July 22, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Ninth-year Navy wrestling coach Bruce Burnett and his staff have assembled one of the top recruiting classes not only on the East Coast, but on a national level as well. Navy's Class of 2012, which features 13 young men who have captured a combined 20 state titles, is ranked 25th by D1CollegeWrestling.net and 30th by Intermat. Additionally, Navy is one of three members of the EIWA who are listed among the rankings, joining highly-ranked Rutgers (No. 2 D1CollegeWrestling.net and No. 4 Intermat) and Cornell (No. 22 D1CollegeWrestling.net). "Without question we have an exceptional class coming in," said Burnett. "Overall, this class is as good or better than we've had since I've been here. The better the athlete we bring in, the competition in the wrestling room only gets stronger which in turn helps each of our young wrestlers develop and compete on a national level. "There are two young men, Pat McCaffrey (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and Luke Rebertus (Elkton, Md.), who we anticipate will help us early on. Both of them have proven themselves at every level and quite frankly, we expect them to contribute to our program right away."

Navy Wrestling Class of 2012
Name               Wt.   Hometown / High School                     HighlightsAustin Clouse      125   Annapolis, Md. / Mount St. Joseph's (Wyoming Seminary)
                                                                    3-Time National Prep Placewinner
Bernie Crandley    149   Ambler, Pa. / Hatboro-Horsham (NAPS)       All-State (Pa.)
Prescott Garner    125   West Linn, Ore. / West Linn / (NAPS)       3-Time Ore. Placewinner, AA at Fargo
Dustin Haslip      141   Inwood, W.Va. / Musselman (NAPS)           3-Time State Champion, Schalles Award Winner
Aaron Kalil        133   Salem, N.H. / Salem (NAPS)                 3-Time N.H. Champion
Collin Leadbeter   141   Owings, Md. / Northern (NAPS)              3-Time Md. Placewinner, 2-Time Champion
John Majka         133   Chicago, Ill. / St. Rita                   2-Time Ill. State Placewinner
Pat McCaffrey      125   Glen Ellyn, Ill. / Home Schooled           State and National Champion, 2-Time Junior World Medalist
Thomas Oswald      141   St. Cloud, Fla. / St. Cloud                2-Time Fla. Placewinner
Luke Rebertus      174   Elkton, Md. / Caravel Academy (NAPS)       3-Time State Champion, AA at Fargo
Tyler Sackett      125   Omaha, Neb. / Skutt Catholic               4-Time State Champion
Cory Vernon        149   Great Meadows, N.J. / Hackettstown (NAPS)  N.J. State Placewinner
Bailey Whitaker    125   Lookout Mt., Ga. / Baylor School           4-Time Tenn. State Champion

After putting together back-to-back top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championship for the first time in better than 20 years, wrestling and its support at the Naval Academy is on the rise. Last spring Navy sent three Midshipmen to the podium at the NCAA Championship, the first time it has boasted three All-Americans in a single season since 1967. Meanwhile, rising senior Scott Steele (Baltimore, Md.) recently qualified for the Olympic Trials in the heavyweight division where he placed third and is an alternate for next month's Olympic Games in Beijing, China. With Steele and 2008 All-American Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) headlining the list of returning letterwinners for the Midshipmen, combined with fresh new talent that has already gotten the prognosticators' attention, the future of Navy wrestling looks bright. The 2008-09 Navy Wrestling Plebe Smoker will be held July 30 in Halsey Field House beginning at 7:00 pm for those fans interested in getting their first glimpse of the Navy newcomers. Meanwhile, pencil in Oct. 24 as Navy's annual Blue-Gold Challenge Matches.

### Go Navy ###