Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Navy Classic
Wrestling Has Four Placewinners at Navy Classic
11/22/2014 10:38:00 PM | Wrestling
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Junior Paul Petrov won the 125-pound title to lead a group of four Bucknell placewinners as the Bison finished seventh at the Navy Classic on Saturday.
Senior Joe Stolfi took third at 285, while freshman Tyler Smith (141) and senior Tyler Lyster (197) both finished sixth for the Bison, who tallied 61.5 team points. Chattanooga won the team title with 108.5 points despite not having an individual champion.
Petrov went 4-0 on the day to improve to a perfect 5-0 on the season. Petrov, ranked No. 19 by The Open Mat, opened with a 12-4 major decision over Brown's Billy Watterson. He followed with wins over two Ohio wrestlers, including a 6-5 decision over KeVon Powell, another national qualifier, in the semifinals.
The final was a matchup of nationally-ranked wrestlers as Petrov took on No. 16 Sean Boyle, who is competing at Chattanooga after five years at Michigan, where he qualified for the national tournament twice. Petrov came through with a high-scoring 11-8 decision to win the bracket and improve on his fifth-place finish from a year ago.
Stolfi, ranked 18th in the nation, opened the tournament with a first-period fall in the second round and won 6-2 in the first tiebreaker to advance to the semifinals and a rematch with No. 17 Riley Shaw, a two-time national qualifier from Cleveland State. Shaw recorded a 12-4 major decision, but Stolfi bounced back with two wins in the consolation bracket to take third.
Stolfi, who also took third at the last year's Navy Classic, improved to 10-2 on the season and 72-31 for his career. Both losses this season have come to Shaw.
Lyster took the difficult route to placing at 197, dropping his opening match in the second round. He responded by reeling off four straight wins in the consolation bracket before dropping his final two to take sixth. Lyster improved to 10-7 on the season.
Smith was off to a great start in the 141-pound bracket, advancing to the semifinals with a pair of wins, but an injury forced him to default/forfeit his final three matches. He opened with a 10-2 major decision and followed that with a 14-13 decision over George Mason's Sahid Kargbo in the quarterfinals.
The Bison will have a two-week break from competition before heading to Las Vegas to compete in the Cliff Keen Invitational. The highly competitive tournament will take place on Dec. 5-6.
