Dec. 20, 2010
Reno Tournament of Champions Final Results
Reno Tournament of Champions Final Team Scores
RENO, Nev. - Senior Bryce Saddoris and junior Luke Rebertus both earned second-place finishes and helped the Navy wrestling team finish seventh out of 30 teams at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday in Reno, Nev. Aaron Kalil placed fifth at 125 pounds and Matt DeMichiel took sixth at 174 pounds to help Navy earn a total of 70.0 points in the tournament.
"Given all of the circumstances surrounding this weekend's tournament, mainly final exams last week as well as our recent schedule, it's a real testament to Bryce and Luke," said head coach Bruce Burnett. "Aaron also did a nice job."
Saddoris, a Nevada native who came into weekend at 14-1 and ranked No. 7 in the latest InterMat top-20 poll, garnered a first-round bye before stringing together four consecutive wins for a spot in the championship bout at 157 pounds.
Saddoris sandwiched a pair of pins over Andrew Balch of Bakersfield and Mark Lewandowski of Buffalo around an overtime win over Montana State Northern's Cody Miller to get to the semifinal. The impressive wins set up what would have been a battle between two of the nation's top-10 wrestlers at 157 pounds, but No. 2 seed Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State forfeited the semifinal bout, pushing Saddoris into the finals.
In the final, Saddoris met another top-10 wrestler in No. 1 seed Adam Hall, who is currently ranked No. 2 by InterMat. Saddoris gave Hall a fight, but Hall eventually prevailed, 6-4.
Saddoris, who went 4-1 on the day, is now 18-2 this season and 128-34 in his career. His 128 wins and 162 matches wrestled are now both the second most in Navy history.
At 184 pounds, Navy's 16th-ranked Rebertus also put together an impressive run in claiming second place. Wrestling as the No. 2 seed, Rebertus moved into the finals with four consecutive wins via decision.
In the final, Rebertus met Joe LeBlanc of Wyoming, the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds. LeBlanc eventually prevailed, 11-4, to claim the title.
Rebertus is now 15-3 this season.
At 125 pounds, Kalil was seeded second and received a first-round bye. Kalil won his first three bouts before falling to the No. 3 seed, Trent Sprenkle of North Dakota State, 8-6.
Kalil then fell to West Virginia's Shane Young, 10-3, in the first round of the consolation bracket, pushing him into the fifth-place match with Chattanooga's Prescott Garner, who wrestled at Navy as a freshman.
Kalil then captured fifth place with a convincing 10-3 win over Garner.
DeMichiel, the No. 4 seed at 174 pounds, won his first two matches before falling into the consolation bracket with a narrow 3-2 loss to the No. 5 seed Tarrence Williams of Clackamas.
DeMichiel won twice more in the consolation bracket, defeating Joey Granata of Bakersfield, 6-4, and Pat Martinez of Wyoming, 7-2, before falling to the No. 2 seed Nick Purdue of Ohio by a score of 8-2.
The loss put DeMichiel in the fifth-place bout, but the six grueling matches took its toll on him, as he was forced to forfeit the match to the No. 5 seed Williams, and took home sixth place.
Also competing at 174 pounds was Oscar Huntley, who went 2-2 on the day.
Allen Stein fell in his first match as Cal State Bakersfield's Jose Mendoza, the No. 2 seed at 133 pounds, pinned him at 2:43. North Carolina's Pat Owens then defeated Stein in his first match in the consolation bracket, 10-4.
At 141 pounds, freshman Joe Locksmith drew a first-round bye before registering a narrow, 2-1, win over Buffalo's Chris Conti. Locksmith then got pinned by the No. 3 seed Cody Cleveland of Chattanooga at 5:14 in his next match.
Locksmith bounced back though to get his fourth fall victory of the season by pinning Perry McAfee of Clackamas just 48 seconds into the bout.
The impressive win wasn't enough to propel Locksmith further in the consolation bracket though, as he dropped a one-point decision, 3-2, to Josh Strait, the No. 6 seed from Boise State.
After falling in his first bout of the day, sophomore 149-pounder Eric Filipowicz picked up a pair of victories in the consolation bracket. Filipowicz earned a 9-6 win over Jessee Westphal of Minnesota State-Mankato and then earned a win via forfeit over Tai Fukumoto of Arizona State.
Filipowicz then met second-seeded Desmond Green of Buffalo. Filipowicz gave Green, who is currently ranked No. 9 in the latest InterMat poll, a battle but ended up falling, 5-3.
Sophomore Mason Bailey got one of the toughest draws of the night at 165 pounds when he met No. 1 seed Shane Onufer in the first round and fell, 8-0. Bailey then dropped his first match in the consolation round to Northern Colorado's Brandon Kammerzell, 5-4.
Chance Rauscher lost his first-round match to top-seeded Erik Schurth of Ohio at 197 pounds and then fell in his first consolation bout to Derek Toney of Boise State, 6-5.
In the heavyweight bracket, Dan Miller got his second fall of the season by pinning Robert Ross of Southern Oregon at 2:51 in his opening-round match. Miller then got a 7-5 win over Kurt Klimek before the No. 2 seed Tyrell Fortune of Clackamas defeated him in the quarterfinals of the championship bracket.
Miller then dropped a one-point decision, 6-5, to Justin Williams of Southwest Oregon in his first bout in the consolation bracket.
"We had a few solid performances, but this weekend let us know that we still have a lot of work to do," Burnett said. "We just have to get back in the room now and fix some of our mistakes."
Navy will return to action Dec. 29-30 when it travels to Greensboro, N.C., for the Southern Scuffle.
