"It was a fight all day," said an exhausted Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "We didn't look great today, but we did enough to win. We definitely have some work to do late in the season, but I think we are getting better and the guys know what needs to be done late in the season."
The Mids got four championships, including a key victory at 125 pounds. Alex Usztics (Dauphin, Pa.), seeded second in the preseeds, upset top-seeded William Simpson of Army, 6-4, in the finals. The eight-point swing gave Navy the boost it needed to defeat the Black Knights.
"I can't stress how important his win was for us today," said Burnett. "This win will give him a lot of confidence as he heads late in the season. He placed second last year and knew he could win it this year. He had a great tournament."
Navy's next title came at 133 pounds, when freshman Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) held on late to defeat Army's Frankie Baughan, 10-9. It marked the first time in his Navy career that Baker wrestled more than one match in a day. However, he held on for his second career tournament title, the other coming as an unattached wrestler at the Penn State Open.
Navy next chance at a title came at 149 pounds, with John Cox (Grand Haven, Mich.) battling Army's Patrick Simpson. The two wrestlers were even when Cox was forced to take a medical forfeit after an apparent leg injury. It is not known how serious the injury is.
At 165 pounds, Craig Dziewiatkowski (Aurora, Ill.) dropped a 9-5 decision to Army's Jon Anderson in the finals, to give the Navy senior a second-place finish.
Navy, however, got back on the right track with sophomore Matt Stolpinski's second title in as many years at 174 pounds. Stolpinski was very strong for the Mids, winning his first two matches by major decision, then scoring key bonus points in the finals, pinning the Citadel's Darius Caldwell in 6:43.
At 184 pounds, Jonny Kane (Portland, Maine) placed second, falling to Army's top-seeded Luke Calvert, 9-5, in the finals. The loss was Kane's first since Jan. 7, snapping a personal-best seven-match winning streak.
The Mids clinched the match at heavyweight when top-seeded Tanner Garrett (Tulsa, Okla.) breezed to the title. Garrett won his first two matches by fall, before earning his third championship with an 8-2 victory over Scott Buhman of Virginia Military.
During Navy's three straight team titles, Navy wrestlers have won 14 of the 30 individual championships during that span.
"We got a number of strong performances in the wrestlebacks as well that were very key to winning the title," said Burnett. "Spencer Manley had a strong tournament, placing third and giving him some confidence. And Chris Pogue won his two matches in the wrestlebacks by fall, giving us some key points as well. It was a struggle today, but we fought hard and got the wins we needed."
Navy will now have just two more dual meets in the next two weekends, before traveling to Lehigh for the EIWA Championships.
"We know we have our hands full in the next two meets," said Burnett, who was named the All-Academy Tournament Coach of the Year. "American (Navy will wrestle the Eagles on Friday night in Washington, D.C.) has some great talent and are ranked in the top 20 in a few polls. The dual with Army is going to be a great, great dual meet. We had a lot of very close matches with Army in this tournament, and if that is any indication, the dual meet is going to be very, very competitive.
"We hope that we can good some strong crowd support during the next two weekends and really start to prepare for the EIWA Championships," said Burnett.
Navy will wrestle American on Friday, Feb. 10, at 7:00 p.m., in Washington, D.C.
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