InterMat Staff

Related Link: Results/Brackets LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Big Red wrestling team won its fifth-straight EIWA team title on Sunday afternoon after crowning four individual champions. Senior Mack Lewnes was awarded the Fletcher Trophy given to the wrestler who has earned the most team points in his EIWA career, and he is now a four-time EIWA champion. Lewnes along with Frank Perrelli, Mike Grey and Cam Simaz all won titles in their respective weight classes. Cornell qualified eight wrestlers for the NCAA tournament with hopes of adding more with at large bids. Perrelli (125), Grey (133), Corey Manson (141), Kyle Dake (149), DJ Meagher (157), Lewnes (174), Steve Bosak (184) and Simaz (197) all earned automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. At large bids will be announced on March 9. Steve Bosak earned the Sheridan Award for scoring the most falls in the smallest amount of time in the championship bracket. At 125 pounds, Perrelli was the first Big Red finalist to take the mat. A little over halfway through the first period, Perrelli took a 2-0 lead with a takedown near the edge of the mat. After collecting 39 seconds of riding time, Rappo escaped. With 45 seconds left in the first, Rappo had a single leg on Perrelli, but the Big Red wrestler muscled his way back to neutral. Perrelli chose to start the second down and quickly escaped. Late in the second, Rappo scored his first offensive points with a takedown to tie the bout at 3-3. Rappo escaped to open the third period, taking a4-3 lead. With 23 seconds left in the match, Perrelli took him down and kept control for the rest of the period. With 1:08 in riding time, Perrelli won a 6-4 decision to win his first EIWA title. At 133 pounds, Grey won his second-straight EIWA title. Grey improves to 11-0 for the season after winning by forfeit to Frank Cagnina of Lehigh. Sophomore returning NCAA champion Kyle Dake took on Bucknell's Kevin LeValley in the 149 pound final. After a scoreless first period, LeValley earned the only point of the second with an escape from his opening down position. In the third period, Dake reversed his opponent from his opening down position, but with 46 seconds left in the bout LeValley escaped. With riding time not a factor, the two went into sudden victory tied at 2-2. Neither wrestler was able to score in sudden victory or in the first round of the tie breakers. With 12 seconds left in the second sudden victory, LeValley took down Dake to win a 4-2 decision. At 174 pounds, Lewnes faced Navy's Matt Demichiel. With 25 seconds left in the first, Lewnes took down Demichiel and almost earned back points before time ran out. Lewnes quickly reversed his opponent from his starting down position in the second period. Demichiel would escape to bring the score to 4-1. The Midshipman escaped to open the third period, but Lewnes took him down once again and added three back points. Demichiel escaped but was hit with his second stalling call to give Lewnes another point. Lewnes took down Demichiel with 13 seconds left in the bout, and with riding time won a 13-3 major decision to win his fourth EIWA title. Sophomore Steve Bosak squared off against No. 4 Robert Hamlin at 184 pounds in the finals. Hamlin took down Bosak 18 seconds into the bout, but the Big Red wrestler immediately escaped. The two wrestlers continued high energy action throughout the period. In the second, Bosak escaped from his opening down position to tie the match 2-2. Bosak earned his first offensive points of the bout with a takedown, but Hamlin escaped. Hamlin quickly escaped from his opening down position to start the third period to tie the score once again at 4-4. The two wrestlers entertained the crowd once again trading shots back and force each countering their opponents shots. With time winding down, Hamlin took down Bosak. Bosak would immediately escape, but time ran out and Hamlin won a 6-5 decision. At 197 pounds, No. 1 ranked Simaz took on Penn's Micah Burak. After a scoreless first period, Burak chose to start the second at neutral and neither wrestler was able to score. Simaz quickly escaped from his opening down position in the third and notched the point that would prove to be the winner. Simaz won his third-straight EIWA title with a 1-0 decision over Burak. At 141 pounds, Corey Manson faced Lehigh's Stephen Dutton in the consolation semifinals. Dutton, the No. 1 seed, won a 13-1 major decision. Manson needed to win his next bout in order to automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. The Cornell senior solidified his trip to Philadelphia with a 3-2 decision over Rutgers' Trevor Melde. DJ Meagher opened the day facing No. 6 nationally ranked Walter Peppelman of Harvard at 157 pounds. Meagher held a 2-0 lead going into the second period after notching at takedown at the buzzer. The Big Red wrestler racked up 1:04 in riding time before Peppelman was able to escape from his opening down position in the second. Meagher chose to start the third at neutral. Peppelman was looking to score in the third, but Meagher was strong defensively countering his opponent's shots. With 33 seconds left, Meagher took down Peppelman. The two wrestlers traded reversals, but with two back points, Meagher sealed the win and his trip to the NCAA tournament with a 9-3 decision. In the bout for third place, Meagher wrestled Rutgers' Daryl Cocozzo for the second time this weekend. After a scoreless first period, Cocozzo held a 3-0 lead after the second with an escape and a takedown. Meagher escaped from his opening down position in the third and tied the score late in the bout with a takedown. Cocozzo had locked up the riding time point, and Meagher cut him looking to score again. The Big Red senior did not have enough time, and Cocozzo won a 5-3 decision. At 165 pounds, Justin Kerber injury defaulted out of his bout with Penn's Stephen Burak in the second period. Kerber placed fifth after winning by forfeit to Lehigh's Brandon Hatchett. Kerber will look to win a wild card spot for the NCAA tournament. Sophomore Stryker Lane faced Columbia's Kevin Lester at heavyweight in the consolation semifinals. Lester won by fall in 1:55. In the match for fifth place, Lane and Harvard's Andrew Knapp were scoreless after the first period. Lane escaped from his opening down position for the only point of the second period. Knapp chose to start the third period down on the mat, and Lane was able to keep control for the entire two minutes. With the riding time point, Lane won a 2-0 decision. Cornell will compete in the NCAA tournament in Philadelphia, Pa. from March 17-19.

Related Link: Results/Brackets Bloomsburg, Pa. -- The Pitt wrestling team won its first career EWL tournament championship Saturday at Nelson Field House in Bloomsburg, Pa. The Panthers finished with 132.5 points, 16 more than second place West Virginia. Six Panthers claimed titles in their weight classes and three others placed fourth or better. “Winning tonight is something special,” Coach Stottlemyer said following the conclusion of the tournament. “I’ve said it before, but these guys worked so hard and they deserve this. Winning this tournament takes a total team effort and that’s what we got from our guys tonight.” Sophomore Anthony Zanetta (125) won the first title of the night to defend his EWL championship. For the second consecutive year, Zanetta defeated Shane Young of West Virginia, 3-0. Redshirt junior Tyler Nauman (141) earned his third EWL crown with a 6-4 decision over Matt Bonson of Bloomsburg. Nauman, an NCAA All-American last year, will look to improve on his fifth place finish at the National Championships in 2010. Redshirt freshman Dane Johnson (149) added the third title of the night for the Panthers with a thrilling 3-1 victory over Brandon Rader of West Virginia. Johnson swept the competition, winning all three matches en route to the championship. The Panthers earned their fourth title of the night when redshirt junior Ethan Headlee (165) defeated Donnie Jones of West Virginia with a convincing 6-0 decision. Returning from an injury that forced him to miss the entire EWL regular season, junior Zac Thomusseit (197) looked as though he didn’t miss a beat, going a perfect 3-0 to claim the championship. In the finals, Thomusseit defeated Shawn Fendone of Edinboro, 6-4. In the final match of the tournament, redshirt senior Ryan Tomei (285) capped his stellar EWL career, claiming his second EWL title with a dominating performance. Tomei won his first two matches by fall before defeating Zac Walsh of Bloomsburg, 8-2 in the final. In addition to winning the heavyweight title, Tomei also garnered two individual awards. The Irwin, Pa., native was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler as well as the EWL Dual Team Points Leader. Making his EWL debut, freshman Max Thomusseit took second place, falling only to the nation’s top wrestler, Chris Honeycutt of Edinboro. After dropping his first match of the day, freshman Shelton Mack (133) battled back to take third place overall. Redshirt sophomore Donnie Tasser (157) finished fourth overall to give the Panthers nine place winners. Since joining the EWL in 1977, the Panthers previous best finish was second place. The seven automatic NCAA qualifiers are the most the school has achieved in one season since the 1950’s.

Related Link: Results/Brackets Related Link: Day 1 Recap EVANSTON, Ill. -- Heading into the 2011 Big Ten Championships, the team race was expected to be tight with No. 2 Penn State and No. 3 Iowa battling it out for the team title. As it turned out, the team race couldn't have been much tighter. Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.comIn the end, it was Penn State edging Iowa, 139-138, for the team title on Sunday. The Nittany Lions went a perfect five for five in the finals and picked up a much-needed bonus point win in a fifth-place match. "We're happy," said Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. "Yesterday we were down 20-something points. We just said we have to keep fighting, keep hustling. Whoever wants it is going to get it. These guys went out and did it. I'm real proud of them." Winning individual titles for the Nittany Lions were Andrew Long (133), Frank Molinaro (149), David Taylor (157), Ed Ruth (174), and Quentin Wright (184). Long, an NCAA runner-up last at 125 pounds for Iowa State, faced Wisconsin's Tyler Graff, a returning All-American, in the finals and gave up an early takedown. Long added an escape in each of the first two periods to knot the score at 2-2 heading into the third period. Graff picked up an escape and held a 3-2 lead late into the third period. But Long stayed aggressive and eventually scored a point from a fleeing the mat call to tie the match at 3-3 and send it into sudden victory. Long picked up a takedown just 18 seconds into the sudden victory period and added two nearfall points to win 7-3. "It feels really good," said Long. "Coming from Big 12s it's a little different atmosphere. But still the same goal in mind. It's good to get that first victory and that big title under your belt." It was the second meeting between the two wrestlers this season. Long won the first meeting 12-5 on Feb. 18. Long said Graff used a different tactic the second time around to keep the match closer. "He just stayed away from me," said Long. "He kept running the whole match. You could see that I had to chase him down. They didn't want anything to do with me in the tie-ups or even in the match. It was just cat and mouse for seven minutes." Frank Molinaro defeated Eric Grajales in the finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Molinaro earned his title with a 3-0 shutout victory over sixth-seeded Eric Grajales of Michigan. Molinaro picked up a takedown in the first period and added an escape while shutting down Grajales' offense. "Overall, I was happy," said Molinaro, who improved to 28-2 this season. "I didn't give up a point the whole tournament. That was one of my goals coming in, to go unscored on. So I've got to be happy with that." It was Molinaro's third victory over Grajales this season. Grajales, a four-time Junior & Cadet National champion in Fargo, has proven to be a big-move wrestler, so Molinaro wanted to stay solid. "I think his game plan, his coaches, want to keep it close, kind of lure me to sleep, and then hit me with a big throw, big move, big momentum swing," said Molinaro. "So I just wanted to stay solid." Taylor, a redshirt freshman, captured his first Big Ten title with an 8-3 victory over another redshirt freshman, Iowa's Derek St. John, 8-3. St. John scored the first takedown to go up 2-0, but Taylor stayed aggressive the entire match, picking up a takedown in each of the three periods to win and improve to 34-0 this season. It was only the second match all season in which Taylor has not picked up bonus points. "I've just got to keep attacking," said Taylor, who was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. "It's just one step towards nationals. Since the beginning of the season guys have been really trying to slow me down and I've tried to continue working more and more on my shots, attacks, putting things together ... two, three setups, two, three shots, which take the good guys down." David Taylor defeated Derek St. John in the finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)With Taylor going undefeated and dominating his competition en route to winning a Big Ten title, he has put himself in a position to earn one of the top seeds at 157 pounds at the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. Two other wrestlers in his weight class, Steve Fittery of American and Adam Hall of Boise State, are also undefeated this season. Both Fittery and Hall are returning All-Americans. The weight class also includes Taylor's former teammate at Penn State, Bubba Jenkins, a 2008 NCAA runner-up who is now at Arizona State. "I think I've got an argument to be No. 1 seed at nationals," said Taylor. "Whatever happens, though, I've got to wrestle whoever I step on the mat against." Taylor wasn't the only freshman on his team to win a Big Ten title. His teammate, Ed Ruth, captured the title at 174 pounds with an 8-5 victory over Ohio State's Nick Heflin. Ruth used a second period cradle, which nearly resulted in a pin, to break the match open. Ruth said seeing his teammates win titles gave him motivation to do the same. "When I see all these guys from my team that are winning, it gives me a real big boost," said Ruth, who improved to 32-1 this season. "When I go out there, I just want to beat my guy and join the rest of the winner's circle." Penn State's fifth Big Ten champion, Quentin Wright, was the surprise of the tournament. Wright entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed at 184 pounds after losing his final three matches of the regular season. He avenged two losses on Saturday by beating the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds. On Sunday, Wright avenged another loss by edging second-seeded Kevin Steinhaus of Minnesota, 4-3. Steinhaus won the first meeting, 10-1, on Feb. 13. "That's what I dreamed about for the past three months," said Wright, who was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. "It didn't look it. It didn't feel like it most of the way through the season. Don't ever give up on your dreams. Don't ever give up on yourself. Make sure the people around you are building you and keep yourself built up and then your dreams will come true." A pair of returning NCAA champions, Matt McDonough of Iowa (125) and Andrew Howe of Wisconsin (165), captured Big Ten titles on Sunday. Matt McDonough defeated Brandon Precin in the finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)McDonough won a hard fought match, 3-1, over Northwestern's Brandon Precin. The Hawkeye sophomore trailed 1-0 after two periods, but picked up an escape and takedown off a scramble in the third period to pull out the victory. It was the third meeting between the two wrestlers this season. Precin won the first meeting, but McDonough has now won the last two. "It feels good, but it's just one more big match in preparation for the ultimate goal," said McDonough. "It just builds more confidence going into that postseason. Peaking every day. So tomorrow's got to be a better day." Howe, who missed part of January and all of February because of a knee injury, defeated Ohio State's Colt Sponseller, 3-1, in sudden victory in a rematch of last year's Big Ten final at 165 pounds. He was also a Big Ten champion two seasons ago as a freshman. Howe scored a takedown with just six seconds remaining in the sudden victory period. "For the most part I had a pretty good tournament after coming back from that injury," said Howe, who became the first Badger since Donny Pritzlaff (1999-2001) to win three Big Ten titles. Andew Howe defeated Colt Sponseller in the finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Howe is expected to be the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Championships behind Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs, the wrestler who defeated him in the finals of the Midlands Championships and snapped his 51-match winning streak. Howe is looking forward to the possibility of facing Burroughs in Philadelphia. "I've been thinking about it constantly since (Midlands)," said Howe. "It would be great. I would love to even the score. Hopefully we run into each other in Philly." Howe's wasn't the only wrestler to win his third Big Ten title. Michigan's Kellen Russell claimed his third conference title with an 8-4 decision over 2010 Big Ten champion Mike Thorn of Minnesota. It was Russell's third victory over Thorn this season. Five of the nation's top seven 141-pounders, including the top four, are from the Big Ten. Russell feels that having to battle the nation's best on a regular basis will give him an edge over other wrestlers from outside the conference at the NCAA Championships. "There's not a conference out there that has as many tough guys as the Big Ten right now," said Russell, who is undefeated on the season at 33-0. "We're all beating each other up right now. But those guys aren't used to this kind of competition. Hopefully when it gets late in matches like that they're not going to be used to grinding it out like we are." Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold repeated as Big Ten champion at 197 pounds. He defeated Iowa's Luke Lofthouse, 5-2. The Badgers finished fourth in the team standings, six points behind third-place Minnesota and 35.5 points behind champion Penn State. Wisconsin finished fourth at the NCAA Championships. Brandvold feels the Badgers could do as well or better this season. "As a team, we have a lot of guys that can do some damage, so hopefully we can rack up the team points there," said Brandvold. Blake Rasing of Iowa captured the Big Ten title at heavyweight with a 5-2 victory over Minnesota's Tony Nelson. Rasing used a third period takedown and two nearfall points to pull away for the victory. Team Standings: 1. Penn State 139 2. Iowa 138 3. Minnesota 109.5 4. Wisconsin 103.5 5. Michigan 86.5 6. Illinois 64 7. Northwestern 62 8. Ohio State 57 9. Purdue 51 10. Indiana 50 11. Michigan State 49.5 Finals: 125: No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 3-1 133: No. 1 Andrew Long (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 7-3 SV 141: No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) dec. No. 3 Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 8-4 149: No. 1 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Eric Grajales (Michigan), 3-0 157: No. 1 David Taylor (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa), 8-3 165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) dec. No. 2 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 3-1 SV 174: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Nick Heflin (Ohio State), 8-5 184: No. 8 Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), 4-3 197: No. 1 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) dec. No. 2 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 5-2 285: No. 3 Blake Rasing (Iowa) def. No. 4 Tony Nelson (Minnesota), 5-2 Not every significant match took place in finals Not every significant match took place in the finals. There were several third-place battles that featured returning All-Americans, upset specialists and unseeded underdogs. At 141 pounds, returning All-American and No. 4 seed Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois got out to a 5-1 lead on No. 2 and returning NCAA runner-up Montell Marion of Iowa thanks to a couple textbook powerful double leg takedowns. A Marion escape early in the third period cut Kennedy's lead to 6-5, but the Illinois senior got a leg on the edge, then switched to a double in the middle of the mat to seal the deal. "I was able to finish a lot of times I got in," Kennedy says. "As long as I could capitalize on his aggressiveness, I knew I'd be OK. Either the championship or the third place match could have been a final. The dual for third place at 149 pounds between second-seeded Andrew Nadir of Northwestern and third-seeded Kurt Kinser of Indiana was choppy thanks to continual blood time for Nadir. Kinser fought off continual Nadir shots until the third period. The relentless front headlocks by Kinser wore down Nadir. In that final frame, Kinser escaped quickly, then In the overtime, Kinser again locked his hands, then spun around behind for a 6-4, come-from-behind overtime decision and a third-place finish. "My style is to grind people out, and that was a grinder victory," Kinser said. "With those front headlocks, you just have to get your on him and then eventually break him. Once you break their base, you just whip behind [your opponent]." The Hoosier's senior now shifts his focus to his fourth straight NCAA Championships, knowing that it will take wrestling a full match in Philly to finally earn All-American status. "The stuff that dogged me in my loss is the same stuff that has dogged me for awhile," Kinser said. "Just wrestling a full seven-minute go, not having that mental lag that catches you off guard." Michigan State 197-pounder Tyler Dickenson (22-15), who has dealt with inconsistency all season, was the only unseeded wrestler who finished in the top six. The junior St. John's High grad took down three seeded wrestlers before finally falling in a 6-2 decision to fourth-seeded Matt Powless of Indiana to finish in fourth place and seal a trip to his first NCAAs. "I'm pretty happy with my overall tournament," Dickenson said. "I did a good job of clearing my head and forgetting about the past and [my opponent], and just getting after it." Few third-place finishers had a better tournament than Wisconsin's Eric Bugenhagen. After losing to eventual champion Blake Rasing, the senior bounced back to go 5-1 overall, upsetting second-seeded Ricardo Alcala of Indiana and top-seeded Cameron Wade of Penn State in the process. In the third place match, Bugenhagen took down seventh-seeded Joe Rizqallah of Michigan State twice in the first period and cruised to a 6-1 decision to advance to his first NCAA tournament. "It was a rough start against Iowa," Bugenhagen says, "but I feel like I wrestled some of my best matches all year at this tournament. I feel like I'm peaking at the right time."

BOONE, N.C. -- Manny Ramirez, No. 16 Ivan Lopouchanski, Caylor Williams, and Peter Sturgeon earned a trip to the NCAA tournament after their showing at the Southern Conference Championships in Boone, N.C. on Saturday. Chattanooga denied UNCG of repeating as Southern Conference tournament champions as it claimed its 25th SoCon Wrestling Championship and its sixth in seven years by defeating UNCG by 10.5 points, 98-87.5. Ramirez (125 pounds) earned a first-round bye after an impressive 4-1 record in the SoCon slate. He eased into the finals of the weight class after a medical forfeit from Richard Alacron of The Citadel. Ramirez didn't miss a beat after the long break as he handled Prescott Garner of Chattanooga, 16-7, to claim the 125-pound crown. Jamel Johnson (133) scored a major decision, 14-6, over Tyler Sim of The Citadel in his first bout to advance to the final round. Unfortunately, Demetrius Johnson of Chattanooga denied Johnson of the automatic bid as he bested Johnson, 6-1. At 141 pounds, Michael Crowley lost a thriller, 2-0, to Mike Kessler of Appalachian State to drop to the consolation bracket. Again, Crowley lost a close one as David Yost of VMI one upped him, 4-3, to eliminate Crowley in the fourth overtime. Lopouchanski continued his magnificent season as he scored a second period pin over Derek Royster of The Citadel at the 4:13 mark. Dean Pavlou of Chattanooga put up a challenge, but Lopouchanski resisted as he claimed the 149-pound crown with a 7-5 victory. Justin Rice (157) finished third in his weight class after scoring a 11-4 victory over hometown favorite John Blakely. At 165 pounds, Brett Miller only needed four minutes and 57 seconds to score a technical fall, 16-0, over Ted Gottwald of VMI. However, Miller dropped his last two matches, including a heartbreaker to Dan Waddell of Chattanooga, 3-2, in the match for third place. Senior Byron Sigmon quickly pinned Christopher Cirenza after 106 seconds of wrestling to advance to the semifinals. Sigmon scored a 5-2 victory over J.C. Oddo of The Citadel to advance the finals. No. 1 seed Brandon Wright of Chattanooga defeated Sigmon, 6-4, in the finals to reject Sigmon of advancing to the NCAA's for the second straight year. At 184 pounds, Elijah Adams was pinned by Justin Sparrow of The Citadel in the third place bout. Freshman of the Year Caylor Williams defeated Niko Brown of Chattanooga, 3-2, in the finals to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. At heavyweight, Peter Sturgeon lost to Josh Wine of VMI in the finals. However, Sturgeon recovered in the true second place match to earn the 13th bid that the SoCon offered into the NCAA tournament. The NCAA tournament starts in 12 days, March 17, in Philadelphia, Pa, where the four Spartans will continue their quest to a national championship.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Virginia Tech wrestling team had high hopes of claiming its first ACC title, but disappointing performances from two of its top wrestlers, coupled with three competitors falling in the finals, sealed its fate as the team finished second at the ACC Wrestling Championships, held Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena. Individually, Tech crowned three champions and qualified four wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. Jarrod Garnett and Jesse Dong each won their second ACC titles while freshman Devin Carter steamrolled his competition en route to his first crown. Three others took runner-up honors while on other placed third. Heading into the final session, Tech sat in second place, seven points behind Maryland, and tied it up when Dong picked up his title. But the Terrapins picked up upset wins at 174 and heavyweight and also won four of the last five weight classes to pull away from the Hokies for the team title. In the finals, Garnett got things off to a good start for the Hokies with a 6-4 win over Matt Snyder in sudden victory. Garnett, the top-seed, got a first-period takedown, but Snyder battled back and forced overtime based on riding time. There, Garnett snuck in and got the ankle and converted the takedown for his second ACC title and a 6-4 win in sudden victory. At 133 pounds, freshman Devin Carter was simply dominating as he picked up a 19-4 technical fall over Joe Spisak to claim the title and a spot to the NCAA Championships. Carter recorded several takedowns in the first period and turned Spisak to his back several times en route to the big win. At 157 pounds, top-seeded Jesse Dong had his way with No. 2 seed Kyle John, picking up a pair of takedowns en route to a 6-3 win. As quickly as the Hokies got off to in the finals with three wins, the last three matches didn’t go well. Pete Yates fell at 165 pounds to top-seeded John Asper of Maryland, falling 9-3 in the championship bout. Chris Penny fell to second-seeded Zac Bennett of North Carolina, 9-4 at 197 pounds and in the heavyweight division, top-seeded David Marone dropped a heartbreaker to third-seeded Spencer Myers of Maryland, 3-2 in the first tiebreaker. Overall, Tech qualified four wrestlers automatically for the upcoming NCAA Championships. Garnett, Carter, Dong and Yates are assured of making the trip to Philadelphia for the March 17-19 event. Chris Diaz, who finished fourth at 141 pounds, Brian Stephens, who took third at 149 pounds, and Marone will also be amongst those in the discussion of receiving at-large bids at their respective weight classes. The bids are announced Tuesday, March 9. Maryland won the title with 94.5 points, outdistancing Tech’s 82.5 points. Maryland finished with five individual champions, as well as a runner-up.

The Lindenwood men’s wrestling team finished in second place at the 2011 NAIA National Championship. Nine wrestlers earned All-American honors including Chris Chionuma who won a national championship at 174 pounds. The Lions earned 141.0 points in the meet behind just Notre Dame who collected 170.0. Lindenwood just edged out McKendree by 2.5 points. McKendree had one more national champion, but Lindenwood had two extra All-Americans. Day One Recap Lindenwood finished day one with 27.0 points and was sixth in the team standings. The Lions were 12.5 points behind the leader, Notre Dame. The Lions were led by Vince Hannon at 157 pounds. Hannon recorded a pair of pins as he advanced to the quarterfinals. Two Lindenwood wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals at both 165 and 174 pounds. At 165 pounds, Drae Cox had a pair of decision victories and Clayton MacFarlane had two major decision wins. At 174 pounds, Chris Chionuma and Dirk Hurrin both had first-round byes before winning their second round matches. Chionuma won by technical fall and Hurrin won by decision. Brandon Benvenuti won a pair of one-point decisions at 125 pounds. Deron Winn had a fall in his lone match at 197 pounds, and Steven Butler had a decision and major decision victory at 285 pounds. Donald Woods won his first match at 157 pounds by decision before falling to the consolation bracket. Justin Forrest at 125 pounds, and Jacob Janes and Derrick Weller at 141 pounds all fell by close decisions in their first matches of the tournament. Day Two Recap Lindenwood was one of just two schools to have nine wrestlers still alive after the second day of competition. The Lions finished the day in third place with 107.5 points. Chris Chionuma won two major decision victories and advanced to the finals at 174 pounds. Three other Lions advanced to the semifinals but lost in that round. They were Vince Hannon at 157 pounds, Clayton Macfarlane at 165 pounds, and Deron Winn at 197 pounds. All three losses were by narrow decisions. Justin Forrest and Brandon Benvenuti are both in the consolation bracket semifinals at 125 pounds, as is Drae Cox at 165 pounds. Forrest had an impressive day going through the wrestlebacks, winning five matches, including two by technical fall and one by pin. Dirk Hurrin at 174 pounds and Steve Butler at heavyweight will both wrestle for seventh place on Saturday after going 1-2 on Friday. Three Lions were eliminated but all three picked up at least one victory. They were Derrick Weller and Jacob Janes at 141 pounds, and Donald Woods at 157 pounds. Day Three Recap Chris Chionuma capped an amazing season by winning the 174 pound weight class. His finals match against Grand View's Glenn Rhees was his closest of the national championship but he won by a 3-2 decision. Chionuma finished the 2011 season with a 40-3 overall record, including 12 wins by major decision, six by technical fall, and eight pins. Eight other wrestlers besides Chionuma placed during Saturday’s early session. At 125 pounds, Justin Forrest and Brandon Benvenuti met for the third-place title, and Forrest won by an 11-0 major decision. Forrest finished the national championship with a 7-1 record after winning each match following a first-round defeat. Benvenuti had a 6-2 decision win to advance to the third-place match. Deron Winn finished third at 197 pounds. He earned a pin to advance to the third-place match and then won that contest by a 7-3 decision. Vince Hannon and Clayton MacFarlane each finished fourth in their respective weight classes. Hannon picked up a fall in his first match on Saturday, but lost by decision in the third-place game at 157 pounds. MacFarlane went 1-1 in decisions on the day at 165 pounds.. Drae Cox finished fifth at 165 pounds. He lost to MacFarlane to start the day but rebounded with a 6-3 decision win. Dirk Hurrin at 174 pounds and Steven Butler at heavyweight both won their seventh-place matches. Hurrin won by a 4-3 decision and Butler had a late third period pin.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, -- The McKendree University wrestling team had two individuals win national championships and five additional wrestlers earn All-America honors at the conclusion of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Wrestling National Championships Saturday night. Head coach James Kisgen was named NAIA Wrestling Coach of the Year and senior Andrew Sanchez (Shiloh, Ill., O'Fallon) was also named National Wrestling Coaches Association NAIA Wrestler of the Year. McKendree finished in third place in the team standings with a score of 138.5. Notre Dame College (Ohio) won the team championship with 170 points, while Lindenwood University (Mo.) was the runner-up with 141 points. Sanchez won his second NAIA National Championship at 197 pounds by defeating defending champion Derek Foore of Notre Dame in a 2-1 decision. The win capped off a 38-1 senior campaign by Sanchez and also made him a four-time NAIA All-American. He finished his collegiate career with an 144-23 overall record. Senior Wade Lowe (Godfrey, Ill., Alton) became the sixth national champion in school history after defeating Matt Katusin of Midland University (Neb.) in a 5-2 decision at 133 pounds. The win ended his season with an overall record of 25-4 and capped off his McKendree career with an overall record of 121-35 and three NAIA All-America honors. Kisgen was named NAIA Coach of the Year for the second time in his career at McKendree. Kisgen previously won the award at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season. Sophomore Kyle Reid (Belleville, Ill., Belleville East) defeated Derek Rottenberg of Southern Oregon University in the 185 pound consolation semifinals by default to advance to the third place match. Reid then defeated Steven Urquizo of Dickinson State University (N.D.) by default to earn his first All-America honor with a third place finish and ended his season with an overall record of 40-8 overall. Senior Rashad Riley (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Conant) defeated Travis Evans of Grand View University (Iowa) in the 133 pound consolation semifinals by decision, 9-8, but lost to Tim Thurston of Campbellsville University (Ky.) in the third place match by decision, 8-7, to finish in fourth place. Riley earned the NAIA All-America honor in his only season of competition at McKendree and ended his collegiate career with a record of 21-4 overall. Senior Ryan Jahn (Bolingbrook, Ill., Bolingbrook) defeated Shay Shive of Missouri Valley College in the consolation semifinals in a 9-7 decision, but lost a 4-1 decision to Jeffrey Pelton of Notre Dame College (Ohio) in the third place match to finish in fourth place at 149 pounds. Jahn ended his season with an overall record of 36-10 and ended his career at McKendree with a record of 106-50. He is a three-time NAIA All-American with fourth place finishes as a junior and senior, and a seventh place finish as a freshman. Junior Kyle Williams (Scott Air Force Base, Ill., Mascoutah) was pinned by Brett Freeman of Notre Dame in 4:36 to finish in eighth place at 141 pounds. The loss ended Williams’ season with an overall record of 36-13 and the finish made him a three-time NAIA All-American. Williams previously finished in sixth place at 133 pounds as a freshman and fifth place last season as a sophomore at 141 pounds. Freshman Nicolas Haferkamp (Lincoln, Ill., Lincoln Community) ended his season with a loss in the seventh place match to Jeremy Padilla of Waldorf College (Iowa), 6-4, but earned his first NAIA All-American honor. Haferkamp ended his freshman season with an overall record of 15-17.

DeKALB, Ill. -- Central Michigan is atop the team standings following the first day of competition at the Mid-American Conference Wrestling Championships. The Chippewas are in first place with 50 points, while Buffalo and Kent State are tied for second with 43.5 points. Six Chippewas have advanced to the finals and will wrestle for individual conference championships on Sunday afternoon: Scotti Sentes (133 pounds), Scott Mattingly (141), Donnie Corby (149), Mike Miller (165), Ben Bennett (174) and Jarod Trice (285). CMU's six finalists are the most of any team in the tournament. "For the most part, today was pretty good," said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli . "You always feel like you can do a little bit better, but I think our guys competed hard. We're happy that we put six guys through to the finals. That's probably more than we expected." Sentes, who began the tournament with a 16-1 technical fall against Eastern Michigan's Filiberto Colon, earned his third consecutive trip to the finals by pinning Northern Illinois' Kevin Fanta in just 1:16 in the semifinals. Sentes will face Kent State's Tyler Small in the championship match on Sunday. Mattingly took the mat immediately following Sentes and scored an 8-6 upset of No. 2 seed Tristen DeShazer (Northern Illinois). Mattingly, the No. 3 seed, took DeShazer to the mat in each period and led start to finish in earning a spot in the finals in his first appearance at the conference tournament. Mattingly and Buffalo's Andrew Schutt will square off for the MAC title on Sunday. In the semifinals at 149 pounds, Corby scored a pair of first-period takedowns and built a riding time advantage of 4:02 en route to an 8-2 decision over Ohio's Bradley Squire. Corby, who defeated Eastern Michigan's Corey Phillips in the first round, will face defending conference champion Desi Green (Buffalo) in the finals. Miller will wrestle for his third career conference title on Sunday after earning a 6-1 decision over Northern Illinois' Matt Mougin in the semifinals. Miller, who won the 165-pound title in 2007 and the 174-pound title in 2009, will meet Buffalo's John-Martin Cannon in the championship match on Sunday. Bennett advanced to the 174-pound finals with a 4-1 decision over Kent State's Brandonn Johnson. He will wrestle for his second straight MAC title against Ohio's Nick Purdue on Sunday. Trice also claimed a 4-1 decision over Northern Illinois' Dakota Greenhaw in the heavyweight semifinals. Trice and Kent State's Brendan Barlow will meet for the conference title on Sunday. Three other Chippewas remain in contention in the consolation bracket and will wrestle for third place on Sunday: Christian Cullinan (125), Ryan Cubberly (157) and Craig Kelliher (184). The championship and consolation finals begin Sunday at noon Central Time.

AMES, Iowa. -- Senior Todd Schavrien and junior Dom Bradley each claimed Big 12 titles in their respective weight class, as Missouri finished in second place in the team score with 60 points. Nick Gregoris and Kyle Bradley finished in second place, while five other Tigers placed earlier in the day. It was the fifth time in program history that the Tigers had four wrestlers in the championship round. Missouri earned seven automatic qualifiers to the NCAA’s on the day. Schavrien and Bradley’s victories helped keep the Sooners off the top of the podium and propelled the Tigers ahead of Oklahoma in the team standings. Oklahoma State led all teams with six finalists with five taking first place. Oklahoma had five finalists but no champions, while Missouri had four finalists and two champions. Schavrien captured his first Big 12 title, beating out top seeded Zach Bailey of Oklahoma by a 3-2 decision. Schavrien took Bailey down in the first and escaped to start the third while only giving up a pair of escapes. The Tiger avenged a 9-6 loss to Bailey back in February in the dual match and becomes just the second Big 12 Champion at 141 pounds for Missouri. Marcus Hoehn accomplished the same feat back in 2009. Dom Bradley’s takedown in the first period set the pace for the rest of the match, as he allowed only an escape while scoring one of his own to win 3-1. He becomes the first heavyweight Big 12 champion in Missouri history. Bradley and Gregoris each finished in second place at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively. Bradley fell to No. 1 seed Jamal Parks of Oklahoma State by a 4-0 final. Gregoris was down 3-0 late in the third period to top seed Neil Erisman of OSU. He scored a reversal with 45 seconds left, but couldn’t turn Erisman before time expired. The Tigers have had at least one Big 12 champion in each of the last six years, and it’s the sixth time in program history that they’ve had multiple Big 12 champions in the same season. Missouri’s three non-automatic qualifiers will hope to secure a wild card bid and join the other seven Tiger qualifiers at the 2011 NCAA Championships, which takes place in Philadelphia, Pa. from March 17-19.

Related Link: Results/Brackets The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team won the Southern Conference Championship, besting second-place UNC Greensboro by 10.5 points (98-87.5) in Boone, N.C. today. The Mocs put eight wrestlers in the finals, taking four individual trophies in the one-day event. After a disappointing fourth-place finish last year, Chattanooga won its 25th overall SoCon title and sixth in the last seven years. The Mocs' SoCon-record 25 team championships have come in just 34 years in the league. "It was a good day," stated head coach Heath Eslinger who was named the 2011 SoCon Coach of the Year following the championships. "It was a good team effort. Every weight class wrestled hard." With four runners-up and one third-place finisher to go along with its four conference champs, UTC totaled 98 points to dethrone defending champion UNC Greensboro (87.5 pts.). Host Appalachian State placed third with 57.5 points, followed by The Citadel (44.5 pts.), VMI (27 pts.) and Davidson (18 pts.). Senior Cody Cleveland (Tullahoma, Tenn.), juniors Demetrius Johnson (Memphis, Tenn.) and Brandon Wright (Germantown, Tenn.) and sophomore Josh Condon (Powder Springs, Ga.) all won individual titles and automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. Johnson took the first title for the Mocs when he won at 133. Johnson has missed most of the season with a knee injury, but returned for the SoCon portion of the Mocs' schedule. He entered the event with a 3-1 mark, his only loss coming to UNCG's Jamel Johnson. Johnson had a bye as the No. 2 seed and defeated Davidson's Alex Radsky 3-2 in the semifinals. That set up a rematch with the Spartans' Johnson in the finals. Demetrius dominated the match and posted a 6-1 victory. It was his second career SoCon title after winning at 125 as a freshman in 2009. Cleveland, a 2008 All-American, won his third SoCon title at 141. He pinned The Citadel's David Yost in the second round and defeated Appalachian State's Mike Kessler 9-5 in the finals. Cleveland also missed significant time this season with an injury but improves to 13-0 with two wins today. Condon was the top-seed at 157 and lived up to the billing. He defeated UNCG's Justin Rice 9-4 in the second round and followed that with an 11-5 win over The Citadel's Pierre Frazile in the finals. A two-time All-SoCon selection, Condon will be making his first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Wright's win at 174 was impressive considering where he started the year. He moved up a weight to make room for junior Dan Waddell (Chattanooga, Tenn.) in the lineup, but lost his first four matches at 174. However, he stuck with it and was undefeated in regular season league matches, earning the No. 1 seed. In the tournament, Wright posted a 13-4 major decision over Appalachian State's Carter Downs in the second round. He then out-fought defending champion Bryon Sigmon of UNC Greensboro for a 6-4 win in the finals. "At the end of the day, I am a lot more proud of who we are, than what we did," concluded Eslinger. "This team is going to make our athletic department, our school and this community proud, because it is an outstanding group of guys. They are awesome. Not just because we won the Southern Conference, but also how well we have done academically and socially." Chattanooga's four second-place finishers included sophomore Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore.) at 125, sophomore Dean Pavlou (Cleveland, Tenn.) at 149, junior 184 Jason McCroskey (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) and sophomore Niko Brown (Kissimmee, Fla.) at 197. Waddell finished in third place at 165 while senior Matt Lettner (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) was fourth at 285. Lettner, seeded sixth and wrestling on a bad foot, posted a big upset over Davidson's No. 3 seed Charlie Wolff 5-1 in the first round. The Mocs will now wait until Monday for the announcements of the NCAA at-large bids. McCroskey (23-9) is almost a lock to join the four Mocs already headed to the NCAA Championships. Garner (19-13) and Brown (19-9) have outside shots for an at-large bid.

Related Link: Results/Brackets LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- The Hofstra Pride Wrestling Team returned to the top of the Colonial Athletic Association Saturday afternoon when they captured the 2011 CAA Wrestling Championship at Rider University's Alumni Gymnasium. The Pride had five champions, three runners-up, one third place and two fourth place finishers to capture their ninth CAA title in the past 10 seasons. It was also the Pride's 10th conference title in the last 11 years, missing only the 2010 CAA title which went to Binghamton. Hofstra finished with 94 points followed by Binghamton (78.5), Old Dominion (52.5), Boston U. (46), Rider (43.5), Drexel (25.5), and George Mason (6). Five number one seeds won their weight classes while four number two seeds won. Leading the way for the Pride was senior Lou Ruggirello , who recorded his fourth CAA title at 133 pounds to advance to his fourth NCAA Championship. Ruggirello (28-3), the top seed, defeated #2 seed Kyle Hutter from Old Dominion, 2-1 on the riding time point in the 133-pound final Saturday. Ruggirello enters the NCAA Championships riding a 14-match winning streak. Senior Ryan Patrovich , the #2 seed at 174 pounds, will make his third trip to the NCAA Championships later this month but his first as a CAA champion following a 5-4 victory over Boston University sophomore and #4 seed Hunter Meys in the title match Saturday. Patrovich (15-5) has competed in the NCAA Championships as a former CAA finalist, an at-large selection and now as champion. Junior Ben Clymer will make his second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance and first as a CAA champion following a thrilling 4-3 title match victory over Binghamton sophomore and #1 seed at 184 pounds Nate Schiedel. Clymer (21-8) captured the title on an escape and goes to his second NCAA Championship after being a CAA finalist last year. Sophomore Paul Snyder , the top seed at 285 pounds, will make his first NCAA Championship appearance after defeating Drexel sophomore and #2 seed Jack Callender, 11-5 in the championship match. Snyder (25-14) has won six consecutive matches entering the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Steve Bonanno will be going to his second NCAA Championship after going as a CAA finalist in 2009 after a second-place finish at 125 pounds Saturday. Bonanno (24-10), the #2 seed, dropped a 5-3 decision to Old Dominion senior and #1 seed James Nicholson in the championship match Saturday. Junior P.J. Gillespie will be making his third NCAA Championship appearance following a 3-1 loss in the 165-pound championship match to Binghamton junior and #4 seed Justin Lister. Lister captured the 157-pound title last year. Gillespie (25-7) will be going to nationals as a CAA finalist for the second straight year after going as the 149-pound CAA Champion in 2009. Junior Vince Varela , the #1 seed at 141 pounds, will wait and hope for an at-large bid on March 9 after dropping an 8-6 decision to Binghamton senior and #2 seed Anwar Goeres Saturday. Varela is now 20-13 on the season. Sophomore Tyler Banks (21-16) posted two wins in the consolation bracket on Saturday to place third at 157 pounds. Banks, the #2 seed, defeated Boston freshman and #5 seed Nick Tourville, 13-5, and George Mason sophomore and #4 seed Jaaziah Bethea, 4-2 in the third place match Saturday. Freshmen Zach Clemente at 149 and Matt Loew at 197 each placed fourth in their respective weight classes. Clemente (16-14) majored Boston sophomore and #6 seed Nestor Taffur, 16-5 before dropping a 6-5 decision to Old Dominion senior and #5 seed Joey Metzler in the third-place match. Loew (15-23) defeated Rider junior and #6 seed Joe Ferber, 3-1 in overtime before dropping an 8-3 decision to Drexel freshman and #2 seed Brandon Palik in the third-place match. Rider's 149-pound red-shirt freshman Zac Cibula, the second seed, won his weight class with a 5-4 overtime decision over the seventh ranked wrestler in the nation, top-seeded Donnie Vinson, to earn the CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler award. Cibula won by fall in the semi-finals. The CAA will send at least 17 wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Championships, hosted by Rider and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference March 17-19 in Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center. They are: 125 James Nicholson-ODU, Steve Bonanno -Hofstra 133 Lou Ruggirello-Hofstra, Kyle Hutter-ODU, Fred Santaite-BU 141 Anwar Goeres-Binghamton 149 Zac Cibula-Rider, Donnie Vinson-Binghamton 157 Matt Kaylor-Binghamton 165 Justin Lister-Binghamton, Paul Gillespie-Hofstra, Jim Resnick-Rider, 174 Ryan Patrovich-Hofstra, Hunter Meys, Boston U. 184 Ben Clymer-Hofstra 197 John Hall-BU 285 Paul Snyder-Hofstra

Related Link: Results/Brackets CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Maryland Terrapins finished second in the dual wrestling season in the ACC behind Virginia Tech, but came to the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia for the conference championship not content with runner-up. Six Terps advanced to the finals and five of them left with individual titles. Senior Mike Letts was named the tournament outstanding wrestler and defeated No. 4 Chris Henrich of Virginia in the 174-pound final. Virginia Tech trailed Maryland by a narrow margin heading into the final round and also advanced six, but only came away with three champions. Host Virginia finished in third place with no champions. Final Team Scores: Maryland 94.5 Virginia Tech 82.5 Virginia 69 North Carolina 37 NC State 34.5 Duke 9 Finals: 125- No. 13 Jarrod Garnett (VT) dec. Matt Snyder (UVA), 6-4 SV 133- No. 9 Devin Carter (VT) tech. fall over Joe Spisak, 19-4 141- No. 16 Jon Kohler (MD) dec. Darrius Little (NCST), 3-1 SV 149- No. 1 Darrion Caldwell (NCST) dec. Derek Valenti (UVA), 6-3 157- No. 5 Jesse Dong (VT) dec. No. 15 Kyle John (MD), 6-3 165- No. 4 Josh Asper (MD) dec. No. 20 Pete Yates (VT), 9-3 174- No. 15 Mike Letts (MD) dec. No. 4 Chris Henrich (UVA), 4-2 184- Corey Peltier (MD) dec. Diego Bencomo (DUKE), 3-1 197- Zac Bennett (UNC) dec. Chris Penny (VT), 9-4 HWT- Spencer Myers (MD) dec. David Marone (VT), 3-2 TB2 Weight Class Summaries: 125: No major surprises at 125 as No. 1 Jarrod Garnett from Virginia Tech and No. 2 Matt Snyder from Virginia advanced to face each other in the final. The two wrestled a tight match during the dual meet season with Garnett coming out on top in overtime. On Saturday, the match was decided in similar fashion with Garnett getting a first OT period takedown for the 6-4 win. 133: No. 1 Devin Carter from Virginia Tech continues to look very impressive heading to Philadelphia as he rolled into the final with a first period pin in the semis. He faced No. 3 Joseph Spisak from Virginia and scored a technical fall at the 5:42 mark. Carter has had an outstanding freshman season and is sure to make some noise at the NCAA tournament. 141: No. 1 John Kohler of Maryland advanced to the final uneventfully although the opposite of the draw was less straightforward. Virginia's Nick Nelson, seeded No. 5 upset No. 2 seed Chris Diaz from Virginia Tech, 6-5 in OT periods and then lost to No. 3 Darrius Little of NC State in the semi-finals. Kohler and Little wrestled to a 1-1 draw at the end of regulation with Kohler taking the title with a first OT period takedown. 149: No. 1 Darrion Caldwell cruised into the final to face Virginia's Derek Valenti who was ranked No. 2 and proved that his win over Virginia Tech's Brian Stephens in the dual season was not an upset by beating him again in the semifinals 3-1. It would have definitely been an upset had he managed to beat Caldwell who is undefeated this season in limited action and won the ACC title 6-3. Caldwell definitely does not look to have the same form or conditioning that he did 2 years ago and is likely to have this become apparent in Philadelphia. 157: No. 1 Jesse Dong from Virginia Tech cruised through the weight class with a fall, a 6-1 decision and a 6-3 decision in the final over No. 2 Kyle John from Maryland. He is wrestling with a lot of confidence and appears ready to make a deep run at the national tournament. 165: While he was not named the tournament's outstanding wrestler, Maryland's Josh Asper was one of the best wrestlers in the arena . He defeated Virginia's Jedd Moore in the semis by major decision and the dispatched of No. 2 seed Pete Yates from Virginia Tech in the final 9-3. Only a sophomore, Asper in ranked No. 4 nationally by Intermat and will definitely be an ACC wrestler with a legitimate chance at a national title in Philadelphia. 174: Senior Mike Letts of Maryland won his 3rd ACC title by defeating Virginia's Chris Henrich 4-2 in the final. Henrich was ranked No. 4 nationally while Letts sat at No. 15, however their match in the dual season was a narrow 3-2 decision win for Henrich on a late takedown so this was sure to be an excellent match. Letts got a takedown early in the match and was able to hold off Henrich's pressure in the third period. His major decision win in the semis over UNC's Thomas Ferguson and his victory over Henrich led to Letts being named the tournament Outstanding Wrestler. 184: No. 1 Jon Fausey of Virginia was upset by No. 4 seed Diego Bencomo of Duke in the semi-finals providing the Blue Devil's only finalist. No. 2 seed Antonio Giorgio of UNC lost his first round match so Bencomo faced No. 3 Corey Peltier of Maryland but lost a close decision 3-1. 197: No. 4 Chris Penny of Virginia Tech beat No. 1 Mike Salopek in the semis by major decision to face No. 2 Zac Bennett of UNC. Bennett, however, proved to be too much for him in the final as he secured the Tarheels' lone title by the score of 9-5 285: With the team title already secured, Maryland's No. 2 Spencer Myers put the exclamation point on the championship by defeating Virginia Tech's No. 1 David Marone 3-2. Congratulations to the Maryland Terrapins who now own 23 ACC championships and many thanks to Virginia for hosting the tournament in a beautiful venue for wrestling! See you in Philadelphia!

Related Link: Results/Brackets AMES, Iowa -- The Oklahoma State wrestling team won its 10th Big 12 team title in 15 tries Saturday night in Hilton Coliseum. The Cowboys racked up 74 team points. Missouri was second with 60 points, Oklahoma was third with 59.5 points. Nebraska placed fourth with 46.5 team points and host Iowa State rounded out the field with 31 team points. It was the second straight Big 12 title for the Cowboys, who won last year's championship in Norman by a narrow 1.5-pount margin over Iowa State. OSU wrestlers Jordan Oliver, Jamal Parks, Neil Erisman, Chris Perry and Clayton Foster were all crowned as Big 12 individual champions, bringing the Cowboys' all-time total of conference champions to 234. OSU's five conference champions were the most in a single-season since the Cowboys had seven in 2005 and its 77 team points were the most since scoring 80 in 2006. "It was good to see us win five championships today, but we were far from perfect in the finals," Coach John Smith said. "What we did today was show that we had a lot in the gas tank when it counted. This is a well-conditioned team." Oliver personified OSU's dominance at the event with a first-period pin in the semifinals and a 15-3 major decision victory over Oklahoma's Jordan Keller in the finals. The key moment of Oliver's win over Keller came in the first period when Oliver connected on his signature five-point move by letting Keller get to his leg, then wrapping around Keller and turning him to his back. Oliver nearly pinned Keller after that, but settled for another three-point nearfall to hold a 10-1 lead after the first period. "I was just trying to push the action and what I wanted to do was get a fall for the team points," Oliver said. "I like to give the fans what they want and that's a match with a lot of action and a lot of scoring. I'm having a lot of fun out here. This is my passion and I enjoy it." Parks followed suit by pitching a 4-0 shutout against Missouri's Kyle Bradley to win his second straight Big 12 title. Parks scored a first-period takedown and rideout, then escaped to start the second period and extend his lead to 3-0. He then rode Bradley out for the duration of the third period to add a riding time point and seal his 4-0. "I just wrestled how I have been wrestling all year," Parks said. "Being the best in your conference is definitely an honor, but I think it might mean more to some others than it does to me because it's not my ultimate goal. As a team, we have wrestled hard all season. We haven't let up and we've been consistent in our training. There has been no complaining and we have really come together." Erisman clinched the Big 12 title for the Cowboys when he dropped No. 17 Nick Gregoris of Missouri by a 4-2 score. It was the first individual Big 12 title for OSU's senior captain. After a scoreless first period, Erisman escaped quickly to start the second period, then took Gregoris down to extend his lead to 3-0 before riding him out for the duration of the period. Gregoris connected on a reversal late in the third period to bring the score to 3-2, but when Erisman's riding time point was added on, the Cowboy was a 4-2 winner. "It means a lot to be part of two Big 12-champion teams," Erisman said. "In my first year actually wrestling, we finished 16th in the country and fourth in the Big 12. That's not what Oklahoma State does. It's nice to be considered as a leader for a team that turned things back around and won championships." Perry used a huge reversal in the first tiebreak period to seal his 3-2 win over No. 10 Josh Ihnen of Nebraska. After a scoreless first period, the two wrestlers traded escapes to start the second and third periods, respectively. Neither wrestler generated any real offense in the sudden victory period, but Perry's reversal in the top half of the tiebreak period put all the pressure on Ihnen. While the Husker was able to muster an escape in the bottom half of the tiebreaker, it was too late and Perry became the 16th Cowboy freshman to win a conference title. "Early in the season, if I was in a 3-2 match like that, I would have panicked and lost my cool," Perry said. "One of the biggest things I've learned this season through some of the early adversity is to control my emotions better. It's great to be out here and see your teammates in almost every championship match. It gets me more excited to do my part." Foster won his second straight Big 12 title with a 9-5 triumph over Jerome Ward at 197 pounds. Ward struck first with a takedown in the first period, but Foster escaped to bring the score to 2-1. With Foster in the down position to start the second period, the Cowboy senior recorded an escape and bagged a takedown of his own to go up, 4-2. Ward escaped, then tied the score with another escape to start the third period. It was all Foster in the third period, however, as he scored two takedowns and added riding time to clinch his 9-5 win. Dating back to its days in the Southwest Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference and the Big Eight Conference, OSU has won 44 team conference titles all-time. Cowboy junior Mike Benefiel was the 174-pound runner-up after losing by 15-3 major decision to top-ranked Jon Reader of Iowa State. Reader bagged two first-period takedowns, but put the match out of reach in the third period when he rattled off nine points after the end of the second period to claim his victory. The Cowboys lead all teams with six wrestlers in the finals, as Jordan Oliver, Jamal Parks, Neil Erisman, Mike Benefiel, Chris Perry and Clayton Foster will all compete for Big 12 crowns later tonight. Oklahoma has five finalists, Missouri has four, Nebraska has three and Iowa State has two. Oliver, Erisman and Benefiel all won their semifinal bouts in resounding fashion, with Oliver pinning Iowa State's Ben Cash in 59 seconds, Erisman scoring a 12-4 major decision win over Iowa State's Trent Weatherman and Benefiel claiming a 9-0 major decision win over No. 16 Dorian Henderson of Missouri in a bout that included 5:42 of riding time for Benefiel. Other semifinal-round wins for OSU included a 7-4 win from Parks over Iowa State's Max Mayfield at 149 pounds, a 3-1 win from Perry over Iowa State's Cole Shafer at 184 pounds and a 7-4 win from Foster over No. 15 Brent Haynes of Missouri. Cowboys Josh Kindig and Dallas Bailey both won their third-place bouts, with Kindig scoring a 9-4 win over Nebraska's Mike Koehnlein and Bailey avenging a loss earlier in the day to Iowa State's Chris Spangler by scoring a 5-4 victory with a takedown in the final 30 seconds to claim his third-place finish. "I sure liked the way Dallas Bailey found his style late. I hope he bottles up some of that confidence that he developed and takes it into his training leading up to NCAAs," Smith said. Kindig also looked good and I'm pleased with his performance." Wrestling with a leg injury sustained before he arrived in Ames for the Big 12 Championships, top-seeded Cowboy 125-pounder Jon Morrison lost a 6-4 decision in sudden victory to Nebraska's David Klingsheim in the championship semifinals, then took medical forfeit losses in the consolation round and in a challenge match. Morrison's injury is not expected to hamper him at the NCAA Championships. Blake Rosholt struggled for OSU at heavyweight with returning All-America teammate Alan Gelogaev unable to compete due to injury, as Rosholt lost a 2-1 decision to Iowa State's Kyle Simonson in the pigtail round, then followed that up with a 6-2 loss to No. 8 Tucker Lane of Nebraska in the consolation round. The NCAA Championships will be contested March 17-19 in Philadelphia. Team Standings 1. Oklahoma State - 77 points 2. Missouri -60 points 3. Oklahoma -59.5 points 4. Nebraska -46.5 points 5. Iowa State - 31 points Finals: 125: David Klingsheim (NU) dec. No. 7 Jarrod Patterson (OU); 2-0 133: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (OSU) MD Jordan Keller (OU); 15-3 141: No. 11 Todd Schavrien (MU) dec. No. 8 Zack Bailey (OU); 3-2 149: No. 6 Jamal Parks (OSU) dec. Kyle Bradley (MU); 4-0 157: No. 13 Neil Erisman (OSU) dec. No. 17 Nick Gregoris (MU); 4-2 165: No. 1 Jordan Burroughs (NU) dec. No. 2 Tyler Caldwell (OU); 2-1 174: No. 1 Jon Reader (ISU) MD No. 13 Mike Benefiel (OSU); 15-3 184: No. 8 Chris Perry (OSU) dec. No. 10 Josh Ihnen (NU); 3-2 TB1 197: No. 2 Clayton Foster (OSU) dec. No. 14 Jerome Ward (ISU); 9-5 285: No. 6 Dom Bradley (MU) dec. No. 9 Nathan Fernandez (OU); 3-1

Related Link: Results/Brackets CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- (Final Team Standings, Brackets | PDF) Notre Dame (Ohio) successfully defended its title by winning the 2011 NAIA Wrestling National Championship Saturday in the U.S. Cellular Center. The Falcons finished with 170 points and crowned two individual champions in Dante Rini at 125 pounds and heavyweight Orlando Scales. Lindenwood (Mo.) finished second with 141 points and McKendree (Ill.) took third with 138.5 points. Placing fourth was Great Falls (Mont.) with 108.5 points and Grand View (Iowa) rounded out the top-five teams with 106 points. “Coming into the tournament after winning last year, we wanted to repeat,” Notre Dame head wrestling coach Frank Romano said. “I thought we wrestled really well and we had a tremendous day today, other than this evening. In the morning session we won every bout, going 7-for-7, and last night we had a tremendous round, which is the reason that we won. Putting five men into the finals; that sealed it for us.” The Falcons became the ninth team to win back-to-back national titles and marked the 16th time that a team has won consecutive championships in the event’s 54-year history. “Both [national championships] are special, very special, but maybe the first one is a little bit more special,” Romano said. “I hoped that we would wrestle well here and we did. I knew that we were ready and we were prepared. The guys were fresh and those are key factors.” Rini faced a 2-1 deficit heading into the second period against Campbellsville’s (Ky.) Johnny Papesh, but used a three-point nearfall in the second period and an escape in the third to tally a 5-3 decision to take first place at 125 pounds. “I thought Dante Rini [stood out for us], even though he didn’t wrestle a whole lot of matches this year, he really came on in the last month of the season,” Romano said. “He was able to defeat [Johnny] Papesh in the group tournament and tonight. Papesh is a great wrestler, and Dante was able to get by him in both matches.” Of the seven previous national champions that arrived in Cedar Rapids, two were able to finish on top of the podium. After winning a national title at 149 pounds in 2009, Grand View’s Matt Burns earned his second championship by posting a 5-3 decision over Ashtin Primus of Notre Dame. The senior scored a first-period takedown for the early lead and added another in the second for a 4-0 advantage heading into the final period. Primus got a takedown in the third, but it was not enough, as Burns secured riding time and the victory. Burns’ career comes to an end as a two-time All-American and a two-time national champion. McKendree’s Andrew Sanchez capped off his career by winning his second national title, edging defending national champ Derek Foore of Notre Dame with a 2-1 decision. After a scoreless first period, Sanchez got on the board in with an escape in the second for a 1-0 lead. He was able to maintain control of Foore throughout the third period to accumulate 1:26 worth of riding time, which proved to be the deciding factor. The four-time All-American caps off his stellar Bearcat career with a 144-23 record, including a 38-1 mark in his final season. For his performance in his final season on the mat, Sanchez was named NWCA/NAIA National Wrestler of the Year. Five finalists, including a trio newly crowned national champions, earned their third All-America accolade. Three-time honorees that captured top-honors were 133-pounder Wade Lowe of McKendree, Lindenwood’s Chris Chionuma at 174 pounds and 184-pounder Evan Hinebauch of Montana State-Northern. Also earning their third All-America accolade were runners-up Thomas Straughn of Notre Dame and Michael French of Great Falls at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively. Corey Bleaken of Cumberland (Tenn.) was named the NAIA Most Outstanding Wrestler with the Gorriaran Award after winning the 157-pound title in the first tiebreaker, 4-3, over reigning national champ Straughn. The senior is the first Bulldog wrestler to earn the award. Southern Oregon 157-pounder Tommie Norton/Hooper was named the event’s Most Falls in the Least Time award winner, sticking three opponents in a total of 1:52. McKendree head coach James Kisgen was named NAIA National Coach of the Year. It is the second time Kisgen has been tabbed with the honor, with the first coming in 2008. Championship Finals: 125 – Dante Rini, Notre Dame (Ohio) dec. Johnny Papesh, Campbellsville (Ky.), 5-3 133 – Wade Lowe, McKendree (Ill.) dec. Matt Katusin, Midland (Neb.), 5-2 141 – Anthony Varnell, Great Falls (Mont.) dec. Eddie McCray, Midland (Neb.), 5-3 149 – Matt Burns, Grand View (Iowa) dec. Ashtin Primus, Notre Dame (Ohio), 5-3 157 – Corey Bleaken, Cumberland (Tenn.) dec. Tyler Straughn, Notre Dame (Ohio), 4-3 (TB1) 165 – Ross Mosher, Great Falls (Mont.) dec. Noah Hatton, Great Falls (Mont.), 4-2 174 – Chris Chionuma, Lindenwood (Mo.) dec. Glenn Rhees, Grand View (Iowa), 3-2 184 – Evan Hinebauch, Montana State-Northern dec. Michael French, Great Falls (Mont.), 5-3 (SV2) 197 – Andrew Sanchez, McKendree (Ill.) dec. Derek Foore, Notre Dame (Ohio), 2-1 HWT – Orlando Scales, Notre Dame (Ohio) dec. Levi Roberson, Midland (Neb.), 3-2

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Big Red wrestling team sits in first place after day one of the EIWA tournament with 140 points. All 10 Cornell wrestlers will compete on Sunday, including six in the finals and four competing in the wrestle backs. Frank Perrelli (125), Mike Grey (133), Kyle Dake (149), Mack Lewnes (174), Steve Bosak (184) and Cam Simaz (197) will all wrestle for the titles in their respective weight classes. With his first win of the day, Lewnes becomes Cornell's all-time record holder for career wins. Cornell will place all 10 wrestlers in the top six of their respective weight classes for the first time in school history. Lewnes became Cornell's leader in career wins after pinning Army's Collin Wittmeyer in 3:53 in the quarterfinals. Travis Lee '05 was the former record holder with 143 wins from 2002-2005. The Big Red senior followed with a 10-4 victory over Rutgers' Alex Caruso. Lewnes will wrestle Navy's Matt Demichiel in the finals on Sunday. Perrelli opened the day by facing eighth seeded Mitch Berger of Lehigh in the quarterfinals. With a 12-3 major decision, he advanced to the semifinals. Perrelli won an exciting 4-3 decision over Navy's Aaron Kalil in the second tiebreaker. The two wrestlers were tied after sudden victory and the first tiebreaker. Perrelli was able to keep control of Kalil for the entire 30 seconds of the Navy wrestler's choice. Perrelli won the bout by escaping from his opening down position. The Big Red wrestler will face Penn's Mark Rappo in the finals. At 133 pounds, Grey had a bye in the first round and faced American's Kevin Tao in the quarterfinals. Grey had a 9-1 lead over the Eagles' wrestler before he earned bonus points for the Big Red with a win by fall in 4:49. Grey followed with a 6-3 win over Jacob Bucha of Franklin & Marshall. The Cornell senior will face the second seed, Lehigh's Frank Cagnina, in the finals on Sunday. Senior Corey Manson was the first wrestler to compete for the Big Red on Saturday morning and opened the day off on the right foot by pinning Bucknell's Adam Healy in 2:00. Manson lost a close 3-2 decision to American's Matt Mariacher in the quarterfinals to move to the consolation round. He quickly bounced back by pinning Franklin & Marshall's Aaron Velasquez in 4:07. Manson followed by edging out Princeton's Zachary Bintliff, 4-3. Manson will face Lehigh's Stephen Dutton on Sunday. At 149 pounds, returning NCAA champion Dake pinned his first opponent, Andrew Lenzi of Penn in 2:08. Dake notched bonus points again in his second bout with an 11-1 major decision over fifth seeded Mario Mason of Rutgers. Dake will face No. 3 nationally ranked Kevin LeVally of Bucknell for the title. DJ Meagher racked up almost six minutes in riding time against Penn's Bradley Wukie in his 10-1 major decision. Meagher moved to the consolation round with a 3-1 loss to Rutger's Daryl Cocozzo. The Big Red senior defeated Patrick LaBuz (Brown) by an 11-2 major decision. Meagher advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 10-4 decision over Lehigh's Sean Bilodeau. Meagher will wrestle Harvard's Walter Peppelman in his first match on Sunday. After having a bye in the opening round, Justin Kerber won an 8-2 decision over Bucknell's Corey Lear in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Kerber lost, 7-4, to Rutgers' Scott Winston. Kerber will next wrestle Penn's Stephen Burak. At 184 pounds, Bosak pinned his first two opponents of the day. He opened the day winning by fall in 2:38 against Ziad Kharbush of Brown. In the quarterfinals, Bosak pinned Bucknell's Rob Waltko in 4:04. Bosak advanced to the finals with a 4-0 decision over Navy's Luke Rebertus. In the finals, Bosak will wrestle Robert Hamlin of Lehigh. In the opening round, Simaz pinned Harvard's Bryan Panzand in 1:04. Simaz held a 13 point lead over Franklin & Marshall's Collin Ely, and on his final takedown, he turned Ely to win by fall in 5:57. In the finals, Simaz will wrestle Micah Burak of Penn. At heavyweight, Stryker Lane defeated Brown's Tyler Cowman, 6-0 to open the day. Lane injury defaulted out of the winner's bracket in the quarterfinals. In the consolation round, Lane pinned Franklin & Marshall's Daniel Canfield in 4:23. The Big Red sophomore won 5-4 in the first tiebreaker against Navy's Daniel Miller. He will wrestle Columbia's Kevin Lester on Sunday. Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday with the consolation semifinals and place finals. The finals will begin at 3 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill -- Two years ago, Penn State's Quentin Wright, a true freshman at the time, reached the Big Ten finals as an underdog, upsetting Iowa's Jay Borschel in the semifinals. On Saturday night, Wright once again reached the Big Ten finals as an underdog. This time as the No. 8 seed. After upsetting top-seeded Travis Rutt of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals, 4-3, Wright, a redshirt sophomore, defeated fifth-seeded Tony Dallago of Illinois, 8-5, in the semifinals. Wright's semifinal victory helped put Penn State on top in the team standings heading into Sunday. The Nittany Lions have totaled 110.5 points. Three-time defending Big Ten and NCAA champion Iowa sits in second place, just 1.5 points behind Penn State. Wright came into the Big Ten Championships with a 12-6 record and riding a three-match losing streak. He avenged two of those three losses on Saturday with his victories over Rutt and Dallago. "For a long time there, the person I was out there in front of everybody wasn't the same person that I was in the practice room," said Wright, who was off the mat for five weeks this season with a shoulder injury. "A lot of athletes go through that stage. I was just having a hard time dealing with that." Quentin Wright upset Travis Rutt in the quarterfinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Wright gives credit to his coaches and teammates for supporting him through the tough times this season, but believes it's his faith that has pulled him through. "Winning and losing is all about pride," said Wright. "This last year has been humbling. I've had to turn to my faith and grow as a person, deep down inside. For a while, things were just coming easy for me. Now it's the next step in life where things get a little harder. A few curve balls were thrown at me and I had to deal with them. I've been making progress every week. Coach Cael has been helping me out, encouraging me, and praying for me. I have a group of people in my hometown who have been praying for me. Their prayers have been working because I'm in the finals now." Wright is one of five finalists for the Nittany Lions. Penn State's other four finalists are No. 1 seeds: Andrew Long (133), Frank Molinaro (149), David Taylor (157), and Ed Ruth (174). Long handled fourth-seeded B.J. Futrell of Illinois, 7-2, in the semifinals. He will now face second-seeded Tyler Graff of Wisconsin in the finals. The two met on Feb. 18, with Long coming out on top, 12-5, in that match. Penn State wrestlers, like David Taylor, cheer on teammates (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Molinaro, a two-time All-American, registered a shutout victory, 4-0, over another Illinois wrestler, Eric Terrazas, to advance to the finals. Taylor, a redshirt freshman, continued his domination this season, picking up bonus points in both victories on Saturday. In the semifinals, Taylor won 18-4 over Indiana's Paul Young. Taylor is now 33-0 with bonus points in 32 of those victories. Ruth, also a redshirt freshman, reached the finals with a hard fought 3-2 victory over Iowa's Ethen Lofthouse. Iowa sent four wrestlers to the finals: Matt McDonough (125), Derek St. John (157), Luke Lofthouse (197), and Blake Rasing (285). McDonough, the defending NCAA champion at 125 pounds, pinned Michigan's Sean Boyle in the semifinals to advance to the finals where he will face Northwestern's Brandon Precin, who defeated Minnesota's Zach Sanders, 4-0, in the semifinals. It will be the rubber match between McDonough and Precin. Precin won the first meeting, 3-1, in the finals of the Midlands on Dec. 30. McDonough came back to pin McDonough in a dual meet on Jan. 28. "It's going to be an exciting match," said Precin, a two-time All-American. "It's like two bulls going at it, so it's exciting." St. John defeated Northwestern's Jason Welch, 5-2, to advance to the finals at 157 pounds. He will now face Taylor in the finals. Taylor won the first meeting, 12-4, on Jan. 30. Lofthouse, who is seeded second at 197 pounds, won 9-3 in the semifinals over Purdue's Logan Brown. Lofthouse will now face defending Big Ten champion Trevor Brandvold of Wisconsin in the finals. Rasing reached the finals by beating Michigan State's Joe Rizqallah, 2-0. Eric Grajales reached the finals as the No. 6 seed (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Seven freshmen advanced to the Big Ten finals. In addition to Taylor, Ruth, and St. John, Eric Grajales of Michigan (149), Kevin Steinhaus of Minnesota (184), Tony Nelson of Minnesota (184), and Nick Heflin of Ohio State (174) will be wrestling for the championship on Sunday. Grajales knocked off third-seeded Kurt Kinser of Indiana in the quarterfinals before edging second-seeded Andrew Nadhir of Northwestern, 3-2, in the semifinals. "He wrestled extremely smart," said Grajales of Nadhir. "It was down to the wire, but I knew that's how it was going to be, and I knew what I had to do." Grajales, who was ranked as the No. 2 overall recruit by InterMat coming out of high school, knows that he has to be at his best to beat Molinaro in the finals. Molinaro has two victories over Grajales this season. "Molinaro is an amazing wrestler," said Grajales. "He's extremely strong. He's by far the strongest person I've wrestled all year. But it's just like any other day. Everybody can be beaten. I just have to go out there and wrestle my match and not let him wrestle his match." Steinahaus defeated Iowa's Grant Gambrall, 4-1, in the semifinals, setting up a meeting with Wright in the finals. Steinahus defeated Wright, 10-1, in their only meeting this season on Feb. 13. Nelson avenged one of his losses this season by beating Penn State's Cameron Wade, 3-0, to advance to the finals. Nelson racked up over three minutes of riding time in the match. "When I wrestled him the first time he got up in about 10 seconds," said Nelson. "Usually I'm a real good rider. That kind of frustrated me. I worked on it the last couple weeks. I think being able to ride him really wore him out, especially when he got a hold of those legs and I was still riding. I think that kind of took the wind out of his sails. Just getting out on bottom really helped me too." Nelson finished the regular season with two straight losses. One of those losses came to Wade. The other came to Iowa's Blake Rasing, the wrestler he will face in the finals. "It was the first time I lost two in a row all year," said Nelson. "It was kind of hard on me because you're winning all year and then take a couple hard losses right at the end when you want to be peaking. The last couple weeks after we were done I watched a little film and looked at what I needed to do better. I spent the two weeks and worked on those things ... and this is where I'm at." Nelson gives credit to his training partner, Ben Berhow, a three-time NCAA qualifier at heavyweight. "He's just been a great guy to have around," said Nelson. "He has a great heart. He really helps me prepare for these types of tournaments. He's just a great guy." In addition to Steinhaus and Nelson, Minnesota has another finalist in Mike Thorn, the defending Big Ten champion at 141 pounds. Thorn trailed Iowa's Montell Marion, 5-1, in the third period after getting put to his back. But the Gopher senior rallied to win, 7-5, in sudden victory. It was the fifth collegiate meeting between the two wrestlers. Thorn now leads the series 3-2. Mike Thorn defeated Montell Marion to reach the finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)"There's less pressure for me this year," said Thorn. "I'm just wrestling. This is it no matter what for me. No matter if I win, lose, or draw, this is my last few matches, so I'm just going to let it fly." Thorn will face Michigan's Kellen Rusell, a two-time Big Ten champion and 2009 All-American, in the finals. It will mark the third meeting between the two wrestlers this season. The undefeated Rusell won the first meeting, 6-2, in the finals of the Southern Scuffle, and the second meeting, 3-1, in sudden victory, on Feb. 11. So will Thorn go back to those matches to prepare for Russell? "No, "said Thorn. "There's no reason to. He's a freaking tough wrestler. It's going to take my A game to get past him. I'm just going to throw everything I've got at him and see if it's enough." The 165-pound finals match will be a rematch of last year's Big Ten finals match between Wisconsin's Andrew Howe and Ohio State's Colt Sponseller. Howe advanced to the finals with a 2-1 victory in tiebreaker over Iowa's Aaron Janssen. Sponseller topped Minnesota's Cody Yohn, 2-0, in the semifinals. Sponseller is looking forward to facing Howe again because of their similar styles. "Really, he's just a brawler like me," said Sponseller. You're going out there and just hitting each other. It's whoever makes the first mistake and can capitalize on that first mistake and wrestle smart. It's just two physical guys going at it." The final session is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. CST on Sunday. The finals will take place at 3 p.m. Finals Matchups: 125: No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) vs. No. 2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern) 133: No. 1 Andrew Long (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) 141: No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) vs. No. 3 Mike Thorn (Minnesota) 149: No. 1 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Eric Grajales (Michigan) 157: No. 1 David Taylor (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) 165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) vs. No. 2 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State) 174: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Nick Heflin (Ohio State) 184: No. 2 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota) vs. No. 8 Quentin Wright (Penn State) 197: No. 1 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) vs. No. 2 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa) 285: No. 3 Blake Rasing (Iowa) vs. No. 4 Tony Nelson (Minnesota)

Lawrenceville, NJ -- Seven Hofstra wrestlers advanced to Saturday’s championship matches and three others are in the consolation bracket at the 2011 Colonial Athletic Association Wrestling Championships at Rider University’s Alumni Gymnasium Friday night. Number one seeds senior Lou Ruggirello at 133, junior Vince Varela at 141 and sophomore Paul Snyder at 285 pounds along with second seeds sophomore Steve Bonanno at 125, junior P.J. Gillespie at 165, senior Ryan Patrovich at 174 and junior Ben Clymer at 184 all advanced with semifinal victories Friday night. In addition, second seed sophomore Tyler Banks at 157, red-shirt freshman Zach Clemente at 149 and fifth-seed freshman Matt Loew at 197 will wrestle in the consolation second round Saturday morning. The Pride are in first place after the first day with 70.5 points. The defending champion Binghamton Bearcats are second with 66 followed by Boston U (30.5), Rider (28), Old Dominion (26), Drexel (11.5), and George Mason (3.5). In the quarterfinals Friday afternoon, the Pride posted a 5-1 record with Bonanno, Ruggirello, Gillespie and Patrovich getting byes to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals that were wrestled, junior Vince Varela (19-12), the number one seed at 141 pounds, shook off an early takedown to cruise to a 16-4 major decision over Boston University sophomore Jordan Frease at 141 pounds. At 149, unseeded red-shirt freshman Zach Clemente (14-13) dropped an 18-6 major decision to Binghamton’s top seed Donnie Vinson, 18-6. Sophomore Tyler Banks (19-15), seeded second at 157, gave the Pride their second major decision with an 8-0 win over Drexel sophomore Charles Aungst. At 184, junior Ben Clymer (19-8), seeded second at 184 pounds, defeated Rider red-shirt freshman James Brundage, 6-1, for his fifth consecutive win. Freshman Matt Loew (14-21), seeded fifth at 197 pounds, won his sixth straight match with a 4-3 decision over Old Dominion’s fourth-seed freshman Jacob Henderson, 4-3. Sophomore Paul Snyder (23-14), the top seed at 285 pounds, tallied his fourth consecutive victory with a 6-0 win over George Mason sophomore Hunter Manspile. In the first round of the consolations Friday evening, Clemente (15-13) bounced back with a strong 10-3 victory over Drexel’s fourth-seed freshman Austin Sommer to advance to Saturday’s second round of consolations. In the semifinals Friday night, Bonanno opened up the action with a thrilling 6-5 victory over Binghamton’s sixth-seed Derek Steeley. Bonanno posted a takedown with 45 seconds remaining in the third period and held on to Steeley’s escape attempt in the waning seconds. It was the sophomore from Wantagh, New York’s sixth straight win. Bonanno (23-10), the second seed, will face the top seed James Nicholson from Old Dominion in Saturday’s championship match. Senior Lou Ruggirello, the top seed at 133, will be going after his fourth CAA title after pinning Drexel’s Frank Cimato, the fifth seed, in 1:47. Ruggirello (27-3), who won his 13th straight match, will face second-seed Kyle Hutter from Old Dominion in the championship match. Junior Vince Varela, the top seed at 141, advanced to the championship match with a 5-3 victory over fourth-seed Brennan Brumley from Old Dominion. Varela (20-12) will face second-seed Anwar Goeres from Binghamton in Saturday’s final. Junior P.J. Gillespie (25-6) advanced to the 165-pound final with a 9-1 major decision over third-seed Jim Resnick from Rider. Gillespie, who won his sixth straight, will square off against the fourth-seed Justin Lister, who won the 157-pound title last year, in Saturday’s final. Senior Ryan Patrovich (14-5) defeated Binghamton’s third-seed Ryan McGarrity, 4-1 in the 174-pound semifinal. Patrovich will face Boston University’s fourth-seed Hunter Meys in the final Saturday. Junior Ben Clymer (20-8) advanced to the 184-pound final with a 5-2 victory over third-seed Joe Budi from Old Dominion. Clymer will face Binghamton’s top-seed Nate Schiedel in the final on Saturday. Sophomore Paul Snyder (24-14) had the toughest time to the finals at 285 pounds with a 4-3 double-overtime win over Old Dominion’s fourth-seed Grant Chapman, winning on 35 seconds of riding time. Snyder will face Drexel’s second-seed Jack Callender in Saturday’s final. Slipping to the consolation bracket along with Clemente was Tyler Banks (19-16), the second seed at 157, who dropped a 7-4 decision on a big third period by Rider’s third-seed Ramon Santiago. Freshman Matt Loew (14-22), the fifth-seed at 197, was sent to the consolation bracket after being pinned in 6:10 of the 197-pound semifinal match with top-seed John Hall from Boston University. The second round of the consolations begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning with finals scheduled for 1 p.m.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- (Updated Team Standings and Brackets | PDF) The 2011 NAIA Wrestling National Championship title bouts were set and Notre Dame (Ohio) maintained its lead in the team race following the completion of the fourth session in the U.S. Cellular Center Friday. The reigning national champion Falcons have 143.5 points, holding a 28.5-point advantage on second place McKendree (Ill.) with 115 points. Lindenwood (Mo.) is third with 107.5 points and is followed by Grand View (Iowa) in fourth and Great Falls (Mont.) in fifth, with 98 and 96.5 points, respectively. Five grapplers will be vying for their second national title on Saturday and three others will make a return appearance in the championship bout. Wrestlers returning to the championship match include the 2009 champion duo from Grand View (Iowa) Matt Burns and Gleen Rhees, at 149 and 174 pounds, respectively, Notre Dame’s 157-pounder Thomas Straughn and Derek Foore at 197 pounds, and McKendree’s Andrew Sanchez at 197. Making their second appearance in the finals and bidding for their first national title will be Lindenwood’s Chris Chionuma at 165, Montana State-Northern’s 184-pounder Evan Hinebauch and heavyweight Orlando Scales of Notre Dame. There were two pins in the semifinals, with Midland’s (Neb.) 133-pounder Eddie McCray sticking Kyle Wirkuty of Southern Oregon in 1:31 and Andrew Sanchez of McKendree used 1:42 to pin Waldorf’s (Iowa) Jeff Roman. Four semifinal matches needed extra time to declare the winner. Victors in those bouts were Cumberland’s (Tenn.) Corey Bleaken (157), Noah Hatton of Great Falls (165), Rhees and Foore. Bleaken and Hatton needed just 30 additional seconds to win in the first sudden victory. Foore won his match in the first tiebreaker and Rhees won his in the second tiebreaker. Two defending national champs were denied a shot at back-to-back titles. Last year’s 133-pound national champion Tommy Pretty of Campbellsville (Ky.) was dealt a 9-5 setback by Great Falls’ Anthony Varnell at 141 pounds and Jeffery Pelton of Notre Dame was edged by Burns at 149 pounds with a 3-2 decision. There will be two sessions of action Saturday, starting with the third, fifth and seventh-place matches at 10 a.m. CST, with real-time results will be available through the NWCA Live Scorebook by clicking here. The championship finals will start at 7 p.m. and all 10 bouts will be streamed live by NeuLion for a $7.95 fee. Click here for more information.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- (Updated Team Standings and Brackets | PDF) Defending national champion Notre Dame (Ohio) separated itself from Missouri Valley in the second session of the 2011 NAIA Wrestling National Championships Thursday in the U.S. Cellular Center, taking sole possession of first place with 39.5 points. The Vikings moved to second with 35 points and are followed by McKendree (Ill.) in third with 33 points and Southern Oregon in fourth with 28. Grand View (Iowa) and Lindenwood (Mo.) are tied at fifth with 27 points. Notre Dame, Grand View and Lindenwood each have eight individuals that advanced to the championship quarterfinals, while Missouri Valley and McKendree each have six. There will be two sessions on Friday, with the first starting at 10 a.m. CST and the second session starting at 6 p.m. Real-time results will be available through the NWCA Live Scorebook by clicking here. All seven previous national titlists are still in the hunt for a second championship. Tommy Pretty of Campbellsville (Ky.) won it all in 2010 at 133 pounds, but has bumped up to 141 pounds in his junior campaign. He has pinned two of his opponents and closed out with a 5-3 decision against Great Falls' (Mont.) Myles Mazurkiewicz in a rematch of last year's 133-pound championship. He will meet Nick Coffman of Grand View in the quarterfinals. A pair of national champs have the potential to collide at 149 pounds. Matt Burns of Grand View, who was a national champ in 2009, notched a decision in his only match of the day and will face McKendree All-American Ryan Jahn in the quarterfinals. Jeffrey Pelton of Notre Dame was the 2010 champ and has earned bonus points in both of his bouts with a major decision and a technical fall. In the quarterfinals he will take on Jarid Price of Baker (Kan.). Should both former national champions win, they will battle in Friday's semifinals. Reigning national champion Thomas Straughn of Notre Dame won both of his 157 bouts with dominate offense en route to two technical falls. A titlist in 2009, Glenn Rhees of Grand View used an 18-5 major decision in his only bout at 174 pounds. Three-time All-American and 2009's 197-pound champion Andrew Sanchez of McKendree opened with a technical fall and followed up with a pin. He'll meet Grand View's Derek Nightser, who has two falls to his credit in Cedar Rapids, in the quarterfinals. On the opposite side of the bracket is 2010 champ Derek Foore of Notre Dame. Foore pinned his only opponent of the session in a quick 1:05 for a quarterfinal date with Campbellsville's Spencer Adams. NeuLion will stream live all 10 individual weight class championship bouts on March 5 and will be available to view starting at approximately 7 p.m. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the finals. Click here for more information.

Hello again Wrestling Fans! Conference Championships take place this weekend for the Big 12 and Big 10. We are a couple of weeks away from the SOLD OUT NCAA Championships. The excitement continues to build as Jeff Murphy heads to the Big 12's and I get the honor of announcing the Big Tens in Evanston, Illinois. Steve Foster will take over the Brute studios on Takedown Wrestling along with Ryan Freeman and Geoff Murtha. Jeff Murphy will be checking in LIVE from Ames, Iowa from the Big 12's brought to you by Kemin Agrifoods. Steve's special guest is former Cyclone Nate Gallick. Steve and Nate will talk with Bloomsburg Head Coach John Stutzman about one of his teams best years. Former Cyclone Nels Matson will again ride across America to raise money and awareness about The Children's Heart Foundation. Last year in Davenport, Iowa Nels rode for and with former University of Iowa wrestler Paul Glynn's daughter. She was born with a non-functional right ventricle and is now 15, quite an amazing family. Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling will join the guys to talk NCAA's. Bobby Douglas will join in with memories of Nate. Jeff Murphy will join us LIVE for his opinions on the big 12 and more. Westbrook Shortell will preview the PA States. Join us LIVE 9 to 11 AM CST for Takedown Wrestling. Listen on radio, on computer, your Blackberry or I Phone with the I Heart Radio App. Our Guests Include: (All times Central) 9:01 John Stutzman- Head Coach Bloomsburg 9:20 Nels Matson- Former Cyclone now on a quest to raise money and awareness- 9:40 Gary Abbott- from USA Wrestling. He'll discuss USA Wrestling Dual Meet at the NCAA's and the new USA Wrestling TV show as well. the National Team All-Star Dual Meet will be hosted in the NCAA competition venue, right on the mats on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center. Fans can stay in their seats after the first session and enjoy the international action. 10:01 Bobby Douglas- New Book by Craig Sesker Bobby Douglas: Life and Legacy of an American Wrestling Legend available at Bobbydouglasbook.com 10:20 Jeff Murphy with our Kemin Wrestling Report Live from the Big 12's 10:40 Westbrook Shortell- Livesports Video has done more this year to promote wrestling with available broadcasts. This year they've added the PA States- Finals preview 315-663-8187 10:50 Maureen Roshar- Wildrose Resorts 563 219 0704 Join us LIVE 9 to 11 AM CST for Takedown Wrestling. Listen on radio, on computer, your Blackberry or I Phone with the I Heart Radio App. KXNO.com, Takedownradio.com, I Heart Radio App

USA Wrestling and the NCAA are pleased to announce that there will be another USA Wrestling National Team All-Star Dual Meet held as part of the festivities at the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia, Pa. This is the second straight year that a USA Wrestling exhibition will be provided free of charge to wrestling fans who are attending the championships. The event has been moved to the first day of the championships, on Thursday, March 17, between the first and second competition sessions. For the first time, the National Team All-Star Dual Meet will be hosted in the NCAA competition venue, right on the mats on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center. Fans can stay in their seats after the first session and enjoy the international action. There has been a format change in the USA Wrestling National Team All-Star Dual Meet. This year, there will be a number of challenge matches featuring top U.S. wrestlers competing against foreign opponents, adding an international flavor. There will also be additional all-USA challenge bouts. Lineups for the National Team All-Star Dual Meet are being finalized and will be announced when available. “This allows us to showcase international wrestling and our national team athletes in a community which appreciates wrestling but doesn’t get the opportunity to see the Olympic rules often,” said Mitch Hull, USA Wrestling National Teams Director and one of the organizers of the event. “This will be held about three weeks prior to the U.S. Open. The benefit for the athletes is the opportunity to compete in front of a large crowd, which always raises the intensity of the action. The added pressure to perform in front of the fans is great for their preparation,” said Hull. At the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Omaha, Neb., USA Wrestling hosted a Big Ten vs. Big 12 Challenge, featuring Freestyle Team USA athletes who had competed in those conferences. The athletes put on an entertaining show for thousands of fans, with the Big Ten earning bragging rights in the friendly competition. USA Wrestling will also participate at the NCAA Fan Festival with National Team practice sessions, which are open to the public. “Most important is the partnership we have been able to develop with the NCAA at our sport’s showcase event, working together to promote wrestling,” said Hull. “The NCAA has chosen to support our Olympic effort, and we are very grateful.” For more information on the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, visit NCAA.com/wrestling.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The University of Virginia will play host to the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestling Championship Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers are the defending ACC champion, but face another tough field this year. The competition will get underway at 11 a.m. and continue throughout the day; the finals are set to begin at 7 p.m. The doors to John Paul Jones Arena will open at 10 a.m., with first-round action set to begin at 11 a.m. The semifinals are set for 1 p.m., followed by the consolation semifinals at 3:30 p.m.. The consolation finals are set for 5 p.m., followed by the championship matches at 7 p.m. All seating for the ACC Championship is general admission. Adult tickets are $10, while tickets for youth, senior citizens and students of the participating schools (with valid ID) are $5. Tickets will be good for the entire day of competition. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall, by calling the Ticket Office at (800) 542-8821 or logging on to VirginiaSports.com. The Virginia Athletics Ticket Office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Updated brackets will be available throughout the day Saturday at: http://www.theacc.com/championships/11-wrestling-championship-brackets.html. In addition, the ACC.com will air a live webcast of the Championships, beginning with the consolation finals at 5 p.m., followed by the finals at 7 p.m. This free broadcast may be accessed at: http://www.theacc.com/allaccess/?media=226799. The event will feature 14 wrestlers currently ranked among the nation's Top 20 in their respective weight classes and four wrestlers ranked among the top five, including top-ranked and 2009 NCAA champion Darrion Caldwell of NC State at 149 pounds. Virginia All-America senior Chris Henrich (174) and Maryland sophomore Josh Asper (165) are ranked fourth in their respective weight classes, while Virginia Tech's Jesse Dong in ranked fifth at 157. Twenty automatic NCAA Championship bids are on the line Saturday. The NCAA Championships will be contested March 17-19 at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. The ACC's automatic qualifier breakdown by class: 125 - 2; 133 - 1; 141 - 3; 149 - 2; 157 - 3; 165 - 2; 174 - 2; 184 - 3; 197 - 1; 285 - 1. Virginia won a school-record 19 dual matches in the 2010-11 regular season. Three Virginia wrestlers were ranked in the latest InterMat individual rankings - No. 4 Chris Henrich (Sr., Lansdale, Pa.) at 174 pounds, No. 19 Jon Fausey (R-Fr., Dalmatia, Pa.) at 184 and No. 17 Mike Salopek (R-So., North Huntingdon, Pa.) at 197. In addition, Matt Snyder (R-So., Lewistown, Pa.) is ranked No. 17 at 125 pounds by Amateur Wrestling News. Henrich and Salopek each are returning ACC champions. Virginia's all-time wins leader with 131 victories, Henrich has won the last two ACC titles at 174 pounds and is aiming to become just the seventh Cavalier to win three ACC crowns. Henrich will be challenged by Maryland's Mike Letts, who won the 2007 and 2008 174-pound titles but has battled injuries the last two years. The two had an epic match in February, with Henrich scoring a late takedown to pull out a 3-2 win. Salopek was victorious at 184 pounds last year; he will compete at 197 Saturday. Virginia has won the last four ACC titles at 184 pounds. The Cavaliers have been plagued by injuries all year, with three starters missing at least half the season because of injuries, but UVa is getting healthy at just the right time. Nick Nelson (R-Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) returned to the UVa lineup for the Feb. 20 match at Old Dominion after missing two months with an injury. Virginia plans to have its entire starting lineup on Saturday for the first time this season. Virginia won its final four dual matches this year in finishing 19-7 in the regular season. The Cavaliers were 3-2 in ACC duals, with narrow losses at Maryland (19-16) and Virginia Tech (20-12). Virginia has captured four ACC Championships in program history - 1974, 1975, 1977 and 2010. UVa last played host to the championship in 2004 at University Hall.

Hempstead, NY -- The Hofstra Pride wrestling team will be looking to return to the top of the Colonial Athletic Association this Friday and Saturday, March 4-5 at the 2011 CAA Wrestling Championships at Rider University’s Alumni Gymnasium. Competition begins Friday at 1 p.m. with quarterfinals, 4 p.m. for the first round of consolations, and 7 p.m. for semifinals. The second round of consolations is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday morning with finals scheduled for 1 p.m. The Pride, who have captured nine of the last 10 conference titles (including eight in the CAA), missed out only last year as Binghamton grabbed the 2010 championship. Hofstra enters the 2011 Championships with eight of its 10 wrestlers in the number one (3) or number two (5) pre-seed spots. Leading the Pride pre-seeds are: number one picks senior Lou Ruggirello (26-3, 6-0 in the CAA), ranked fifth by InterMat at 133 pounds; junior Vince Varela (18-12, 5-1) at 141 pounds; and sophomore Paul Snyder (22-14, 5-0) at 285 pounds. Hofstra’s second-place pre-seeds include: senior Ryan Patrovich (13-5, 1-1) at 174 pounds; juniors P.J. Gillespie (24-6, 5-1), ranked 17th by InterMat at 165 and Ben Clymer (18-8, 5-1) at 184; and sophomores Steve Bonanno (22-10, 3-2), ranked 19th by InterMat, at 125 pounds and Tyler Banks (18-15, 4-2) at 157. Freshman Matt Loew (13-21, 2-4) is pre-seeded at fifth at 197 pounds while red-shirt freshman Zach Clemente (14-12, 3-1) is not pre-seeded. The Pride return just one defending CAA champion in Lou Ruggirello, who will be going after his fourth conference championship. Juniors P.J. Gillespie, who won the CAA title at 149 pounds in 2009, and Ben Clymer, who placed third as a true freshman in 2009, each placed second at last year’s CAA Championships. While the Pride is ranked first in the CAA with 45 points on nine wrestlers ranked among the CAA top six entering the tournament this weekend, there will be landmines in every weight class that could stop any favored wrestler. Binghamton, which posted 87.5 points in last year’s CAA Championships and went 5-0 in CAA duals this year, also has nine wrestlers ranked among the top six in the CAA, including three ranked nationally. The Bearcats have 36 points and are placed second in the latest conference rankings. Binghamton has three number ones in Donnie Vinson at 149, Matt Kaylor at 157 and Nate Schiedel, the defending champion at 184. In addition, number two pre-seed Anwar Goeres is the defending champion at 141 pounds while 165-pounder Justin Lister also has experience on top of the podium with a first-place finish at 157 last year. Host Rider, which finished third in last year’s conference championships, has eight wrestlers ranked in the CAA, including top pre-seed and 20th-ranked Rob Morrison at 174-pound. The Broncs are ranked third with 32 points. Old Dominion, the CAA runner-up last year with 73 points, has nine wrestlers ranked in the conference including two nationally this season and is tied with Boston University for fourth place with 28 points. The Monarchs return top seed James Nicholson, the defending CAA champion at 125 pounds, who is also ranked fourth nationally. The Terriers have nine wrestlers ranked in the CAA, including top-pre-seed John Hall at 197 pounds. Drexel University has nine ranked in the CAA led by top-pre-seed Joe Booth at 165, while George Mason University has seven ranked in conference. The CAA Championships will advance 17 wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Championship, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA, hosted by Rider and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The allocation for CAA Championship qualifiers to the NCAA Championships is: three at 133 and 165 pounds; two at 125, 149 and 174 pounds; and one at 141, 157, 184, 197 and 285 pounds. At-large qualifiers will be announced on March 9.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- After finishing the 2010-11 dual season with a program-best 21 wins and No. 9 ranking, the Rutgers wrestling team will look to make its mark at the 107th EIWA Championships this weekend at Sojka Pavilion on the campus of Bucknell University. The 107th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 10 a.m. The tournament will proceed through the completion of the semifinals Saturday evening. Sunday’s two sessions feature consolations and placement matches beginning at 10 a.m. and the championship finals at 3 p.m. Seedings and brackets for the Championships will be released on Friday. The NCAA recently announced that the EIWA has earned 45 allocations for automatic bids to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data including Division I winning percentage, RPI and a coaches ranking. Under the system, the number of automatic qualifiers varies in each weight class within the EIWA. The number of bids allocated per weight class can be found at the end of the release. Rutgers, which finished sixth at last year’s EIWA Championships, will send a strong lineup to Lewisburg that features eight wrestlers who are listed in the NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings – 125-pound Joe Langel (Howell, N.J.), 141-pound Trevor Melde (Hewitt, N.J.), 149-pound Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.), 157-pound Daryl Cocozzo (River Edge, N.J.), 165-pound Scott Winston (Jackson, N.J.), 174-pound Alex Caruso (Green Brook, N.J.), 184-pound Dan Rinaldi (Lodi, N.J.) and heavyweight DJ Russo (Netcong, N.J.). Additionally, RU features six wrestlers (Langel, Melde, Cocozzo, Winston, Rinaldi and Russo) that have placed at an EIWA Championship. The Scarlet Knights have had 10 EIWA Champions in the history of the program with the latest being Tom Tanis (184-pounds) in the 2001 season. The highest RU has placed in an EIWA Championship was third in the 1951-52 season. Fans unable to make it to Lewisburg will have the opportunity to watch live online via Bison Vision (www.BucknellBison.com). The entire event, except Sunday’s championship bouts, will be available free of charge. There will be four competition mats in use during all of Saturday’s action and Sunday morning’s consolation bouts and coverage of the event will focus on Bucknell wrestlers and premier bouts with regular updates and look-ins on other matches. While the majority of the EIWA Championships will be provided free of charge, Sunday’s championship bouts will require a subscription. Fans can sign up for a monthly pass for Bison Vision for $9.95. In addition to the live video broadcast, fans will have the chance to follow the results of the EIWAs live online via three different outlets. Updated brackets will be available at www.escapesports.com, while the NWCA will provide live scoring of each match through its Live College Scorebook at www.nwcaonline.com. Additionally, Rutgers wrestling will be providing live updates via its twitter page at www.twitter.com/RUWrestling. Tickets for the EIWA Championships are still available by calling the Bucknell Campus Box Office at 570-577-1000 or visiting www.bucknell.edu/boxoffice. EIWA Championships Schedule of Events: Saturday, March 5 Session 1: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Round of 16, Quarterfinals & Consolations, Consolations) Session 2: 3:30 p.m. (Semifinals) Sunday, March 6 Session 3: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (Consolation Semifinals, Place Finals) Session 4: 3 p.m. (Finals) Rutgers Wrestlers Attending the 107th EIWA Championships: 125: No. 27 Joe Langel (17-6) 133: Matt Fusco (1-0) 141: No. 22 Trevor Melde (25-10) 149: No. 9 Mario Mason (22-5) 157: No. 11 Daryl Cocozzo (24-8) 165: No. 11 Scott Winston (16-3) 174: No. 16 Alex Caruso (28-8) 184: No. 21 Dan Rinaldi (19-7) 197: Mike Wagner (12-13) 285: No. 4 DJ Russo (26-5) -Rankings are NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings EIWA Championships Allocation of At-Large Bids to NCAA Championships: 125: 5 bids 133: 3 bids 141: 5 bids 149: 5 bids 157: 5 bids 165: 4 bids 174: 5 bids 184: 4 bids 197: 5 bids 285: 4 bids

MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Central Michigan wrestling program travels to Northern Illinois this weekend in search of its 10th consecutive Mid-American Conference Wrestling Championships title. Competition begins Saturday at 1 p.m. The championship matches and consolation finals get underway at noon on Sunday. Each of the 10 individual weight class winners will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The NCAA allocated the MAC multiple automatic bids at five different weight classes. "This is the part of the season that we build toward all year," said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli. "I'm looking forward to seeing how our young team competes and responds to the atmosphere of the conference tournament this weekend." CMU Seeking 10th Straight MAC Championships Crown: CMU has won nine consecutive MAC Championships titles and 12 of the last 13 conference tournament crowns. CMU’s current streak of nine straight titles is the longest streak in MAC history.
 • The Chippewas have won 14 MAC Championships titles overall. Ohio, the only other program besides CMU to win the conference tournament since 1998, has won 15 MAC Championships titles.
 • CMU shared the 2011 MAC regular season title with Kent State and Ohio. Each of the three teams posted identical 4-1 conference records. The championship was CMU's 12th in the past 13 seasons. CMU has won 66 of its last 69 MAC dual meets. Three Returning Champions in CMU Lineup: Three former MAC champions will be part of CMU's lineup this weekend. Senior Mike Miller is a two-time MAC champion, having won the conference title at 174 pounds in 2009 and 165 pounds in 2007. He will wrestle at 165 pounds this weekend while trying to become the 10th three-time MAC champion in CMU history. Junior Scotti Sentes, who will compete at 133 pounds, won the 125-pound title as a true freshman in 2009. Sophomore Ben Bennett will defend his 2010 conference title at 174 pounds. Six Chippewas to Make MAC Championships Debut: Six members of CMU's lineup will be competing at the MAC Championships for the first time in their careers: Christian Cullinan (125 pounds), Scott Mattingly (141 pounds), Donnie Corby (149 pounds), Ryan Cubberly (157 pounds), Craig Kelliher (184 pounds) and Chad Friend (197 pounds). MAC Allocated 18 NCAA Championships Bids: Each of the weight class winners at this weekend's conference tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. The NCAA awarded the conference multiple automatic bids at five weight classes: 133 (two bids), 157 (three bids), 174 (two bids), 197 (two bids) and heavyweight (four bids). In each of the other five classes, only the MAC champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. Looking Back at the 2010 MAC Championships: Five Chippewas won individual titles as CMU claimed its ninth consecutive conference tournament championship in 2010. Matt Steintrager (125), Conor Beebe (141), Steve Brown (157), Tyler Grayson (165) and Ben Bennett (174) each won their weight class, and all 10 Chippewas finished in third place or better. CMU, the tournament host, scored 94 team points to finish ahead of Kent State (73) and Ohio (62). Hitting the Century Mark: Nine times the winning team at the MAC Championships has scored at least 100 points, and CMU has accounted for seven of those instances. The nine teams to score at least 100 points at the MAC Championships:

 Team (Year) - Points 1. Central Michigan (1999) - 124.5
 2. Central Michigan (2005) - 119.5
 3. Central Michigan (2009) - 111.5 4. Central Michigan (1998) - 116 5. Central Michigan (2008) - 110
6. Central Michigan (2007) - 106.5
 7. Ohio (1972) - 104 8. Ohio (1973) - 103 9. Central Michigan (2006) - 102.5 In the Rankings: CMU was ranked 14th in the final regular season InterMat poll and 24th in the final regular season NWCA/USA Today poll. The InterMat team rankings are based on InterMat's individual weight class rankings, while the NWCA/USA Today poll is voted on by a nationwide pool of head coaches. Four Chippewas are ranked in the top 20 nationally of their weight class by InterMat: Scotti Sentes (No. 11, 133 pounds), Mike Miller (No. 18, 165 pounds), Ben Bennett (No. 7, 174 pounds) and Jarod Trice (No. 2, heavyweight). Fearsome Threesome: Scotti Sentes, Ben Bennett and Jarod Trice were a combined 40-6 in dual meets this season and combined to score 153 dual meet points, 54.3 percent of CMU's total of 282 points in 16 duals. Sentes was 13-3 in duals with a team-leading 57 points, Bennett was 14-2 with 51 points and Trice was 13-1 with 45 points. Five Earn First MAC Wins: Five different Chippewas have earned their first career MAC dual victories this season. Sophomore Christian Cullinan (125 pounds) and redshirt freshman Craig Kelliher (197 pounds) posted wins in the Chippewas' 21-13 win at Northern Illinois, junior Chad Friend (184 pounds) claimed his first conference victory in CMU's 21-17 loss at Ohio, redshirt freshman Scott Mattingly (141 pounds) was victorious in the Chippewas' 19-14 win over Buffalo and senior Ryan Cubberly (157 pounds) picked up his first career MAC victory in the Chippewas' 29-3 win over Eastern Michigan. Chippewas Win 10th Straight Over Michigan State: CMU's 19-18 win at Michigan State on Jan. 21 was its 10th consecutive victory over the Spartans dating back to 2001. The victory evened the all-time series at 13-13. The Chippewas have won 14 of their last 15 duals against in-state opponents. Bennett Continues Winning Ways: Sophomore Ben Bennett improved to 25-5 overall, including 14-2 in dual meets, with a pair of major decisions during the final week of the regular season. Bennett leads the team in dual victories and is second in overall victories. Four of his five losses have been to an opponent who has been ranked No. 1 nationally at 174 pounds this season. Trice Takes on the Top 10: Junior heavyweight Jarod Trice, ranked No. 2 nationally, is 5-3 against opponents in the most recent InterMat top 10, including a 3-1 exhibition loss to No. 3 Ryan Flores (American) at the NWCA All-Star Classic in November. Top of the Tournament: Scotti Sentes (133 pounds), Ben Bennett (174) and Jarod Trice (heavyweight) combined for seven top-three finishes at the Body Bar Invitational, Cliff Keen Invitational and Midlands Championships. Sentes won the Body Bar and was third at Midlands, Bennett finished runner-up at all three events and Trice was third at the Cliff Keen and runner-up at Midlands. Trice Travels the World: Junior heavyweight Jarod Trice has competed in a pair of events outside of CMU's schedule this season. In October, Trice placed eighth in Greco-Roman at the University World Championships in Italy. He was the highest placing American in Greco-Roman at the event. In November, Trice represented CMU at the NWCA All-Star Classic in Fresno, Calif. American's Ryan Flores scored a third-period takedown to defeat Trice, 3-1.

 CMU Adds Four During Early Signing Period: Four high school student-athletes signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Chippewas for the 2011-12 season, including three of the top-60 ranked recruits in the country. Ty Davis (141 pounds), Zach Horan (133), Joey Kielbasa (157) and Devin Pommerenke (285) committed to CMU during the early signing period. Horan (No. 16), Kielbasa (No. 59) and Pommerenke (No. 42) are ranked among the top 60 recruits nationally by InterMat. The group was ranked as the No. 13 recruiting class in the country by W.I.N. Magazine.