2018-19 Great Midwest All-Conference Wrestling Team (PDF)
INDIANAPOLIS – The league’s coaches voted for the very first Great Midwest Athletic Conference All-Conference Wrestling Team that was announced on Thursday morning.
Sixteen student-athletes from six different member institutions comprised of the all-conference team including, nine grapplers on the first team and six more on the second team.
Individual awards were also voted upon by the coaches as the final chapter of the 2018-19 season was closed with the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lake Erie was the inaugural Great Midwest duals champion during the two-day event at Tiffin’s Heminger Center. The Storm went 4-0 against league competition.
Tiffin and Lake Erie were both nationally ranked to end the season in the NWCA Coaches Poll with TU in a three-way tie for 13th and LEC was in a tie for 20th.
Tiffin and Lake Erie each led the way with five all-conference team selections each.
Highlighting the first-team ballot for Tiffin was Great Midwest Wrestler of the Year Trey Grine, who was the NCAA runner-up at the 149-pound weight class, and national champion Nick Mason, who toppled a previously unbeaten opponent in the 197-pound final.
Grine finished his junior season with a sterling duals record of 20-2 as he advanced to face Pittsburgh-Johnstown’s Chris Eddins Jr. for All-American status.
It was Grine’s third trip to nationals and he was named conference athlete of the week for his efforts on the mat. His performance at nationals included a major decision followed by back-to-back pins.
Recognized by his peers was Great Midwest Coach of the Year Joey Simcoe, also from Tiffin. Simcoe navigated the Dragons to an eighth-place team finish at the NCAA Championships, the program’s highest in school history.
Tiffin was previously ninth in both 2015 and 2017 with Simcoe at the helm and he has now coached a total of nine All-Americans.
Great Midwest Freshman of the Year honors went to Lake Erie’s Tylor Orrison, who finished his rookie season with a duals record of 13-11. He came through with two big wins during LEC’s championship duals run against Findlay and Tiffin and nine of victories were of the bonus-point variety.
Orrison was a former Michigan state champion before pursuing his collegiate career with the Storm. He is a foundational building block for the surging program coached by Jeff Breese in Painesville.
Two more NCAA qualifiers were featured on the all-conference first team, including Alderson Broaddus sophomore Gino Sita and NCAA All-American James Wimer of Findlay. Wimer’s brother, Josh, was also a 149-pound NCAA All-American, as a second-team all-conference pick.
Mason was the conference’s first national champion as he rumbled to a 27-7 record with a win in the super regionals as well. He beat St. Cloud State’s Vince Dietz in the final, scoring a huge third-period takedown while being relentless on the attack.
Other NCAA qualifiers on the all-conference second team included Anthony Tripke from Ohio Valley and Nick Boggs from Lake Erie, both seniors this season.