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Burdick Leads Pointers in Day
One at Nationals
Joel Burdick won three matches at 141 pounds on Friday
to lead three UW-Stevens Point wrestlers after the first day of the NCAA
Division III Wrestling Championships in Ewing, N.J.
Burdick, Al Stacilauksas and
Mike Hayes all will be in action again Saturday as they are each assured
top eight finishes and All-American honors. For Hayes and Stacilauskas it
will be their second straight year receiving All-American accolades. It is
Burdick's first All-American honor in his third straight trip to
nationals.
After a first round bye,
Burdick lost 7-3 to Andrew Lacroix of Roger Williams (R.I.). In his second
match, Burdick avenged a regular season overtime loss by defeating the
seventh-seed Josh Hanson of Augsburg 6-4 in overtime. Burdick followed
with a 10-5 decision over Nicholas Sanchez of Heidelberg (Ohio). In his
final match of the day, Burdick defeated sixth-seed Zach Chambers of
UW-Platteville 11-9. The two had split a pair of matches this season with
Burdick winning 15-10 at UW-Platteville in a dual match and Chambers
winning 10-4 at the WIAC conference championship meet.
At 174 pounds, Stacilauskas
posted a 2-1 record. Stacilauskas opened the meet with a 4-2 double
overtime victory over Ryan Hagerty of Loras. After a 16-9 loss to the
second-seeded Scott Kauffman of Wartburg, Stacilauskas decided Derek Crane
of Lycoming (Pa.) 6-1.
Hayes also posted a 2-1
record for the Pointers at 285 pounds. Hayes had a first round bye before
losing 3-1 to Trevor Hiffa of Oneonta State (N.Y.). In the wrestleback
rounds, Hayes pinned Bryan Kmetz of Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) in 5:22. Hayes
posted a second consecutive pin in his next match as he defeated Keith
Bjorhus of College of New Jersey.
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