Wrestling: EWL Championships This Weekend
March 04, 2004 09:17 AM | General
March 4, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 17th-ranked West Virginia University (9-5, 6-1) wrestling team travels to Bloomsburg, Pa., to take part in the 29th annual Eastern Wrestling League championships on March 6-7 at Bloomsburg’s Nelson Field House.
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The EWL Championships are an NCAA Division I qualifying tournament where 37 wrestlers will go on to compete at the NCAA Division I national championships. The top three finishers in each weight class, plus seven wild cards, earn bids to the NCAAs in St. Louis.
“This is almost like a second season for us,” adds Turnbull. “We finished the dual meet portion and now enter the tournament season. All ten of our guys have a goal of winning their weight class. If a loss does come, then they are in a second tournament where third place qualifies them for nationals.”
West Virginia has finished first or second in the EWL Tournament in six of the last eight years with tournament titles coming in 1996 and 2002. The Mountaineers have produced 18 individual EWL champions, including two last season: Billy Smith (149) and Greg Jones (174).
“Throughout the season our schedule has served us well as we attended events where we could face the top competition in the country,” says Turnbull. “We made quality trips to Las Vegas, Midlands, the Sun Devil Duals and then were one of sixteen teams invited to the National Duals in Cleveland. Our guys have seen the best wrestlers in the country. Now it’s up to us to use that experience to our advantage as we enter the qualifying tournament and then onto the national tournament.”
Following this weekend’s championships, qualifying wrestlers have a week off before competing at the 2004 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in downtown St. Louis on March 18-20.
