Three Bucknell Grapplers Earn NCAA Berths on Day Two of EIWA Championships
March 3, 2007 EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Bucknell will be represented in three weight classes at the 2007 NCAA Wrestling Championships as Andy Rendos (Brockway, Pa./Brockway Area) and Eric Lapotsky (Mount Carmel, Pa./Mount Carmel) both earned automatic NCAA berths with third-place finishes and David Marble (Harpursville, N.Y./Harpursville) was named a wild card qualifier with his sixth-place showing at the EIWA Championships, help in East Stroudsburg University's Koehler Fieldhouse this Friday and Saturday. The Bison finished the EIWA Tournament ninth out of 14 teams with 40 points. The point totals of the top-eight squads will be determined following the championship bouts, which will be held later this evening. In the consolation semifinals for the 165-pound bracket, Rendos, the No. 4 seed, advanced to the consolation championship with a 16-7 major decision over No. 7 Ricky Turk of Columbia. He then wrapped up his third-place finish with a 6-4 win over No. 8 Shawn Kitchner of Brown. Lapotsky, who entered EIWA Championship competition as the No. 4 seed at 197, downed No. 7 Matthew Parsons of Navy, 8-3, in his consolation semifinal bout and followed up with an 11-6 decision over No. 3 Matt Cassidy of Lehigh in the consolation championship. Marble advanced to Saturday's competition, but the No. 4 seed dropped both of his bouts to take sixth place at 133 pounds. Marble was edged by the eventual fourth-place finisher No. 7 Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh, 5-4, in the consolation semifinal round. Then in a match for fifth, he dropped a 10-2 major decision to No. 5 Joseph Baker, whom Marble had beaten on two prior occasions, during Bucknell's regular season dual at Navy and in the quarterfinals of the championship bracket at the EIWA Tournament.
Marble, who wrestles in one of the most competitive weight classes in the EIWA that features four nationally-ranked grapplers, including the defending 133-pound NCAA champion, earned a trip to the NCAA Championships following a vote by the EIWA coaches that determined the conference's seven wild card NCAA qualifiers. Forty-seven EIWA wrestlers will advance to the NCAA Championships in Auburn Hills, Mich., on Mar. 15-17, including the top four finishers in each weight class at the EIWA Championships who are awarded automatic bids. |
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