March 18, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Wrestling-Broncs at Nationals
Catone Wins Twice, Marrero Upsets 7th seed
Miller, Fisch Eliminated
ST. LOUIS, MO-- Rider University senior Nick Catone (Brick/Brick Memorial) won his opening round and his first round matches, and senior Carmelo Marrero (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) defeated the seventh seed in the first round, at the NCAA Division I National Wrestling Championship Tournament.
The Nationals run Thursday through Saturday at the Savvis Center.
Catone is the 11th seed at 184 pounds and in the pig-tail round defeated Brandon Bear of Cal-Davis 7-3. In the first round Catone won a 15-5 major decision over Ron Howard of Cleveland State before losing to Nate Mesyn of Michigan State 2-0. Mesyn upset the sixth seed in the first round. Catone will now face Frank Cornely of Duke in the consolation round.
Marrero defeated the seventh seed, Israel Blevins of Purdue, 10-9 in the first round before falling to the tenth seed, Will Gruenwald of Oklahoma State 3-2. Marrero will face Tanner Garrett from Navy in the consolations.
Sophomore Dave Miller (Southampton/Lenape) was pinned in the first round in 4:18 by the number two seeded 157 pounder, Matt Gentry of Stanford, who is now 37-0. In the consolations Miller was pinned by Paul Siemon of Hofstra in 2:54. Miller finishes the season with a 26-14 record.
Freshman Don Fisch (Williamstown/Delsea Regional) was pinned in the first round by the sixth seeded 133 pounder, Josh Moore of Penn State in 1:02. In the consolations Fisch was pinned by David Hoffman of Virginia Tech. in 3:20. Fisch finishes his rookie season 30-7.
The CAA 184 lb. champion, Catone entered Nationals 32-4 and ranked seventh in the nation. Catone is making his third trip to Nationals. In 2001 he was a conference champion and at Nationals he defeated the eighth seed. In 2000 Catone advanced to Nationals while wrestling for Rutgers.
Marrero finished the regular season ranked 18th in the nation and placed third at the CAA Championships. Last season Marrero defeated the 11th seed at Nationals before losing 5-3 to the sixth seed. Marrero entered the Nationals with a 27-8 record.
-RU-
