EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University junior heavyweight Chris Birchler is ranked fourth in the EIWA prior to the 105th Annual EIWA Championships, which will be held March 7-8 at the University of Pennsylvania.

Birchler has a 21-4 record this season, including a 7-3 decision over Army's Michael Sprigg in a 15-15 tie at West Point on February 13. Sprigg is the fifth-ranked heavyweight in the conference. Columbia's Ryan Flores, Lehigh's Zach Rey and Penn's Trey McLean are ranked first through third in the weight class.

Birchler went 5-0 in duals with EIWA schools and owns wins over Dominick Russo of Rutgers (11-5), Nico Somers of Franklin & Marshall (10-3) and Mike Landis of Navy (9-4). He received a forfeit last Friday night against Bucknell.

The Warriors' junior has a 46-14 career record in his first two years at ESU and made the quarterfinals at last year's EIWA Championships after entering as the No. 6 seed. The EIWA is expected to receive three bids for heavyweights to advance to the NCAA Championships this spring.

Birchler is one of seven ESU wrestlers who have at least 10 wins and a .500 record entering the EIWA's.

Redshirt senior Matt Swallow (133) is 18-10 on the year and has 61 career wins, the most on the team. Redshirt junior Shane Mallory (197) is 19-8 and pushed Richard Starks, the EIWA's top-ranked wrestler in the weight class, in a 6-5 loss at Army.

Redshirt senior Scott Heckman (149) is 14-14 and was an NCAA qualifier as a freshman at Bloomsburg. Newcomers Thad Frick (165, 11-7), Jeff Jacobs (174, 15-15) and Ed Ebewo (184, 11-11) also have the potential to make noise in two weeks at the Palestra.