EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University's Chris Birchler is fourth at 285 pounds and Shane Mallory is seventh at 197 pounds in the coaches preseeding for the 2009 EIWA Championships, which will be held this weekend at the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania.

Birchler has a 21-4 record as a junior, including five wins by fall, and is 46-14 in his first two years at ESU. He is fourth behind Ryan Flores (Columbia), Zach Rey (Lehigh) and Trey McLean (Penn). The preseeds are used as a starting point for the seeding meeting for the championships which will be held on Friday night.

Mallory, a redshirt junior, has posted a 19-8 record this season and was hot down the stretch, with a pin and two major decisions in the Warriors' final three duals of the year. A week prior he dropped a 6-5 decision to Army's Richard Starks, who is expected to be the top seed at 197 when the final bracket is announced.

Other Warriors who received votes in the preseeding process are redshirt senior Matt Swallow (9th, 133), redshirt senior Scott Heckman (9th, 149) and redshirt freshman Thad Frick (9th, 165).

Action gets underway on Saturday at the Palestra, with the championship and wrestleback rounds scheduled for Sunday.