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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo wrestling team will send three wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Championships at St. Louis' Kiel Center March 16th-18th after a fourth place finish at the MAC Wrestling Championships this weekend at UB's Alumni Arena.

Juniors Shawn Kegel (Wantagh, NY/MacArthur) and Josh States (Lockport, NY/Lockport) as well as freshman Joe Downey (Norwich, NY/Norwich) all finished second at the MAC championships and were voted as wild card participants to the Division I national tournament.

It was the third straight season that the Bulls, under head coach Jim Beichner and assistant Sean Gibbs, have sent three wrestlers to the national championships. The Bulls finished in fourth place in the MAC Tournament with 55.5 points and finished the dual meet season with an 11-5 record.

All three Bulls headed to St. Louis will go to the national championships for the first time. Kegel, a transfer from Nassau Community College, advanced to the 133-pound finals before losing to Ohio's No. 1 seed Brad Wright in the finals, 3-2. He earlier defeated Twan Pham of Northern Illinois, 8-1 and No. 2 seeded Brian Baughman of Kent, 6-2. Kegel has compiled a 30-10 record this season, including eight pins.

States and Downey made it to the national championships the hard way by winning their consolation final matches and then posting victories in true second place challenge matches.

States lost to eventual champion David Potter in the 184-pound semifinals before rebounding to beat Kent's Nick Magistrelli, 9-6, Eastern Michigan's Travis Kraft, 2-1, in overtime and then pinned Central Michigan's Phil Baroni in 4:43 to earn second place and a wild card berth to the nationals. States has a 27-11 record on the year and has recorded 73 victories in his UB career, which is tired for eighth best in UB school history.

Downey, meanwhile, is UB's third true freshman to advance to the Division I national tournament. Downey earned a wild card berth with a dramatic 7-5 overtime win over returning All-American Chris Vike of Central Michigan. His only loss was to eventual champion Dan Bednar of Ohio, 5-3. On Sunday, Downey pinned Northern Illinois' Jason Nape in 1:46 and beat Kent's Zeb Miller, 2-0, before stunning Vike in overtime.

Downey is 24-13 on the season and has two wins over Top-20 ranked opponents this year.