Dec. 27, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After a brief break to celebrate the holidays, the Navy wrestling team will be back in action on Monday when it travels to Greensboro, N.C. to take part in the Southern Scuffle. The two-day, 28-team tournament will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum's Special Events Center with action beginning at 10:00 am on Monday.
Twenty-four teams will make their return to Greensboro including third-ranked (tied) Cornell, who is the highest ranked team among the field, along with a total of five teams that finished in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships last year. Missing from this year's field is Minnesota, who easily claimed last year's Southern Scuffle team crown, while Campbell, East Stroudsburg, Franklin & Marshall and Princeton will make their Southern Scuffle debut.
Navy, who saw five wrestlers place including title winner Ed Prendergast at heavyweight, will look to improve upon its ninth-place finish a year ago at the Scuffle. Twenty Navy wrestlers will be in action at this year's tournament with two participating at each weight class except 133 and 165 pounds. Rookie Aaron Kalil (Salem, N.H.), who has put together a 14-10 record and placed in two of the five tournaments he has seen action in, will be the lone representative at 133 pounds, while three different wrestlers will be entered at 165 pounds, including sophomore Robby Neill (Brick, N.J.) who will push up this week from 157 pounds.
Two of Navy's five placewinners from last year's Scuffle will be in action, led by team captain Scott Steele (Baltimore, Md.) at heavyweight. Last year Steele and Prendergast locked up in the heavyweight title bout in three tournaments, including the Southern Scuffle. While Steele bested his teammate at Eastern Michigan and the Navy Classic, Prendergast took the Scuffle win by pinning Steele in extra minutes (8:19).
Steele has fought a nagging leg injury over the course of the first half of the season, but has amassed a solid 13-3 record and a No. 12 national ranking. He won the Eastern Michigan Open for a second straight season, while placing second at the Navy Classic and fourth at the Reno Tournament of Champions just before the holiday break.
Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.), who finished seventh at last year's Scuffle, has been nothing short of sensational in his second season wrestling at 149 pounds. Ranked fifth in the country, he has put together a 20-1 record, suffering his lone loss of the season in the championship bout at the Nittany Lion Open against No. 2 Bubba Jenkins of Penn State. Saddoris has won three individual crowns this season - Eastern Michigan Open, Navy Classic and Reno Tournament of Champions - and will look to add a fourth to his arsenal this week. The tournament will likely be seeded to pit Saddoris and NC State's Darrion Caldwell, ranked No. 3 nationally, in the championship bout.
After missing last year's Scuffle because of the flu, senior Joel Ahern (Herkimer, N.Y.) is looking forward to building upon his 19-6 record this season at 157 pounds. Ahern has placed in all four tournaments he has competed in, including a third-place finish at the Navy Classic in late November. He is just one win shy of conquering the 20-win milestone for the second time in his career and two wins short of tying his single-season best of 21 wins.
Placing in three tournaments this season, including a third-place showing at the Reno Tournament of Champions, is sophomore 165-pounder Matt DeMichiel (Whitesboro, N.Y.) who has already eclipsed his win total from a year ago. Midway through the season, DeMichiel owns a 16-7 record, two more wins than a year ago.
Fab frosh Luke Rebertus (Elkton, Md.) is coming off a championship win at the Reno Tournament of Champions just under two weeks ago. Behind a 19-3 record, the Caravel Academy (Del.) product has placed among the top four in all four of the tournaments in which he has competed, including title wins in a pair. Meanwhile, Rebertus made his debut in the national rankings last week, coming in at No. 16 at 174 pounds.
He will be met with plenty of competition, as six wrestlers (seven including Rebertus) ranked in the top 20 will be in action at the Scuffle - No. 5 Steve Anceravage (Cornell), No. 7 Alton Lucas (Hofstra), No. 11 Chris Henrich (Virginia), No. 18 Austin Trotman (Appalachian State), No. 19 Jacob Ison (Ohio), No. 20 Hunter Meys (Boston Univ.).
The following is a complete rundown of who will represent the Midshipmen at the 2008 Southern Scuffle: 125 - Prescott Garner (Fr.), Allan Stein (So.); 133 - Aaron Kalil (Fr.); 141 - John Majka (Fr.), Matt Pagan (Jr.); 149 - Bryce Saddoris (So.), Cory Vernon (Fr.); 157 - Joel Ahern (Sr.), Glenn Shober (Jr.); 165 - Jason Coyne (Sr.), Matt DeMichiel (So.), Robby Neill (So.); 174 - Mike Billings (Jr.), Luke Rebertus (Fr.); 184 - Casey Caldwell (Sr.), Russ Kropp (Jr.); 197 - Charles Carafano (Jr.), Philip Neese (Sr.); HWT - Tyler Moyer (Sr.), Scott Steele (Sr.)
Live video coverage of the Southern Scuffle will be available for viewing via Spartan All Access. Live coverage will begin on Monday at 10:00 am and on Tuesday at 9:00 am with feature matches centralized throughout the tournament on two of the 10 mats. Those two mats will be broadcast live the entire day to give the viewers the chance to catch the most high profile matches. Spartan All-Access is available by logging onto www.UNCGSpartans.com and clicking on the Spartan All Access logo to sign up. Single-day packages are priced at $9.95 with weekend packages set at $16.95.
In addition, live results will also be available by logging onto SouthernScuffle.com.
Tickets for available for the event and are priced at $12 for an adult ticket, while student tickets are $8, and children under the age of 5 are free.
2008 Southern Scuffle participants:
Appalachian State
Binghamton
Bloomsburg
Boston University
Cal State - Bakersfield
Campbell
The Citadel
#T3 Cornell
Davidson
Duke
East Stroudsburg
#17 Edinboro
Franklin & Marshall
Gardner-Webb
George Mason
#19 Hofstra
Kent State
Liberty
Lock Haven
Navy
North Carolina
UNC Greensboro
North Carolina State
Ohio
#21 Old Dominion
Princeton
#23 Virginia
Virginia Tech
### Go Navy ###
