3/17/2004 - Wrestling
Three Mids To Compete at NCAA Championships
NCAA Preview
Navy at NCAA Championships
Thurs.-Sat., March 18-20, 2004
Savvis Center * St. Louis, Mo.
Television Time: The finals 2004 NCAA Championships will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 6:30 p.m. on March 20.
Historical Highlights: Navy's highest finish at the NCAA Championships was fourth place in 1954 ... two Mids have won NCAA Individual Titles -- Peter Blair (191) in 1954 and ?55 and Dan Muthler (142) in 1973 ... forty Midshipmen have earned All-America honors ... Frank Edwards finished in seventh place at 165 pounds in 2003, the most recent Navy wrestler to garner All-America status.
Navy Notations: Navy took sixth-place at the EIWA Championship as three Mids earned NCAA bids ... sophomore Tanner Garrett qualified for nationals with a second-place finish at heavyweight ... Garrett will face Oklahoma's Leonce Crump in the first round ... Crump, a senior with a 31-2 mark, earned the No. 4 seed after winning the Big 12 Championship ... team captain Michael Barikian posted a third-place finish at 165 pounds to earn his bid ... Barikian will have a bye in the first and will take on Iowa's Cole Pape in the second round ... Pape, a sophomore with a 10-8 record, is unseeded after finishing in sixth-place at the Big Ten Championships ... junior Nate Gulosh was awarded a wildcard spot after a fourth-place finish at 141 pounds ... Gulosh will have a bye into the second round, where he will face Ron Tarquinio of Pitt ... Tarquinio, a sophomore, brings a 25-10 record into nationals ... this is the first appearance for all three Navy wrestlers at the NCAA Championships.
Eastern Etiquette: Thirty-nine EIWA competitors qualified for the NCAA Championships at the conference tournament on March 6-7 ... the top-three finishers in each weight class earned automatic bids, while 9 wildcard spots were selected by the conference coaches ... Navy placed two wrestlers in the top-two and earned one wildcard spot.
St. Louis Story: The 2004 NCAA Tournament will be held in the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Mo. .... the Savvis Center held the 2000 Championships and will host the 2005 tournament next year.
Web World: Updated results and brackets will be available throughout the tournament at the official tournament site and through the NCAA ... updated Navy information will be available at NavySports.com .
Nate Gulosh
141 pounds
Jr. * Stow, Ohio
2003-04: Owns a 23-8 record at 141 pounds ... third on the team in wins ... finished in fourth place at the EIWA Championships with a 2-2 record ... earned a wildcard bid to the NCAA Tournament ... his two losses at the EIWAs were to the first and second-seeded wrestlers in his weight class ... notched a 9-7 decision over Rutgers' Donnie Defilippis in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals ... pinned Milo Adams (Princeton) at 2:06 in the consoaltion semifinals to earn a spot in the third-place bout ... finished the regular season with a 9-4 mark in dual meets ... pinned three opponents and posted tech falls over four more ... accumulated a 6-1 mark over EIWA foes, including two wins over Army's Patrick Simpson ... captured the Central New Jersey Open title to start the season and the All-Academy championship to cap the year ... 2-3 against wrestlers currently ranked in the top-20 ... recorded a major decision over No. 20 Brad Metzler (Stanford) in November ... posted a 14-12 overtime victory over No. 13 Donnie Defilippis (Rutgers) in January.
Michael Barikian
165 Pounds
Team Captain
Sr. * Stratford, N.J.
Service Selection: Marine Corps Ground
2003-04: Picked up an 18-6 record in his senior season and a 9-3 mark in dual meets ... took third place at the EIWA Championships to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament ... three of his last five bouts were against Army's Kurt Pryor ... Pryor stunned Barikian with a 4-3 win in the last dual of the season, but Barikian defeated Pryor twice at the conference championship ... Barikian earned his NCAA bid with a 7-1 decision over Pryor in the third-place match ... after dropping a 17-7 bout to Troy Letters (Lehigh), the second-ranked wrestler in the nation and eventual EIWA titlist, Barikian outscored his remaining two opponents 21-3 ... wrestled at 174 pounds during the fall, but moved down to 165 pounds in January ... at 174, took third at the Sunshine Open ... won his first two matches at the All-Academy Championships by pin en route to the title at 165 pounds ... pinned four opponents, posted two technical falls and three major decisions this season.
Tanner Garrett
285 Pounds
So. * Tulsa, Okla.
2003-04: Ranks second on the team with a 25-8 record ... earned a No. 2 seed at the EIWA Championships and finished in second place with a 3-1 record ... his only loss in his last 14 bouts was a 4-1 decision to to Pennsylvania's Matt Feast, the nation's second-rankedwrestler at heavyweight, in the EIWA title bout ... posted a 10-2 mark in dual meets ... posted back-to-back victories over Army's Bo Reynolds to end the regular seasons ... the first decision gave Garrett his first tournament title of the year at the All-Academy Championships ... the second decision helped the Mids earn the N-Star with a 22-9 victory over the Black Knights ... scored seven of his wins by major decision and one by pin ... took third place at the Navy Classic and the Sunshine Open.
