March 20, 2009

• 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championship - Day 2

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Just two of Navy's five NCAA qualifiers remain in action following Session III of the 79th NCAA Wrestling Championship at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., including sophomore Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) who punched his ticket to the 149-pound semifinals and has secured All-America honors. Additionally, senior 133-pounder Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) won two matches in the consolation round on Friday afternoon to keep his All-America hopes alive. Session IV is scheduled to begin tonight at 6:00 pm CT / 7:00 pm ET and will be aired live on ESPN2.

With four wrestlers in the championship bracket and one in the wrestlebacks, Ohio State leads the team standings with 61.5 points. The Buckeyes hold a four-point lead over Iowa State who has six wrestlers active, three in each bracket. Navy, meanwhile, stands 26th in the team standings with 17.5 points, just a half a point behind Minnesota and NC State in 24th and 1.5 points ahead of Northern Iowa, who stands 27th.

Saddoris became just the 59th wrestler in program history to earn All-America recognition following a 3-2 win over Hofstra's Paul Gillespie in Friday's quarterfinals. Following a scoreless opening period, Saddoris turned in the first point of the match with an escape to open the second. Gillespie, meanwhile, evened the match to start the third when he, too, scored a point for an escape leaving it in the hands of the wrestlers to make the final move. It was Saddoris who would score the winning takedown as time was winding down, though, Gillespie did get away from Saddoris at the end.

Looking ahead to Friday night's semifinals Saddoris will be paired up against NC State's Darrion Caldwell, who is seeded third and owns an impressive 36-1 record. Caldwell and Saddoris met in the championship bout of the Southern Scuffle at the end of December where Saddoris found himself out of position and Caldwell turned him and scored the pin to win the title.

Should Saddoris win his match against Caldwell, it would mark the first time since 1990 (Scott Schleicher) that a Navy wrestler has appeared in the National Championship bout of his weight class. The other semifinal pits top-seeded Brent Metcalf of Iowa, who is 36-0, against fourth-seeded Lance Palmer of Ohio State, who owns a 30-3 record.

Baker, meanwhile, remains hopeful of claiming All-America recognition for a second straight year and would become only the 15th wrestler in program history to achieve the feat.

After losing his second bout of the tournament on Thursday, Baker came back on Friday to put together back-to-back wins over unseeded competition. Baker earned an unthinkable win against Wyoming's Cory VomBaur after trailing in the mid stages of the third period. Baker put up the first point of the match in the second period with an escape, however, VomBaur brought down Baker on the edge of the mat with just over a minute remaining in the period. Down 2-1 heading into the final stanza, Baker was also staring down an extra point in VomBaur's favor due to more than a minute of riding time. VomBaur pushed his lead to 3-1 with an escape to start the final period, but Baker quickly took him down to knot the match. VomBaur took the lead once again with an escape, but the more experienced Baker struck again with a takedown, riding him out to eliminate the riding time point and earning a 5-4 win.

The third round of consolations began just hours later where Baker would once again rely upon a strong showing in the final period to rally past UC Davis' Brandon Low. The match's first points were scored by Low, who began the second period down and after several scrambles managed to reverse the hold to take a 2-0 lead. Baker, though, quickly made his way out of the hold to find himself down by just one point entering the third period. Baker chose the down position and quickly found his way free to even the score at 2-2. Baker had riding time on his side, as he was able to rack up more than a minute in the second period when Low was fighting to break free from the Navy senior. Not resting on his laurels, Baker secured the win by taking down Low for two before Low escaped. It was too little for Low, however, as Baker took the match, 5-3.

Baker, now 17-1 this season, will face 10th-seeded Jake Strayer of Penn State in Friday night's consolation fifth round. A win by Baker would assure him a spot in at least the seventh-place match and would give him the All-America status he has fought for this season.

Bowing out of the tournament on Friday were senior Casey Caldwell (Liberty, Ind.) and freshmen Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore.) and Luke Rebertus (Elkton, Md.). Caldwell was unable to fight off Purdue's A.J. Kissel who immediately looked for the fall with a takedown, followed by a two-point nearfall and then the pin at 2:36. The product of Union County High School concluded his career with a 56-36 record, including a solid 32-16 mark in his senior year. Not only does he walk away an NCAA qualifier in his final season, he captured a win on Thursday in the wrestleback round.

Garner's first trip to the NCAA Championship came to an end on Friday where he succumbed to Virginia Tech's Jarrod Garnett in the consolation second round. Garnett built a massive 8-0 lead in the first period thanks to three two-point near falls and a takedown. It would be too much for Garner to bounce back from, as Garnett scored an 18-5 major decision over the Navy rookie. Meanwhile, Garner ends a sensational freshman season with a 29-16 record.

Rebertus was the final Navy wrestler to bow out of the tournament on Friday afternoon. Like Baker, he scored a solid win in his first match of the day to advance in the tournament. Rebertus drew Oklahoma redshirt sophomore Jeff James, ranked 12th nationally. James brought Rebertus to the mat in the opening period, but by the end of the period held just a one-point lead over Rebertus who scored the escape. James made the decision to begin the second period down, however, it would prove costly as Rebertus went for the pin. Though he wasn't quite able to pull it through, Rebertus was rewarded with a three-point nearfall and took a 4-2 lead in the match. James, though, was able to break free and trailed 4-3 to start the second. It was Rebertus' chance to choose the bottom and he quickly got loose to take a 5-3 lead. He extended his advantage to 7-3 by taking James down, however, James got free. Rebertus went on to lose a point late in the period after he was hit with back-to-back stall warnings, but he was able to pull out the 7-5 win.

Meeting Rebertus in the next round was a familiar foe, Oklahoma State's Newly McSpadden, seeded ninth. McSpadden squeaked out a 3-2 win against Rebertus earlier this season at the Virginia Duals. McSpadden wouldn't be denied on Friday either, holding off a fierce rally by Rebertus. After two periods, McSpadden held a 3-0 advantage. Rebertus cut into the lead as he smartly chose the neutral position to start the final period. He brought McSpadden down and cut him loose, trailing 4-2. McSpadden was twice called for stalling, as Rebertus got to within one at 4-3, however McSpadden had built riding time in the opening period and took the match, 5-3.

Rebertus closes out his year with a 36-11 record, the second-most wins by a freshman in Navy history. Last year, Saddoris turned in 35 wins en route to his first NCAA appearance as a rookie and Rebertus was able to top that mark. Rebertus finished the tournament with a 2-2 record in his first NCAA Championship appearance.


NAVY WRESTLERS AT THE 79th NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP
>>Thursday, March 19
First-Round Matches
125 -- #9 Tyler Clark (Iowa State) tech fall Prescott Garner, 19-5
133 -- #8 Joe Baker dec Thomas Kimbrell (Cal State Bakersfield), 6-0
149 -- #7 Bryce Saddoris dec Nick Stabile (North Carolina), 5-2
174 -- Luke Rebertus dec Ian Hinton (Michigan State), 6-2
184 -- Patrick Flynn (Oklahoma) pinned Casey Caldwell, 0:37

Second-Round Matches
133 -- #9 Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra) pinned #8 Joe Baker, 6:49
149 -- #7 Bryce Saddoris dec #10 Kyle Borshoff (American), 9-5
174 -- #1 Steve Luke (Michigan) dec Luke Rebertus, 6-0

Consolation Matches - Rd. 1
125 -- Prescott Garner dec Eric Olanowski (Michigan State), 9-7
184 -- Casey Caldwell dec. Mickey Moran (Buffalo), 7-6


>> Friday, March 20
Quarterfinals
149 -- #7 Bryce Saddoris dec Paul Gillespie (Hofstra), 3-2

Consolation Matches - Rd. 2
125 -- Jarrod Garnett (Virginia Tech) major Prescott Garner, 18-5
133 -- #8 Joe Baker dec Cory VomBaur (Wyoming), 5-4
174 -- Luke Rebertus dec Jeff James (Oklahoma), 7-5
184 -- A.J. Kissel (Purdue) pinned Casey Caldwell, 2:36

Consolation Matches - Rd. 3
133 -- #8 Joe Baker dec Brandon Low (UC Davis), 5-3
174 -- #9 Newly McSpadden (Oklahoma State) dec Luke Rebertus, 5-3


Updated Records
133 -- Prescott Garner; 29-16 Season, 29-16 Career
133 -- #8 Joe Baker; 17-1 Season, 78-29 Career
149 -- #7 Bryce Saddoris; 43-5 Season, 78-17 Career
174 -- Luke Rebertus; 36-11 Season, 36-11 Career
184 -- Casey Caldwell; 32-16 Season, 56-36 Career


### Go Navy ###