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March 9, 2008
Lancaster, PA - Junior Matt Gevelinger (Mineral Point, WI) and senior captains Levon Mock (Bangor, MI) and Jeff Schell (Zion Grove, PA) qualified for the NCAA Championships on Sunday, as the Brown wrestling team finished competition at the EIWA Championships at Franklin & Marshall College. Gevelinger had the team's top finish, placing third at 184 pounds, while Mock and Schell took fourth place at 285 and 133 pounds, respectively. The trio led the Bears to a ninth-place finish with 39 points. The fourth seed at 184, Gevelinger began Sunday with a semifinal match against top seed Scott Ferguson of Army, losing 8-4. However, he recovered to win his next two matches, clinching an NCAA bid with a 10-3 decision over sixth seeded Kenji Porter of Columbia, then winning his third-place match with Manuel Schubert of Lehigh, 8-2. Mock also began his day with a semifinal match, falling to seventh seed Ryan Flores of Columbia, 11-5, despite having more than a 2:30 riding time advantage. He was able to punch his NCAA ticket with a close 4-3 win over the fifth seed, Maciej Jochym of Cornell, before falling to Nathan Thobaben of Army in a rematch of last year's third-place match, getting pinned early in the second period. Unlike Gevelinger and Mock, Schell had to advance through the consolation bracket on Sunday, finishing fourth after having to take two overtime victories. In the Brown junior's first match of the day, he and eighth seed Matt Mariacher of American were tied after regulation and the first sudden victory period, but Schell was able to pull out a 3-2 victory in the first tiebreaker period. In his next match against second seed Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh, Schell and his opponent were again tied after regulation, this time 0-0, and again the Brown captain pulled out a win with two points in the first sudden victory period. In the third-place match, Schell faced top seed Mike Grey of Cornell, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and second-ranked wrestler at 133 pounds, falling 10-4. Mock and Schell will be making their second trip to NCAAs, while Gevelinger will compete at the national tournament for the first time. Also competing on Sunday were senior tri-captain Mark Savino (Princeton, NJ) at 141 pounds and junior Chris Musser (Vestal, NY) at 165. Savino was eliminated by fifth seed Adam Frey of Cornell by pinfall, while Musser lost an 8-1 decision to seventh seed Mike Galante of Lehigh. #15 Cornell won the event by one half of a point over #25 Penn, 128-127.5, as all 10 Big Red wrestlers placed in the top six. The Quakers tied with Navy with three individual champions, with one champion each from Cornell, Army, Lehigh, and American. The NCAA Championships will be held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. Competition will take place from Thursday, March 20, to Saturday, March 22, but events will begin on Tuesday, March 18. For information on the event, visit http://www.stlsports.org/wrestling/index.php. Final Standings: #15 Cornell 128, #25 Penn 127.5, Army 90, Navy 84, Lehigh 67.5, American 62.5, Columbia 47.5, Bucknell 43.5, Brown 39, Harvard 34.5, Rutgers 29.5, East Stroudsburg 15, Franklin & Marshall 13, Princeton 10.5 Brown Results 133 Pounds - #5 Jeff Schell (Fourth Place) 141 Pounds - Mark Savino 149 Pounds - Mark Bloom 157 Pounds - Tom Fazio 165 Pounds - Chris Musser 174 Pounds - Kasey McCurdy 184 Pounds - #4 Matt Gevelinger (Third Place) 197 Pounds - Branden Stearns 285 Pounds - #3 Levon Mock (Fourth Place) |
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