Wrestlers Ready for NCAA Championships

March 15, 2006

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - With all three wrestlers seeded in their respective brackets, the American University wrestling team heads into the NCAA Tournament Thursday morning looking to bring home All-American honors and top its school-best 32nd place finish from last year. Josh Glenn (Johnson City, N.Y./Johnson City), the No. 1 seed at 184, Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan), the No. 3 seed at 165, and Adam LoPiccolo (Glen Rock, Pa./Glen Rock) the No. 12 seed in the heavyweight bracket will represent the Eagles beginning in tomorrow morning's session at 11:00 a.m.

You can follow the action through live bracket updates via http://www.ncaasports.com/wrestling/mens and watch it live on ESPN beginning Friday. The full schedule is listed below.
Television Schedule:
Friday, March 17 - Quarterfinals - ESPNU - 10 a.m.
Friday, March 17 - Semifinals - ESPNU - 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 18 - Finals - ESPN - 6:30 p.m.

••• AU News and Notes •••
LAST TIME ON THE MAT • Headlined by EIWA Champions Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov and Josh Glenn, the Eagles finished eighth in the EIWA Tournament. Abdurakhmanov was named Most Outstanding Wrestler after going 3-0 on his way to his second consecutive EIWA Championship. The senior was not taken down during the Tournament, winning by fall and two decisions, including a 9-3 victory over then-No. 15 Stephen Ancerevage from Cornell for the title. Glenn was equally impressive, going 4-0 on the weekend and taking a 4-0 decision against then-No. 2 Joe Mazzurco of Cornell in the finals. Heavyweight Adam LoPiccolo also qualified for NCAAs by way of wildcard after dropping a down-to-the-wire 5-4 decision to Paul Weibel of Lehigh. It was LoPiccolo's first loss on the year to an opponent ranked outside of the top-20.

SEARCHING FOR WASHINGTON DC'S FIRST TITLE IN 37 YEARS • American's three qualifiers are hunting for the first individual title from a Washington D.C. area school in 37 years. The area has only two Division I champions - both from University of Maryland. Gobel Kline won the 152 lb. title in 1969 most recently and Bob Kopinsky won the area's other title in 1965.

AMERICAN'S FIRST NO. 1 RANKED WRESTLER • Josh Glenn became the first top-ranked wrestler in American program history on Feb. 7th in the Intermat/NWCA rankings. Glenn began the season as No. 8 in the same poll. By January he had risen to No. 4 and as other wrestlers lost, he moved up in the following weeks, eventually topping the list. The sophomore defended his ranking in the six matches after being ranked No. 1, winning all by bonus points, including two by fall. See below for more information on Glenn.

DON'T GET CAUGHT SLEEPING • There's multiple reasons Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov was voted as one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch in the NCAA in a recent TheMat.com fan poll. The biggest is likely that Abdurakhmanov - a national champion from Uzbekistan - is deadly from the neutral position with a background in freestyle. He possesses a wide array of attacks and an explosive first step. The senior has won 30 of his 53 career matches by bonus points and outscored his opponents 184-53 this year and 569-226 in his career.

DUAL MATCH HORSES • Much of AU's dual meet success is attributable to more depth at each weight class, but can also be directly linked to the school's three NCAA qualifiers. Glenn, Abdurakhmanov and LoPiccolo went a combined 47-5 in duals this year for the 13-6 Eagles, accounting for 236 of the team's 463 total points (51%). Glenn led the group with 92 points comprised of 15 matches won with bonus points, 11 of which were victories by fall. He and Abdurakhmanov were undefeated in duals and out of the group's 52 total matches, 39 were won with bonus points. In addition, LoPiccolo clinched four duals in the final match for the Eagles.

ONE OF THE MOST DOMINANT No. 1s • Josh Glenn's 18 pins and 24 matches won with bonus points rank in the top-2 among all No. 1-ranked wrestlers. His 18 pins are second in the country overall behind No. 1 at 174 Ben Askren of Missouri. His nine consecutive falls at the beginning of the year ties Askren for the longest streak in the NCAA. Glenn has more pins than the other top-10 ranked wrestlers at 184 combined and his 24 wins with bonus points is best in the class. (Continued)

EAGLES RECEIVE VOTES • For the first time in recent memory, the American University wrestling team received votes in the end of the year USA Today/NWCA Dual Meet Coaches Poll. After going 13-6 - a 9 win improvement from 2004-05 - the Eagles finished just outside of the top-25.

TOPPING 2005 • Individually, the 2005 season was the finest for the American wrestling program as it sent four wrestlers (this year's three plus Daniel Waters) to the NCAA Championship. Led by Waters' remarkable run through consolations all the way to 8th-place and All-American honors, the Eagles finished 32nd among teams with 12.5 points - fifth among EIWA teams. AU finished eighth at this year's EIWA Tournament, two spots back from 2005, with 52 points, but is looking for quality point totals from its three qualifiers this year. Tally up the Eagles' team score by using the chart below.

Championship Bracket Advancement: 1 pt.
Wrestleback Bracket Advancement: 1/2 pt.
Fall: 2 pts.
Forfeit: 2 pts.
Default: 2 pts.
Disqualification: 2 pts.
Technical Fall (with near fall): 1 1/2 pts.
Technical Fall (without near fall): 1 pt.
Major Decision: 1 pt.

Bye followed by a win:
Championship Bracket: 1 pt.
Wrestleback Bracket: 1/2 pt.

Points earned by all-Americans:
Bonus points for placing first: 16 pts.
Bonus points for placing second: 12 pts.
Bonus points for placing third: 10 pts.
Bonus points for placing fourth: 9 pts.
Bonus points for placing fifth: 7 pts.
Bonus points for placing sixth: 6 pts.
Bonus points for placing seventh: 4 pts.
Bonus points for placing eighth: 3 pt.