March 8, 2008

Results

LANCASTER, Pa. - The Bucknell wrestling squad saw seven individuals advance to day two of the EIWA Championships on Saturday, with sophomores David Marble (Harpursville, N.Y./Harpursville), Andy Rendos (Brockway, Pa./Brockway Area) and Shane Riccio (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills) moving on to the semifinal rounds in their respective weight classes. Following the opening day of action at Franklin & Marshall, the Bison are currently sixth in team scoring with 31 points, just four behind fifth-place Navy, while holding a one-point advantage over seventh-place Lehigh. Cornell leads the 14-team field with 68.5 points.

Riccio, who entered the tournament as the No. 6-seed at 174, reached the semifinal round for the first time in his career by scoring an 8-4 upset over No. 3-seed Justin Herbert of F&M in the quarterfinals. In the first round, Riccio opened with a 6-3 victory over Princeton's Travis Erdman and will take on No. 2 Matt Stolpinski of Navy in his first match tomorrow.

Marble, Bucknell's top-seeded wrestler in the tournament at No. 3 in the 133-pound bracket, breezed his way to the second round with a 19-2 technical fall over F&M's Steve Sabreen. He followed up by defeating the No. 6 seed, Bryan Ortenzio of Penn, 8-4, and will face No. 2 Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh in Sunday's semifinals.

The third Bison grappler to remain alive in the championship bracket, Rendos, is seeded fourth at 165. Rendos won his first round match against Brown's Chris Musser by the score of 8-2 and then pinned Navy's Justin Jacobs in 3:48. Rendos will next wrestle No. 1 Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the semifinal round.

Four more members of the Orange and Blue will continue to compete on day two in the consolation brackets. Bucknell 125-pounder Greg Hart (Bedminster, N.J./Bernards), who is seeded fifth, was edged by No. 4 Mike Rodriguez of Cornell, 3-1, after receiving a first round bye, but rebounded with a 12-2 major decision over Navy's Allen Stein in the opening consolation round. Tomorrow, Hart will match up against No. 8 Tony Comunale of Princeton.

At 149, freshman Kevin LeValley (Hugo, Colo./Limon), the No. 7-seed, scored an 11-1 major decision against Mark Bloom of Brown in his first match of the day, but dropped a 7-4 decision to No. 2 Trevor Chinn of Lehigh in the next round. LeValley then advanced in the consolation bracket with his 11th major decision of the season, winning by an 11-2 margin against American's Christopher Clarke. He moves on to face No. 6 Anthony Constantino in the next round.

After suffering an 18-6 major decision to David Nakasone in the first round, Bison 157-pounder sophomore Brantley Hooks (Spartanburg, S.C./James F. Byrnes) rebounded with two victories in the consolation bracket. He posted decisions over Kyle Heselpoth of East Stroudsburg and Martin Everin of Princeton by the scores of 7-4 and 7-5, respectively. On Sunday, Hooks will take on No. 4 Robert Hitschler of Penn.

In the 184-pound bracket, freshman David Thompson (West Liberty, Ohio/Graham Local) fell to No. 2 Lior Zamir of Penn in the quarterfinals, 9-5, after receiving a bye in the first round. Thompson, the No. 7-seed, then pinned Harvard's Fred Rowsey 2:37 into his consolation match and moves on to wrestle No. 6 Matthew Porter of Columbia.

At 141, sophomore No. 7-seed Luke Chohany (Duncannon, Pa./Susquenita) won his first round match by the score of 6-2 against Mark Savino of Brown, but was eliminated after dropping his next two bouts. Chohany was outscored by No. 2 Kyle Borshoff of American in the quarterfinals and lost by major decision to No. 8 Sean Carr of East Stroudsburg, 13-5, in the consolation bracket.

Bucknell 197-pounder freshman Jay Hahn (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) and sophomore heavyweight George Hingson (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) went 0-2 in the tournament. Hahn fell to No. 4 Thomas Shovlin of Penn, 16-6, and No. 3 Nick Sommerfield of Columbia, 9-5. Hingson, the No. 8-seed, was upset in the first round by Kareem Mahmoud of Rutgers, 3-2, and suffered a 11-2 major decision to No. 2 Trey McLean of Penn.

The Bison will be back in action tomorrow, Mar. 9, beginning with the semifinals session at 10:30 a.m., as the seven members of the Orange and Blue will be in search of NCAA Championship berths. Forty-seven EIWA wrestlers will advance to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo., on Mar. 20-22. The top four finishers in each weight class at the EIWA Championships will be awarded automatic bids, while a vote by the EIWA coaches will determine the remaining seven wild card selections.