March 7, 2009

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Seven Navy wrestlers remain active following the first day of action at the 105th EIWA Championship, including five semifinalist who have led the Midshipmen to fourth place in the team standings with 41.5 points. Reigning 133-pound EIWA Champion and 2008 All-American Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) remains in contention in the championship bracket, along with senior Casey Caldwell (Liberty, Ind.), sophomore Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) and freshmen Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore.) and Luke Rebertus (Elkton, Md.) who will represent Navy Sunday in the semifinals.

2008 EIWA Champion Cornell owns a 15.5 lead over second-place Penn in the team standings and is the lone squad in the tournament to have all 10 of its wrestlers still active. The Quakers own just a two-point advantage over third-place Lehigh with both teams being represented with six wrestlers in the championship bracket. Meanwhile, Lehigh owns just a 4.5 lead against fourth-place Navy, who in turn leads Bucknell by five.

"We had some good wins and some tough losses," said ninth-year Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "We pretty much ran the gamut of emotions today and it was really hard to see some of these young men end their careers.

"We have a tough road ahead of us tomorrow, and though it would be tough, we do have a chance of moving up in the team standings. It won't be easy as we face three No. 1 seeds, but I'm optimistic that we will give every match everything we've got. I feel like the conference did a really good job this year of paying attention to who beat who and what the true outcome of each match was. The pairings were certainly fair across the board."

With the change in NCAA automatic qualification this year, Navy is already assured of two NCAA qualifiers. Going six deep at 149 and 174 pounds, Saddoris and Rebertus have secured NCAA?Tournament bids by way of qualifying for the EIWA semifinal bouts. Saddoris will make his second straight NCAA Tournament appearance following back-to-back major decisions, including a quarterfinal win over seventh-seeded D.J. Meagher of Cornell. A year ago it was Meagher who sent Saddoris to the consolation bracket following a 6-2 decision in the quarterfinals. Saddoris sought revenge and capitalized in a 16-5 rout to earn a semifinal appearance against Lehigh's Trevor Chinn. Saddoris, who improved to 38-5, pinned Chinn when the two programs met in dual action in mid-January. Additionally, Saddoris upset the then second-seeded Chinn last year, 3-2, in the consolation semifinals to earn an opportunity to place third and qualify for the NCAA Tourney.

"Wow, how about Bryce," said an excited Burnett. "He got beat by Meagher last year and for Bryce to come back and turn it around on him tells you how determined he is. He's on a mission in what is THE toughest weight class in this tournament."

After receiving a first-round bye, fourth-seeded Rebertus bumped his record to 33-7 and claimed his eighth straight victory by way of an 8-2 win over fifth-seeded Alex Caruso. One of only four freshmen in program history to reach the 30-win milestone, Rebertus will battle top-seeded Mike Cannon of American who is ranked No. 2 in the country with a 28-0 record. Though Navy faced both American and Lehigh in dual action during the year, Rebertus did not face Caruso or Cannon after sustaining an injury at the Virginia Duals and missing roughly two weeks of action.

Garner was the first Navy wrestler to earn his way into the semifinal round, earning a pair of wins, including upsetting fourth-seeded Thomas Williams of American. Garner opened the tournament by pinning Columbia's Kevin Tao at the 4:29 mark, his 14th win this season by fall. He now stands seventh on the Navy single-season falls list and is the only lightweight among the top 10. Seeded fifth, Garner found himself in a rematch with Williams, also a freshman, whom he dropped a tough 8-7 decision against in dual action. Garner will battle undefeated and No. 2-ranked Troy Nickerson of Cornell in Sunday's semifinals. Nickerson also has a penchant for falls, pinning both of his opponents on Saturday.

"I certainly thought that Prescott was capable of achieving great things, but he is facing one of the best wrestlers in the country tomorrow," said Burnett. "I would expect him to give it everything he has, but it will be a tough match."

Keeping his undefeated streak alive was Baker, who improved to 12-0 on the year with a hard-fought match against eighth-seeded Thomas Picarsic who certainly had an upset in mind. Picarsic looked as though he might turn back Baker with a 4-3 advantage late in the match, however, Baker scored the reversal with under 15 seconds remaining to keep his hopes of winning a second straight EIWA Championship alive. Sunday's semis will pit Baker against longtime rival David Marble of Bucknell against one another. The two were to have met in the championship bout of the Navy Classic earlier this year, however, an injury kept Baker out of the match. Meanwhile, last year's EIWA Championship bout featured Baker and Marble with Baker earning the 5-4 win to claim his first EIWA title.

"Joe had a really tough match today, but he was able to pull it out," added Burnett. "He's been competing extremely hard and he's made up a lot of ground since coming back. I know how important it is for him to qualify for the national tournament, that's what drove him to come back."

The third Navy wrestler who will face a top seed in the semifinals is Caldwell, who will battle 23-4 David Craig of Lehigh. Craig, who is ranked ninth nationally, defeated Caldwell in the regular-season dual, edging the Navy senior, 5-2. Caldwell's journey to Sunday's semis featured a major decision over American's Andy Semple in the opener, followed by a 7-5 decision over Bucknell's David Thompson. Caldwell advances in the tournament owning the team's longest winning streak with 11 straight victories. Meanwhile, he also punched his ticket into the Mids' 30-win club where he stands 31-11 in his final year of competition.

Still active in the consolation bracket are sophomore 165-pounder Matt DeMichiel and senior 197-pound Philip Neese. DeMichiel opened the tournament by pinning Franklin & Marshall's Andrew Bongarzone, remarkably after edging the Diplomat in sudden victory at the Navy Classic early in the season. That win set up a battle against fourth-seeded Matt Pletcher of Rutgers, who for the second straight meeting, defeated DeMichiel by a 3-1 count in sudden victory. Wrestling for the first time in the EIWA Championship, DeMichiel remains alive in the tournament after earning an 11-5 win over Princeton's Andy Lowy in the second round of the consolations. The Navy sophomore will meet East Stroudsburg's Thad Frick in the consolation quarters on Sunday. DeMichiel has already scored a win against Frick, as he posted an 8-5 victory in dual action.

After being tripped up by fifth-seeded Andy Silber of American in the opening round, fourth-seeded Neese regrouped to defeat Bucknell's Nathan Jones, 12-8, in the consolation bracket. The Navy senior will face eighth-seeded Louis Miller of Columbia in the consolation quarterfinals on Sunday.

Three Navy wrestlers were eliminated on day one, including a pair of seniors. Senior 157-pounder Joel Ahern (Herkimer, N.Y.), seeded fifth, opened the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Bucknell's Scott Sechler, but suffered a 5-3 setback to Rutgers standout Scott Winston, one of the premier rookie wrestlers in the country. Ahern, who was making his first appearance in the tournament, bowed out of the tournament after American's Patrick Graham tripped him up, 3-2 in the consolations. Ahern completed his career with a 73-38 record, including a 27-15 mark in 2008-09.

Unseeded Tyler Moyer (Bremerton, Wash.) dropped his opening-round match to heavyweight D.J. Russo of Rutgers, 4-1. However, Moyer bounced back in the first round of the consolations, edging Princeton freshman Stephen Turner, 3-2, to remain active. Moyer's career came to an end a short time later when he lost his third match of the season in extra minutes, as Cornell's Zach Hammond picked up a 3-1 win in sudden victory. Moyer, who stepped in for an injured Scott Steele (Baltimore, Md.) midway through the season, capped his career with a 48-48 record, including an 8-14 mark this season after coming back from a shoulder injury.

Finally, junior Matt Pagan (Carteret, N.J.) was bounced from the tournament despite picking up an upset win in the first round of the tournament. Pagan earned a fairly convincing 7-3 win over sixth-seeded Stephen DeLorenzo of Brown in the opening round of the 141-pound weight class, but was man-handled by third-seeded Rick Rappo who picked up a major decision against Pagan. Unfortunately, Pagan was unable to get the momentum back in his corner as he succumbed to unseeded freshman Shane Strumwasser of Columbia in the consolation bracket.

"I'm happy to be going into the final day with seven guys active, especially five guys in the championship bracket. Our goal right now is to get as many of our guys to the national tournament, so we are using all of our resources to help achieve that."

The 105th EIWA Championships will continue Sunday at 10:30 am with the semifinals and consolation rounds. Consolation semifinals are slated to begin at12:30, followed by the consolation finals at 1:30 pm Following a brief EIWA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which includes former Navy great Gerald Franzen, the championship matches are on tap for 6:30 pm.

Day One EIWA Team ScoringPl    Points   Team                    CH    CONS1     63.5     Cornell                 7     32     48       Penn                    6     23     46       Lehigh                  6     24     41.5     Navy                    5     25     36.5     Bucknell                3     46     36       American                3     57     27       Harvard                 3     38     25.5     Rutgers                 3     29     25       Army                    2     510    13.5     Columbia                1     411    10       East Stroudburg         1     212    8.5      Franklin & Marshall     -     213    7.5      Brown                   -     414    3        Princeton               -     -CH - Championship Bracket; CONS - Consolation bracket

Saturday, March 7First RoundWeight  Matchup Result  Score / Time125    (5) Prescott Garner (Navy)     fall    Kevin Tao (Columbia)              4:29133    (1) Joe Baker (Navy)            bye141    Matt Pagan (Navy)               dec    (6) Stephen DeLorenzo (Brown)     7-3149    (2) Bryce Saddoris (Navy)      major   Nick Standish (Columbia)          15-4157    (5) Joel Ahern (Navy)           dec    Scott Sechler (Bucknell)          3-1165    (5) Matt DeMichiel (Navy)      fall    Andrew Bongarzine (F&M)           5:46174    (4) Luke Rebertus (Navy)        bye184    (4) Casey Caldwell (Navy)      major   Andy Semple (American)            9-0197    (5) Andy Silber (American)      dec    (4) Philip Neese (Navy)           8-5HWT    (8) D.J. Russo (Rutgers)        dec    Tyler Moyer (Navy)                4-1
QuarterfinalsWeight  Matchup Result  Score / Time125    (5) Prescott Garner (Navy)      dec    (4) Thomas Williams (American)    5-4133    (1) Joe Baker (Navy)            dec    (8) Thomas Picarsic (Harvard)     5-4141    (3) Rick Rappo (Penn)          major   Matt Pagan (Navy)                 8-0149    (2) Bryce Saddoris (Navy)      major   (7) D.J. Meagher (Cornell)        16-5157    (4) Scott Winston (Rutgers)     dec    (5) Joel Ahern (Navy)             5-3165    (4) Matt Pletcher (Rutgers)     dec    (5) Matt DeMichiel (Navy)         3-1 SV174    (4) Luke Rebertus (Navy)        dec    (5) Alex Caruso (Lehigh)          8-2184    (4) Casey Caldwell (Navy)       dec    (5) David Thompson (Bucknell)     7-5
First Round ConsolationsWeight  Matchup Result  Score / TimeHWT    Tyler Moyer (Navy)              dec    Stephen Turner (Princeton)        3-2
Second Round ConsolationsWeight  Matchup Result  Score / Time141    Shane Strumwasser (Columbia)    dec    Matt Pagan (Navy)                 6-4157    Patrick Graham (American)       dec    (5) Joel Ahern (Navy)             3-2165    (5) Matt DeMichiel (Navy)       dec    Andy Lowy (Princeton)             11-5197    (4) Philip Neese (Navy)         dec    Nathan Jones (Bucknell)           12-6HWT    (7) Zach Hammond (Cornell)      dec    Tyler Moyer (Navy)                3-1 SV

Sunday, March 8SemifinalsWeight  Matchup Result  Score / Time125    (5) Prescott Garner (Navy)      vs.    (1) Troy Nickerson (Cornell)133    (1) Joe Baker (Navy)            vs.    (4) David Marble (Bucknell)149    (2) Bryce Saddoris (Navy)       vs.    (3) Trevor Chinn (Lehigh)174    (4) Luke Rebertus (Navy)        vs.    (1) Mike Cannon (American)184    (4) Casey Caldwell (Navy)       vs.    (1) David Craig (Lehigh)
Quarterfinal ConsolationsWeight  Matchup Result  Score / Time165    (5) Matt DeMichiel (Navy)       vs.    (8) Thad Frick (East Stroudsburg)197    (4) Philip Neese (Navy)         vs.    (8) Louie Miller (Columbia)