Three Wrestlers Set for NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh

Old Dominion at the NCAA Championships
Tournament Info – March 21-23 All Day
Location – PPG Paints Arena (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Follow – ESPN | Live Scoring | Twitter
Key Links – Championship Central | ODU Notes | Brackets | Tickets 

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Michael McGee (125), Sa’Derian Perry (141) and Larry Early (157) open up action at the NCAA Championships at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday, March 21. All three student-athletes are making their second NCAA appearance. 

Michael McGee returns to the big stage after picking up his second-straight MAC title. He's currently riding a 16 match winning streak. McGee is ranked as high as No. 11 in the national rankings according to Open Mat.  

Sa'Derian Perry currently owns a 23-8 record. Seven of his eight losses are to nationally ranked opponents. Perry is currently ranked as high as No. 17 in the country according to Trackwrestling.

Redshirt junior Larry Early finished second in the MAC and currently has a 22-4 record. In November, he took out the second ranked wrester in the country in Hayden Hidlay. Early is ranked as high as No. 9 according to FloWrestling. 

Opening Round Matchups
125 – #12 Michael McGee (ODU) vs. #21 Jacob Schwarm (UNI)
141 - #19 Sa’Derian Perry (ODU) vs. #14 Jamel Morris (NC ST)
157 - #7 Larry Early (ODU) vs. #26 Quincy Monday (Princeton) 

Schedule
Thursday, March 21
Session 1 – 12 p.m. ET
Session 2 – 7 p.m. ET 

Friday, March 22
Session 3 – 11 a.m. ET
Session 4 – 8 p.m. ET 

Saturday, March 23
Session 5 – 11 a.m. ET
Session 6 – 7 p.m. ET

Watching the Monarchs
ESPN will be airing every single match during the 2019 NCAA Championships. View the schedule below to see the coverage breakdown.

MAC Championship Recap
Sophomore Michael McGee earned a 5-2 win over Drew Hildebrandt in the MAC Finals to become a two-time MAC Champion at 125 pounds. Larry Early was edged by Jarrett Jacques of Missouri in the 157-pound final to become the runner up. Sa’Derian Perry qualified for Pittsburgh by defeating CMU’s Andrew Marten in a true fourth match. 

How they got to Pittsburgh
125 Michael McGee - Champion
QF – Michael McGee (ODU) TF over Gage Datlovsky (SIUE), 18-0
SF – Michael McGee (ODU) dec. over Dack Punke (MIzzou), 7-1
FINAL – Michael McGee (ODU) dec. over Drew Hildebrandt (CMU), 5-2 

141 - Sa’Derian Perry - Fifth Place
QF – Sa’Derian Perry (ODU) dec. over Andrew Marten (CMU), 6-1
SF – Jaydin Eierman (Mizzou) fall over Sa’Derian Perry (ODU), 3:00
5th Place – Sa’Derian Perry (ODU) fall over Cory Simpson (Kent State), 2:50
AQ Spot – Sa’Derian Perry (ODU) dec. over Andrew Marten (CMU), 3-0 

157 - Larry Early - Second Place
QF – Larry Early (ODU) TF over Richard Jackson (Kent State), 18-2
SF – Larry Early (ODU) dec. over Logan Parks (CMU), 3-1
FINAL – Jarrett Jacques (Mizzou) dec. over Larry Early (ODU), 3-1 

2018 NCAA Championship Rewind
While wrestling for Eastern Michigan, Perry put up a underdog performance, after upsetting the ninth and 11th seed, Perry took an eighth place finish at 141 pounds last year to secure All-American honors. Michael McGee went 1-2 with his one win over Paul Bianchi of NDSU. Larry Early also did not place and finished the tournament with a 2-2 record, with his wins over Tyler Marinelli (Gardner-Webb) and Colin Heffernan (CMU).

2018 All-American Sa'Derian Perry
W, Dec. over  #9 Josh Alber, UNI
W, Dec. over Ryan Diehl, Maryland
L, Pin by #1 Bryce Meredith, Wyoming
W, Dec. over #11 Michael Carr, Illinois
L, MD by #8 Nick Lee, Penn State
L, Pin by Chad Red, Nebraska

Social Media
Follow ODU Wrestling on twitter at @ODUWrestling for day-by-day coverage. For all NCAA Wrestling use the hashtag #NCAAWrestling.

ODU NCAA Social
ODU Alumni Association along with the ODU Wrestling Boosters Club will be sponsoring the 2019 ODU NCAA Championships Social at Embassy Suites by Hilton Pittsburgh- Downtown on Wednesday, March 20 from 5 pm to 8 pm. Food, drinks and three tournament t-shirts will be available with the purchase of the $40 cash entry at the door.