Fifth-year senior Dustin Kilgore has landed in Des Moines, Iowa and is ready to cap his perfect 39-0 season with a second NCAA Championship title this weekend.

Kilgore became Kent State’s first wrestling national champion in 2011 and hopes to repeat this accomplishment after taking an Olympic redshirt last season.

Kilgore is also seeking to become a three-time All-American when the 2013 NCAA Championships start Thursday inside Wells Fargo Arena. If he achieves this feat, he will become Kent State’s first three-time All-American.

Ranked No. 20 by Intermat, Kent State will send five other Golden Flashes to join Kilgore at the NCAAs this weekend, including fifth-year seniors Stevie Mitcheff and Casey Newburg. True freshman Mack McGuire, redshirt freshman Sam Wheeler and sophomore Caleb Marsh will also join these veterans after receiving at-large bids for the national tournament.

These six Flashes are tied for the second most wrestlers to be sent to the NCAAs in program history, according to kentstatesports.com. Head coach Jim Andrassy said he is impressed with what the wrestlers and wrestling program were able to accomplish this year despite the team’s overall youth and inexperience.

“This just goes to show that even in a recovery year, or a rebuilding year, we were still able to get kids to the national tournament,” Andrassy said. “And we’re still able to do what we’re asked to do and we’re still preaching what we want to produce.”

The lineup by weight class

(Rankings according to Feb. 28 Coaches Panel, according to kentstatesports.com)

125

No. 26 Mitcheff will appear in his first NCAA Championships. He will face Oklahoma State’s Ed Klimara in opening round action, who Mitcheff defeated 3-2 earlier this season.

Mitcheff has been on a hot streak as of late, winning seven of his last eight matches. He recently placed second in the MAC Championships to end his final KSU regular season.

133

No. 27 McGuire is making his NCAA Championship debut and will battle Oklahoma’s seventh-seeded Jon Morrison in the first round. On Feb. 17, McGuire pulled off a huge upset when he defeated Morrison 3-2.

165

Up-and-coming No. 33 Marsh, who fought minor injuries toward the beginning of the season, will square off against three-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake of Cornell in the opening round.

Marsh is coming off a third-place finish at the MAC Championships.

174

No. 25 Wheeler will clash with No. 5 seed Josh Asper of Maryland in the first round.

Wheeler had an eight-match win streak before the MAC Championships and has defeated four of the 174-pound opponents in the bracket.

184

No. 15 Newburg will meet No. 3 Robert Hamlin of Lehigh, whom Newburg to lost in the first round of last season’s NCAA Championships, in his second NCAA appearance.

Newburg has won four tournament titles this year and ranks fifth on Kent State career victories list (119).

197

Making his fourth NCAA appearance, No. 1 Kilgore will take on Iowa’s Nathan Burak in the opening round.

Kilgore joined Brent Thompson as the second four-time MAC champion in Kent State history. This season, Kilgore led all Division I wrestlers in wins (39), broke the school record for single-season pins (18) and career pins (50) and remains the Flashes’ career victory leader at 174 victories.

NCAA Championships Coverage, according to kentstatesports.com

This weekend’s NCAA action will begin at noon and can be seen on ESPN3. Thursday’s second session will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Friday’s 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. sessions and Saturday’s 11 a.m. medal-round session will be on ESPNU. Saturday’s Championship finals begin at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Live audio can be heard on Golden Flashes Radio on iHeartRadio and live stats are available on trackwrestling.com.

Kent State tournament updates can be found on kentstatesports.com and @ksuathletics on Twitter.

Contact Richie Mulhall at [email protected].