Watch Tonight As AU Wrestling Goes For Another National Championship

Ryan Flores interviews with ESPN following his 4-0 semifinal victory/Image courtesy @AU_Wrestling twitter feed

Here's a really good reason to take a break from the NCAA Basketball Tournament this evening: at 7:30 PM #3 AU heavyweight wrestler Ryan Flores is taking on #1 Zach Rey of Lehigh for the national championship in his weight class. If a chance for AU to hang a national championship banner in the rafters of Bender isn't enough reason to pull yourself away from basketball for a few minutes tonight, I don't know what is. Watch the match live on ESPN or ESPN3.com.

Flores and Rey have a storied history that should add intensity to tonight's match. While Rey is 33-1 on the season to Flores' 26-5, Rey's single loss came at the hands of Flores in the EIWA Championships. For those not in the know, the EIWA is our wrestling conference, and essentially combines the wrestling programs in the Patriot League and Ivy League (as neither League sponsors wrestling as a sport), with Rutgers and Franklin & Marshall thrown in for good measure. Despite Flores' conference championship upset over Rey, he lost to him two previous times this season. This was not the beginning of the Rey-Flores rivalry, however. In 2009, when Flores brought home Columbia's first EIWA Championship in 14 years (for comparison, AU had 3 EIWA champions this year alone), he did it by beating Rey. Without a doubt, this will be a heated match, and either wrestler could be the victor. Flores got to the final by beating #2 seeded Jarod Trice of Central Michigan 4-0. Rey defeated the #6 seed in the semifinal round. Josh Glenn '07 won AU's first wrestling National Championship in 2007.

Flores was by no means the only Eagle in the NCAA Tournament. We sent 5 others (a school record), with Steve Fittery placing third in the 149 lb. weight class, and Ganbayar Sanjaa 4th in the 157 lb. class. This qualifies all three (Flores, Fittery, and Sanjaa) for All-American status, regardless of Flores' final outcome, giving AU 14 All-American wrestlers in the past 6 seasons. As a team, AU stands in 4th place with 65 points, only 1.5 points behind #3 Oklahoma State. There are over 70 schools participating in the NCAA Tournament.

If you want to know even more, check out AU's Wrestling Championships Homepage for stories, pictures, video, and updated standings and brackets. Also make sure to follow @AU_Wrestling on twitter for up-to-the-minute updates.

Many of our alumni readers likely remember when wrestling was nearly on the athletics chopping block. What a turnaround they've made, in large part thanks to Coach Mark Cody. While it's not basketball, it's worth following one of AU's most successful programs that's still going late into March. Again, catch all the action tonight at 7:30 PM tonight on ESPN or ESPN3.com!

Pro Deo Et Patria and GO FLORES!
Josh