12/30/2001 - Wrestling
Mark Conley Advances to the Semifinals at Midlands Wrestling Tournament

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SKOKIE, Ill. - Navy wrestling team captain Mark Conley (Sr./Exton, Pa.) advanced to the semifinals of the 141-pound weight class at the Midlands Tournament with a 9-2 win over Ohio State's Josh Daugherty Saturday afternoon.

Conley, seeded second in the 141-pound class, pinned Anthony Warren at the 5:10 mark to win his first match of the tournament and scored a 3-0 victory over Michigan State's Eric Keith in the third round.

Conley will face third-seeded Cedric Haymon from Cal-Poly in the semifinals. Haymon defeated sixth-seeded Derek Phillips in a tiebreaker to advance to the semifinal round.

Heavyweight Steve Kovach (Jr./Parkerburg, Pa.) finished the tournament 2-2. Seeded 11th, he pinned Jon Kimble in the first round before falling to sixth-seeded Steve Mocco, 3-1. Kovach pinned Joe Gleissner in the consolation bracket before being knocked out of the tournament by Andy Bowlby in a narrow 2-1 decision.

Navy's Mike Bigrigg (Sr./Santa Ana, Calif.) won one of his three matches in the 197-pound weight class. Bigrigg fell to 10th-seeded Mike Faust from Pennsylvania, 2-1, in a tiebreaker, but responded with a 9-5 decision over Rider's Greg Sawyer. Bigrigg went on to lose to eighth-seeded Ryan Fulsaas in his next match.

"This is a great opportunity for our guys to wrestle at this level of competition," Navy head coach Bruce Burnett said. "We have got to make things happen on the mat, but we are getting better."

The Mids are currently 16th overall in the team standings with 18 points. Iowa State sits atop the standings with 85 points, followed by Iowa (81.5) and Ohio State and Minnesota (63.5).