Six Brockport Wrestlers Qualify for Nationals SOURCE: gobrockport.com February 17, 2001
SIX BROCKPORT WRESTLERS QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS
Golden Eagles win their fifth conference championship in six years ITHACA, N.Y. - The Golden Eagles wrestling team, ranked fourth in the nation in Division III, won their fifth Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) Championship in six years. Brockport will send six wrestlers to the NCAA Division III Championships at Iowa Wartburg College (Waterloo, Iowa) on March 2-3. The Golden Eagles won the team title (over Oswego, Ithaca, Cortland, Oneonta, and RIT) with 145 points as seven of Brockport's 10 wrestlers finished either first or second in their weight class. Brockport junior Lenny Baker (Athol/Warrenburg) and Frank Petrucci of Oswego shared the most outstanding wrestler award for this year's championships. Brockport's winners were: senior returning two-time All-American Frank Palumbo (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) at 133 pounds; Baker at 141; and freshman Nick Hansen (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) at 184. Second-place finishers were: senior Mike Shaw (Elmira Heights/Edison) at 125; junior Kris Harrington (Caledonia/Cal-Mum) at 149; senior Roberto Padilla (Newburgh/Newburgh) at 165; and junior Don Favro (Averill Park/Averill Park) at 174. Third-place finishers were: senior returning All-American Brad Rowe (Ripley/Ripley) at 157; freshman Brian Tatar (South Wales/Sweet Home) at 197; and sophomore Jim Pennise (Marcy/Whitesboro) at HWT. Brockport will send six wrestlers to the NCAAs: the three individual champions earning automatic bids (Palumbo, Baker, and Hansen) and three wild cards (Shaw, Rowe, Padilla). Harrington is the first alternate and will go if any of the other 15 wrestlers from the ECWC cannot compete because of injury or illness. Brockport, who also won ECWC titles in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000, have dominated the opposition all year long (11-0-1) and have not lost any team competitions to a Division III school. The Golden Eagles, who are unbeaten in their last 22 dual-matches, haven't lost a dual-match since January 30, 1999. The perfect season also marked the end of the 39th straight winning season for the College's wrestling program, the second longest streak in the nation behind just Oklahoma State (46). Brockport has never had a losing season in its history. The Golden Eagles were also the top finisher at the John Summa Invitational at Baldwin-Wallace; the top Division III team at the Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Showcase, and the New York State Tournament; and beat three Division I schools (Eastern Michigan, Slippery Rock, and Delaware State) to win the Slippery Rock tournament for the second straight year. Shaw will be traveling to the nationals for the second-straight year after posting wins over Ryan Maxwell of Cortland (17-3) and Ruben Prophete of Oneonta (9-7) before falling to Carlos Restrepo of Ithaca (7-4) in the finals. Restrepo is ranked first in the country at 125 pounds. Shaw, who is now 71-33 in his career (19-9 in 2000-01), advanced to the nationals last year as an alternate. Palumbo, ranked second in the country at 133, improved to 25-6 on the season. He defeated Kyle Roney (Oneonta), 10-2, in the semifinals before knocking off Tom Lewellyn (Cortland), 12-3, in the finals. Palumbo is attempting to become the 16th Brockport wrestler to earn three All-American citations. Last year he advanced to the NCAAs as an Empire Qualifier wild card and placed fifth. His sophomore season he was seventh at the NCAAs. At 141, Baker improved to a remarkable 26-3 this season. The third ranked wrestler in the country at 141 has not been beaten by a Division III opponent this year and has gone 15-0 since his last loss on December 2. Baker won by technical fall over David Bisers of RIT (21-6), beat Ron Serrano of Cortland (10-2), then rolled over Leon Henry of Oswego (16-1) in the finals. Baker, who earned a trip to the nationals last year but not place, won the 141-pound title for the second-straight year. Harrington, who lost to Frank Petrucci (Oswego), 6-4, in sudden death in the finals, won the true second-place match by devastating the number one seed at 149, JP Bollette of Ithaca, 14-5. Earlier in the day he topped Ashley Grillo of RIT, 10-9. Harrington has posted a 20-8 record in 2000-01. Rowe, who earned All-American honors with an eighth-place finish at the nationals last year, pinned his first opponent (Matt Loschavio of RIT) in 3:19 before he was upset by Jeff Holmes of Oswego, 9-2, in the semifinals. He battled back to decision John Zarcone of Cortland (16-5) and Loschavio (16-5) in the third-place match to improve his 2000-01 record to 21-8. Padilla took second in the 165-pound weight class and will be making his fourth trip to the NCAAs, but just his third at Brockport. He went to nationals as a freshman at Cortland. Padilla, ranked seventh in the country at 165, was defeated 3-1 in sudden death by Noah Seitel (Oswego) after beating Bill Parry (Ithaca), 5-2, in the semifinals. He is now 20-6 on the season and 71-27 in his career. Hansen, a Section III Sectional Champion his junior and senior seasons at G. Ray Bodley High School, will be making his first road trip to the nationals. He won the Empire Conference title in impressive fashion, pinning Greg Shub (RIT) in :23 then topping Matt Dunn (Cortland), 11-2, in the finals. He has a 13-4 record this season. Last year, Brockport sent seven wrestlers to the NCAA Division III Championships at Ohio Northern University where Brockport rode five All-Americans to a fourth-place finish, the 12th "final four" finish in school history. The finish was the highest for the Golden Eagles since the 1997 team also took fourth. Brockport, winners of five NCAA titles (1977, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1992), has finished seventh or better five of the last six years. The Golden Eagles have won five NCAA Championships (1977, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1992) since the program began in 1962-63. Brockport has produced 108 All-Americans, 106 of whom have wrestled for Murray, 24 individual national champions, and a combined 31 conference (SUNYAC and/or Empire) and state titles. Murray will be attempting to become the first wrestling coach in the history of the NCAA to win a national title in four different decades. Only one coach in all of NCAA history in any sport, former University of Houston golf coach Dave Williams, has won national titles in four different decades ('50s, '60s, '70s, '80s). Comments |