Dec. 16, 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Looking to build off of last week's dual win over Franklin & Marshall, the Navy wrestling team returns to action on Sunday when it competes in the 16th Annual Reno Tournament of Champions held at the Reno Downtown Convention Center. Featuring some of the premier programs in the country, the single-day, 28-team tournament is on tap to begin at 9:00 am Pacific (local) / 12:00 pm Eastern with its pigtail round.

The 2010 Reno Tournament of Champions field will be comprised of 27 teams with 18 from NCAA Div. I, two from NCAA Div. II, five from NAIA and two from NJCAA. Of those 27 teams, 12 are currently ranked in their respective national polls, including No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Boise State and No. 24 Arizona State. While Oklahoma State will be on hand, its starting 10 are not expected to see action.

The ranked teams in the smaller divisions include: No. 6 Minnesota State (Mankato) and No. 16 Adams State from NCAA Division II; No. 3 Great Falls, No. 10 Montana State Northern, No. 11 Southern Oregon, No. 12 Oklahoma City and No. 16 Hastings College from NAIA; and No. 7 Clackamas and No. 12 Southwestern Oregon from NJCAA.

Top-ranked Joe LeBlanc of Wyoming will lead the 184-pound weight class, perhaps the most difficult weight in this year's tournament. Five nationally-ranked wrestlers at 184 pounds, including Navy's Luke Rebertus (Gloucester, Va.), will be on the mat on Sunday, at 141 and 157 pounds, there will be four top-20 wrestlers in action, including 2009 All-American and three-time NCAA qualifier Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) of Navy.

Navy placed 15th at last year's Reno Tournament of Champions and was led by a fourth-place finish by Saddoris, who narrowly dropped a 6-5 decision to Penn State's Cyler Sanderson, the No. 1 seed, in the semis. Saddoris topped third-seeded Chase Pami of Cal Poly to punch his ticket into the third-place bout, but came up short against Thomas Scotton of North Carolina, 5-3.

Now in his second season at 157 pounds, Saddoris, who hails from the state of Nevada, looks comfortable in his weight and has seen success. Boasting a 14-1 record two months into the season, Saddoris has picked up a pair of individual tournament crowns (Eastern Michigan Open, Navy Classic), while placing third at the talent-packed Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational two weeks ago. Saddoris' lone loss of the season was a 3-2 loss to Arizona State's Bubba Jenkins at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Jenkins, ranked No. 4 nationally, is scheduled to compete in Sunday's tournament where Saddoris looks to avenge his earlier loss.

One of the most decorated wrestlers in program history, Saddoris, ranked seventh nationally, owns a 124-33 record and stands fourth on Navy's career wins list. He will have the chance this weekend to move as high as No. 2, trailing third-place Mark Conley (1999-02) by two wins and second-place Greg Gingeleskie (1996-99) by three wins. Meanwhile, he will most likely take over the No. 2 position on the Mids' list of most matches wrestled. He is ranked fourth heading into the event having wrestled in 157 matches, but Conley holds the No. 2 spot with 161 matches.

Like Saddoris, Rebertus scored tournament victories at the Eastern Michigan Open and the Navy Classic, while placing seventh at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Boasting an 11-2 record this year, his two losses were against #13 Erick Schmidtke of Oklahoma and Illinois' Tony Dallago at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Among his 13 matches to date, three have been decided in extra minutes, winning a sudden victory bout, as well as a tie-breaker, while falling to Dallago in sudden victory, 10-9.

Rebertus, who is ranked 16th at 184 pounds, missed last year's Reno Tournament of Champions due to Navy being in the midst of final exams. As a rookie in 2008, Rebertus was crowned the champion at 174 pounds after defeating Nebraska's Kamarudeen Usman, 6-2. Usman upset top-seeded Austin Trotman of Appalachian State to earn his way into the finals against Rebertus, who was seeded No. 2.

Making their second-straight appearance for the Mids at the Reno Tournament of Champions are 125-pound Aaron Kalil (Salem, N.H.)l, 133-pound Allen Stein (Portland, Maine) and 174-pound Matt DeMichiel (Whitesboro, N.Y.). Not of the three placed in the event a year ago, but gained a great deal of experience from wrestling some of the best athletes in the country.

Kalil, who stands 9-3 this season, won the Navy Classic and finished third at the Eastern Michigan Open. Last year he turned in a 1-2 record at the Reno Tournament of Champions.

Stein wrestled at 125 pounds in last year's tournament as an unattached wrestler and produced a 2-2 record. This year he will weigh in at 133 pounds for the Mids and will look to be among the placewinners. With the exception of last week's dual loss to Franklin & Marshall's undefeated Jacob Bucca, Stein has wrestled at 125 pounds this season. He placed fifth at the Eastern Michigan Open and third at the Navy Classic and has amassed a 7-6 record this season.

Finally, DeMichiel is wrestling perhaps the best over his four-year career. To date he owns an 11-3 record, dropping one match, a 2-1 decision, to 16th-ranked Justin Zeerip of Michigan, along with a 9-4 decision to sixth-ranked Ben Bennett and a 14-3 major decision to Illinois' Jordan Blanton. He won the Navy Classic and finished fourth at the Eastern Michigan Open. He posted a 1-2 record at the Reno Tournament of Champions a year ago.

Also representing Navy this weekend are: 141 - freshman Joe Locksmith (Kissimmee, Fla.), who took the Navy Classic crown this season and is looking to snap a three-match losing streak; 149 - sophomore Eric Filipowicz (Elkridge, Md.), who earned the Navy Classic title after placing fourth at the season-opening Eastern Michigan Open; 165 - sophomore Mason Bailey (Fairmont, W.Va.), who has placed in all three tournaments he has participated in this season, including a second-place finish at the Navy Classic; 197 - sophomore Chance Rauscher (Glasgow, Mont.), one of five freshmen or sophomores who are competing in this weekend's tournament, he placed fifth at the Navy Classic; HWT - sophomore Dan Miller (Berlin, Md.), who suffered a minor injury at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational but will be back in the lineup on Sunday, he took first-place honors at the Navy Classic and finished in the seventh-eighth-place match at the Eastern Michigan Open.


2010 Reno Tournament of Champions
Date: Sunday, Dec. 19
Venue: Reno Downtown Convention Center (Reno, Nev.)
Participating teams: Adams State, Appalachian State, #24 Arizona State, #6 Boise State, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Clackamas, Embry-Riddle, Great Falls, Hastings College, Liberty, Minnesota State-Mankato, Montana State Northern, Navy, North Carolina, Northern Colorado, Ohio, Oklahoma City Univ., #2 Oklahoma State (backups), South Dakota State, Southern Oregon, Southwestern Oregon CC, Stanford, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Buffalo, Upper Iowa, Wyoming

Projected session times (local):
7:00 am Weigh-ins
9:00 am Pigtail Round
9:30 am Championship Round 1
11:00 am Consolation Pigtails
11:15 Consolation Round I
12:15 pm Championship Round 2
1:15 pm Consolation Round 2
1:45 pm Championship Round 3
2:15 pm Consolation Round 3
2:45 pm Semifinals
2:45 pm Consolation Round 4
3:45 pm Consolation Semifinals
6:00 pm Opening Ceremonies
6:30 pm Championship Finals

Participating ranked wrestlers:
• 125 (3) - 3 Anthony Robles, Arizona State; 10 - Ryan Mango, Stanford; 18 - Alan Bartelli, Boise State
• 133 (3) - 2 - Andrew Hochstrasser, Boise State; 7 Filip Novachkov, Cal Poly; 18 - Jose Mendoza, Cal State Bakersfield
• 141 (4) - 4 - Boris Novachkov, Cal Poly; 7 - Cody Cleveland, Tennessee-Chattanooga; 9 - Germane Lindsey, Ohio; 15 - Levi Jones, Boise State
• 149 (3) - 2 - Jason Chamberlain, Boise State; 17 - Justin Gaethje, Northern Colorado; 20 - Cole Dallaserra, Wyoming
• 157 (4) - 2 - Adam Hall, Boise State; 4 - Bubba Jenkins, Arizona State, 7 - Bryce Saddoris, Navy, 9 - Shane Onufer, Wyoming
• 165 (2) - 13 - Ryan DesRoches, Cal Poly; 17 - Trevor Hall, Cal State Bakersfield
• 174 (2) - 4 - Nick Amuchastegui, Stanford; 12 - Jake Swartz, Boise State
• 184 (5) - 1 - Joe LeBlanc, Wyoming; 14 - Austin Trotman, Appalachian State; 16 - Luke Rebertus, Navy; 17 - Jake Meredith, Arizona State; 20 - Jason McCroskey, Tennessee-Chattanooga
• 197 (3) - 10 - Zack Giesen, Stanford; 16 - Erick Schuth, Ohio; 18 - Riley Orozco, Cal State Bakersfield
• HWT (1) - 20 - Atticus Disney, Cal Poly

Navy Lineup:
125 - Aaron Kalil - Jr., Salem, N.H., 2010 NCAA Qualifier (9-3 / 48-33 career)
133 - Allen Stein - Sr., Portland, Maine (7-6 / 40-43 career)
141 - Joe Locksmith - Fr., Kissimmee, Fla. (6-5 / 6-5 career)
149 - Eric Filipowicz - So., Elkridge, Md. (9-4 / 13-9 career)
157 - Bryce Saddoris - Sr., Spring Creek, Nev., Team Captain, 2009 All-American, Three-Time NCAA Qualifier, ranked #7 (14-1 / 124-33 career)
165 - Mason Bailey - So., Fairmont, W.Va. (8-5 / 19-11 career)
174 - Matt DeMichiel - Sr., Whitesboro, N.Y. (11-3 / 71-41 career)
184 - Luke Rebertus - Jr., Gloucester, Va., 2009 NCAA Qualifier, ranked #16 (11-2 / 53-15 career)
197 - Chance Rauscher - So., Glasgow, Mont. (2-5 / 7-10 career)
HWT - Dan Miller - So., Berlin, Md. (8-3 / 15-9 career)

### Go Navy ###