Schafer and Rebuck Punch Their Ticket to NCAA Championships; Wrestling Finishes 10th at MAC Championships https://t.co/Ev03cINqLy
— Bloomsburg Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 8, 2026
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Bloomsburg wrestling team had six wrestlers competing for podium spots at the 2026 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Wrestling Championships and finished the tournament with two NCAA Championship qualifiers and three podium finishes. The Huskies placed 10th as a team with 39.5 points, the highest finish in program history at the MAC Championships.
Both graduate student Jace Schafer (Fairport, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon) and Mason Rebuck (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) secured their spots at the NCAA Championships by winning true second-place matches at the conclusion of the tournament.
Schafer opened Saturday against a familiar opponent in Ben Monn of George Mason in the consolation quarterfinals. Monn held a 4-1 victory over Schafer in a January dual, but Schafer responded with a strong 7-1 win to advance to the semifinals. After a scoreless first period, Schafer chose bottom to begin the second and escaped immediately for a 1-0 lead. With 13 seconds remaining in the period, he added a takedown to move ahead 4-0. Monn escaped early in the third to cut the deficit to 4-1, but Schafer sealed the victory with another takedown in the closing seconds.
In the consolation semifinals, Schafer faced Drew Davis in a tightly contested defensive battle. Following a scoreless opening period, Schafer chose bottom and escaped just nine seconds into the second period for the only point of regulation. Davis chose bottom to start the third, but Schafer rode out the period to secure the riding-time point and a 2-0 victory to advance to the third-place match.
Schafer then faced Blake West of Northern Illinois in the third-place bout and took control early. After choosing bottom in the second period, he quickly escaped and converted the position into a takedown. Following a pair of injury timeouts, Schafer added another escape late in the period to extend his lead to 5-0, and a penalty point against West pushed the advantage to 6-0 entering the third. West chose bottom, but Schafer turned him to his back and secured the pin at 5:27 to officially claim third place.
Schafer capped his day in the true second-place match against Chris Vargo of Edinboro, who defeated him 6-5 earlier this season. After another scoreless first period, Schafer again chose bottom and escaped three seconds into the second for a 1-0 lead. Vargo escaped in the third to tie the match at 1-1 with 1:18 remaining. With 48 seconds left, Schafer scored a decisive takedown and rode out the match to earn the riding-time point and a 5-1 victory, clinching his berth at the NCAA Championships.
Rebuck also battled through the consolation bracket to earn his NCAA bid. He began Saturday against Bryan Caves of Central Michigan in the consolation quarterfinals and jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Caves recorded a reversal in the second period to close the gap to 3-2, but Rebuck answered with an escape to start the third and added a late takedown to secure a 7-2 victory.
Rebuck then faced John Meyers of Clarion in the third-place match. After a scoreless first period, Rebuck escaped early in the second for the first point of the bout. Meyers answered with an escape in the third to tie the match, but Rebuck delivered a late takedown to claim a 4-1 win and an official third-place finish.
In the decisive true second-place match, Rebuck squared off against Bryson Buhk of SIUE. Buhk struck first with a takedown in the opening period, but Rebuck escaped with 1:04 remaining to cut the deficit to 3-1. Buhk escaped to start the second before Rebuck countered with a takedown to tie the match at 4-4. Buhk regained the lead with an escape and penalty point, but Rebuck answered with a takedown on the edge of the mat as time expired to take a 7-6 lead. Starting the third period on bottom, Rebuck escaped and added another takedown to extend the lead to 11-6. Buhk added a penalty point and escape late, but Rebuck held on for an 11-8 victory to punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships.
Braidon Woodward (Canisto-Greenwood, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon) also reached the podium, finishing fifth after a thrilling ultimate tiebreaker victory over Ian Smith of Northern Illinois. Smith took a 1-0 lead with an escape in the second period after Woodward accumulated 1:04 of riding time. Woodward chose neutral in the third, and neither wrestler scored as the riding-time point tied the match at 1-1. The sudden-victory periods went scoreless before Woodward rode out Smith during the ultimate tiebreaker to secure the win. Woodward opened the day with a 13-3 loss to Jared McGill of Edinboro.
Alec Baxley (Newark, Del./St. Mark's) advanced to Saturday's competition after receiving a medical forfeit on Friday but fell to Sam Ewing of Buffalo by pin at 0:42. Coy Raines (North Chille, N.Y./Churchville-Chille), who went 1-1 on Friday, dropped a tight 5-3 decision to Brody Evans in the consolation quarterfinals. Eric Alderfer (Harleysville, Pa./Faith Christian) also went 1-1 on Friday but saw his tournament end with a loss to Dominic Lopez of SIUE in the consolation quarterfinals.
The Huskies' two NCAA qualifiers are the most for the program since the 2019-20 season, when Alex Carida and Trevor Allard both qualified before the national championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schafer and Rebuck will compete at the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships, set for March 19–21 at Rocket Mortgage Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet to select the remaining 42 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced March 10. Brackets and seeds will be revealed on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. on March 11.