SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Bridgewater State College senior wrestlers John Marsh (New Bedford, MA) and Frank Cammisa (Danbury, CT) will return to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Tournament after capturing their respective weight class titles at the 2010 New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Division III Championships hosted by Western New England College.
The NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships will take place on March 5th and 6th at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cesar Rapis, Iowa.
Including Marsh and Cammisa, Bridgewater State had five wrestlers achieve All-New England status for placing in the top six. As a team, the Bears finished fifth in the overall standings with 63.5 points. Williams College captured the team title with 128.5 points.
Marsh (31-1) will be making his second appearance in the national tournament and first since 2007. After going 3-0 in day one action wrestling out of the 149-pound weight class, the top-seeded Marsh posted a 2-1 overtime win over number two seed Kevin Sutherland of Rhode Island College in the winner's bracket final. He then defeated Sutherland again, 3-1, in the finals to capture the 149-pound title.
Cammisa, the number two seed at 157, is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season. He wrestled out of the 149-pound weight class in his three previous appearances. Cammisa (28-6) was also 3-0 heading into Sunday's action. He notched a 4-2 victory over John Archambeau of Springfield College in the winner's bracket final and then won the 157-pound title with a 7-3 decision over top-seeded Carl Breitensten of Williams.
Junior 174-pounder Zachary Bates (Leyden, MA) posted one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. Seeded fourth at the tournament, Bates knocked off number one Colin Lenhardt of Johnson and Wales University not once but twice. After going 3-0 on Saturday, including an 11-9 victory over Lenhardt, Bates (32-9) dropped a 7-1 decision to number three seed and eventual champion Greg Hurd of Wesleyan University in the winner's bracket final. He then pinned Lenhardt to set up a rematch with Hurd in the finals. Bates' tournament run would come to an end with a 6-4 loss as he finished in second place.
Despite losing to Bates twice at the NEWA Championships, Lenhardt still managed to grab one of the conference's four wild cards to the national tournament. Bates was selected as a wild card alternate.
Junior Ethan Raymond (Middlebury, VT) went 4-2 in the 165-pound weight class to finish in third place. A six-seed, Raymond's two losses were to top-seeded and eventual champion Mike Morin of Southern Maine, and number two seed Josh Berkovic of Wesleyan. Raymond (28-13) came back through the wrestlback after losing to Morin as he posted a 3-2 decision and a pin before falling to Berkovic, 4-2, in the wrestleback final.
Sophomore Andrew Frazer (West Hartford, CT) also found success in the wrestleback at 197. After splitting his first two bouts, Frazer recorded two pins and a 6-0 decision to advance to the wrestleback semifinals where he dropped a 7-4 decision to number four seed Luke Erickson of Wesleyan.
This marks the fifth time that Bridgewater has produced at least five All-New England wrestlers at the NEWA Championships. The Bears also had five or more in 2000, 2003, 2007 (6) and 2008. The only other time that Bridgewater had two NEWA champions in the same season was in 2008 when Cammisa (149) and James Quinlan (184) placed first in their respective weight classes.
This is not the first time that Marsh and Cammisa will be competing together at the NCAA Tournament. In 2007, Marsh wrestled out of the 141-pound weight class while Cammisa was at 149.
Cammisa is tied for third place on the Bears' career wins list with former two-time All-American Craig Buckley as he now has 110 victories. Marsh moved past Tim Ferreira (2004-2008) into fifth place on the list as he now has 106 wins.