Feb. 8, 2006
• Individual Stats | National Rankings
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy wrestling team, fresh off its third straight All-Academy team title, remains firm at No. 19 in the latest NWCA / USA Today national rankings. The Mids are also 22nd in the W.I.N. Magazine national poll and 21st in the WrestlingMall.com poll. The EIWA also released its latest rankings, with Navy coming in fourth and eight wrestlers ranked in the top six of their respective weight classes. In addition to the lofty team rankings, three Navy wrestlers find themselves represented in the national top 20.
Navy has now been ranked No. 19 in the last four polls, reaching the ranking on Jan. 18, 2006. The Mids are one of four EIWA teams listed in the national rankings and are behind No. 13 Cornell, No. 14 Lehigh and are ahead of No. 22 Penn.
Individually, senior heavyweight Tanner Garrett (Tulsa, Okla.) is ranked sixth in all four polls. He has compiled a 37-2 overall mark, having won 11 matches in a row after cruising to the All-Academy Tournament title last weekend. Garrett currently sports a 108-30 career mark, sitting just three wins shy of the top five for career wins by a Navy wrestler. Garrett could finish as high as No. 3 on the career wins list (John Reich -- 119 wins from 1979-83). Garrett's 37 wins also ranks as the seventh most in a single season and is just seven shy of the single-season school record (Mark Conley -- 44 wins in 2001-02). He is the top-ranked wrestler in the latest EIWA rankings.
John Cox (Grand Haven, Mich.) is ranked 19th in the latest NWCA / Intermat poll at 149 pounds, but has moved up to 17th in the Amateur Wrestling News nationall poll. Cox owns a 30-8 record, having won nine of his last 10 matches with his lone loss coming to Army's Patrick Simpson in the All-Academy Tournament finals by an injury default.
Freshman Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) has emerged in the Amateur Wrestling News national rankings at No. 19. Baker claimed last weekend's All-Academy Tournament title and owns a 5-1 record on the season, after joining the team midway through the season. Wrestling unattached at the Penn State Open, Baker claimed the individual title, having defeated 2005 All-American Evan Sola of North Carolina in the quarterfinals. Baker has won his last five matches.
In the EIWA team rankings released Monday night, Cornell tops the chart, Lehigh is second, Penn is third, Navy is fourth and Army rounds out the top five.
Other Navy wrestlers ranked in the top six of their respective weight classes, Cox is second at 149 pounds, John Jarred (Kansas City, Mo.) and Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.) are fourth at 157 and 174 respectively. Baker and senior Chris Pogue (Chesapeake, Va.) are fifth at 133 and 197 pounds and Spencer Manley (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and Craig Dziewiatkowski are sixth at 141 and 165 respectively.
The Mids will close out their dual-meet season over the next two weekends, traveling to American on Friday, Feb. 10, before hosting arch-rival Army on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7:00 p.m., in Alumni Hall.
# GO NAVY #
