The GWU senior foursome stormed into the championship round as Pniewski (133) took a 20-4 tech fall victory, Elliott (149) won 10-3, Glaser (157) earned a pin in 4:35 and Blackwell (197) took a major decision victory at 11-1 in their opening round contests.
Pniewski claimed his third-straight East Regional crown and upped his season record to 32-9 with a 7-4 decision over Slippery Rock's Sal Lascari. Pniewski fell behind early, 2-0, but closed the first period by earning an escape and a late takedown for the 3-2 advantage.
The lead grew to 5-2 when Pniewski started the second period with a quick reversal, but was narrowed back to a single point with a second-period escape and a Lascari escape to open the third frame.
Pniewski refused to allow Lascari to mount any offense and carried the 5-4 lead deep into the final minute before sealing his third trip to Nationals with a late takedown and a 7-4 victory.
Two matches later, Elliott took down SRU's Shawn Baglio twice in the first two minutes and cruised to a 10-2 major decision win. The regional title is the second in as many years for Elliott, who was named as the NCAA East Regional's Most Outstanding Wrestler after running his season record to 38-2 and bumping his career win total to 103.
Glaser made school history in the very next championship match as he became the first 157-pounder to advance to the NCAA Nationals at the Division I level and gave GWU its highest number of NCAA National Qualifiers in one season in the history of the program.
Glaser battled The Rock's Gerald Christian to a scoreless draw through the opening three-minute period. Glaser then started the second period on top and rode Christian for the full two minutes to gain a major advantage in riding time.
Christian began the final session on top but Glaser wasted little time breaking free to earn the point and held off Christian for the last two minutes to take the 2-0 decision.
The afternoon was capped off with a stirring overtime battle at 197 pounds between Blackwell and Slippery Rock's Andrew Joseph.
Blackwell was awarded a quick 1-0 advantage after Joseph was flagged for a penalty but had his lead neutralized with an escape from Joseph to start the second period.
The two grapplers headed into the third period locked at 1-1, before Blackwell scored a point for an escape 17 seconds into the frame for the 2-1 edge. The action then picked up with a Joseph takedown and a quick Blackwell escape to force a 3-3 tie with 30 seconds to go.
Neither competitor could score in the final seconds as they headed to a sudden-death overtime session to determine a champion. Blackwell came out fast and caught Joseph in an attempt to spin away. Blackwell then put Joseph on the mat for the emotional 5-3 decision to close out his five-year career with a trip to Nationals.
The four Bulldog grapplers were joined in the championship brackets by all 10 Slippery Rock competitors, four Duquesne wrestlers and a pair of Millersville wrestlers.
Slippery Rock matched Gardner-Webb's four individual titles with wins by Chris Clarke (125), Jason Cardillo (165), Charles Pienaar (184) and heavyweight Matthew Burkholder.
Jared Ricotta won the 174-pound division for Duquesne's lone championship and Millersville's Cody Becker took the 141-pound title.
Slippery Rock ran away with the team championship with 100.5 team points. Gardner-Webb was second with 67 and was followed closely by Duquesne's 65 points. Millersville took fourth with 43 points and Delaware State ended fifth with seven points.
Pniewski, Elliott, Glaser and Blackwell will now compete at the NCAA National Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 16-18.
2006 NCAA East Regional Results
1- Slippery Rock, 100.5
2- Gardner-Webb, 67.0
3- Duquesne, 65.0
4- Millersville, 43.0
5- Delaware State, 7.0
Individual Champions
125- (SRU) Chris Clarke
133- (GWU) Josh Pniewski
141- (MU) Cody Becker
149- (GWU) Daniel Elliott
157- (GWU) Adam Glaser
165- (SRU) Jason Cardillo
174- (DU) Jared Ricotta
184- (SRU) Charles Pienaar
197- (GWU) Brent Blackwell
285- (SRU) Matthew Burkholder
Most Outstanding Wrestler
Daniel Elliott, Gardner-Webb
At Large Bid
David Pienaar, Slippery Rock
Coach of the Year
Derek Delporto, Slippery Rock
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