The Pride, which will be sending a league-high seven wrestlers, including three conference champions, to the NCAA Division I Championships March 20-22 in St. Louis, tallied 104.5 points to defeat the second place Monarchs of ODU (87.0) by just 17.5 points. It was the lowest CAA Championship margin since James Madison edged George Mason by nine points (89.5-80.5) in the 1999 CAA Tournament.
Hofstra, which has won eight straight conference championships including seven in the CAA, captured individual titles by sophomores Lou Ruggirello at 133 pounds and Jonny Bonilla-Bowman at 157 pounds, and junior Alton Lucas at 174. Four Pride wrestlers, seniors Dave Tomasette at 125, Charles Griffin at 141 and Joe Rovelli at 197, and redshirt freshman Ryan Patrovich at 165 dropped title match decisions, but will be going to the national championships in the Gateway City. ODU also posted three conference champions and six national qualifiers as redshirt freshman James Nicholson at 125, junior Ryan Williams at 141 and sophomore Chris Brown at 165 earned titles while sophomores Kyle Hutter and Jesse Strawn, and freshman Andy Totusek were finalists. Williams was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
The Broncs of Rider earned four national championship bids, all as CAA champions, as seniors Don Fisch at 149 and T.J. Morrison at 197, and juniors Doug Umbehauer at 184 and Ed Bordas at 285 copped titles. Rider finished this with 73 points.
George Mason (51), Drexel (38.5), and Binghamton (36) placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, with each having two qualifiers. George Mason senior Randy Oates was a finalist at 174 while freshman Cayle Byers placed third at 197 points to earn a wild card. Drexel senior Ryan Hluschak was a finalist at 157 while junior Steve Mytych placed third at 125 to earn a wild card bid. Binghamton senior Kyle Fried won his third-place match and then the true second place match to earn his invitation to nationals while sophomore Josh Patterson placed fourth at 174 and earned a wild card to St. Louis.
Boston University, which placed seventh with 29.5 points, will send junior Mike Roberts to the national championships as a wild card. The 149-pounder was a finalist in his weight class but lost the true second place match to Fried. Sacred Heart (10.5) and Campbell (4.0) wrapped up the CAA Tournament field at eighth and ninth places, respectively.
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