Five (More) Burning Questions For the MAC in 2023-24

Last week we gave you answers to eight burning questions regarding the MAC for the 2023-24 preseason. It was relatively thorough, but at the same time, the MAC is a huge conference, so there is still more to talk about. Today, we have five more questions about the conference in the upcoming season. Get ready for some MAC-tion! 1) We’ve talked about a dark horse team. Who are some individual dark horses to watch? First and foremost, we have to mention Bloomsburg’s Josh Mason. In each of the last two years, Mason has come into the MAC tournament, on the top half of the bracket, and made his way to the finals. Last season, he was seeded fourth and took out Jaivon Jones (Northern Illinois) a match after Jones knocked off top-seeded McKenzie Bell (Rider). In 2022, it was Mason doing the upsetting as he downed top-seeded Dresden Simon (Central Michigan) and #5 Gabe Willochell (Edinboro) on his way to the finals. Both years he’s beaten a wrestler that defeated him earlier in the regular season. While Mason starts the year outside of the national rankings, he can and has beaten the best in the conference. He’s also shown he can shake off some earlier losses and focus when the stakes are the highest. For another one, let’s look towards Clarion’s John Worthing. It’s probably not fair to label him a dark horse as he already has established himself, to an extent, and has made the big show and picked up two wins along the way. Worthing is someone who established himself during a breakout season in 2022-23 and, more specifically, at the MAC Championships. Worthing knocked off third-seeded Sal Perrine (Ohio) and second-seeded Tyler Stoltzfus (Lock Haven) to clinch a spot at nationals and make the conference finals. Interestingly enough, Worthing had defeated Stoltzfus during the regular season, but had a few extra conference losses on the resume. With some attrition at 174 lbs due to graduation, Worthing started the preseason ranked #19 at the weight. While he might not be a dark horse to MAC followers, should he continue to improve he could turn some heads nationally and get closer to All-American status. 2) How many 149 lbers go to Kansas City? Let’s face it. There are some thin weights in the MAC. It’s really rough having wrestlers from 13 teams vie for one or two NCAA berths. One bad match at the conference meet could even doom someone who earned an allocation. The lack of qualifiers available at some weights can make fans feel good about seeing a weight like 149 lbs in the MAC. The conference was allocated five representatives at the weight before the MAC Championships. That makes it the highest total in the conference. Two other weights were allocated four slots. Because of upsets, when it was all said and done, six MAC wrestlers went to Tulsa at 149 lbs. The good news for followers of this conference is that four of those six return (Nathan Higley - George Mason; Quinn Kinner - Rider, Ryan Burgos - Edinboro, Caleb Tyus - SIU Edwardsville). In addition, Central Michigan’s 149 and 157 lbers have swapped places. Both were qualifiers in 2023 and are expected to contend for MAC titles in 2024, so it’s not a stretch to throw Corbyn Munson into the mix. In addition to those five, there are two others in the preseason rankings #31 Derek Raike (Ohio) and #32 Kyle Schickel (Clarion). If that isn’t enough, you have Nick Stonecheck (Lock Haven), who just missed out on qualifying last year. That’s eight right there and doesn’t account for anyone that emerges from the other conference schools. Now, let’s be realistic. With eight NCAA-level wrestlers in one weight class, they’ll likely exchange wins and generally beat each other up. It might be difficult for all of them to have good resumes at the end of the year. Ultimately, I think six is probably a safe number for this bracket again. 3) Along with question two, can any other weights approach 149’s allocations/qualifiers? As mentioned before, two other weights in the conference had four allocations in 2023; 157 and 174 lbs. In our preseason All-330 projections, we had both weights sending three wrestlers; however, in the “just missed” category both weights had two additional wrestlers from the MAC. Realistically, I don’t think any weight in the conference challenges 149, but those two weights have some good, safe bets for qualification amongst their three from the All-330, plus some strong secondary options. Some other weights that may push for four qualifiers? I’d look at the bottom with 125 and 133. I view both weights very differently. 125 has a ton of depth between the wrestlers ranked #20-#33 and from #34-40, if a list existed. The difference between #28 and #40 at 125 lbs (nationally) is very small and that #40 ranked wrestler is certainly capable of racking up quality wins. So what does that mean for the MAC? They have a handful of those guys between #28-40 with #33 Blake West (Northern Illinois), UR Markel Baker (George Mason), and UR Joey Fischer (Clarion). Based on the information we have now, it would be hard to fathom two of those four getting at-larges or allocations. The good news is that it’s a new season and a bunch of wins by those wrestlers (or others) could completely change a preexisting narrative. 133 is a weight that is very thin nationally after the #15-20 range. It would be much easier for a previously unheralded wrestler or two to make a mark and jump into the national ranking at 133. In the MAC, past qualifiers Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) and Richie Koehler (Rider) return, plus Virginia Tech transfer Brandon Wittenberg (George Mason) has made his weight into the preseason top-33. Again, with the composition of the weight class nationally, it isn’t far-fetched to think that another wrestler or two from the conference could make it four or five qualifiers. 4) You haven’t mentioned Rider much. Will they contend? I noticed that in part one! Rider seemed like a possible MAC Championship squad heading into the 2023 tournament, but didn’t have a great tournament. Only Quinn Kinner (149) and Ethan Laird (197) earned automatic qualifying bids. McKenzie Bell (141) was added as an at-large berth to bring their qualifiers to three. Laird went on to earn All-American honors, but has graduated and moved on, while Bell and Kinner return. Both could be considered favorites for conference titles. Other potential MAC championship threats for the Broncs include Richie Koehler (133) and David Szuba (285). Koehler and Jake Silverstein (157) are both past qualifiers that will make an impact again. A new face to keep an eye on is Will Betancourt at 125 lbs. Rider will likely redshirt 2023 starter Tyler Klinsky and give Betancourt a shot. Betancourt didn’t see the mat last season at Penn State, but went 15-6 in 2021-22 for Ohio State competing primarily unattached at 133 lbs. If the weight isn’t a factor, Betancourt surely could make an impact at 125. That means that 125-157 could be very solid for Rider in 2023-24. Should they get consistent production from 165-197, they might be a threat to Lock Haven/Central Michigan. Expected to see the mat for John Hangey’s team at those weights are Cole McComas (165), Michael Wilson (174), Isaac Dean/Brock Zurawski (184), and Asa Terrell/Azeem Bell (197). 5) Have I missed any notable weight changes? Surprisingly there aren’t “that” many when it comes to NCAA qualifying contender types. Earlier, we mentioned that CMU’s middleweight tandem Corbyn Munson and Johnny Lovett are flipping weights. Munson is going back down to 149, while Lovett moves to 157. Both have had some success at those weights in the past. This should give both a chance to contend for All-American honors at their respective weights. Each is the highest-ranked MAC wrestler at their weight nationally. One you may have missed was Justin Ruffin for SIU Edwardsville. First of all, we were under the assumption that an injury cut short Ruffin’s career last season, so it’s great that he’s back and ready to compete for the Cougars. Ruffin has qualified for three national tournaments at 157 lbs; however, he’s only gotten to wrestling in one (2019). The 2020 tournament was cancelled and in 2021 he was awarded an at-large berth but couldn’t compete due to injury. Now Ruffin is back and will start the season at 165 lbs. A move up in weight is probably a good idea for a wrestler who has dealt with severe injuries like Ruffin. InterMat does understand that there’s a possibility that Ruffin might move back down to 157 at some point. Another change to mention is one that has Clarion’s Cam Pine going from 165 to 184. Pine has won 46 matches over the past two seasons against only 16 losses. At times last season, Pine was very close to breaking into the national rankings. With more experience and a good partner like Worthing at his disposal, Pine might be able to take the next step at a higher weight.

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Five (More) Burning Questions For the MAC in 2023-24

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