November 21, 2004

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Virginia Tech wrestling team sent four Hokies to championship finals matches of the Navy Classic as senior Chris Stith won his 165-pound weight class on Saturday evening at Halsey Field House. But the highlight of the day came at 197 pounds where senior Tomas Ovalle crushed a 23-year-old school record when he recorded the fastest pin in school history.

Stith was a perfect 4-0 in taking home the Navy Classic title. In the finals, the Virginia Beach, Va., native posted a 3-2 decision over West Virginia's Zac Fryling, who is ranked 19^th in the nation.

Justin Staylor, David Hoffman and Steve Borja each earned runner-up finishes with strong performances at 125, 133 and 184 pounds, respectively. Staylor dropped a tough 13-11 decision in sudden victory to Garrett Cummings of North Carolina State in the finals. Hoffman was upset in the finals by Navy's Sam Gray, 4-2, while Borja dropped a 12-7 decision to Chris Ressa of Rutgers in the finals.

Donny Ooton (141 pounds) and No. 7 Mike Faust (285 pounds) took third place in the event. Ryan Broughman (125 pounds), Aaron Brown (141 pounds), Reed Carpenter (157 pounds), Shaun Guttridge (174 pounds) and Ovalle all took fifth place.

In Ovalle's first match of the day, he faced off against Chris Cottrell of Navy and wasted little time in ending the match. He shot in and took Cottrell right down to his back, picking up the pin in :09 seconds, breaking the school record by :04 seconds. The previous record was set on Feb. 7, 1981 when Chris Taylor picked up a fall :13 seconds into his 134-pounds match against East Carolina.

Host Navy won five of the 10 individual titles in the day-long tournament where up to 20 wrestlers could be entered per team. The Hokies took second place with 152 points. N.C. State was third and Rutgers took fourth.

Tech (5-0) jumps back into dual meet competition this week, traveling to Tennessee-Chattanooga for a match up that features Tech head coach Tom Brands coaching against his brother, Terry, who is the head man for the Mocs. The match is set for Friday at 4 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
125  Garrett Cummings (NCSU) def. Justin Staylor (VT), 13-11 (sv)
133  Sam Gray (Navy) def. #16 David Hoffman (VT), 4-2
141  Nate Gulosh (Navy) def. #5 Brandon Lauer (WVU), 9-5
149  John Cox (Navy) def. Chris Deluca (NCSU), 9-6
157  #10 Matt Lebe (WVU) def. Greg Zannetti (Rutgers), 10-8
165  #15 Chris Stith (VT) def. #19 Zac Fryling (WVU), 3-2
174  #7 Andy Roy (Rutgers) def. Kevin Gabrielson (NCSU), MD 8-0
184  Chris Ressa (Rutgers) def. Steve Borja (VT), 12-7
197  Thayer Paxton (Navy) def. Andrew Adams (Navy), Fall 6:30
285  Tanner Garrett (Navy) def. Joel Caruso (GMU), 6-2 
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Navy                202.5
2. Virginia Tech       152.0
3. NC State            126.0
4. Rutgers             122.5
5. West Virginia        90.5
6. George Mason         69.5
7. Duquesne             30.5
8. Campbell              1.0