Dec. 7, 2008
• Complete Bracket Results (PDF)
• Complete Navy Results
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Navy 125-pound prestler Prescott Garner (Fr./West Linn, Ore.) won his weight class to highlight seven Midshipmen placing at the non-team scoring Nittany Lion Open on Sunday.
"We had some good performances today," stated Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "We had some good wrestles and some that won but couldn't put up back-to-back performances. Our guys lost some matches that they were capable of winning. The experience really caught up to us. We have to get back into the practice room and get better."
Garner opened his day by posting back-to-back pins of Boston's Ryan Dowd and Penn State's Ryan Pataky before taking a 10-8 decision over Evan Kolb from Lock Haven to advance to the placing match. The Navy freshman qualified for the championship bout with a convincing 9-4 decision over Pitt-Johnstown's Jimmy Airey. Garner would take on Scotty Morgan from Pitt-Johnstown for the title, where he pinned his opponent with 38 seconds remaining in the match.
At the 149-pound division, Bryce Saddoris (So./Spring Creek, Nev.) placed second after a 4-1 record on the day. Saddoris registered an 8-3 victory over Cornell's Brian Alves before a 12-2 major decision triumph against Cleveland's Antonio Nicholson. The Navy sophomore took down Penn's Bret McCurdy, 8-2, before a 3-1 decision victory against Boston's 20th-ranked Mike Roberts advanced him to the championship. The nation's eighth-ranked wrestler, who had a 15-0 record going into the bout against second-ranked Penn State's Bubba Jenkins, suffered a 10-2 setback in the final match.
In the 165-weight class, Matt DeMichiel (So./Whitesboro, N.Y.) registered a third-place performance on the day. DeMichiel recorded victories over Boston's CJ Inglin, Lehigh's Brandon Hatchett and George Mason's Aaron Keeton before a 9-1 major decision over Rutgers' Matt Pletcher to move into the placing round. The Navy sophomore suffered a 4-2 loss to Maryland's Brian Letters before taking a 13-4 major decision over Rider's Jason Lapham in the third-place bout.
Navy 184-pound team captain Casey Caldwell (Sr./Liberty, Ind.), 157-pound wrestler Joel Ahern (Sr./Herkimer, N.Y.) and 174-pound competitor Luke Rebertus (Fr./Elkton, Md.) all finished fourth in their respective weight classes.
Caldwell opened with wins over George Mason's Zach Ulm, Lehigh's Kadeem Samuels and Cornell's Nate Holley before suffering a narrow 4-3 loss to 17th-ranked Chris Daggett from Liberty. The Navy senior came back with another close battle against Rutgers' Keith Dobish, but fell in a 2-1 sudden victory.
Ahern followed in a similar route as his classmate, registering victories over Bucknell's Tyler Riccio, Clarion's Justin McCrillis, Cornell's DJ Meagher and Penn's Gabe Burak to qualify for placing matches. Shippensburg's Steve Fittery defeated Ahern, 8-4, to send him to the third-place match with Binghamton's Nate Patterson, where he had to medically forfeit.
Rebertus upped his record to 14-1 during his rookie campaign with victories against Rider's Joe Ferber, Lehigh's Robert Hamlin and Liberty's Aaron Kelley to open his day. Maryland' Mike Letts got the best of the Navy freshman, 10-1, to drop him into the third-place bout against Boston's Hunter Meys. Rebertus was edged in that match, 4-1.
Matt Pagan (Jr./Carteret, N.J.) worked his way through the consolation bracket in the 141-pound weight class to earn fifth-place honors on Sunday. The Navy junior began the day with triumphs against Cleveland's Lawrence Cavello, Mercyhurst's James Henderson and Rider's Fred Rodgers before an 8-1 loss to Rutgers' Trevor Melde. Pagan rallied back with a win over Josh Dziewa before needing just 24 seconds to pin Binghamton's Anwar Goeres to advance to the fifth-place match. Paired against Rodgers once again, he scored a 4-1 victory to finish his day with a 6-1 record.
The Midshipmen will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 18, when they head to the Reno Tournament of Champions.
