OMAHA, Neb. (March 18, 2010) - The No. 22 Rutgers wrestling team had four of its seven NCAA participants advance to the second round of their respective brackets at the 80th NCAA Championships at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. on Thursday. Through session two, Rutgers was in 20th place with 10.5 points.
133-pound junior
Billy Ashnault (South Plainfield, N.J.), 125-pound freshman
Joseph Langel (Howell, N.J.) 174-pound redshirt sophomore
Daniel Rinaldi (Lodi, N.J.) and 10
th-seeded redshirt junior heavyweight
Dominick Russo (Netcong, N.J.) all advanced to the second round.
Russo picked up a 3-2 victory againstEdinboro's redshirt senior Christopher Birchler in the first round. Russo was upset in the next round when West Virginia's Brandon Williamson claimed a 3-0 decision over the RU heavyweight.
Langel knocked off 10th-seeded and 11th-ranked Christopher Ntee in the 125-pound first round by an 11-5 score. In the second round, Langel was defeated by freshman Cashé Quiroga of Purdue by a 13-9 decision.
Ashnault cruised in his first-round match against Liberty's Joe Pantaleo by a 16-1 (7:00) technical fall. Third-seeded Franklin Gomez of Michigan State knocked out Ashnault in the round of 16 by an 8-1 decision.
Rinaldi was victorious in his first NCAA match as he earned a 13-4 major decision over Ryan DesRoches of Cal Poly. He struggled in the next round as he fell by a 10-0 major decision to second-seeded Jay Borschel of Iowa.
157-pound redshirt junior Daryl Cocozzo (River Edge, N.J.) dropped his first-round match against 10th-seeded Shane Vernon of Oklahoma by a 10-8 score. Indiana's Kurt Kinser eliminated Cocozzo in the wrestlebacks by a 3-1 mark.
197-pound redshirt senior Lamar Brown (Red Bank, N.J) had a disappointing start to his second trip to the NCAA's by falling to CSU Baker's redshirt junior Riley Orozco by a 3-1 decision in the first round. Brown was eliminated in his next match against Boise State's Matt Casperson by a 2-1
141-pound sophomore Trevor Melde (Hewitt, N.J.) fell to Germane Lindsey of Ohio by a 14-6 major decision. In the first round of the wrestlebacks, Binghamton's Anwar Goeres eliminated Melde from the competition with a 10-6 decision.
Action will resume Friday at 10:30 a.m. ET.
BRACKET
