44th Annual Navy Classic Details
Date: Saturday, Nov. 19
Venue: Wesley A. Brown Field House
Participating teams: Air Force, American, Bucknell, The Citadel, Davidson, Kent State, Lock Haven, (RV) Michigan State, Navy, #19 Nebraska, Ohio and VMI 
Tickets: Free Admission
Live Scoring: FloArena will be providing live scoring / there will be NO video stream

Projected Session Times:
9:00 am - preliminary rounds
2:30 pm – semifinals (approximate)
4:00 pm – finals (approximate)

Notes for traveling fans:
• Vehicular access to the Naval Academy is limited to those drivers with a Department of Defense identification card. 

• All other visitors may park outside of the Naval Academy grounds and walk through the security gates at Gate 1 or they may take the complimentary shuttles.

• The shuttles will run from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm and will pick up spectators at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (550 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, Md., 21401). 

• Enter the blue/west parking lot through gate 5 off of Taylor Avenue. 

• The cost of parking is 10 dollars per vehicle.

• Visitors 18 years and older must present a government-issued identification card (driver's license/ passport) to gain access to the Academy grounds, while visitors under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Projected Navy Lineup
• 125 – Zach Espalin / Matthew Ricci
• 133 – Tyler Hunt / Venumadhava Mirel
• 141 – Josh Koderhandt / Luke Lucerne / David Kreidler
• 149 – Kaemen Smith / PJ Crane / James Latona
• 157 – Andrew Cerniglia / George Ruiz / Mike Ponenti
• 165 – Val Park
• 174 – Sammy Starr / Zander Manuel
• 184 – Hunter Johns
• 197 – Jacob Koser / Jacob Lucas
• 285 – Grady Griess / Jamier Ferere

Mids in the Rankings (InterMat // Amateur News // FloWrestling)
• 141 - Josh Koderhandt - 26 // NR // HM
• 157 - Andrew Cerniglia - 18 // NR // 16
• 184 - David Key - 28 // NR // 23
• 197- Jacob Koser - 24 // 20 // HM
• 285 - Grady Griess - 20 // NR // 16

Navy Classic Notes
• The Mids look to win its annual home tournament for the first time since 2017 to claim their 21st team title. 

• Navy returns five wrestlers who placed in last year's event and two champions. Tyler Hunt (133-pounds) and Jacob Koser (197-pounds) look to defend their titles, while Josh Koderhandt (141-pounds) goes for his first Navy Classic crown after placing second at 133-pounds last year. Grady Griess (285-pounds) placed third a year ago but will go for his third straight tournament championship on Saturday.  

• Navy finished with four champions in last year's Navy Classic, the most individual titles for Navy since they had five in 2011. Navy had just seven total individual champions in the previous seven Navy Classics combined. 

• Navy placed third out of 12 teams in 2021. The Mids have finished in the top three in 36 of the 43 tournaments and have won the event 20 times. 

• Four InterMat ranked Mids will compete in Saturday's tournament which is tied with Ohio and Air Force for the second most on one team. 

• Competitors Kent State (2012), Lock Haven (1986/1987), Michigan State (2018/2021), Nebraska (1997) and The Citadel (2003) have also claimed Navy Classic team titles. 

Bearcat Open Highlights
• Three Mids were crowned champions and eight placed at the 13th annual Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open.

• Andrew Cerniglia (157-pounds) repeated as a Bearcat Open champion with a 4-0 record for his third career tournament title. Cerniglia defeated Alex Hornfeck of West Virginia by a 4-3 decision in the championship bout for his 40th career victory in 51 matches. 

• Griess remained undefeated with a 3-0 record in Vestal to win the heavyweight title for his second tournament crown of the season. The junior won his first career match over an InterMat ranked opponent, defeating #19 Michael Wolfgram of West Virginia by a 6-4 decision in the semifinals. 

• Koser won his 60th career match in the 197-pound championship over West Virginia's Austin Cooley by an 11-5 decision for his fourth tournament crown. 

• David Key won his semifinals match in TB2 over #28 Anthony Carman of West Virginia for his second career overtime win. Key fell in the finals to #7 Jonathan Loew of Cornell by a 7-4 decision to place second in the 184-pound weight class. 

• Koderhandt also placed second in the tournament for his fourth career top-three finish. 

• Jacob Lucas placed fourth in his second collegiate tournament appearance, finishing with a 2-2 record for Navy's best placement amongst its freshmen class. 

Up Next
Navy takes a break for the Thanksgiving holiday and will be back in action for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2 and 3.