READING, Pa. - The midway point of the wrestling season is here which means the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championships are next on the schedule. Albright will return to the Championships on Saturday, January 17 competing on the campus of Messiah University.
Prior to the MAC Championships, the pre-championship poll was announced. Stevens was picked as the favorite with Messiah a close second. The two universities combined to receive all 10 first-place votes.
Alvernia and Arcadia were selected third and fourth with Albright coming in at fifth. York, Misericordia, Eastern, King's and Delaware Valley round out the field. Alvernia won the championship a season ago, their first MAC title in program history. The full pre-championship poll can be
found here.
Albright will be competing in the MAC Championships for the first time since the 2005-2006 season. In the program's history Albright has crowned 54 All-Conference honorees with two MAC Champions. Ron Green and Richard Hurst make up the only MAC Champions in program history with Horst being the last in 1965.
All-Conference honors are achieved by finishing top three in your respective weight class. The winner of their respective weight classes will be named to the First Team while second and third will be named Second Team and Third-Team All-Conference.
The Lions are well positioned heading into the MAC Championships. Per the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) regional poll, Albright has four wrestlers ranked regionally.
Trent Mahoney headlines the group ranked first in the region at 157 pounds and seventh nationally. Mahoney enters the Championships with a 22-1 record with his only loss coming against a Division II opponent.
Davis Keppley and
Abdoul Akala are ranked sixth at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively.
Danny Metzler is ranked seventh at 141 pounds, rounding out the regionally ranked Lions.
Albright will send their full team to the Championships looking to make their mark in their first MAC Championships in the last 25 years. The 1998 and 2004 teams are tied for the most All-Conference recipients with five each.
