Brackets entering Sunday

PHILADELPHIA - Junior heavyweight Chris Birchler advanced to the semifinals and redshirt freshman Thad Frick (165) and sophomore Ed Ebewo (184) are still alive in the consolations for East Stroudsburg University at the 2009 EIWA Championships, which are being held this weekend at the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania.

Birchler, the fourth seed, won his only match of the day, a 10-3 decision over Andrew Knapp of Harvard, to move into the semifinals, where he will face top-seeded Ryan Flores of Columbia on Sunday morning. A win over Flores, or a win in his first consolation match, would guarantee Birchler one of the top four spots in the EIWA and a trip to the NCAA Division I Championships, which will be held March 19-21 in St. Louis.

Knapp upset No. 5 seed Michael Sprigg of Army, 3-2, in their first round match. Sprigg and No. 7 seed Zach Hammond of Cornell will meet in the wrestlebacks. The NCAA introduced a new format for qualifying for championships this year, allocating automatic slots for each conference and weight class based on winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches ranking. The EIWA was awarded four spots at heavyweight.

Frick and Ebewo will also return to the mat on Sunday morning with opportunities to advance towards an NCAA championship appearance. Frick began his day against No. 1 seed Mack Lewnes (Cornell) and trailed 5-0 in the third period before being pinned with 35 seconds left. He came back with a 4-1 decision over Brian Rowan (Army) in the consolations and will face No. 5 Matt DeMichiel (Navy) on Sunday. Frick enters the day three matches away from picking up one of the three automatic qualifier spots at 165.

At 184, Ebewo wrestled three times on Saturday won his first two consolation bouts to stay alive. He fell 10-0 to No. 2 Louis Caputo (Harvard), then took a 14-5 major decision over James Schulz (Columbia). Ebewo knocked off No. 8 Kurt Brendel (Princeton) by a 6-5 score and is matched up against No. 5 David Thompson (Bucknell) when action resumes Sunday. He would have to win twice to claim one of the EIWA's four bids in the weight class.

A pair of redshirt seniors, Matt Swallow (133) and Scott Heckman (149), wrapped up their careers on the mat on Saturday. Swallow battled two seeded wrestlers, Lehigh's Matt Fisk (No. 3) and Penn's Bryan Ortenzio (No. 5), sandwiched around a 6-2 decision of Columbia's Andrew Grabfelder. Fisk and Ortenzio both took 4-0 decisions over Swallow, who ends his career at ESU with a 62-57 record.

Heckman, an NCAA qualifier as a freshman at Bloomsburg before suffering multiple injuries during his career at ESU, competed in a 149-pound weight class that was deep enough for the EIWA to merit six NCAA qualifiers. He was very competitive in a 6-2 setback against Army's Matt Kyler, the No. 1 seed at 149, and was majored (17-8) by Cornell's D.J. Meagher in the wrestlebacks.

Redshirt junior Shane Mallory, the No. 7 seed at 197, won his first round match-up against Karim Mahmoud (Rutgers) with an 11-4 decision before falling in his next two bouts. No. 2 seed Cam Simaz (Cornell) moved into the semis with a 21-5 technical fall, and Mallory dropped 4-3 decision to Branden Stearns (Brown) in his final match of the season.

Redshirt sophomore David Luthy (125), freshman Matt Michaels (141), redshirt freshman Ken Monarque (157) and redshirt sophomore Jeff Jacobs (174) rounded out the Warriors' lineup on Saturday.

ESU is 11th of the 14 schools in the EIWA with 10 points entering Sunday's action. Cornell (63.5), Lehigh (48) and host Penn (46) hold the top three spots.

125 - David Luthy
No. 1 Troy Nickerson (Cornell) pinned Luthy, 1:57
No. 7 Greg Einfrank (Brown) dec. Luthy, 10-4

133 - Matt Swallow
No. 3 Matt Fisk (Lehigh) dec. Swallow, 4-0
Swallow dec. Andrew Grabfelder (Columbia), 6-2
No. 5 Bryan Ortenzio (Penn) dec. Swallow, 4-0

141 - Matt Michaels
No. 7 William Simpson (Army) tech. fall Michaels, 16-0 (5:00)
Adam Healey (Bucknell) pinned Michaels, 2:58

149 - Scott Heckman
No. 1 Matt Kyler (Army) dec. Heckman, 6-2
No. 7 D.J. Meagher (Cornell) maj. dec. Heckman, 17-8

157 - Ken Monarque
No. 2 Jordan Leen (Cornell) pinned Monarque, 2:09
No. 7 Rudy Chelednik (Army) dec. Monarque, 4-1

165 - Thad Frick
No. 1 Mack Lewnes (Cornell) pinned Frick, 6:25
Frick dec. Brian Rowan (Army), 4-1

174 - Jeff Jacobs
No. 7 Justin Herbert (Franklin & Marshall) pinned Jacobs, 1:04
Michael Whalen (Rutgers) dec. Jacobs, 3-0

184 - Ed Ebewo
No. 2 Louis Caputo (Harvard) maj. dec. Ebewo, 10-0
Ebewo maj. dec. James Schulz (Columbia), 14-5
Ebewo dec. No. 8 Kurt Brendel (Princeton), 6-5

197 - No. 7 Shane Mallory
Mallory dec. Karim Mahmoud (Rutgers), 11-4
No. 2 Cam Simaz (Cornell) tech. fall Mallory, 21-5 (6:44)
Branden Stearns (Brown) dec. Mallory, 4-3

285 - No. 4 Chris Birchler
Birchler dec. Andrew Knapp (Harvard), 10-3