March 20, 2008

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Three members of the Bucknell wrestling squad competed on day one of the NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday as sophomores David Marble (Harpursville, N.Y./Harpursville), Andy Rendos (Brockway, Pa./Brockway Area) and Shane Riccio (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills) represented the Bison at the national tournament. Rendos and Marble both advanced to day two's action, rebounding from first round losses with victories in the consolation bracket.

Rendos, who wrestles at 165 pounds, came out on top in a low-scoring battle with returning All-American Indiana's Matt Coughlin to move on to the second round of consolation matches. After a scoreless opening period, Coughlin chose down in the second and escaped to take a 1-0 lead. Rendos began the third with an escape to tie the score at one and then sealed the 3-1 decision, taking down Coughlin with one second remaining.

Earlier in the day, Rendos was bounced from the championship bracket by No. 6-seed Jonathan Reader of Iowa State. Reader raced out to a 7-0 lead on Rendos with a takedown, a reversal and a near fall before Rendos logged two escapes. Reader secured the riding time point to bring final score to 8-2. Rendos will next face No. 12-seed Jarrod King of Edinboro.

Marble defeated T.J. Dillashaw of Cal State-Fullerton by the score of 11-7 in consolation bracket at 133 pounds and moves on to face Cory Fish of Boise State.

Marble suffered a 12-2 major decision against No. 2-seed Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois in the first round. Marble managed to escape after Kennedy scored an opening takedown, but would only tally one more point in the match the rest of the way.

Bucknell's 174-pounder, Riccio was bounced from the tournament following two losses on day one. In the first round, Riccio suffered a 7-1 setback against Chance Litton of West Virginia. Riccio was down just 2-1 heading into the final period, but surrendered a reversal and a near fall to Litton in the third.

In the consolation bracket, Riccio was pinned by Northern Iowa's Alex Dolly 1:18 into the bout.

Rendos and Marble will continue their quests for All-America status on day two of the NCAA Championships, tomorrow, Friday, Mar. 21.