March 8, 2008

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - George Mason finished in fourth place in the team standings with a total of 51 points at the CAA Wrestling Championships. The two-day event concluded on Saturday at the David S. Mack Sports Complex on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. with the host Pride, the 17th-ranked team in the nation, earning their seventh consecutive conference title. Mason senior Randy Oates automatically qualified for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships for the first time in his career with a second-place finish at 174 pounds. Joining Oates at the national tournament is freshman Cayle Byers, who was selected as a wild card at 197 pounds by a vote of CAA head coaches.

Oates, the second seed at 174 pounds, began his quest to reach the national tournament on Friday by defeating Sacred Heart's Jed Giguere by technical fall, 20-5, to advance to the semifinals. When the tournament resumed on Saturday, Oates faced a stiff test in the 18th-ranked wrestler in the nation according to Amateur Wrestling News, Binghamton sophomore Josh Patterson. In the third period, Oates pinned Patterson 29 seconds in to advance to the championship bout. Awaiting Oates in the final match was Hofstra's Alton Lucas, ranked sixth in both the InterMat and Amateur Wrestling News polls. Oates was unable to pull out the victory, losing to Lucas by an 8-4 decision; however, the runner-up finish was good enough to earn the Owings, Md. native the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

Ranked 12th in the nation by InterMat and 16th by Amateur Wrestling News, Byers earned the second seed in the 197-pound weight class at the tournament. However, Byers was upset by the eventual champion, Rider's T.J. Morrison, in the semifinal round to fall to the consolation bracket. Byers bounced back in the consolation bracket, advancing to the final where he defeated ODU's David Mendoza 5-3, forcing a true second-place match against Hofstra's Joe Rovelli. However, Byers was unable to claim second place, falling to Rovelli by a final score of 10-5. Despite the loss, Byers was selected as a wild card qualifier to the national tournament, and will join teammate Oates in St. Louis, Mo.

Top-seed Harry Zander advanced all the way to the championship bout at the heavyweight class. Previously undefeated in CAA matches, Zander was unable to defeat Rider's Ed Bordas to capture the conference title, dropping the match 3-1 in overtime on a Bordas takedown. Zander then went head-to-head with Old Dominion's Andy Totusek to determine the second-place finisher and the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships. Unfortunately for the senior, he narrowly missed the automatic bid, when Totusek won the match by a 4-2 decision to finish as the runner-up at the weight class.

Sophomore Brian Wright and senior Joe Coughlin advanced to the final match of the consolation bracket at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Coughlin earned a third-place finish by pinning Rider's Tommy Lorenzo in 4:57, while Wright fell by a final score of 15-2 to Drexel's Steve Mytych to finish fourth in his weight class.

Oates and Byers will travel to St. Louis, Mo. to compete in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, scheduled for March 20-22 at the Scottrade Center.

CAA Wrestling Championships
Final Team Standings
1. Hofstra (104.5)
2. Old Dominion (87.0)
3. Rider (73.0)
4. George Mason (51.0)
5. Drexel (38.5)
6. Binghamton (36.0)
7. Boston U. (29.5)
8. Sacred Heart (10.5)
9. Campbell (4.0)

Outstanding Wrestler Award
Ryan Williams (141) - Old Dominion

NCAA Automatic Qualifiers (champion listed first)
125: James Nicholson - Old Dominion
125: Dave Tomasette - Hofstra
133: Lou Ruggirello - Hofstra
133: Kyle Hutter - Old Dominion
141: Ryan Williams - Old Dominion
141: Charles Griffin - Hofstra
149: Don Fisch - Rider
149: Kyle Fried - Binghamton
157: Jonny Bonilla-Bowman - Hofstra
157: Ryan Hluschak - Drexel
165: Chris Brown - Old Dominion
165: Ryan Patrovich - Hofstra
174: Alton Lucas - Hofstra
174: Randy Oates - George Mason
184: Doug Umbehauer - Rider
184: Jesse Strawn- Old Dominion
197: T.J. Morrison - Rider
197: Joe Rovelli - Hofstra
285: Ed Bordas - Rider
285: Andy Totusek - Old Dominion