Matt Stolpinski PEA '03 Navy '08
Matt places fourth in the nation at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Matt concluded his junior year for Navy by placing 4th at the Division Championships March 1 - 3, 2007. Seeded 8th, Matt opened with a pin and then lost a 1-point decision in the second round of the Championships. He then won four straight bouts in the Consolation Bracket beating the numner 9th seed and the number 6th seed along the way. In the Consolation finals, Matt faced Eric Luedke of Iowa, seeded 5th. In another close contest, Matt lost 3-2 and thus placed 4th overall. This is the highest a Navy wrestler has placed since 1990. for more including pictures, click on
http://navysports.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/navy-m-wrestl-body.html
Also,
An interesting article on Matt Stolpinski Published March 02, 2007, in The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Click the following link to read it:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/03_02-16/NAS
Matt Stolpinski won the 174 pound title at the Easterns Saturday, March 3rd with a thrilling overtime victory in the finals against Matt Palmer of Columbia who he had faced twice before this year. They were one and one going into the final. Here is the description as posted on the Navy Web site:
"Palmer scored a takedown in the opening minute of the 174-pound title bout to take the early lead. Stolpinski knotted the match with a reversal a minute later only to have Palmer escape and regain the lead.
Stolpinski picked the bottom position to open the second frame and Palmer gained valuable riding time before Stolpinski escaped to tie things up at 3 apiece.
Palmer took a 4-3 advantage early in the third after escaping from the down position. With just a few ticks left on the clock, Stolpinski took Palmer down to the mat to take a 5-4 lead, but the bout went to overtime thanks to Palmer's 1:35 advantage in riding time.
In the sudden death period, Stolpinski shot at Palmer and scored the takedown to win his first EIWA title. Stolpinski is Navy's first 174-pound title winner since the weight classes were changed in 1998-99. "
Thus Matt has earned the right to take part in the National Wrestling Championships for the second time.
February 17th: Matt had little trouble with his Army opponent, winning 11-3 for a major decision. Ranked 12th in the country, Navy will now be getting ready for the EIWA Championships March 2nd and 3rd.
February 12th: A nice article on Matt on the Navy web page. He is included in a story about his coach, Bruce Burnett, and Matt both going back to Colorado last weekend and what it meant to each. Click the link below to find out more.
http://navysports.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/021207aaa.html
On February 3/4 Matt won his weight class at the USAA All Academy Wrestling Championships. He is only the fourth wrestler in Naval Academy history to have won that title three times. Also, his 32 wins puts him in the 30-win club at Navy. Only nine wrestlers have accomplished that feat.
Matt continued his winning ways defeating his East Stroudsburg opponent 16 -1 last Saturday, January 27th. Matt is now ranked 10th in the country at 174. A nice picture of him is at the site below.
Saturday January 20th: Matt won two more bouts, against UNC and NC State, one a pin and the other a tech fall to help Navy to win its third and fourth dual meet in a row.
Although Matt's national ranking slipped to 11th this week, January 15, he had no trouble defeating his Lehigh opponent Eddy Silverman 21-7 with eight takedowns and a near-fall mixed in. This was the first time Navy has beaten Lehigh in 10 years.
Matt is off to a great season, building on his first two years at Navy. Currently ranked ninth at 174, he has a 19 -3 record after defeating 13th ranked Letts of Maryland at their dual meet Janaury 10th.
For more information and a good picture check out: http://navysports.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/recaps/011007aaa.html
Jon Dolan PEA '03 Williams '07
Jon Dolan topped off a great four-year career wrestling for Williams by placing fourth at the Division 3 Nationals. He is now a three-time All American with this year's fourth place being his best finish of the three.
As described on the Williams web site:
" In the first match of the day, Dolan fell to top seeded Josh Chelf of UW-LaCrosse. In the consolation bracket, Dolan rebounded by defeating seventh seeded Andrew Winfeld from McDaniel by a 7-4 decision. “Jon [Dolan] really had to dig down deep to pull off the victory because both wrestlers had similar styles," said head coach Raf Vega. "He definitely battled and now he's only one of two wrestlers from our [New England] conference to get this far [third place match]." The win clinched Dolan a spot in the third place match against Bath. Early in the match Dolan got caught for a five point move but managed to fight back. In the end, it was not enough to stop Bath’s pin at 5:19. "
John Dolan placed first again at 174 in the New England Division III Championships and earned the right to wrestle next month at the National Championships.
Jon is still ranked number 1 in New England. Dolan, the current defending 174 New England Champion was an All-American at 174 in 2006 and an All-American at 165 in 2005, will be out to defend his New England title this weekend at Roger Williams University and secure a third trip to the NCAA division III Championships.
Jon is back wrestling having won two decisive victories 18 - 2 against his Western New England opponent and 11 - 1 against Wesleyan. He is now looking forward to the NESCAC tournament on February 17 and 18.
Injuries still keep Jon from wrestling for Williams.
Senior Jon Dolan continues to hold down the top spot at 174, where he is the reigning defending champion and a returning All-American.. At Williams College's latest tri-meet on January 9th, John won both his matches. The previous weekend he won the 174 lb weight class at the Roger Williams Classic. Jon is one of the tri-captains this year.
Lars Ojukwu PEA '03 Williams '07
Also a tri-captain this year, Lars will most likely help out as a student-coach. This follows an injury plagued season last year. His first year at Williams, Lars placed 4th in New England at 149 and was Rookie of the year. As a sophomore he was 5th at 174.
For more: http://www.williams.edu/athletics/sport.php?sport=29&year=2006
Steve Campbell 'PEA '01 Wesleyan '06
Steve wound up his wrestling career at Weslweyan by placing fifth in the New England Division III Championships.
Steve continues to have a good year as he pinned his opponent in Wesleyan's match against the Coast Guard Academy. A picture of him doing that is on the Wesleyan web site below.
Steve went 4-0 at the NECCWA Duals held at Bridgewater State on January 21st. to help Wesleyan go 3-1 at the duals. There's small picture of Steve on the Cardinal's home page. http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/wrestling/
Steve is a graduate student now at Wesleyan and is still contributing by wrestling heavyweight for the Cardinals.
James Gettinger PEA '06 John Hopkins '10
Although not able to secure a place, James did represent Johns Hopkins at the Centenial Conference Championships February 10th. James was wrestling in the 149 weight class.
In the last duals of the season against Stevens Tech and Merchant Marine, it looks like James was 1-1. The team now travels to Gettysburg College on the 17th for the Centenial Conference Champuionships.
James won again at 149, defeating his opponent from McDanniel College 11 - 7. on Janaury 24th
The John Hopkins web site as James winning at 149 against his opponent from Washington and Lee last Wednesday January 24th.
Reports of John Hopkins wrestling tream are spotty, but at least one match listed James wrestling varsity up at 149.
James is wrestling at 149 pounds this year. He is certified at 141, but currently that weight is occupied by a senior Blue Jay with one of the best records on the team.
http://hopkinssports.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/jhop-m-wrestl-body.html
Mike Parziale PEA '02 Hofstra '07
News is spotty from Hofstra as to what Mike is doing. They do list him as being 12 - 9 for the year thus far, and 23 - 14 for his career at Hofstra. This is as of February 10th.
Mike, now in his senior year is wrestling at 149 pounds for Hofstra, one of the top five teams in the country. Mike is currently 11-9, having wrestled opponents from such schools as Iowa, Michigan and Iowa State.
http://www.hofstra.edu/Athletics/Wrestling/index_Wrestling.cfm
