Central Michigan University Athletics
Brackets and Seedings For 2004 NCAA Wrestling Championships Announced
3/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 15, 2004
The seedings and first-round match-ups for the 2004 NCAA Wrestling Championships were announced Monday evening with three Central Michigan University wrestlers earning seeds.
Brackets can be found at NCAASports.com
The championships will take place this Thursday-Saturday, March 18-20, in St. Louis, Mo., at the Savvis Center. First-round action is set to begin at on Thursday at 11 a.m.
The highest-seeded wrestler is returning All-American Jason Mester (Mineral Point, Wis./Sr.), fourth at 141. He took fifth in last year's championship after reaching the semifinals, where he fell to eventual champion Teyon Ware of Oklahoma, 3-1 in double overtime.
Mester will face Rob Becker of George Mason in the first round with rematches with fifth-seed Cliff Moore of Iowa and top-seed Scott Moore of Virginia looming on the horizon. He defeated Cliff Moore in the semifinals of the Midlands, 3-2, and fell to Josh Moore in the finals of the Michigan State Open, 6-4. He also fell to Moore in the consolation semifinals of last year's NCAA Championship. Mester currently sits a single victory away from reaching 100 career victories in his time at CMU after going 3-0 and winning a MAC title two weeks ago.
David Bolyard (Akron, Ohio/Jr.) earned the seventh-seed at 165. He will meet Nebraska's Jacob Klein in the first round. Potential obstacles sitting in Bolyard's way to a championship include 10th-seeded John Clark of Ohio State and second-seed Troy Letters of Lehigh. Bolyard has beaten Clark twice this season, the second time by major decision, while he fell to Letters in overtime early in the season, 4-2.
The final CMU wrestler to earn a seed is Jordan Webster (Washington, Ill./Sr.), 12th at 133. Webster faces Sean Markey of the Citadel in the first round with fourth-seeded Zach Roberson of Iowa State being a potential second-round opponent. Webster and Markey have met before, in 2001 at the Citadel Invitational finals, with Webster winning by technical fall.
The three non-seeded wrestlers for CMU all drew seeded wrestlers in the first round. MAC titlist Adam Cunningham (Maple Ridge/Fr.) will take on 12th-seed Mike Maney of Lock Haven in the first round at 149. Mitch Hancock (Royal Oak/Jr.) drew Rutgers' Andrew Roy, seeded eighth at 174, in the first round. Roy defeated Hancock earlier this season in the Midlands tournament, 5-1.
The toughest first-round draw goes to heavyweight Bill Stouffer (Lowell/Jr.), who has top-ranked Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State. Rowlands has defeated Stouffer twice this season.
