Apprentice to battle Grand Valley, Central Florida at NCWA Championships
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by Scott Farrell
It's a different point of view this year for the defending champion Apprentice School at this weekend's National Collegiate Wrestling Association Championships. The Newport News, Va., school is usually the challenger, not the champion, at the national tournament and has the silver to prove it.
Four times from 1999-2006, the Builders were NCWA runners-up, and they had nine top-10 finishes within the 11-year period prior to last year's tournament at nearby Hampton University.
Apprentice is golden now, but the title hunters enter the three-day tournament as the hunted, facing the same contenders that have denied them titles in the past. The Builders bring 19 wrestlers and four returning All-Americans to the tournament, which is at the Hampton University Convocation Center for a second consecutive year. There are 83 teams in the field, with 352 men and 36 women beginning their title quests Thursday morning.
Apprentice has a representative in all 11 weight classes, but so do Grand Valley State and Central Florida, which have combined to win seven of the eight NCWA titles prior to Apprentice's win.
Call the Builders co-favorites with Central Florida and Grand Valley. UCF has the most conference champions with seven, and have three returning All-Americans in Steve DeAugustino at 133 pounds, Christopher Hauser at 174 and Richard Rippy at 197. The Knights have 15 qualifiers in all - NCWA rules allow a school to qualify more than one wrestler in a weight bracket to nationals, but must then declare only one wrestler for scoring purposes at the tournament.
That doesn't mean the non-scoring wrestlers can't take out a wrestler from one of the rival schools along the way, which is why Apprentice's 19 qualifiers compared to Grand Valley's 16 and the 15 from UCF and Marion Military Institute (Ala.) could potentially play as important a role as any.
Apprentice has last year's national runner-up at 133 pounds, Marcus Chevres, leading its four All-Americans along with Ty Holley (141), Matt Perry (157) and Will Harcum (165). Ricky Anderson (149) and Stuart Roes (197) were conference champions. Grand Valley has four conference champions and two All-Americans - Michael Leonard at 149 pounds and Corey Melinn at 285 - among its 16 qualifers. UCF's Alexander Chiricosta (125), Nick Christian (165), Zumarr Archer (184) and Michael Dominguez (235) were conference champions.
Marion Military is a dark horse contender with wrestlers in 10 weight classes and a tradition that boasts top-five finishes the past three seasons. MMI has Michael Mullen back as an All-American at 285, and Brandon Westerman (141) and Jay Mitchell (149) won conference titles over UCF wrestlers.
Among other top teams with qualifiers in at least six brackets are Maryland-Baltimore County (nine), Oakland University (Mich.) (eight including returning All-American Garrett Johnson at 184 pounds), Winona State (seven), Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (eight), Colorado State (seven), Kennesaw State (six with defending national champion Ross Cravens at 174), the U.S. Air Force Academy Prep School (six), Northwest Missouri State (seven with returning All-American Craig Addison), and the U.S. Military Academy Prep School (six).
The three military academy prep schools - Army, Navy and Air Force - took three of the top seven places at last year's NCWA Championships.
Among the individual contenders are Peter Rose (22-1) of Southern Virginia and Ryan Michaels (23-8) of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Both seek to become just the 16th and 17th four-time All-Americans in the NCWA's 13-year history. Rose is the defending champion at 157 pounds, and Michaels is in the same bracket after placing fifth last week at the Northeast Conference Championships.
Other contenders include defending 149-pound national champion Dillon Evans (17-3) of West Chester, and returning All-Americans Wade McCorkel (9-3) of Penn State at 141, Andrew Ritchie (8-0) of Northampton Community College at 157, Eric Powell (11-5) of the Williamson School of Mechanical Trades at 157, Ben Harding (10-2) of Weber State at 184, and Alex Driggers (0-4) of Radford, who took sixth at 235 last year.
That list of All-Americans makes 157 pounds perhaps the toughest bracket, with Rose seeded first among four other returning All-Americans and five conference champions. How tough is 157? Two of last year's All-Americans - Powell and Michaels - didn't win their conference tournaments last week. Ritchie stayed unbeaten on the season by beating Powell for the Mid-East Conference Championship.
Among the expected team contenders, only Apprentice has a qualifier at 157 in Matt Perry, who was an All-American at 149 last year.
The NCWA Championships will have two sessions Thursday from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 6 - 9:30 p.m., and Friday (9-11:30 a.m., 5 - 9:30 p.m.). The NCWA Finals for the men's and women's brackets begin at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Four times from 1999-2006, the Builders were NCWA runners-up, and they had nine top-10 finishes within the 11-year period prior to last year's tournament at nearby Hampton University.
Apprentice is golden now, but the title hunters enter the three-day tournament as the hunted, facing the same contenders that have denied them titles in the past. The Builders bring 19 wrestlers and four returning All-Americans to the tournament, which is at the Hampton University Convocation Center for a second consecutive year. There are 83 teams in the field, with 352 men and 36 women beginning their title quests Thursday morning.
Apprentice has a representative in all 11 weight classes, but so do Grand Valley State and Central Florida, which have combined to win seven of the eight NCWA titles prior to Apprentice's win.
Call the Builders co-favorites with Central Florida and Grand Valley. UCF has the most conference champions with seven, and have three returning All-Americans in Steve DeAugustino at 133 pounds, Christopher Hauser at 174 and Richard Rippy at 197. The Knights have 15 qualifiers in all - NCWA rules allow a school to qualify more than one wrestler in a weight bracket to nationals, but must then declare only one wrestler for scoring purposes at the tournament.
That doesn't mean the non-scoring wrestlers can't take out a wrestler from one of the rival schools along the way, which is why Apprentice's 19 qualifiers compared to Grand Valley's 16 and the 15 from UCF and Marion Military Institute (Ala.) could potentially play as important a role as any.
Apprentice has last year's national runner-up at 133 pounds, Marcus Chevres, leading its four All-Americans along with Ty Holley (141), Matt Perry (157) and Will Harcum (165). Ricky Anderson (149) and Stuart Roes (197) were conference champions. Grand Valley has four conference champions and two All-Americans - Michael Leonard at 149 pounds and Corey Melinn at 285 - among its 16 qualifers. UCF's Alexander Chiricosta (125), Nick Christian (165), Zumarr Archer (184) and Michael Dominguez (235) were conference champions.
Marion Military is a dark horse contender with wrestlers in 10 weight classes and a tradition that boasts top-five finishes the past three seasons. MMI has Michael Mullen back as an All-American at 285, and Brandon Westerman (141) and Jay Mitchell (149) won conference titles over UCF wrestlers.
Among other top teams with qualifiers in at least six brackets are Maryland-Baltimore County (nine), Oakland University (Mich.) (eight including returning All-American Garrett Johnson at 184 pounds), Winona State (seven), Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (eight), Colorado State (seven), Kennesaw State (six with defending national champion Ross Cravens at 174), the U.S. Air Force Academy Prep School (six), Northwest Missouri State (seven with returning All-American Craig Addison), and the U.S. Military Academy Prep School (six).
The three military academy prep schools - Army, Navy and Air Force - took three of the top seven places at last year's NCWA Championships.
Among the individual contenders are Peter Rose (22-1) of Southern Virginia and Ryan Michaels (23-8) of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Both seek to become just the 16th and 17th four-time All-Americans in the NCWA's 13-year history. Rose is the defending champion at 157 pounds, and Michaels is in the same bracket after placing fifth last week at the Northeast Conference Championships.
Other contenders include defending 149-pound national champion Dillon Evans (17-3) of West Chester, and returning All-Americans Wade McCorkel (9-3) of Penn State at 141, Andrew Ritchie (8-0) of Northampton Community College at 157, Eric Powell (11-5) of the Williamson School of Mechanical Trades at 157, Ben Harding (10-2) of Weber State at 184, and Alex Driggers (0-4) of Radford, who took sixth at 235 last year.
That list of All-Americans makes 157 pounds perhaps the toughest bracket, with Rose seeded first among four other returning All-Americans and five conference champions. How tough is 157? Two of last year's All-Americans - Powell and Michaels - didn't win their conference tournaments last week. Ritchie stayed unbeaten on the season by beating Powell for the Mid-East Conference Championship.
Among the expected team contenders, only Apprentice has a qualifier at 157 in Matt Perry, who was an All-American at 149 last year.
The NCWA Championships will have two sessions Thursday from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 6 - 9:30 p.m., and Friday (9-11:30 a.m., 5 - 9:30 p.m.). The NCWA Finals for the men's and women's brackets begin at 4 p.m. Saturday.
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