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Article contributed by Wayne Catan
March 2004

Six Blair Wrestlers Qualify for the 2004 NCAA Championships

Blair will be represented from both the East and West at the 2004 NCAA Championships, which are slated for March 18-20 at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Out of the West: Super sophomore Zack Esposito, who just won the Big XII title at 149 lbs., will look for his first national title in St. Louis. He’ll enter the tournament with a #2 seed and one loss. Esposito, who competes for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, has faced—and defeated—the entire 149 lb. field expect for Jesse Jantzen of Harvard, the #1 seed. Look for an exiting finals battle between Esposito and Jantzen (if they both advance).

Kurt Backes (Iowa State), also out of the Big XII (3rd place, 184 lbs.); will go into St. Louis with a top-8 seed. (Backes, a freshman, split with Nebraska’s Travis Plascoe at the Big XIIs.) Kurt has faced most of the top-ranked wrestlers and should receive a favorable seed. Plascoe is ranked #3 in the nation.

From the East: Three former Blair grapplers qualified out of the EIWA at 141 lbs: Max Meltzer (3rd place for Harvard), Cory Cooperman (2nd place for Lehigh), and Nate Gulosh (3rd place for the U.S. Naval Academy, wildcard). Paul Velekei (UPenn) placed fourth at 184 lbs--and qualifies as one of the nine wildcard selections.

The 2004 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held at the in St. Louis, Mo. on March 18-20. The finals will be televised, live, on ESPN 2 at 6:30 p.m. o Saturday, March 20. For more information log onto http://www.ncaasports.com/wrestling/mens .

Iowa heavyweight and 2003 NCAA champion, Steve Mocco, is taking an Olympic redshirt and will resume his collegiate career in 2004-2005. Check back next week for an update on Mocco’s quest for an Olympic berth. We won’t tip our hand now, but we can say that Mr. Mocco is making some good headway! Check back on www.blairwrestling.com for more information about the NCAA’s and Steve Mocco.