Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's LeValley and Rendos Seeded Ninth in NCAA Wrestling Brackets
3/11/2010 7:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 11, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The NCAA Wrestling Championships brackets were unveiled Wednesday evening and two of Bucknell's four automatic qualifiers earned seeds in their weight classes. Senior 165-pounder Andy Rendos (Brockway, Pa./Brockway Area) and junior 149-pounder Kevin LeValley (Hugo, Colo./Limon) are each seeded ninth in their brackets. Seniors David Marble (Harpursville, N.Y./Harpursville Central) and Shane Riccio (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills) did not earn top-12 seeds, but will face unseeded opponents in their first bouts.
Also announced Wednesday were the 50 at-large selections to the NCAA Championships. No additional Bison wrestlers outside of their four automatic qualifiers were selected.
The NCAA Wrestling Championships will take place March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. The University of Nebraska and the Omaha Sports Commission are the hosts of the event.
Rendos, who captured the first EIWA individual title in program history this past weekend, and Marble will both be making their fourth NCAA appearances, while Riccio will be making his third consecutive trip and LeValley his second. The four NCAA qualifiers equals the third-most in school history, behind only the five qualifiers in 1989 and last year's record-breaking six.
A 2009 All-American, Rendos will face Michigan's State's Kyle Bounds (25-18) in his first match on Thursday. Rendos defeated Bounds 5-0 at the Midlands Championships in December in their second all-time meeting. Bounds, who was wrestling at Oregon at the time, defeated Rendos 7-6 at the 2006 Hoosier Duals. It was the first career loss for Rendos, who opened his career with an 8-0 record.
Rendos is 7-6 all-time at the NCAA Championships and owns a 28-4 mark this year. He has won eight straight bouts since returning from a knee injury in late January. He claimed his four matches at the EIWA Championships by a combined 33-4 margin.
Ninth-seeded LeValley, who owns the Bucknell record for single-season wins with his 37-6 mark this year, will wrestle Northwestern's Andrew Nadhir (21-10) in his first bout. It will be the first time LeValley and Nadhir have met.
LeValley finished second at the EIWA Championships, marking his best career showing at the event. His loss to Army's Matthew Kyler in the championship bout snapped a 12-match winning streak.
Like Rendos, Marble will be making his fourth NCAA appearance, joining Bobby Ferraro as the only Bison to ever qualify for the NCAAs four times. A four-time EIWA placewinner, Marble will wrestle Lock Haven's John Trumbetti (26-7) in his first match. The two grapplers squared off last month in a dual with Marble claiming a 12-1 major decision.
With his 109-42 career record, Marble ranks third on the Bison career wins list, behind only Ferraro and Rendos. This year, Marble has piled up a 28-8 mark and has won 12 of his last 13 bouts. The 133-pounder leads the team with 12 wins by major decision.
A 174-pounder, Riccio will face Missouri's Dorian Henderson for the first time in his career in his first NCAA match. The sophomore is 19-15 this season.
A three-time EIWA placewinner who finished third in his bracket this past weekend, Riccio is 33-9 this year, equaling his career high for victories in a season. He has won 10 of his last 12 matches and is fourth on the Bison career wins list with 108 victories. He is one of just two Bucknell wrestlers to post a pair of 30-win seasons.
Bucknell's four NCAA qualifiers own a combined NCAA record of 14-18.
The Bison finished tied for 30th in the team standings at last year's NCAA Championships. Rendos' fifth-place showing at 165 pounds marked the squad's top individual showing.
