March 5, 2006
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Navy wrestling team sits in fourth place entering this afternoon's finals in the 102nd EIWA Championship. At least two Mids will wrestle in the NCAA Tournament, with the potential for four more berths to be decided at the coaches' wild-card meeting before the finals. The Mids are fourth with 86 points, but will get a stiff challenge from Harvard, who is in sixth with 73.5 points, but the Crimson have four finalists.
Navy's Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) became the first Mid to grab an NCAA Tournament berth, defeating Cornell's Mike Mormile, the second seed, in the consolation finals, 8-5. Baker led 5-1 after two periods, then scored a takedown with about 40 seconds left to ice away the match. Mormile had piled up a 26-11 record during his senior campaign and finished last year's tournament as the runner-up at 125 pounds. The win moves the Navy freshman's record to 11-2, and became the first Navy freshman to qualify for the NCAA Tournament since Dan Hicks in 1992.
In Navy's other five weight classes that competed in the consolation semifinals, the Mids will have to wait for possible wildcard berths. The EIWA earned 44 NCAA Tournament berths, with 30 of them going to the top three finishers in each weight class.
Navy garnered two fourth-place finishes from sophomore 174-pounder Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.) and senion 197-pounder Chris Pogue (Chespeake, Va.). The pair was defeated in the consolation finals by Columbia's Matt Palmer and Army's Charles Martin, respectively. The pair equaled their pre-tournament seed.
John Cox (Grand Haven, Mich.) and Craig Dziewiatkowski (Aurora, Ill.) earned fifth-place finishes at 149 and 165 pounds. Cox was defeated by the tournament's top two seeds over the last two days, but rallied for a fifth-place finish with a 4-1 decision over Columbia's Ricky Turk in the fifth-place match.
Dziewiatkowski, meanwhile, had a strong run in the tournament, surpassing his pre-tournament sixth seed. Dziewiatkowski, who qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament, lost to the Nos. 2 and 5 seeds along the way. However, he had two impressive wins along the way, defeating third-seeded Shawn Kitchner of Brown twice, including a 13-3 major-decision in the fifth-place match.
The Mids also got a sixth-place finish from sophomore Spencer Manley (Ooltewah, Tenn.). Manley lost both of his matches in the consolation round on Sunday, but finished with a sixth-place showing after entering the tournament as the seventh seed.
Navy will have one more shot for points in this afternoon's finals, as senior heavyweight Tanner Garrett (Tulsa, Okla.) will battle Harvard's Bode Ogunwole.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS:133 -- (4) Joe Baker (Navy) pinned Frankie Baughan (Army), 1:43141 -- (4) Sal Tirico (Columbia) major dec. (7) Spencer Manley (Navy), 14-5149 -- (2) Patrick Simpson (Army) dec. (4) John Cox (Navy), 5-4165 -- (5) Jon Anderson (Army) dec. (6) Craig Dziewiatkowski (Navy), 8-6174 -- (4) Matt Stolpinski (Navy) dec. (6) Chad Marzec (Army), 6-4197 -- (4) Chris Pogue (Navy) pinned (6) Orrin Kleinhenz (Columbia), 2:46
THIRD-PLACE MATCHES:133 -- (4) Joe Baker dec. (2) Mike Mormile (Cornell), 8-5174 -- (3) Matt Palmer (Columbia) dec. (4) Matt Stolpinski (Navy), 11-4197 -- (5) Charles Martin (Army) dec. (4) Chris Pogue (Navy), 6-4
FIFTH-PLACE MATCHES:141 -- (3) Steve Adamcsik (Rutgers) tech. fall (7) Spencer Manley (Navy), 16-0 (2:41)149 -- (4) John Cox (Navy) dec. (5) Ricky Turk (Columbia), 4-1165 -- (6) Craig Dziewiatkowski (Navy) major dec. (3) Shawn Kitchner (Brown), 13-3
FINAL RESULTS:125 -- (8) Alex Usztics: 1-2 (DNP)133 -- (4) Joe Baker: 4-1 (3rd; Advanced to NCAA Championships)141 -- (7) Spencer Manley: 3-3 (6th)149 -- (4) John Cox: 2-2 (5th)157 -- (5) John Jarred: 2-2 (DNP)165 -- (6) Craig Dziewiatkowski: 3-2 (5th)174 -- (4) Matt Stolpinski: 3-2 (4th)184 -- (7) Jonny Kane: 1-2 (DNP)197 -- (4) Chris Pogue: 3-2 (4th)HW -- (1) Tanner Garrett: 2-0 (Wrestling in finals)
# GO NAVY #
