EIWA Bracket

LANCASTER - East Stroudsburg University advanced four wrestlers to Sunday's action at the EIWA Championships at Franklin & Marshall College.

Seniors Sean Carr (141) and Dave Williams (197) and sophomores Shane Mallory (174) and Chris Birchler (285) are in the consolation bracket and are looking to become ESU's first national qualifiers since Jeremy Sluyter went four straight years from 1997-2000. The top four placewinners at each weight, and seven wild cards selected by the coaches, will advance to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis in two weeks.

All four wrestlers were seeded entering the tournament - Birchler was sixth, Mallory and Williams were seventh, and Carr came in as the No. 8 seed.

Carr was pinned by Steve Sutton of Columbia late in the third period in his first round match before earning a 13-5 major decision over No. 7 Luke Chohany of Bucknell. He will face No. 3 Steve Adamcsik of Rutgers in his next consolation match.

Mallory had a first round bye before facing No. 2 Matt Stolpinski of Navy, who posted a 13-1 major decision. Mallory won his first consolation match 16-5 over Harvard's Michael Sadler, and will take on No. 3 Justin Herbert of host F&M on Sunday.

Williams and Birchler both won their opening round matches over wrestlers from Lehigh - Williams by an 8-7 overtime decision against Alex Iacocca, and Birchler with an 8-5 decision over Justin Allen.

Williams fell 20-4 to No. 2 Justin Kerber of Cornell, then pinned Harvard's William Colgan in 1:47 for his seventh pin of the year. He matches up with No. 3 Nick Sommerfeld of Columbia in his next match.

Birchler dropped a 5-0 decision to No. 3 Levon Mock of Brown in the quarterfinals, but rebounded with a 16-5 major decision over Andrew Knapp, also of Harvard. He takes on No. 2 Trey McLean of Penn on Sunday.

Matthew Benedetti (125), Matt Swallow (133), Jesse Dunn (149), Kyle Heselpoth (157) and Tom Pagano (165) all saw their seasons come to a close on Saturday, but will all return for the 2008-09 season.

125 - Matthew Benedetti
No. 2 Fernando Martinez (Army) pinned Benedetti, 4:30
No. 8 Tony Comunale (Princeton) pinned Benedetti, 2:18

133 - Matt Swallow
No. 5 Jeffrey Schell (Brown) tech. fall Swallow, 16-0 (6:12)
No. 6 Bryan Ortenzio (Penn) dec. Swallow, 9-2

141 - No. 8 Sean Carr
Steve Sutton (Columbia) pinned Carr, 6:38
Carr maj. dec. No. 7 Luke Chohany (Bucknell), 13-5

149 - Jesse Dunn
No. 3 Cesar Grajales (Penn) pinned Dunn, 5:42
No. 4 Bryce Saddoris (Navy) maj. dec. Dunn, 18-4

157 - Kyle Heselpoth
No. 7 Christian Snook (Army) maj. dec. Heselpoth, 12-4
Brantley Hooks (Bucknell) dec. Heselpoth, 7-4

165 - Tom Pagano
No. 3 Zack Shanaham (Penn) pinned Pagano, 1:49
Andrew Smith (F&M) dec. Pagano, 10-5

174 - No. 7 Shane Mallory
First round bye
No. 2 Matt Stolpinski (Navy) maj. dec. Mallory, 13-1
Mallory maj. dec. Michael Sadler (Harvard), 16-5

197 - No. 7 Dave Williams
Williams dec. Alex Iacocca (Lehigh), 8-7 tb
No. 2 Justin Kerber (Cornell) tech. fall Williams, 20-4
Williams pinned William Colgan (Harvard), 1:47

285 - No. 6 Chris Birchler
Birchler dec. Justin Allen (Lehigh), 8-5
No. 3 Levon Mock (Brown) dec. Birchler, 5-0
Birchler dec. Andrew Knapp (Harvard), 9-4