March 7, 2010
• 2010 EIWA Championahip - Final Results
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Anchored by the efforts of three NCAA Championship qualifiers and seven overall placewinners, the Navy wrestling team placed seventh out of 13 teams at the 106th EIWA Championship held at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa. Juniors Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) and Robby Neill (Brick, N.J.) each qualified in their respective weight classes (157 & 165) following Saturday’s action, while senior team captain Glenn Shober (Reading, Pa.) punched his ticket on Sunday by upsetting the No. 2 seed in the consolations semis at 149 pounds.
Cornell crowned five individual champions and racked up 160.5 team points to win its fourth-consecutive team title. A strong showing by Penn in Sunday’s morning session allowed the Quakers to leapfrog Lehigh for second place with 113 points, while the Mountain Hawks settled for third place with 109.5 points. The Mids, meanwhile, were just 5.5 points behind sixth-place Rutgers and well ahead of Army and Columbia who tied with 65 points.
“I am so proud of the way our guys competed and how they conducted themselves at the tournament this weekend,” said head coach Bruce Burnett, who has sent at least one wrestler to the NCAA Championship in each of his 10 seasons at the Academy. “We had some really great performances in a conference that is extremely tough this year. Everybody competed hard and everybody that we brought one a match.
“We’ve got three guys that are going to the championship and I think we have the potential to get three more wildcards. Last year we were fortunate enough to get two wildcards, including one by a senior, Casey Caldwell, who closed out his career by getting a win in his only appearance at the National Championship.”
After Saturday’s action sent six wrestlers to the consolation bracket, Saddoris was the lone Navy wrestler who had hopes of winning an EIWA title. The 2009 All-American overcame the odds last year by defeating Academy rival Matt Kyler to claim the 149-pound title and would once again have the odds stacked against him as he looked to upset the nation’s No. 1-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds. Though it was a hard-fought match, Saddoris would come up short in his quest to become a two-time EIWA Champion, as Harvard’s J.P. O’Connor kept his undefeated record intact with a 3-1 win over his Navy counterpart.
“Bryce is really wrestling well right now and had a strong tournament,” said Burnett “He was in on O’Connor’s leg a few times, but just wasn’t able to get him to the mat. I think he’s poised to do some great things in the NCAA Tournament with the way he is wrestling right now and having had the experience wrestling on this stage two other times during his career.”
Saddoris, however, will anchor a group of three Midshipmen who are assured of a spot in the 2010 NCAA Championship slated for March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. Saddoris is making his third trip to the NCAA Tournament, while Neill and Shober will make their debut in two weeks.
Shober came into the final day of action needing only to win his first match of the day in order to qualify for the NCAA Championship. It’s an easy statement to make, however, Shober would face a tough opponent in American’s Kyle Borshoff who was seeded No. 2 in the tournament and had beaten Shober in an earlier dual (4-1) this season. But for Shober, it was his time to shine, as he continued to use the momentum he gained from his win over Army’s Matt Kyler, this year’s EIWA Champion, just two weeks ago to help lead him to a 4-3 win over Borshoff and earn the automatic bid.
In the third-place match, Shober came up just short as seventh-seeded Cesar Grajales of Penn used an escape to earn a 2-1 win in the tie breaker to earn the win over Shober.
Six wrestlers from the EIWA qualified for the NCAA Championship at 165 pounds and sixth-seeded Neill scored that sixth slot to earn the automatic berth. Neill fought his way through the consolation bracket on Saturday to set himself up for an opportunity to wrestle in the third-place bout. However, Columbia’s Eren Civan, seeded fourth, had other plans as he produced a 5-2 win over Neill and sent him to the fifth-place match instead. Unable to bounce back from his narrow loss, he found himself in a vulnerable position and fifth-seeded Stephan Burak of Penn put Neill on his back for the fall at 3:55.
Navy had three other opportunities to pick up automatic berths, but two of the three came up just one win short.
Sophomore Aaron Kalil (Salem, N.H.), who has been spectacular on the mat this season, finished fifth at 125 pounds with the NCAA taking the top four placewinners. Wrestling in his first EIWA Championship, Kalil led 4-0 in his match against the No. 2 seed, Joseph Langel of Rutgers, but a mistake proved costly and Langel overcame the deficit to earn a 7-5 win over Kalil.
“It’s really a shame for Aaron,” said Burnett. “He has really been wrestling well, especially during this tournament. He made one mistake the entire weekend and it just happened at the wrong time and cost him the match and an automatic bid. I’m hopeful that his season is not over and that perhaps he’ll be able to get one of the at-large bids from the NCAA.”
Kalil was quick to recover, however, posting a 7-4 win over American’s Jasen Borschoff, the third seed in the tournament.
Senior Matt Pagan (Carteret, N.J.) is also hopeful he will receive an at-large selection, as he put forth a yeoman’s effort as the eighth seed to finish fourth. Following back-to-back wins on Saturday, including a 4-1 victory over Academy rival and fifth-seeded Casey Thome of Army, Pagan upset third-seeded Trevor Melde of Rutgers, 6-5. This was a huge turn of events from the last time the two battled in the circle, as Melde had his way with Pagan and eventually scored a tech fall to end the match with an 18-2 win. Like Shober, this was Pagan’s final chance to get to the NCAA Championship and his best effort was certainly rewarded.
That elation, however, turned to despair when Penn’s Zack Kemmerer claimed third place with a 7-4 win over Pagan.
Navy’s final wrestler to have a chance at an automatic bid was senior heavyweight Scott Steele (Towson, Md.). However, a nagging ankle injury in which he tweaked on Saturday would keep Steele from the mat, as he was forced to medically forfeit both matches on Sunday and would have to settle for fifth. Ranked ninth nationally and 10th in the Div. I Wrestling Coaches Panel poll, Steele does have an outside chance at getting picked as an at-large selection.
Meanwhile, freshman Andrew Buck’s (Carson, Wash.) season likely came to an end on Sunday, dropping a 4-0 decision to Brown’s Bran Crudden in the seventh-place match. Buck, who posted a 20-10 record, fought off countless injuries throughout the season, but maintained his drive and focus.
After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on Wednesday. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
106th EIWA Championship
Pl Pts Team Champions
1 160.5 Cornell 5 — 125 Troy Nickerson, 133 Mike Grey, 141 Kyle Dake, 174 Mack Lewnes, 197 Cam Simaz
2 113.0 Penn
2 109.5 Lehigh 1 — HWT Zach Rey
4 103.5 Bucknell 1 — 165 Andrew Rendos
5 96.0 American 1 — 184 Michael Cannon
6 87.0 Rutgers
7 81.5 Navy
8 65.0 Army 1 — 149 Matt Kyler
65.0 Columbia
10 55.0 Brown
11 52.5 Harvard 1 — 157 J.P. O’Connor
12 24.0 Princeton
13 2.0 Franklin & Marshall
CH - Champions
Special Awards
The Coaches Trophy (Most Outstanding Wrestler) - Mack Lewnes, Cornell
Coach of the Year - Rob Koll, Cornell
Good Sportsmanship Award - Princeton
Sheridan Award (Most falls) - Matt Fisk, Lehigh (2 in 5:44)
Fletcher Award (Most career points at EIWA Championship) - Troy Nickerson, Cornell
Navy Wrestlers
125 - Aaron Kalil (No. 4 Seed; Placed 5th)
• won by major (5) John McDonald (Lehigh), 14-2
• lost by major (1) Troy Nickerson (Cornell), 9-0
Sunday
• lost by dec. (2) Joseph Langel (Rutgers), 7-5
• won by dec. (3) Jasen Borschoff (American), 7-4
133 - Allan Stein (No. 8 Seed)
• won by major Zachary Bintliff (Princeton), 15-4
• lost by fall (1) Mike Grey (Cornell), 2:06
• lost by dec. Cortlandt Choate (Brown), 11-6
141 - Matt Pagan (No. 8 Seed; Placed 4th)
• won by fall Matt Murray (Franklin & Marshall), 5:25
• lost by dec. (1) Kyle Dake (Cornell), 5-4
• won by dec. Luis Ramos (Princeton), 10-3
• won by dec. (5) Casey Thome (Army), 4-1
Sunday
• won by dec. (3) Trevor Melde (Rutgers), 6-5
• lost by dec. (4) Zack Kemmerer (Penn), 7-4
149 - Glenn Shober (No. 4 Seed; Placed 4th) — has qualified for NCAA Championship
• won by fall Eric Norgard (Franklin & Marshall), 6:48
• won by dec. (5) Joseph Napoli (Lehigh), 4-2
• lost by dec. (1) Kevin LeValley (Bucknell), 8-4
Sunday
• won by dec. (2) Kyle Borshoff (American), 4-3
• lost by dec. (7) Cesar Grajales (Penn), 2-1 TB
157 - Bryce Saddoris (No. 2 Seed; Placed 2nd) — has qualified for NCAA Championship
• won by major Derek Schreiner (Cornell), 12-2
• won by dec. (6) Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh), 3-0
• won by dec. (2) Steve Fittery (American), 3-2
Sunday
• lost by dec. (1) J.P. O’Connor (Harvard), 3-1
165 - Robby Neill (No. 6 Seed; Placed 6th) — has qualified for NCAA Championship
• won by major Tanner Shaffer (American), 8-0
• lost by dec. (3) Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh), 3-2
• won by major Adam Hogue (Harvard), 9-1
• won by dec. (7) Greg Zannetti (Rutgers), 10-3
Sunday
• lost by dec. (4) Eren Civan (Columbia), 5-2
• lost by fall (5) Stephen Burak (Penn), 3:55
174 - Mike Billings
• lost by dec. (7) Matt Fullowan (Franklin & Marshall), 4-2
• won by dec. David Lalo (Harvard), 8-7
• lost by dec. (8) Michael Erdman (Princeton), 12-11
184 - Andrew Buck (No. 5 Seed; Placed 8th)
• won by fall Harrison Cook (Penn), 1:01
• lost by major (4) Steve Bosak (Cornell), 11-0
• won by dec. Cary Aldrich (Columbia), 9-7 SV
• lost by fall (8) Collin Wittmeyer (Army), 4:57
Sunday
• lost by dec. (7) Bran Crudden (Brown), 4-0
197 - Russ Kropp
• lost by major (2) Richard Starks (Army), 12-0
• won by major Colin Ely (Franklin & Marshall), 11-2
• lost by major (8) Louis Miller (Columbia), 11-1
HWT - Scott Steele (No. 3 Seed; Placed 5th)
• won by dec. (6) Kevin Lester (Columbia), 8-5
• lost by dec. (2) Dominick Russo (Rutgers), 4-0
Sunday
• lost by medical forfeit (8) Tyler Blakely (Penn)
• lost by medical forfeit (6) Kevin Lester (Columbia)
### Go Navy ###
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