Mids Finish Fourth at Reno Tournament of Champions, Prendergast Takes Title

Six Navy wrestlers finished among the top four in their respective weight classes.

	Senior Ed Prendergast took the heavyweight title by defeating seventh-ranked Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State, 7-3.

Dec. 19, 2007

2007 Reno Tournament of Champions Final Results

RENO, Nev. - Six Midshipmen placed fourth or better, including senior Ed Prendergast (St. Louis, Mo.) who won the heavyweight title, to lead the No. 21 Navy wrestling team to a fourth-place finish at the 13th Annual Brute Reno Tournament of Champions held at the Reno Downtown Convention Center. The title win by Prendergast marked his first of the season, while he is the fourth different Navy wrestler to earn a tournament crown this season, joining 184-pounder Matt Parsons (Dunkirk, Md.), heavyweight Scott Steele (Baltimore, Md.) (two wins) and returning All-American Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.).

Sixth-ranked Central Michigan took the team title with a 24.5-point advantage (152.5-128.0) over fifth-ranked Oklahoma State. No. 17 Cornell held off Navy, 99.0-91.0, while the Mids outlasted Cal State Fullerton who rounded out the top five with 86.5 points.

"It was a long day for our young men, but in looking back upon our performance, I was pleased with the progress we have made since the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational," said eighth-year Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "I felt as though we didn't reach our potential in our last tournament, but I feel like we had some outstanding performances.

"In particular, I was happy for Ed Prendergast to come out here and get a win. He's been challenged these first two months by Scott Steele, but he has kept working hard in the wrestling room and today it paid off. We had another fine performance by Matt Stolpinski in second and Joe Baker is really wrestling strong and just came up a little short against the top wrestler in his class. Bryce Saddoris continues to improve each tournament he competes in and I was particularly happy to see him wrestle so well in front of his friends and family."

Ranked 14th in the country, Prendergast was forced to defeat a pair of wrestlers ranked ahead of him en route to claiming the fifth tourney title of his collegiate career. He opened the tournament by producing back-to-back major decisions over Clackamas Community College's John Bates (11-1) and Jared Campbell of Appalachian State (10-1) before earning a 12-8 decision over Western Wyoming's Brandon Rupp to qualify for the semifinals. Prendergast, seeded third in the tournament, was matched up against No. 4-ranked Wade Sauer of Cal State Fullerton, who snapped Prendergast's winning streak at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational two weeks ago and sent him to the consolation bracket. Prendergast avenged his 4-2 loss by pinning Sauer in just 1:36. Prendergast took the title win by defeating seventh-ranked Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State, 7-3.

Also placing in the heavyweight division was Steele, who had defeated Prendergast in two tournaments earlier this season. After missing the Las Vegas Invitational due to an illness, Steele returned to the mat where he finished fourth. Unseeded, Steele earned an opening-round victory over Arizona State's Kenny Lester, 15-2, but was forced to face top-seeded and second-ranked Bubba Gritter from Central Michigan. Gritter handed Steele his first loss of the year in a hard-fought 3-1 decision. Steele fought his way back through the consolation bracket where he would get a second chance at Gritter. This time, Steele bested Gritter in a 6-4 decision to set up a third-place battle with fourth-ranked Wade Sauer. Sauer, though, earned the match win by edging out Steele, 6-2.

Stolpinski, the Mids' team captain who is ranked sixth nationally at 174 pounds, turned in his third finals appearance of 2007-08. Appalachian State's Neal Martin put an early scare on Stolpinski, as the 2007 All-American just topped Martin, 2-1, in the opening round. However, Stolpinski easily worked his way through the bracket before earning a finals showdown against third-ranked Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan who was seeded third. Sinnott earned the win by shutting down Stolpinski in a 4-0 decision.

Two-time NCAA qualifier Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) also earned a spot in the title bout at 133 pounds for the second time this season. Baker opened up with back-to-back technical falls over Flint Ray of Utah Valley State (17-1) and Oklahoma City's Jeremy Garner (18-2). In the quarterfinals, Baker pinned second-seeded and 15th-ranked T.J. Dillashaw of Cal State Fullerton. He went on to post a 5-2 decision over Cal Poly's Filip Novachkov who was seeded third and had defeated Baker at the Las Vegas Invitational. The win set up the championship match against the nation's No. 1 133-pounder, Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State. Scott just squeaked by Baker, earning the 6-4 decision.

In addition to placing a pair of heavyweights, Navy's 149-pound tandem of senior Spencer Manley (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and freshman Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) also scored well. Returning to his home state of Nevada, Saddoris gave his hometown crowd something to cheer about with a third-place finish. Saddoris won his first three matches of the tournament, including a 4-1 victory over third-seeded and 12th-ranked Brandon Carter of Central Michigan. However, it was 11th-ranked Morgan Atkinson of Cal State Fullerton who just edged Saddoris, 3-1, to send him into the consolation bracket. Saddoris came back to earn a 9-8 victory over Central Michigan's Nathaniel Holt before nipping Manley, his teammate, 3-2 for third place.

Meanwhile, Manley's fourth-place finish is his third top-five showing of the year. He produced back-to-back technical falls over Nik Turner of Oklahoma City (16-0) and The Citadel's Derek Royster (17-1) before defeating Cody Moulton of Oregon, 8-2. It was top-seeded and 14th-ranked Scott Ervin of Appalachian State who interrupted Manley's winning streak, sending him to the consolation with a 4-1 win. Manley edged Cal State Bakersfield's Jeremy Doyle, 4-3, before bowing out to Saddoris in the third-place match.

The Mids will be off the rest of the week to enjoy the holidays, but will return to the mat Dec. 29-30 when they head to Greensboro, N.C., to participate in the Southern Scuffle.

### Go Navy ###