Rutgers Wrestling Prepares for NCAA Championships
Mar 20 | Wrestling
ST. LOUIS, MO. - Two members of the Rutgers wrestling team, under the guidance of first-year head coach Scott Goodale, will compete in the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo., beginning on Thursday, March 20. Their appearance in the tournament marks the first time that two RU wrestlers will compete in the prestigious event since 2004-05.
Redshirt senior Steve Adamcsik (Chester, N.J.) finished fifth at 141 in the EIWA Championships and received a wildcard invitation to the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Adamcsik is also the last RU wrestler to compete in the NCAA Wrestling Championships, as he attended the event in 2005-06 as a wildcard. Adamcsik finished the season 27-8 and has 79 victories in his impressive career. Adamcsik has a tough task ahead of him in his first bout as he will face No. 1 seed Chad Mendes of Cal-Poly, who is 26-0 on the season.
Junior Lamar Brown (Red Bank, N.J.) finished in second place at 197 in the EIWA Championships, falling 10-1 to top seed Joshua Glenn of American in the final. Brown was an impressive 23-12 during the season. He received a first-round bye and will open the NCAA Wrestling Championships against the No. 11 seed Timothy Morrison of Rider, who also skipped the first round. Morrison was 21-7 on the season. The two wrestlers faced off on Feb. 2 when RU took on Rider in Lawrenceville, N.J. Morrison won the bout 4-0.
ESPNU, ESPN360.com and ESPN will combine for extensive live coverage of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. On Friday, ESPNU features more than five hours of coverage, with the quarterfinals at 11:00 a.m. and the semifinals at 7:00 p.m. For the second consecutive year, ESPNU will deliver the semifinals in a "side-by-side" format, allowing viewers to see both semifinal matches in each weight class at the same time.
ESPNU will telecast the Championship Medal Round on Saturday, March 22, at 11:00 a.m., while ESPN will air the finals at 8:30 p.m. During the Championship Round, the referees will wear microphones, providing fans with even more access to and understanding of the action.
ESPN360.com, ESPN's signature live sports broadband network, will offer one-stop access to all rounds of the championships. ESPN360.com will complement the ESPNU and ESPN telecasts by providing live coverage of all four mats during the quarterfinals, giving users the option to select the match they want to see. ESPN360.com will also simulcast live coverage of the semifinals, Championship Medal Round and Finals.
ESPN360.com is now available at no cost to millions of U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel. Users accessing ESPN360.com from an on-campus ".edu" or ".mil" network domain in the United States receive free, seamless access to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships and hundreds of other live college and professional sporting events each month. The service is also available via more than 25 Internet service providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Insight, RCN, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more.
Dave Armstrong will serve as play-by-play announcer alongside analysts Tim Johnson and Olympic gold-medal winner Jeff Blatnick, with Quint Kessenich reporting. Former Iowa State coach and wrestler James Gibbons will serve as a guest commentator describing the action on ESPN360.com.
To view the brackets, click here: http://www.ncaa.com/uploadedFiles/Sports/Wrestling/DIWresBrackets.pdf
