Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
at EIWA Championship
Bucknell Wrestling Has Successful Showing on Day One of the EIWA Championships
3/2/2007 7:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 2, 2007
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Three members of the Orange and Blue qualified for Saturday's placewinner matches as the Bucknell wrestling squad finished day one of the EIWA Championships, held at East Stroudsburg University's Koehler Fieldhouse, in ninth with 29 points. Cornell leads the 14-team field with 112.5 points followed by Navy (90.5), and Penn (82.0) in second and third, respectively.
David Marble (Harpursville, N.Y./Harpursville), Andy Rendos (Brockway, Pa./Brockway Area) and Eric Lapotsky (Mount Carmel, Pa./Mount Carmel) all reached the semifinal round in their respective brackets.
Marble, who entered the tournament as the No. 4-seed at 133 pounds, opened with a 9-4 decision over Army's William Simpson in the preliminary round and followed up with an overtime thriller, downing No. 5-seed Joseph Baker of Navy, 7-5. In the semifinals, Marble suffered a 16-1 setback to Matthew Valenti of Penn, who was seeded first in the tournament and is the defending national champion, but will take on No. 7 Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh in tomorrow's consolation semifinal.
Rendos, the 165-pounder for the Bison, was seeded fourth as well. After receiving a bye in the preliminary round, he picked up a 12-2 major decision over No. 5 Frankie Colletta of Harvard. Rendos went on to wrestle No. 1 Michael Cannon from American, but came up just short, 5-3, in his semifinal bout and will start off by facing No. 7 Ricky Turk of Columbia on day two.
In the 197-pound bracket, Lapotsky, a No. 4 seed, was awarded a bye in the opening round and notched a 3-2 decision over No. 5 Nick Sommerfield of Columbia in his quarterfinal matchup. He then fell to No. 1-seed Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell in the semifinals, 15-4. However, Lapotsky can finish the tournament no lower than sixth as he will continue to compete on Saturday, beginning with a consolation semifinals match against No. 7 Matthew Parsons of Navy.
Three unseeded Bucknell wrestlers pulled off upsets in the preliminary round prior to being eliminated. Greg Hart (Bedminster, N.J./Bernards), who wrestles at 125, opened the day's action for the Orange and Blue by pinning No. 6 Alex Usztics of Navy in 6:32. He won once more, a 9-1 major decision over Franklin & Marshall's Jacob Bucha, to advance to the consolation quarterfinals after losing by fall to No. 3 Matt Fisk of Lehigh in the main bracket.
At 174, Shane Riccio (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills) knocked off No. 8 Mike Whalen of Rutgers in the preliminaries, 3-1. Later he recorded a 6-1 decision over Brown's Bran Crudden in the consolation bracket, but suffered a 16-1 technical fall in the consolation quarterfinals to No. 5 Rudy Rueda of American.
George Mann (Orange, Ohio/Orange), Bucknell's 184-pounder, edged No. 8 David Williams of East Stroudsburg in the preliminaries, 6-5. After being pinned in the quarterfinals, he defeated American's Anthony Fuschino, 9-4, but was pinned by the No. 4-seed, Penn's Lior Zamir, in the consolation quarterfinals.
Heavyweight George Hingson (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area), who was seeded eighth, fell to the No. 1 seed, Ed Prendergast of Navy in the quarterfinals, 7-4, but rebounded with a 4-2 win over Penn's Benjamin Reiter to reach the next round in the consolation bracket. However, No. 4 Nathan Thobaben of Army ended his run with an 8-0 major decision in the consolation quarterfinals.
Marble, Rendos and Lapotsky will be back in action tomorrow, Mar. 3 at Session Three of the EIWA Championships beginning at 11 a.m., as the three members of the Bison will be in search of NCAA Championship berths. Forty-seven EIWA wrestlers will advance to the NCAA Championships in Auburn Hills, Mich., on Mar. 15-17. 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 wild card selections.
