THREE BROCKPORT WRESTLERS HEADING TO NCAA'S
Roberts, Kris Harrington, Favro earn spots after Empire Conference competition

ONEONTA, NY - Two SUNY Brockport wrestlers earned automatic bids to the NCAA Division III Championships, while a third received one of the five precious wild card slots today at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Championships at SUNY Oneonta.

Ithaca College won the meet with 87 points, while three-time defending champion Brockport finished second with 75 points. Oswego was third with 70 followed by Cortland (60), RIT (28.5) and Oneonta (25.0).

Freshman Daniel Roberts (Bellport/Bellport) continued his stellar rookie season by winning the championship of the 133 weight class and the automatic NCAA bid that comes with it. Roberts defeated Ithaca's Tom Hall, 4-3, in the title. Roberts improved to 23-6 on the season.

Kris Harrington (Caledonia/Cal-Mum) won the automatic bid and the championship at 149 by defeating Oswego's Frank Petrucci, 4-2. The senior upped his record to 20-9 after today's competition.

Only five wild card slots to the NCAA's were awarded from the Empire Conference, so a total of 15 competitors will compete in the championships March 1-2 in Scranton, PA. The fifth slot was awarded to Brockport senior Don Favro (Averill Park/Averill Park). Favro lost in the championship to Anthony Stewart of Cortland, 3-1, but Favro exceeded expectations after entering the meet as a #3 seed. Favro finished the event with a season record of 25-9.

In other highlights for the Golden Eagles, Jim Pennise (Marcy/Whitesboro) lost in the heavyweight championship to Bryan Steele of Ithaca, and Nick Vieni (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) finished in second place at 184. Brian Tatar (South Wales/Sweet Home) finished third in the 197 weight class.