DOYLESTOWN (PA) – Seven Delaware Valley College wrestlers will not only look to become individual national champions but also help the Aggies bring home some team hardware as they compete at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (U.S. Cellular Center) on Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6.
The seven national qualifiers have Delaware Valley tied with University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse for the fourth-highest total of competitors at the tournament. Two-time defending champion Wartburg College (IA) and Coe College have the most NCAA qualifiers with a full lineup of 10 while top-ranked Augsburg College (MN) has nine.
The top four teams garner a national trophy, a feat that the Aggies have accomplished twice in their illustrious history. They were the national runner-up at the 1989 NCAA Championships and placed fourth in 2004. Delaware Valley just missed out on trophies in each of the last two season as it placed fifth on each occasion.
The Aggies earned seven spots at the NCAA Championships thanks to a dominating performance on their home mat at the Midwest Regionals on February 20. They captured the team title for a fourth straight year as six wrestlers won individual crowns and the automatic berth to nationals that go with it. A seventh grappler placed second and was selected for one of the regional's six wild-card berths.
Heading the list of Delaware Valley qualifiers are junior 157-pounder
Jesse Harrington (New Providence, NJ/Bound Brook) and senior heavyweight
Kyle Bilquist (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South). They are the lone two Aggies with Division III championship experience, are ranked in the top two in their respective weight classes and received similar seeds for the national tournament.
Harrington, who missed all of last season with an injury, was a 149-pound national qualifier as a freshman back in 2008. He has won 22 of 26 matches this season and took over the number one ranking at 157 pounds in early January. He held it for the rest of the regular season, captured his first Midwest Regional title and earned the top seed for the NCAA Championships.
Harrington's bracket features 17 wrestlers, including four returning All-Americans in third-seeded Jesse Milks of Wisconsin-Platteville (placed fifth last year), fourth-seeded Luke Miller of Ohio Northern (placed fourth last year), fifth-seeded Jason Adams of Augsburg (placed third last year) and unseeded William Horwath of Ithaca (placed eighth last year). Harrington defeated Adams when he was ranked first in the weight class at the Sunshine Duals in December, which helped elevate him to the top spot.
A two-time All-American (fifth in 2008 and fourth in 2009) and the Aggies' all-time leader in victories (126-18), this is Bilquist's fourth straight trip to the NCAA Championships and his final shot at a national title. He is 27-3 on the season and is both ranked second in the country and seeded second for the national tournament.
Bilquist's weight class has 14 competitors, including all eight All-Americans from last year. Bilquist has a potential quarterfinal match-up with seventh-seeded Mitch Sander of Coe, who placed in the same spot last year. He then could face defending champion and No. 3 seed Dan Laurent of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, sixth-seeded Adam Suter of Lakeland (placed sixth last year) or unseeded Brock Glofelty of McDaniel (placed eighth last year) in the semifinals. The other side of the bracket features top-seeded and 2009 runner-up Mark Corsello of Elmhurst, No. 5 John Helgerson of Wartburg (placed third last year) and No. 8 Andrew Witzel of Augsburg (placed fifth last year). Bilquist has wins over both Lauren and Helgerson this season.
Senior
Terrance Clendenin (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) and freshman
Emmanuel Ajagbe (Bogota, NJ/Bogota) have also earned seeds in their respective weight classes.
Clendenin, a former Division I national qualifier for Lehigh University, will enter his first Division III tournament as the fifth seed at 125 pounds. He has won seven of his nine matches this season and will be in a bracket that features four returning All-Americans out of 17 competitors. Clayton Rush of Coe, who placed fifth last year, is the top seed while second-seeded Mark Kist of Wartburg was third a season ago. No. 3 Tyler Erdman of Elizabethtown (placed seventh last year) and defending champion and No. 4 seed Jake Oster of Elmhurst round out the list of 2009 placewinners.
Ajagbe was ranked eighth at 149 pounds in the last coaches' rankings and he was awarded that seed for the NCAA Championships. He notched a 27-7 record, placed second at the Midwest Regionals and was selected for a wild-card berth to nationals.
Ajagbe is one of 18 wrestlers in a weight class that features four returning All-Americans. Blaine Woszczak of Ithaca is the top seed and last year's fourth-place finisher could be a quarterfinal opponent for Ajagbe. The semifinals could feature defending champion and No. 4 seed Matt Mauseth of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Mauseth edged Ajagbe by a 2-1 decision at the National Duals in January. The other '09 top-eight finishers are No. 3 seed Jason Pyle of Luther (placed seventh last year) and unseeded Corey Paulish of Williams (placed fourth at 141 pounds last year).
Seniors
Justin Barowski (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant Beach) and
Martin Porter (Long Branch, NJ/Long Branch) and junior
Dan Daddino (Franklin Square, NY/Carey) round out the cast of Aggie national qualifiers and its the first such appearance for the trio, who are all unseeded for the tournament.
Barowski captured his first regional crown two Saturdays ago and will bring a 23-5 record to Iowa. The 165-pounder has a tough task ahead of him as he drew top-seeded Josh Terrell of Dubuque (placed sixth last year) in the opening round. The 17-wrestler bracket also features two other returning All-Americans in fourth-seeded Michael Morin of Southern Maine (placed four last year) and fifth-seeded Christopher Dahlheimer of Lycoming (placed seventh last year).
After finishing as the 197-pound regional runner-up last year, Porter took the next step in 2010 and brought home the title and the automatic berth to nationals. He wrestled at 184 pounds earlier in the season and was ranked as high as 10th nationally before moving back to 197. He enters the 15-wrestler bracket with a 30-7 record and will open against one of the five returning All-Americans in sixth-seeded Bill Schindel of Mount Union (placed eighth last year). Defending champion Jared Massey of Augsburg and runner-up Ryan Malo of Williams are back as the top two seeds while third-seeded Andy Moore of Wisconsin-Lacrosse and seventh-seeded Rob Kramer of Coe are also in the field after placing fourth and fifth respectively last year.
Daddino, who transferred in from Nassau Community College prior to the season, is 29-11 and coming off a regional crown in the 174-pound weight class. He is one of 17 competitors in the national bracket and will meet Zach Molitor of Augsburg in the opening round. Molitor placed sixth a season ago and is the second seed in 2010. Top-seeded Evan Brown of Dubuque is the defending champion and the field also third-seeded Michael Schmitz of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (placed fourth last year) and fifth-seeded Frank Heffernan of Wilkes (placed seventh last year).
The first session of the NCAA Championships is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. (CST) on Friday with the first two preliminary rounds as well as the first consolation round. The final session on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., and consists of the championship quarterfinals and the second and third round of consolations.
Saturday's action will begin with the championship semifinals at 10:00 a.m., followed by the consolation quarterfinals and semifinals and then the placement matches (third through eighth). The parade of All-Americans will take place at 6:30 p.m. with the championship finals to follow at 7:00 p.m.
To earn All-American accolades, a wrestler must place in the top eight of their respective weight class. If they are still alive in the tournament (championship or consolation bracket) at the conclusion of Friday's sessions, they have assured themselves of being an All-American. The Aggies have produced 60 All-Americans and nine individual national champions in their storied history.
Information on how the Delaware Valley wrestlers are faring at the NCAA Championships will be available in a number of ways. Fans can call the Aggie Sports Hotline at (215) 489-2398 or by logging onto the College's web site at
http://athletics.delval.edu/. The official web site of the championships is available at
www.ncaa.com/sports/m-wrestl/champpage/m-wrestl-div3-index.html