William & Mary had their first and only ever All-Star participant in 1975, when Mark Belknap defeated Jim Miller of Northern Iowa. This year they are pledging their support to help other Universities like California State Fullerton keep the dream alive and allow young athletes to keep competing well into the future.
Notably joining the ranks in 2009 with their first ever NWCA All-Star participants are: Kyle Borschoff (149) of American University, Andrew Rendos (165) of Bucknell University, and Josh Patterson (184) of Binghamton University.
These three programs are no strangers to adversity, both Bucknell and Binghamton were both programs that were dropped and due to diligence of alumni were reinstated. American also fell on some tough times as the program was being evaluated with the potential to be eliminated. Over the past few years these three programs have been on the rise with National Champions, All-Americans, All-Academic Team Members and more importantly support behind their programs.
In the numbers game Oklahoma State has had the most participants in the forty-four year history of the event with 81. Iowa comes in closely behind with 74 and Iowa State with 69.
Matt Moley of Bloomsburg will join other Huskies of the past as the seventh Bloomsburg wrestler to compete in the event, the last being Dave Morgan in 1989.
Chris Henrich, will be the third University of Virginia wrestler in the event. He is preceded by his current coaches, Steve Garland (2000) and Scott Moore (2004).
At 197 pounds there is a rematch from the 2009 NCAA Finals between returning National Champion Jake Varner of Iowa State and Craig Brester of Nebraska.
Joining Varner as returning National Champions this year are Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs (157) and Missouri's Mark Ellis (285).
As the 2009 NWCA All-Star Classic travels to Fullerton, California, it is with one greater goal in mind to support collegiate wrestling at every level in every state. Cal State Fullerton must raise $200,000 in funds by April 2010 and $200,000 in pledges by August 2010 to survive.
From past experiences Kirk Hankla, wrestling alumni from William & Mary knows that, "It is much harder to start or re-start a wrestling program than to save one that is still in existence. When wrestling was dropped at William & Mary, a knife of sorts was driven in to the cores of our souls; it twists each time another wrestling program is dropped. Given what wrestling has meant to us, we have resolved that we will do what we can to see that the mistake which was perpetrated by the College of William & Mary is not repeated again and again. We hope that you will join us, a group of former collegiate wrestlers that attended a university on the other side of the country, to save wrestling at Cal State Fullerton."
This year's featured bouts will have representatives from other California Universities including: Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Baptist University (NAIA), Cal State Fullerton, and Stanford.
2009 NWCA All-Star Classic Competitors
125: No. 2 Anthony Robles (Arizona State) vs. No. 4 Zach Sanders (Minnesota)
133: No. 4 Steve Bell (Maryland) vs. No. 5 Daniel Dennis (Iowa)
141: No. 2 Nick Gallick (Iowa State) vs. No. 3 Alex Krom (Maryland)
149: No. 2 Lance Palmer (Ohio State) vs. No. 5 Kyle Borshoff (American)
157: No. 1 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) vs. No. 2 Matt Moley (Bloomsburg)
165 :No. 4 Jonathan Reader (Iowa State) vs. No. 6 Andrew Rendos (Bucknell)
174: No. 2 Chris Henrich (Virginia) vs. No. 7 Stephen Dwyer (Nebraska)
184: No. 4 Max Askren (Missouri) vs. No. 5 Josh Patterson (Binghamton)
197: No. 1 Jake Varner (Iowa State) vs. No. 2 Craig Brester (Nebraska)
285: No. 1 Mark Ellis (Missouri) vs. No. 5 David Zabriskie (Iowa State)
Featured Bouts:
141: Adin Duenas (Cal State Fullerton) vs. Elijah Nacita (Cal State Bakersfield)
184: Zach Giesen (Stanford) vs. Enoch Francois (Cal Baptist University)
197: John Drake (Cal State Fullerton) vs. Riley Orozco (Cal State Bakersfield)
The 44th Annual NWCA All-Star Classic will take place on Sunday, November 22, 2009, at 2 p.m. on the campus of California State Fullerton in Titan Gym. Tickets can be purchased through TicketLeap: http://savefullertonwrestling.ticketleap.com.
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