CAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS GET UNDERWAY FRIDAY
LAWRENCEVILLE,
N.J. (March 3, 2010) - The 2010 Colonial Athletic Association Wrestling Championship
begins on Friday, March 5 at Alumni Gymnasium on the campus of Rider
University. Hofstra has captured the past eight CAA championships, but is
expected to face its toughest challenge since joining the conference.
Old
Dominion, ranked 24th in the nation, comes in as the pre-tournament
favorite after finishing the regular season with a 10-5-1 record, including a
4-0-1 mark in CAA matches. Rider (15-6, 6-1 in CAA), Hofstra (6-12-2, 4-3 CAA),
Binghamton (14-7-2, 4-1-2 CAA) and Drexel (9-13, 3-4 CAA) are also expected to
challenge for the conference title.
George
Mason (3-10-1, 1-4-1 CAA) was the last team to win the CAA championship prior
to Hofstra's run. Boston University (4-14-1, 2-5 CAA) and Sacred Heart (2-19,
0-6 CAA) complete the eight-team field.
Eight
former CAA champions will be in competition this weekend, and 21 top-4
finishers are in the field.
Old
Dominion's James Nicholson ranks seventh in the nation and is the two-time
defending champion at 125, while Hofstra's Jon Bonilla-Bowman and ODU's Chris
Brown will be looking for their third-straight titles at 157 and 165.
Hofstra's
Paul Gillespie, the 2009 champion at 149, will challenge Brown for the 165
weight class title. Mason's Bagna Tovuujav, ranked 12th in the
country, defends his title at 174, but will likely need to defeat Josh
Patterson of Binghamton, the 2009 champion at 184, to make it two years in a
row.
At
heavyweight, Rider's Eddie Bordas, ranked 20th in the nation, will
go for three-in-a-row to finish his career.
The action kicks off Friday at 1 p.m. with the
quarterfinal round and consolations follow at 4 p.m. The semifinal matches
ensue at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the second round consolations begin at 10 a.m.,
and at 1 p.m., the championship matches are set to start.
For more information regarding the championship, including a link to live webstreaming of the event, go to GoBroncs.com.