Navy Wrestling Team Gears Up for Big Weekend at EIWA Wrestling Championship

3/1/2001 - Wrestling
Navy Wrestling Team Gears Up for Big Weekend at EIWA Wrestling Championship

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (March 1) - The Navy wrestling team will travel to the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championship this weekend at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa. The preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m., Saturday and the quarterfinals are slated for 1:15 p.m. On Sunday, the semifinals will begin at 11 a.m., and the finals will start at 7 p.m.

"I am excited about the weekend because we have prepared all year for this tournament," Navy first-year head coach Bruce Burnett said. "I think the athletes are prepared. There is no doubt we have made progress this year but to what degree, it is still unanswered. However, it will be answered this weekend."

Navy (7-7) is looking to improve on a sixth place finish at the EIWA Championship last year. Lehigh won the team competition last year, while Pennsylvania finished second. The two teams are expected to battle it out again this year with Harvard getting into the mix as well.

The Mids will have several wrestlers competing with a shot at winning their respective weight classes and advancing to the NCAA Wrestling Championships, March 15-17, in Iowa City, Iowa. The top two wrestlers in each weight class automatically advance to the NCAA Championship with 10 wildcards being awarded in a vote by the league's coaches.

Heavyweight Steve Kovach (So./Parkerburg, Pa.) enters the tournament with a 34-7 record this season. Kovach has won 17 of his last 20 matches and sits atop the EIWA heavyweight rankings released February 24. He defeated Lehigh's Shawn Laughlin and Rutgers' Tom Petko, 3-1, earlier this year. Both Laughlin and Petko are ranked in the EIWA top six of the heavyweight division.

Mark Conley (Jr./Exton, Pa.) will contend for the championship in the 141-pound weight class. Conley, who finished fourth in the EIWA tournament last year and is ranked second in his weight class this year, is on a roll with a nine-match winning streak. Conley has captured 11 of his last 12 matches, his only loss being to Lehigh's Matt Goldstein, who is ranked eighth nationally.

Team captain Mark Newman (Sr./Mayer, Minn.) has wrestled his way to a 26-8 mark this year in the 174-pound weight class with five or his eight losses by just one point. Newman has won 10 of his last 12 matches and went undefeated in the month of January (8-0). In Navy's 31-8 win over Bucknell on February 16, Newman scored a 3-1 victory over Ben Chunko and was narrowly defeated by Army's Maurice Worthy, who is ranked third nationally in the 174-pound weight class, 4-3.

In the 197-pound weight class, Mike Bigrigg (Jr./Santa Ana, Calif.) is ranked fourth in the EIWA going into the tournament. Bigrigg has won five of his last seven matches and boasts a record of 25-11 this year. He has won over 60 matches during his Navy career. Army's John Paxton, ranked fifth in the EIWA 197-pound weight class, dropped two matches to Bigrigg this year.

Jason Homestead (Sayville, N.Y.), ranked fourth in the EIWA 133-pound weight class, will battle it out with a 21-16 record this year.

Also competing for Navy in the tournament will be Jonathan Padgett (So./Parma, Idaho) in the 125-pound weight class, Tom Storer (Sr./Sicklerville, N.J.) in the 149-pound weight class, Frank Edwards (Fr./Olney, Md.) in the 157-pound weight class, Michael Barikian (Fr./Stratford, N.J.) in the 165-pound weight class, and Jim Letchford (So./Marlton, N.J.) in the 184-pound weight class.

"Our guys have to know and believe they are prepared and have the right to win," Burnett said. "They have to be at their very best. If the situation demands it, they will have to surpass their absolute best, otherwise, their season will be over. Some of our guys' seasons will end this weekend and some will be extended, but they all will have the chance. The goal is always to get to the next level and keep progressing. Our wrestlers have earned the right to be successful but there are no guarantees."