KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown University will send five student-athletes – four wrestlers and one female high jumper - to Birmingham, Alabama this weekend for the 2017 NCAA National Championships Festival on March 10-11 at the Birmingham Crossplex.
 
Wrestling will begin on Friday, March 10, at 12 p.m. Eastern Time, with an evening session set to follow at 7 p.m. Action continues Saturday, March 11 at 11 a.m., with finals slated for 7 p.m. Golden Bear wrestlers who qualified are Austin Petril (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby (Ursinus)), T.C. Warner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Bloomsburg)), Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) and Ryan Appleby (Belvidere, N.J./Belvidere).
 
With winter championships occurring at the same location, McKenzie Fagan (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) of the women's track and field team will be competing at the same site in the high jump on Saturday, March 11, beginning at 4:55 p.m. Eastern Time.
 
More than 1,000 student-athletes will travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to compete in five NCAA winter championships March 7-11, when the city and the University of Alabama in Huntsville host the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championships Festival at the CrossPlex.
 
The 2017 winter festival features around 250 teams competing for NCAA titles in five sports: men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's indoor track and field, and wrestling. The festival also includes opening and closing ceremonies, a student-athlete social lounge where athletes can mingle, and community engagement activities throughout the week. The festival is unique in the NCAA championships mix as the event has an Olympic feel and was structured specifically to enhance the student-athlete experience for those who earned berths to the Division II championships. This is the third winter sports festival and the 10th festival overall.
 
WRESTLING PREVIEW
 
This is the 25th straight year that KU will have a presence at the National Championships. KU's four qualifiers marks the fourth year in the last six that KU has competed in 4-of-10 weight classes.
 
All-America honors are awarded to the top-eight finishers at each weight class, as KU has donned at least one All-American for eight straight years.
 
Austin Petril (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby (Ursinus)) is coming off a fourth-place finish at regionals to qualify for his first career national tournament. He holds a 20-7 record at 125 pounds, team-highs in both wins and matches competed. Petril has scored points in bunches this year, leading the team with seven technical falls. Over his last 13 matches, he has gone 10-3, with his only losses coming to nationally-ranked opposition.
 
In the first round on Friday, Petril will face Blake Glogouski of Lake Erie, who holds a 19-11 record and is ranked seventh in Division II. It could be Petril's first career win over a nationally-ranked wrestler while at KU.
 
T.C. Warner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Bloomsburg)) entered the lineup at the start of the second semester and has proven to be one of the top 165-pounders in Division II. He is 15-3 this year and ranked eighth in Division II. His only three losses this year have come to two of the top-five wrestlers in the country in his weight class – Francis Mizia of Mercyhurst and Tyler Reinhart of Pitt-Johnstown, the defending national champion.
 
Warner went 3-2 at regionals to finish fourth to qualify for nationals in his first year at Kutztown. Of his 15 wins this season, 11 have come by bonus points (three pins, four major decisions, four tech. falls). He will face Calvin Ochs of Nebraska-Kearney in the first round on Friday, who enters with a 23-4 record and is ranked third in Division II.
 
Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) shocked the regional tournament with a third-place finish as the No. 7 seed at 197 pounds. He holds a 12-6 record this year, including 9-3 at 197, and has thrived in his ability to pin his opponents with four this season.
 
He has won eight of his last 10 matches, including four-in-a-row entering nationals. His only two losses were by decisions. In the first round, Reimel will face Jon Inman of Fort Hays State, who holds a 25-3 record and is ranked No. 2 in Division II.
 
Ryan Appleby (Belvidere, N.J./Belvidere) is KU's fourth national qualifier. This is Appleby's second-straight appearance at the NCAA National Championships at heavyweight, qualifying for the first time last year as a redshirt-sophomore. He finished fourth at regionals this year and holds an 18-10 record.
 
In the first round, Appleby will face Garrett Gray of Tiffin, who is 36-2 this year and ranked third in Division II. The two previously met at the KU Duals on Jan. 20, with Gray winning by pinfall in 2:30.
 
TRACK & FIELD PREVIEW
 
McKenzie Fagan (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) earned her first national berth after winning the conference championship in the high jump at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Indoor Championship at Edinboro on Feb. 26.
 
She ranks 10th in Division II at 1.71m, good for second in school history at 5-7.25 – a half-inch shy of the school-record. Notably, she has posted career-best jumps in each of her last two meets.
 
She will look to become Kutztown's first female All-America high jumper. All-America honors are awarded to the top-12 finishers in each event, eight First Team and four Second Team selections.
 
17 female high jumpers will compete at the National Championships, and Fagan will be the lone representative from the PSAC.