Lehigh ready for action at NCAA Championships

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Mountain Hawks head to Scottrade Center in St. Louis for the 78th NCAA Wrestling Championships. Lehigh comes to town with five qualifiers after a fifth place finish at the EIWA Championships two weeks ago. Senior EIWA Champion Dave Nakasone leads the Lehigh contingent, and enters the tournament as the only individual Mountain Hawk ranked nationally by Intermat. Lehigh will likely not have any seeded wrestlers for the second straight year, and the Mountain Hawks will be looking to bounce back from a rough 2007 tournament, where the Brown and White tied for 38th place and failed to crown an All-American for the first time since 1996.

Nakasone will face No. 10 seed Michael Chandler of Missouri in Thursday’s first round at 157. Two Mountain Hawks will be among the first on the mats as junior Trevor Chinn and sophomore Manuel Schubert will wrestle in the pigtail round. Chinn will have his hands full with Josh Churella of Michigan, the No. 5 seed at 149, while Schubert will meet unseeded A.J. Kissel from Purdue at 184.

Lehigh’s two remaining qualifiers, sophomore Seth Ciasulli and freshman Alex Caruso will both wrestle unseeded opponents in the round of 32. Ciasulli will face Kenny Jordan of Nebraska at 133, while Caruso will meet Luke Feist of Stanford at 174 Thursday morning.

Overall, Lehigh has claimed 26 individual national championships, won by 20 different wrestlers. The Mountain Hawks have the ninth most career All-Americans with 127. The Brown and White have never won the NCAA team championship, coming as close as second in 1939 and third in 1965, 1979 and a tie for third in 2004.

Iowa enters this year’s tournament as the country’s top ranked team, but the Hawkeyes will be challenged by defending national champion Minnesota, as well as Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa State among others for the team title.

The 78th NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 11 a.m. CDT from Scottrade Center. The opening session will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. Free live audio coverage will be available online at Lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports. Lehigh's Yahoo! subscribers should note that all broadcasts from St. Louis will be available for free via the link above. Per NCAA contractual restrictions, the broadcasts will not be listed in Lehigh's Yahoo! Media Player.

SCENES FROM ST. LOUIS: After arriving in town and catching a workout at a local gym on Tuesday, Lehigh’s five qualifiers worked out on the mats of Scottrade Center on Wednesday … St. Louis is hosting the championships for the fourth time in eight years (2000, 2004, 2005)… the city is slated to host once again in 2009… four of last year’s ten individual champions return in 2008 to defend their titles… Chinn’s match with Churella should be part of the first set of matches (bout No. 8) and should begin right at 11 a.m. CDT… Schubert’s pigtail match with Kissel is bout No. 11 and should follow soon thereafter.

Event:	78th NCAA Championships
Dates:	March 20-22, 2008
Session I:	Thursday, March 20, 11a.m. (pigtail round, round of 32)
Session II:	Thursday, March 20, 6:30 p.m. (round of 16 and wrestle-back prelims)
Session III:	Friday, March 21, 10:00 a.m. (quarterfinals and wrestle-backs)
Session IV:	Friday, March 21, 6:00 p.m. (semifinals and wrestle-backs)
Session V:	Saturday, March 17, 10:00 a.m. (consolation semifinals and medal rounds – 3rd-8th)
Session VI:	Saturday, March 17, 7:30 p.m. (national finals)
Location:	St. Louis, Mo.
Arena:	Scottrade Center (22,000)
Lehigh’s dual record:	12-14, 6-2 EIWA
History:	Lehigh’s best finish was second in 1939. The Mountain Hawks tied for 38th last year. Minnesota is the defending champion.
Television:	Quarterfinals, semifinals and medal rounds on ESPNU (SE Dial Position 174, DirecTV channel 609). National finals live on ESPN
Radio:	None
Internet Broadcast:	FREE live audio of all Lehigh matches on Lehighsports.com Related Links Release: Brackets, broadcast info announced for NCAAs Lehigh NCAA tournament notes NCAA Wrestling home Listen to the NCAA Championships (FREE)

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Lehigh University Athletics

Lehigh ready for action at NCAA Championships

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