Lehigh University
NCAA Championships
Lehigh's Rey falls short in All-America bid
3/20/2009 9:30:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
 |
ST. LOUIS – The 100th season of Lehigh wrestling came to an end on Friday night as Zach Rey lost his round of 12 match to Pittsburgh’s Zach Sheaffer 2-1 in the tiebreakers in session four of the NCAA Championships at Scottrade Center. Rey was vying to be Lehigh’s first freshman All-America in six years but could not escape in the second 30-second tiebreak period and with the loss became the last Lehigh wrestler eliminated from the tournament.
The Mountain Hawks finished the tournament with 20.5 team points, nearly four times their final total from 2008. Lehigh sits in 27th place after two days of competition.
Rey and Sheaffer battled to a scoreless first period in their consolation round matchup at 285. In the second period Sheaffer was cautioned twice for false starts, before escaping to take a 1-0 lead. Rey escaped relatively early in the third period to tie the match at one, where it would remain at the end of regulation. With neither wrestler able to score in the sudden victory period the match went into the tiebreakers. Sheaffer escaped in 14 seconds and then thwarted several attempts from Rey in the second 30-second period to hold on for the win.
With the loss, Lehigh failed to crown an All-America wrestler for the third straight year, the first time since 1951-53 that the Brown and White failed to place a wrestler on the podium in three straight tournaments.
After two days, Ohio State leads the team race with 84.5 points as the Buckeyes placed three wrestlers in the finals. Iowa is second with 81 points, with Iowa State, Nebraska and Edinboro rounding out the top five teams.
The NCAA Championships conclude with two sessions on Saturday. The morning session, featuring consolation semifinals and the medal rounds is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. CDT while the championship finals will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Round of 12
|
Weight |
Matchup |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
285 |
Zach Scheaffer (Pitt) |
dec. |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
2-1, t.b. |
