this season, joining six other wrestlers in Mason history. DiBlasi's 105 wins ranked sixth, four wins behind Rob Becker (109). Paul Maltagiati leads the Patriots in wins with 122.

National Awards and Rankings
The NCAA updated (Feb. 19) standings for the 2020 NCAA Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March. Colston DiBlasi stands in fourth place with 10 falls at 149 pounds. Central Michigan heavyweight Matt Stencel posted a pair of falls, both in less than a minute, last week to lead with 14. 

Mason 141-pounder Alex Madrigal owns a Division I-leading 12^th tech fall of the season and is four ahead of Iowa's Spencer Lee, Oklahoma State's Nicholas Piccininni and Princeton's Pat Glory with eight.
 
On February 27, the NCAA released updated Division I Coaches' Panel, and two Patriots were represented,#26 Alex Madrigal (141) and #15 Colston DiBlasi (149). 
 
NCAA Championships 
The 2020 NCAA Division I Championships are set for March 19-21 (Thurs. – Sat.) at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.