March 20, 2008

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Three of Navy's five wrestlers who qualified for the 78th NCAA Wrestling Championship at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., have won their first two matches of the tournament and will advance to the quarterfinal round. Team captain and seventh-seeded Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.) (174), along with third-seeded heavyweight Ed Prendergast (St. Louis, Mo.) and 11th-seeded 133-pounder Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) will continue their quest for an NCAA Championship Friday when action resumes at 10:00 am CDT/11:00 am EDT.

"I'm excited about having three guys advancing to the quarterfinals," said eighth-year Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "A year ago we had all six wrestlers advance after the first day, but everyone was in the consolation bracket by the end of the day. This year we have three solid chances of advancing in the championship bracket. Matt and Ed pulled out big wins in very tight matches in the second round and Joe Baker continues to wrestle well and once again knocked off a higher seeded competitor. Tomorrow is a huge day for us and we will have our hands full as we will be the under dog in two of the three quarterfinal matches."

After upsetting the nation's second-ranked wrestler in the country two weeks ago en route to winning his first EIWA individual title, three-time NCAA qualifier Joe Baker continued his trek by taking out another top wrestler in the competition. After opening the day with a convincing 12-5 victory over Old Dominion's Kyle Hutter (28-11), Baker was paired up against sixth-seeded Lou Ruggirello of Hofstra. Having lost just three matches the entire season, Ruggirello seemingly had the advantage heading into the match. Baker, had other thoughts. After a scoreless opening period, Baker scored a takedown midway through the second stanza after his initial shot was turned away. Ruggirello, however, was able to break loose of the hold and trimmed the lead to 2-1 heading into the final period. Ruggirello chose to open the third down and Baker successfully rode him out and tacked on a point for riding time to score the upset by a 3-1 count.

Baker will face Oklahoma's Coleman Scott who is seeded third in the tournament and owns a 30-4 record. Scott defeated Jimmy Conroy of Pittsburgh in his opener before taking down Oregon's Ryan Dunn, 6-1. Baker and Scott faced one another in the championship bout of the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 18, where Scott turned in a narrow 6-4 victory over Baker. Scott also scored a 9-3 victory over Baker a year ago at the Lone Star Duals.

Stolpinski met Air Force's Tyler French for the second time in the last month when the two clashed in the opening round of the 174-pound bracket. And for the second time, Stolpinski sent French packing as he picked up an 8-1 victory to move on in the bracket. Stolpinski, however, would have his hands full in his second-round match as 10th-seeded Mike Letts of Maryland was looking to avenge his fall suffered at the hands of his Navy foe in the season's dual match held in Annapolis. Letts took a quick lead, taking down Stolpinski before the Navy senior captain narrowed the score to 2-1 by the end of the opening period. Letts pushed his lead to 3-1 after beginning the second period down and being awarded the point for an escape. Few times this season has Stolpinski been faced with a deficit heading into the final period, but he was able to fight back into the match by posting an escape to open the final period. With time winding down, Stolpinski scored a takedown to take a 4-3 lead. That lead would be short-lived as Letts was able to escape and forced overtime.

Neither wrestler was able to score a point in sudden victory, sending the match into a pair of tie breaker periods. Letts chose the down position in the first tie breaker, but Stolpinski rode him hard and was eventually dealt a stall warning. Stolpinski made his move in the second tie breaker where he scored the match-winning point by breaking the hold of Letts and scoring the escape for a 5-4 TB2 win. Stolpinski, who entered the tournament with the third-most wins in the country, now stands 40-6, reaching the 40-win plateau for the second consecutive year. Navy's all-time wins leader with 139, he is the first wrestler in Academy history to win 40 or more matches twice in his career.

Stolpinski, who is looking to become Navy's first two-time All-American since Mark Conley in 2001 and '02, will face Michigan's Steve Luke in tomorrow's quarterfinals. Luke owns a 27-2 record and is seeded second in the tournament. Stolpinski and Luke battled one another in early December at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational where Luke defeated Stolpinski, 8-6, in the tie breaker. It was just Stolpinski's second loss of the season.

For the 15th time this season, Prendergast dismissed an opponent via fall. Returning to wrestle in front of his hometown friends and family, Prendergast opened the day by pinning Nebraska's Jon May at 5:22. It's the 38th fall of his career, the second most by a wrestler in school history. Prendergast moved on to face West Virginia's Dustin Rogers in the second round, bringing back memories of last year's NCAA Tournament match in which Prendergast suffered a season-ending injury in an 8-3 loss to the Mountaineer. Prendergast, however, sought to avenge that loss and did so in dramatic fashion.

After a scoreless opening period, Prendergast took the 1-0 advantage by earning an escape in the second period. Rogers evened the score by turning in his own escape to open the third period, forcing overtime. The match was then sent into tie breakers after neither wrestler was able to score in sudden victory. Prendergast took a 2-1 advantage, escaping Rogers' grasp in the first tie breaker. In the second tie breaker, Prendergast nearly pinned Rogers, but instead was awarded a three-point near fall and went on to win the match, 5-1.

Prendergast, who owns a 36-4 record and is one win shy of tying his career best for wins in a season, has won 26 straight matches. He will face sixth-seeded Kyle Massey from Wisconsin in Friday's quarterfinals. Massey nipped Rashard Goff of Cleveland State in the opener, 3-1, before holding off 11th-seeded Mike Spaid of Bloomsburg, 4-3.

Meanwhile, despite dropping his opening-round match to No. 1 seed Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro (0-16), senior Spencer Manley (Chattanooga, Tenn.) remains active in the tournament. He received a bye in the consolation bracket and will battle Oklahoma State's Newly McSpadden Friday morning. McSpadden beat Millersville's Jarrett Hostetter, 2-0, in the opener before suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to second-seeded Michael Poeta of Illinois.

Finally, rookie Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) saw his season come to an end after losing consecutive matches to sixth-seeded Bubba Jenkins of Penn State, 15-5, and Lehigh's Trevor Chinn, 6-1.

"Bryce, unfortunately, got caught on his back and just didn't have enough to get back into the match against Chinn," said Burnett. "He's wrestled very well for a freshman and really competed hard for us this season."

NAVY WRESTLERS AT THE 78th NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP
First-Round Matches
133 - #11 Joe Baker dec Kyle Hutter (Old Dominion), 12-5
149 - #6 Bubba Jenkins (Penn State) major dec Bryce Saddoris, 15-5
157 - #1 Gregor Gillespie (Edinboro) tech fall Spencer Manley, 16-0
174 - #7 Matt Stolpinski dec Tyler French (Air Force), 8-1
HWT - #3 Ed Prendergast WBF Jon May (Nebraska), 5:22

Second-Round Matches
133 - #11 Joe Baker dec #6 Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra), 3-1
174 - #7 Matt Stolpinski dec #10 Mike Letts (Maryland), 5-4 TB
HWT - #3 Ed Prendergast dec Dustin Rogers (West Virginia), 5-1 TB

Consolation Matches
149 - Trevor Chinn (Lehigh) dec Bryce Saddoris, 6-1

Updated Records
133 - Joe Baker; 27-10 Season, 60-25 Career
149 - Bryce Saddoris; 35-12 Season, 35-12 Career
157 - Spencer Manley; 25-12 Season, 59-42 Career
174 - #7 Matt Stolpinski; 40-6 Season, 139-41 Career
HWT - #3 Ed Prendergast; 36-4 Season, 103-28 Career