Bucknell University
NCAA Championships
Bucknell's Joe Stolfi Wins Two More Bouts at NCAA Wrestling Championships, Comes One Victory Shy of All-America Honors
3/22/2013 8:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 22, 2013
DES MOINES, Iowa - Bucknell sophomore 285-pounder Joe Stolfi (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) pinned 12th-seeded Adam Chalfant and posted a decision over Michigan's Benjamin Apland at the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Friday at Wells Fargo Arena. Those two wins brought Stolfi within one victory of becoming the sixth different wrestler in program history to earn All-America honors, but his path through the consolation bracket was stopped by No. 10 seed Jarod Trice of Central Michigan.
The unseeded Stolfi went 1-1 on the first day of the three-day NCAA Championships on Thursday. He opened Friday's competition against Chalfant of Indiana. The two met in the regular season with Chalfant walking away with a 13-4 major decision. Stolfi avenged that loss and more as he pinned Chalfant in 6:38 to advance to the third round of the consolation bracket.
Next up was the unseeded Apland and Stolfi registered a 6-2 decision as he improved to 3-1 during the tournament and 26-15 overall on the season.
The win over Apland set up the meeting with Trice with All-America honors on the line. Already a two-time All-American, Trice defeated Stolfi by a 7-3 decision to earn his third career All-America certificate. Trice also won the regular-season meeting by a 15-8 decision. Stolfi was trying to give Bucknell an All-American in four of the last five years following Andy Rendos (2009, 2010) and Kevin LeValley (2010, 2011).
Stolfi, who finished third at the EIWA Championships to earn an automatic berth to NCAAs, was wrestling at the national tournament for the first time. After an injury-shortened freshman campaign, he put together one of the best seasons by a heavyweight in program history. He was 16-3 in his last 19 bouts entering the NCAA Championships, posted an eight-match winning streak and did not lose back-to-back bouts after Jan. 6.
With just 49 career bouts under his belt, Stolfi had much less experience than his opponents at NCAAs. In fact, he wrestled two redshirt juniors and two redshirt seniors among his five opponents the last two days.
Stolfi was the lone Bison in action at the NCAA Championships. Senior 165-pounder Corey Lear earned a second consecutive at-large berth, but was forced to withdraw with an injury last week. Thanks to Stolfi's three victories, Bucknell was listed 46th in the team standings with 3.5 points.
