<p>Navy places fourth at EIWA Championship; three claim individual titles</p>
<p>For Immediate Release
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Wrestling Contact: Stacie Michaud (410) 293-8773</p>
<p>Navy Finishes Fourth at EIWA Championship, Three Mids Win Individual Titles</p>
<p>LANCASTER, Pa. - Seniors Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.) and Ed Prendergast (St. Louis, Mo.), along with junior Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) each stood atop the winners platform Sunday night, as the Navy wrestling team placed fourth among the 14-team field at the 104th EIWA Championship held at Franklin & Marshall’s Mayser Center. While Navy’s three EIWA Champions punched their ticket to the 2008 NCAA Championship slated for March 20-22 in St. Louis, Mo., so, too, did senior Spencer Manley (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and rookie Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) who each placed third in their respective weight classes.</p>
<p>Navy finished the tournament with 84 points, just six behind Academy rival Army who placed third with 90. Cornell, meanwhile, owned a 12-point lead over Penn heading into the final day of action and the Quakers fell just a half point shy of tying the Big Red, as Cornell notched a 128-127.5 advantage to claim the team title.</p>
<p>Navy has not put three individuals up on the platform since 1982 when Frank Shafer (150), John Reich (167) and Mark Phillips (177) earned titles en route to leading the Midshipmen to the team crown. Meanwhile, it’s the first time that a Navy wrestler has won back-to-back titles since Mark Conley won consecutive championships at the 2001 and '02 EIWA Championship. Navy has not had two individual claim back-to-back titles since the late Doug Zembiec (177) and Dan Hicks (HWT) earned titles in 1994 and again in '95.</p>
<p>“For Matt and Ed to both win their second EIWA titles is something special,” said eighth-year Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "That’s really something. Joe Baker is wrestling as well as I’ve seen him wrestle in some time. For him to score a big victory over the second-ranked wrestler in the country (Cornell’s Mike Grey) that set up a rematch against David Marble from Bucknell was huge. He really stepped it up this weekend. </p>
<p>“Our kids came on and really wrestled well today. I just can’t say enough how proud I am of how we performed.”</p>
<p>125 - Allan Stein (Portland, Maine) eliminated on Saturday</p>
<p>133 - After opening the tournament with a 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Jeffrey Schell of Brown, junior Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) was faced with a tall task in competing against the second-ranked 133-pounder in the country, freshman Mike Grey of Cornell. Baker, though, had little to lose in the match. After a scoreless opening period, the two were deadlocked at 2-2 through two periods. Baker chose to start the third period in the down position and took the lead with a reversal. Grey came within a point with an escape and tied the match after Baker was hit with his second stalling warning. But thanks to his 1:01 in riding time, Baker walked away with a 5-4 decision and set up the championship match against Bucknell’s David Marble.</p>
<p>A year ago it was Marble who doused Baker’s hopes of winning the EIWA Championship after Marble scored a 7-5 SV decision over Baker in the quarterfinals. Though Baker would come back and post a 10-2 major decision over Marble to take fifth place, revenge was certainly on Baker’s mind. Additionally, Marble narrowly defeated Baker in the championship bout of this year’s Navy Classic where the Bucknell sophomore claimed title with an 8-5 win.</p>
<p>In Sunday’s title match, Baker took the early lead with a takedown, but Marble quickly made his way and trailed Baker after the first period, 2-1. Marble took the down position to open the second and got out of Baker’s grasp to knot the score at 2-2. Meanwhile, Baker was hit with his first stall warning with 21 seconds remaining in the second period, a warning that could have come back to haunt him. After choosing to begin the final period down, Baker earned the escape at 1:50 to take a 3-2 advantage. With just under one minute remaining, Baker was awarded a takedown and stretched his lead to 5-2. With just 38 seconds to go, Marble escaped to narrow the margin to two at 5-3. Marble was awarded a point with only eight seconds remaining after Baker was again called for stalling and was penalized. It was too little, however, as Baker claimed the title with a 5-4 decision.</p>
<p>Baker will make his second trip to the NCAA Championship after qualifying a year ago via a wild card spot.</p>
<p>141 - Joey Breen (Pasadena, Md.) eliminated on Saturday</p>
<p>149 - Freshman Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) appeared a little nervous according to head coach Bruce Burnett, but after dropping a tough 6-2 decision to Cornell’s Daniel Meagher in the second round, Saddoris put the burners on and never looked back. He ended the opening day by earning an 18-4 major decision over Jesse Dunn of East Stroudsburg, setting up a rematch against Army’s Casey Thome to open the day on Sunday. Saddoris, who pinned Thome in the Army-Navy match just two weeks prior, advanced by defeating Thome, 5-2, for the third time this season. He moved on to face Lehigh’s Trevor Chinn, who was seeded second and lost in the semifinals against eventual title winner Cesar Grajales of Penn. Chinn was one of Saddoris’ two dual meet losses from the year, as Chinn knocked off Saddoris in the tie-breaker, 2-1, on Jan. 19. This time, however, Saddoris bested Chinn in an equally tight match, 3-2. </p>
<p>Saddoris went on to win his third-place match against Columbia’s Anthony Constantino, 6-2, to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in his rookie campaign.</p>
<p>“Bryce is something, isn’t he?,” said Burnett. “He was a little bit nervous in his first few matches and lost in his second match. But from that point on, he really stepped it up. A third-place finish from a true freshman is pretty impressive.”</p>
<p>157 - Senior Spencer Manley (Chattanooga, Tenn.) also punched his ticket to the NCAA Tournament via a third-place finish at 157 pounds. Manley, a first-time NCAA qualifier, opened the day knowing he needed to win his first match to set himself up for the championship bout. However, Lehigh’s David Nakasone had other plans for Manley. After both wrestlers were awarded a point each for an escape, the match was sent into extra minutes. It took just 31 seconds, though, for Nakasone to earn the takedown and hand Manley a heartbreaking 3-1 SV defeat.</p>
<p>Manley, though, came back to win back-to-back matches, including a thrilling 3-2 win over Army’s Christian Snook to take third place. Manley has beaten Snook three times this season, including a 4-1 decision in the championship match of the All-Academy Championship on Feb. 2.</p>
<p>165 - Despite being injured on the first day of competition, senior Justin Jacobs (LeRoy, Mich.) battled back to place fifth and is the third alternate from the EIWA should one of the seven wildcards be unable to compete in the NCAA Championship. Jacobs opened the day’s competition by earning a 5-2 decision over Army’s Christopher Grill, sending him to the consolation semifinals. Jacobs hopes of making it to the third-place round fell short, however, as American’s Michael Cannon quickly sent Jacobs to the mat and earned a win by fall in just 55 seconds. </p>
<p>Jacobs rebounded nicely, as he was taken to the wire by Lehigh’s Mike Galante in the fifth-place match. Galante led 3-1 in the match, but was twice penalized for stalling in the final seconds of the match, as Jacobs took a 5-3 SV decision.</p>
<p>174 - Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.) opened the day battling Bucknell’s Shane Riccio in the semifinals, a wrestler whom he had not seen in action since last year’s dual match in which Stolpinski pinned Riccio early. A year later, Riccio battled toe to toe with Stolpinski, who managed to walk away with a tough 2-0 victory. </p>
<p>The win by Stolpinski set up one of the most talked about matches heading into the tournament - Stolpinski vs. Cornell’s Steve Anceravage, #2 vs. #1. Anceravage beat Stolpinski, 7-5, in the third-place match at the Southern Scuffle at the end of the calendar year. The loss would be Stolpinski’s last, as Navy’s senior captain has logged 16 consecutive wins.</p>
<p>After a scoreless opening period, Stolpinski scored the first points with an escape to start the second period. With just 24 seconds remaining in the stanza, Stolpinski pushed his lead to 3-0 with a takedown, but Anceravage reversed the hold with 14 seconds to go to narrow the gap to 3-2 after two. Anceravage evened the score at three apiece with an escape to start the third and despite a solid shot at the end of regulation by Anceravage, the match would go into overtime. Stolpinski retained the EIWA title with a takedown with 22 seconds remaining in overtime for a 5-3 SV decision.</p>
<p>184 - Still suffering the effects of the flu, junior Casey Caldwell (Liberty, Ind.) put forth a solid effort in his consolation match against Lehigh’s Manuel Schubert. Schubert claimed the match, 3-2, ending the season for Caldwell.</p>
<p>197 - Senior Matt Parsons (Dunkirk, Md.) concluded his career on a sour note, dropping a 4-0 decision to Army’s Richard Starks in the consolation quarters.</p>
<p>HWT - Ed Prendergast (St. Louis, Mo.) claimed his second straight EIWA title by winning two matches on Sunday. He opened the day by defeating Army’s Nathan Thobaben, 9-4. It marked the third time in the last month that Prendergast has defeated Thobaben and the second for a tournament title. The win sent Prendergast to the championship match where he would meet Columbia’s Ryan Flores, the seventh-seeded wrestler who knocked off second-seeded Trey McLean of Penn in the quarters and third-seeded Levon Mock of Brown in the semis. The upset-minded Flores was unable to out-muscle Prendergast as Navy’s heavyweight won his 24th consecutive match en route to a 5-1 victory to claim the crown for the second straight year. </p>
<p>After a 0-0 start to the match, Prendergast scored the first point of the match with an escape to open the second. With Flores taking the down position to begin the final period, Prendergast earned a three-point near fall with 57 seconds remaining to take a 4-0 lead. Flores managed to get away with 25 seconds to go, but with 1:29 riding time, Prendergast earned the win.</p>