March 11, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy senior 184-pounder Casey Caldwell (Liberty, Ind.) and rookie 125-pounder Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore.) were among the 52 at-large selections announced by the NCAA on Wednesday to compete in the 2009 NCAA Championship slated for March 19-21 in St. Louis, Mo. Caldwell and Garner will join Navy teammates and EIWA Champions Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) and Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.), along with rookie Luke Rebertus (Elkton, Md.), who received automatic berths into the tournament by virtue of their placement at the EIWA Championship over the weekend.

"This is fantastic. You work hard in and out of the wrestling room all season long to prepare yourself for this opportunity. That's what it's all about," said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett, who was elated upon hearing the news of Caldwell and Garner receiving NCAA Championship wildcards. "Both Casey and Prescott dipped in and out of the rankings this year and competed alongside some of the nation's top wrestlers. The EIWA is an extremely tough tournament and both performed well, just not quite well enough to qualify by way of the automatic bid.

"I'm excited that they will have an opportunity to extend their season and have the chance to win an NCAA Championship. We've got a week to train hard and get ourselves prepared for what they've hoped to be a part of all year."

A sixth-place finisher at the EIWA Champion, Caldwell enjoyed his most productive season as a Navy wrestler. He turned in a 31-14 record that featured a 6-2 win over Virginia's Rocco Caponi at the Virginia Duals in January. He produced a 14-2 dual meet record, winning 10 of his last 11 including six in a row. Heading into the conference tournament last weekend, he owned a nine-match winning streak and extended it to 11 in a row before dropping a major decision to eventual EIWA Champion and ninth-ranked David Craig of Lehigh in the semifinals.

Garner is one of two Navy rookies who will be in action for the Mids at the national tournament. The West Linn High School product won his opening two bouts of the EIWA Championship before bowing out of his semifinal match against undefeated and second-ranked Troy Nickerson of Cornell. He was again tripped up in the consolation semis by Brown's Grego Einfrank, 9-4, but bounced back to take a 10-6 win over eighth-seeded John McDonald of Lehigh in the fifth-place match. Since eliminating the 118-pound weight class and beginning with 125 pounds in 1999, Garner is the only Navy wrestler to place in his weight class at the EIWA Championship.

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Garner is just two wins shy of joining the Mids' 30-win club, boasting a 28-14 record. Like Caldwell, perhaps his biggest win of his career also came at the Virginia Duals where he pinned then seventh-ranked Rollie Peterkin of Penn, the 2009 EIWA runner-up. Should he reach the 30-win milestone, he would become just the fifth freshman in school history to achieve the feat and the second this year. Additionally, he would team up with Rebertus (34-9) as the only rookie tandem to record 30 wins in a single season.

For the first time in the history of the national tournament, the NCAA Championship field was determined by using the primary criteria formula designed by the NCAA. There were 278 wrestlers who received automatic bids, while the remaining 52 were selected by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee on Wednesday using a secondary criteria.

The following is the primary criteria that helped determine automatic qualifiers for each conference. On February 23, wrestlers in each weight class were measured on the following: winning percentage, rating percentage index (RPI), and coaches' ranking. Winning percentage is defined as Division I wins divided by Division I total matches. RPI is defined as winning percentage times opponents' winning percentage times opponents' opponents' winning percentage. The coaches' ranking is defined as the weight class specific ranking as determined by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Pre-Seed Committee.

After all qualifying tournaments were held, wrestlers in each weight class received an updated winning percentage and RPI. Wrestlers that met or exceeded any one of the following criteria, in addition to having competed in their respective qualifying tournament, were eligible: a .700 winning percentage, Top-33 RPI, Top-33 coaches' ranking, .700 winning percentage against all competition, one win against a wrestler receiving automatic qualification, or qualifying tournament placement one below automatic qualification.

Prior to this year, the top three placewinners in each weight class at the EIWA Championship received an automatic bid with roughly seven or eight wildcards that were determined by the league's coaches following the conclusion of the tournament.


### Go Navy ###