March 4, 2006
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The 19th-ranked Navy wrestling team made a strong push in the championship bracket and ended up fifth after day one of the 102nd EIWA Championships. Seven Mids will wrestle in tomorrow's action, with Tanner Garrett competing for an EIWA Championship at heavyweight. Navy is fifth in the team scoring with 64.5 points, behind Lehigh, Cornell, Penn and Harvard.
Navy was ousted in the semifinal round at 133, 149, 165, 174 and 197 pounds. Those five wrestlers, with 141-pound sophomore Spencer Manley in the consolation round, seven Mids still have NCAA Tournament dreams.
"We wrestled really hard today, but just couldn't finish and close out our chances in the semifinal round," said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "We have to be able to win the close matches and ready to wrestle the full seven minutes. Having one guy in the finals is disappointing, but having seven alive is fairly strong. We'll come back tomorrow and fight hard trying to get guys to the NCAA Tournament. I promise you we'll be strong tomorrow."
At 133 pounds, Navy freshman Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) saw his nine-match winning streak come to a halt to top-seeded Matt Valenti of Penn. Baker led midway through the second period, but couldn't hold the lead and dropped a close 11-8 decision.
"Baker, I thought, wrestled very well today. He just couldn't hold on at the end," said Burnett. "He's a pretty good four seed and I think he will come out very strong again."
At 149 pounds, John Cox (Grand Haven, Mich.) held an early lead scoring takedowns against top-seeded Matt Dragon of Penn, but gave up six back points after starting the second period down and fell, 11-7. Dragon had defeated Cox, 17-3, at the Penn State Open. Cox had his chances to pull the upset in the third period getting to within 9-7, but Dragon scored a late takedown to stop the rally and send Cox into the consolation round.
Craig Dziewiatkowski (Aurora, Ill.) dropped his semifinal match to American's second seed, Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, 9-5. Abdurakhmanov, who is undefeated at 20-0 on the season, recorded four takedowns and held off a late Dziewiatkowski charge, 9-5.
At 174 pounds, Lehigh's top-seeded Travis Frick defeated Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.), 9-4. Stolpinski couldn't generate any offense against the Lehigh senior, falling in the semifinals to Frick for the second straight year. Frick has now defeated Stolpinski all four times the pair has wrestled in the last two years.
At 197 pounds, top-seeded and sixth-ranked Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell made a first-period takedown stand up and held on for a 3-2 victory over Chris Pogue (Chesapeake, Va.). Pogue was in on Rinaldi on a single-leg takedown late in the match, but he couldn't finish the move and Rinaldi advanced to the finals.
Garrett will be Navy's lone representative in the finals as he knocked off fourth-seeded Paul Weibel of Lehigh in the semifinals, 8-6. Garrett scored two second-period takedowns and later in the frame to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. Weibel took a 5-4 lead with a third-period takedown and escape, but Garrett knotted the score at five with an escape moments later. Garrett then scored a takedown with just over a minute left and added riding time for an 8-6 victory. The win moved Garrett into the finals for the third straight year and improved his record to 41-2.
Navy's other representative on Sunday will be Manley. Manley was defeated in the quarterfinals, but moved through the consolation bracket, defeating Army's Whitt Dunning by major decision, 13-2, and Brown's Mark Savino, 1-0. Manley entered the tournament as the seventh seed and will surpass that with a top-six finish. In the match with Savino, Manley scored a takedown with one second left in the second period, then rode out Savino for the entire third period for the 1-0 victory.
"Spencer wrestled very well today, and he made the plays and moves when he needed to," said Burnett. "There is no need to save up for anything. Tomorrow is the day we've been working for. We are going to give it our all and get some guys to NCAA's."
Action will conclude tomorrow at Stabler Arena, starting at 10:00 a.m. The EIWA will qualify 44 contestants to the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. The top three placers are automatic qualifiers, then the coaches will choose 14 qualifiers from placers 4-6.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:FIRST ROUND (SEED IN PARENTHESES BEFORE THE NAME):133 - (4) Joe Baker (Navy) pinned Trent Dixon (F&M), 6:14141 - (7) Spencer Manley (Navy) pinned Chris Kelly (F&M), 2:30157 - (5) John Jarred (Navy) dec. Derek Sickles (Columbia), 6-0165 - (6) Craig Dziewiatkowski (Navy) major dec. Mike Baria (Harvard), 12-4174 - (4) Matt Stolpinski (Navy) tech. fall James Schulz (F&M), 22-7 (6:44)197 - (4) Chris Pogue (Navy) major dec. Logan Lowe (Princeton), 15-4
QUARTERFINALS:125 - (1) Troy Nickerson (Cornell) tech. fall (8) Alex Usztics (Navy), 18-3 (7:00)133 - (4) Joe Baker (Navy) major dec. (5) Jordan Lipp (American), 10-0141 - (2) Max Meltzer (Harvard) dec. (7) Spencer Manley (Navy), 10-3149 - (4) John Cox (Navy) major dec. (5) Ricky Turk (Columbia), 12-2157 - (4) Gene Zannetti (Penn) dec. (5) John Jarred (Navy), 12-9165 - (6) Craig Dziewiatkowski (Navy) dec. (3) Shawn Kitchner (Brown), 8-7174 - (4) Matt Stolpinski (Navy) dec. (5) Dan Miracola (Cornell), 6-4184 - (2) Joe Mazzurco (Cornell) dec. (7) Jonny Kane (Navy), 6-3197 - (4) Chris Pogue (Navy) dec. (5) Charles Martin (Army), 3-1 (sv)HW - (1) Tanner Garrett (Navy) dec. (8) Shawn Coughlin (F&M), 4-2
SEMIFINALS:133 - (1) Matt Valenti (Penn) dec. (4) Joe Baker (Navy), 11-8149 - (1) Matt Dragon (Penn) dec. (4) John Cox (Navy), 10-7165 - (2) Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov (American) dec. (6) Craig Dziewiatkowski (Navy), 9-5174 - (1) Travis Frick (Lehigh) dec. (4) Matt Stolpinski (Navy), 9-4197 - (1) Jerry Rinaldi (Cornell) dec. (4) Chris Pogue (Navy), 3-2HW - (1) Tanner Garrett (Navy) dec. (4) Paul Weibel (Lehigh), 8-6
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND:125 - (8) Alex Usztics (Navy) tech. fall Doug Ritchey (F&M), 18-3 (7:00)141 - (7) Spencer Manley (Navy) major dec. Whitt Dunning (Army), 13-2157 - (5) John Jarred (Navy) major dec. John Clore (Princeton), 18-6184 - (7) Jonny Kane (Navy) dec. David Williams (E. Stroudsburg), 10-4
CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS:125 - (5) Matt Morkel (American) dec. (8) Alex Usztics (Navy), 6-4141 - (7) Spencer Manley (Navy) dec. Mark Savino (Brown), 1-0157 - (8) Brian Rowan (Army) dec. (5) John Jarred (Navy), 6-1184 - (3) Luis Caputo (Harvard) tech. fall (7) Jonny Kane (Navy), 16-0 (2:37)
# GO NAVY #
