Dec. 5, 2010
• 2010 Nittany Lion Open - Final Results
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Navy wrestling team closed out a busy weekend of action with a fine performance at the 2010 Nittany Lion Open where four wrestlers placed in their respective weight classes, including freshman 141-pounder Raymond Borja (Virginia Beach, Va.) who placed eighth in what was just his second-career tournament.
Navy opened the weekend with head coach Bruce Burnett traveling out West with his top 10 wrestlers to take part in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday where the Midshipmen placed 18th out of 36 teams and had two top-eight placewinners. Meanwhile, assistant coach Tom Tanis took 15 wrestlers to State College on Sunday where Navy enjoyed great success. A year ago Navy had 20 wrestlers in action at the Nittany Lion with only Matt DeMichiel (Whitesboro, N.Y.) placing, while three others were just one match away from the placewinners matches. This season four wrestlers placed and another four were just a match away from joining their teammates atop the podium.
Sophomore Oscar Huntley (Stafford, Va.) was Navy's top placewinner, taking fifth at 174 pounds. Huntley, who suffered a season-ending knee injury a year ago on this very weekend, won his first three matches of the tournament, including an impressive 5-4 sudden victory over Maryland's Jimmy Sheplock. However, Huntley would be sent to the consolation bracket after ninth-ranked Scott Giffin of Penn handed him a 4-2 loss in the quarterfinals.
Huntley's first foe in the consolation quarters was against rookie teammate James Mannier (Troy, Ohio), who surrendered an 8-1 decision to Huntley. He went on to defeat Pitt's Karl Deciantis by a 5-3 count to punch his way into the fifth-place match. Huntley easily defeated Binghamton's Ryan McGarity to place fifth.
Placing sixth at 165 pounds was sophomore Mason Bailey (Fairmont, W.Va.), who continues to gain great experience and confidence in each match. Bailey opened up with a 9-2 decision over Drexel's Jay Wieller and throttled Eastern Michigan's Aaron Risch by way of a tech fall at 5:20 before suffering his first loss of the match. He dropped a 13-5 major decision to Maryland's Josh Asper, the nation's third-ranked wrestler and the eventual Nittany Lion Open champion.
Bailey regrouped nicely in the consolation bracket where he turned in back-to-back decisions over Pitt's Adam Counterman and hometown favorite Penn State's Nick Fischer. But Bailey's streak would halt in the fifth-place match where he dropped a hard-fought battle against North Carolina's Thomas Scotton, who has had countless spirited matches against Navy's Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) over the years.
Turning in a seventh-place performance was 133-pounder Pat McCaffrey (Chicago, Ill.), who missed the early part of the season with a scratched cornea. After winning his opening match by way of a fall against Virginia Tech's TJ Mitchell, McCaffrey was sent to the consolation bracket early and forced to fight his way back. In fact, McCaffrey was forced to win four matches to qualify for the placewinning matches.
He won his first-two matches matches by pinfall, including an incredible win over Bloomsburg's Matt Malfaro whom McCaffrey pinned in just 11 seconds. He followed up by edging out Penn's Geoffrey Bostany, 6-5 and The Citadel's Tyler Sim. However, McCaffrey lost the chance to wrestle in the fifth-place match when he was tripped up by Maryland's Lou Ruland, who collected a 3-2 win over McCaffrey. He did bounce back and claimed seventh with an 8-2 victory over Penn State's Samuel Sherlock.
Borja made some noise of his own, winning his first three matches and setting up a quarterfinals meeting with Rutgers' Trevor Melde. The Navy rookie was impressive, scoring a 14-4 major decision over North Carolina's Nick Hellmann in the opener, followed by back-to-back pins over William Loftus, who was wrestling unattached, and Buffalo's Andrew Schutt. Melde, however, nipped Borja, 6-3, sending him to the consolation bracket.
Striking quick and often, Borja took down Eastern Michigan's Seth Schaner by tech fall, 19-4, but came up just short against North Carolina's Danny Lopes, 4-2, in the match that would have qualified him for the fifth-place bout. Instead, Borja moved to the seventh-place match where he again was on the losing end of a heartbreaker, this time against Maryland's Mark Hartenstine, 7-6.
Meanwhile, falling just a match shy of the placewinner's stage were Tyler Sackett (Omaha, Neb.) at 133 pounds, Zach Basich (Wheeling, W.Va.) at 149 pounds, Mannier at 174 pounds and heavyweight Mike Landis (Hershey, Pa.).
The Midshipmen return to action next Friday night when they play host to Franklin & Marshall in their first dual meet of the year. Action is scheduled for 7:30 pm at Halsey Field House in Annapolis.
### Go Navy ###
