Bengal Bouts — 170-Heavyweights: Cosse and Joyce enjoy byes
By: JUSTIN SCHUVER
Sports Writer
In the 170-pound division, seniors Clay Cosse and Rob Joyce received first-round byes as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. Cosse also serves as the division's captain.
Zahm junior Patrick McGarry and Alumni junior John Wahoske face off for the chance to fight Cosse in Sunday's quarterfinals.
Brian Michalek, a junior from Siegfried, and graduate student Matt Durbin face off against each other in the second fight.
Siegfried senior Matt Padilla and Stanford senior Richard Gonsiorek are scheduled next. Padilla defeated Nate Schneid in his first-round matchup last year, only to lose to Evan Oliver in the quarterfinals.
Off-campus seniors John Lantz and Jason Voss battle each other in the fifth fight. Last year, Voss advanced to the 160-pound quarterfinals after beating Dusty Segretto.
Stanford junior James Ward and Keough junior Will Holley complete the division's matchups, with the winner fighting Joyce. Holley lost to Mark Yost in the first round last year.
180-pounds
A relatively large contingent of 16 fighters means there are no first-round byes in the 180-pound division. Alumni junior Tommy Demko is the division's champion and top seed.
Demko faces off against Stanford freshman Michael Leukam in the first fight. Demko advanced to the semifinals of the division last year, only to lose to eventual runner-up Matthew Sarb.
Freshman Erik Rocca and sophomore Brian Murphy, neither of whom competed in last year's Bengal Bouts, fight next.
Two more newcomers, off-campus senior Jarrett Bingemann and Alumni junior Denis Sullivan face off in the division's third preliminary match.
Christopher Pearsall and Michael Ryan go against each other next. Pearsall lost in the first round last year to freshman James Christoforetti.
This year, Christoforetti and Zahm freshman Patrick Brown do battle in the final bout of the night. Unfortunately, the only way that Christoferetti and Ryan could rematch is if both were to advance to the finals.
Alumni junior Larry Rooney and Dillon sophomore Chris Orenchuk face off in another preliminary match. Last year, Rooney competed in the 190-pound division and lost his first-round bout against Jason Mayes.
O'Neill junior Eric Callahan and Fisher sophomore John Baker face off against each other in another of the eight preliminaries.
Off-campus senior Andrew Groebner and Morrissey freshman Christopher Cavanagh face off in the bottom half of the bracket. Neither competed last year.
190-pounds
Off-campus junior William Zizic and off-campus seniors John Lynk and John Caver all have first-round byes in the 190-pound division. Lynk is the defending champion, this year's captain and No. 1 seed.
Caver lost his first-round match up to Eddy Vulin, but both Lynk and Zizic advanced all the way to the semifinals, where they faced off against each other. Lynk defeated Zizic and eventually went on to win in the finals against Kevin Brandl.
For a rematch to occur this year between Zizic and Lynk, both would have to advance to the championship round.
Dillon sophomore David Escobales and Zahm sophomore Nicholas Green fight to see who will face off against Lynk.
Off-campus senior Jose Ronchetta and Keough sophomore Tom Degnan face off next. Last year, Ronchetta advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Joshua Kaskua.
Off-campus senior Dan Donlan and Alumni senior Mwangi Gathinji meet each other in a preliminary matchup. Neither upperclassman competed last year.
Alumni freshman Jeff Golen and Morrissey senior Patrick Otlewski fight for the right to face Caver. Otlewski lost his first-round match last year to Douglas Pope.
Stanford sophomore Michael Abel and Zahm freshman Nathan Schroeder complete the bracket, and battle to face Zizic in the quarterfinals.
Heavyweight
The heavyweight division does not have any preliminary matchups. All eight participants automatically advance to Sunday's quarterfinals.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 21, 2003
