Radsky Set For NCAA Wrestling Championships

#Alex Radsky# - 17-4 (3-2 SoCon) - SoCon Champion

The Match
2010 Division I Wrestling Championships
March 18-20 - Omaha, Neb. - Qwest Center
First round: vs. Ian Paddock, Ohio State (22-12)

Coverage
Thursday, March 18
Session I: 11 a.m. Central/12 p.m. Eastern on NCAA.com
Session II: 6:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Eastern on NCAA.com

Friday, March 19
Session III: 9:30 a.m. Central/10:30 a.m. Eastern on ESPNU/ESPN360.com
Session IV: 6 p.m. Central/7 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU

Saturday, March 20
Session V: 10 a.m. Central/11 a.m. Eastern on ESPNU
Session VI: 6:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN/ESPN360.com

DavidsonWildcats.com will feature extensive coverage of Radsky including blogs and video.

Storylines
- Alex Radsky is Davidson's first conference champion since 1969 and the first Davidson wrestler to go to the NCAA?Tournament since 1999.

- Radsky has won 14 of his last 15 bouts, including the last 10 straight.

- Radsky is familiar with his first-round opponent, Ian Paddock of Ohio State. Radsky practiced with Paddock while training over the summer in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

- Alex's identical twin brother, Vitaly Radsky, also wrestles for Davidson (141 pounds) and nearly joined Alex at the NCAA?Tournament. However, he lost a decision in the SoCon finals and was not selected for an at-large bid. The twins moved with their parents from Ukraine to the United States when they were three years old.

- Davidson is also being represented at the 2010 NCAA Women's Swimming Championships March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind. Lindsey Martin received an at-large bid to become the first Davidson swimmer ever to go to the NCAA?Tournament.

Notes:
IT'S BEEN AWHILE: Alex Radsky is the first Davidson Wildcat to reach the NCAA?Wrestling tournament since Ian Kaplan received at-large bids in 1998 (150 pounds) and 1999 (157 pounds).

He is also the first SoCon champion from Davidson since Kerry Keith won at 191 pounds in 1969.

Keith is the only Davidson wrestler to win a match at the NCAA Tournament, doing so in 1968. Wrestling at 177 pounds, he pinned Penn State's Phil Liller in 1:43 in the preliminaries, but dropped a 13-3 decision to Army's Jim Harter in the quarterfinals. His pin scored Davidson two points to tie for 52nd out of 102 schools.

ROLLING ALONG: It has also been awhile since Radsky last lost a match. Radsky is riding a 10-match winning streak into the NCAA Tournament. He last lost to VMI's Andrew Bannister on Jan. 22, winning 14 of his last 15 matches.

LAST TIME OUT: With a 3-2 conference record, Radsky entered the 73rd annual Southern Conference Wrestling Championship, hosted by Davidson in Baker Sports Complex, as the No. 2 seed. After a first-round bye, Radsky faced the No. 3 seed, Angel Garcia (UNC Greensboro) in the semifinals, earning an 11-8 decision to advance to the finals. In the championship match, the first frame was scoreless, but Chattanooga's Josh Statum chose bottom and promptly escaped to start the second period. Statum was unable to extend his 1-0 lead and Radsky escaped just as easily from the bottom to start the third. Radsky soon took a shot and grabbed Statum's left leg for the two-point takedown. Statum eventually escaped, but it was not enough as the two remained neutral until the end, with Radsky winning via a 3-2 decision. Garcia wrestled back to third, so both of Radsky's opponents reached the podium. Statum had defeated Radsky back in December, 5-2.

BREAKOUT SEASON: This is Radsky's first collegiate season with a winning record. He posted a 9-20 record (including two losses wrestling up at 141) during his freshman campaign and a 13-15 mark last season.

OHIO CONNECTION: Radsky's hometown of Worthington, Ohio is near Columbus and Ohio State University. Radsky trains with area wrestlers over the summer and practiced against his first round opponent, Ohio State's Ian Paddock, this past summer.

HOME SWEET HOME: Radsky's SoCon championship came on his home mat, as Davidson hosted the SoCon Wrestling Championship for the first time since 1988. The 'Cats had hosted only twice prior to 1988: in 1960 and 1964. Several Davidson fans and alumni were in attendance to see Radsky break Davidson's conference championship drought. Lowell Bryan '68, a 1967 SoCon heavyweight champion was among the Davidson alums on hand to present awards to the champions.

Radsky took advantage of the opportunity, going home to take a nap in between the semifinal and final matches.

HOME SWEET HOME, PART II: Radsky is undefeated in individual tournaments this season. An injury prevented Radsky from competing in the first two Davidson competed in. Radsky made his tournament debut at home in the annual Davidson Open on Dec. 5, where he won three matches to take the 133-pound title.

CLOSE: Vitaly Radsky nearly joined his twin brother and teammate at the NCAA Tournament, but he lost to Ivan Lopouchanski at 141 pounds in the SoCon Championship finals match that took place immediately after Alex's victory. Vitaly surrendered back points early in the first period and was unable to close the deficit. Vitaly led the team with 20 wins, a 14-3 dual mark and 57 dual points. He tied with Ben Altman for the team lead in pins with five. He was mentioned as an at-large possibility in a blog posting on NCAA.com. Vitaly was named the SoCon Wrestler of the Week after going undefeated with three pins in four bouts during competition Feb. 10-16.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Alex Radsky's championship performance and continued success in the classroom earned the political science major Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week honors for March 10. Radsky has a 3.284 GPA and is the second Davidson wrestler and the fourth from Davidson across all sports to be recognized as the SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week this season. Altman earned the honor for the week of Jan. 13. Sarabeth Peele (volleyball) and Amanda Flink (women's soccer) also won the award earlier this season.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, PART?II: Academically, the Wildcats are among the best in the nation. The Davidson wrestling team earned a fifth-place team finish in the 2008-09 National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Team rankings. The Wildcats amassed an overall team grade-point-average of 3.17 to jump six places from 2008-07 and set a new record for the top finish in program history. The Wildcats made the annual Top 30 Team rankings for the fourth-straight year. Davidson was 11th in 2007 and 2008, and came in 25th following the 2006 season.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Head coach Bob Patnesky is no stranger to NCAA tournament. A 2001 graduate of West Virginia, Patnesky was a three-time NCAA qualifier and is still the Mountaineers' all-time winningest wrestler at 126/133 pounds. Patnesky was the 2000 Eastern Wrestling League champion, helping his team win the EWL crown and a sixth-place finish nationally. Assistant coach Joe Privitere (Binghamton '03) was a Division II All-American his freshman year.

CURRY WHO?: When many people think of the Davidson Wildcats, they think of Stephen Curry and the men's basketball team's Elite Eight run in 2008. However, men's basketball is not the only Davidson team that has recently appeared in an NCAA Tournament. The women's soccer team earned an NCAA?Tourrnament berth by winning the 2009 SoCon Champonship this past fall. Lindsey Martin is representing the women's swimming team at the 2010 NCAA Swimming Championships March 18-20.

DECAMP NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-SOCON TEAM: Sophomore David DeCamp was the lone Davidson selection to the Preseason All-SoCon team, which was voted upon by the league's coaches. DeCamp posted an 8-4 record and four pins before an injury ended his season.

UPSET CITY - Upsets were prevalent the 73rd annual Southern Conference Wrestling Championship as UNC Greensboro earned its first outright SoCon wrestling championship, snapping Chattanooga's five-year winning streak with 81.5 points and three individual champions. Only two top-seeds were crowned as champions as a total of four No. 1 seeds were defeated in the semifinals.

Victor Hojilla (UNCG), a third-seed at 165 pounds, was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. He pinned Chattanooga's No. 6 Bond Davis in 3:15 in the first round before scoring a 13-4 major decision over the No. 2 seed Tyler Mullen (Davidson) to reach the finals. Hojilla then took an 11-5 decision over top-seeded Kyle Blevins of App. State for the championship. UNCG head coach Jason Loukides was named the coach of the year.

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