Thursday, March 20
Oklahoma City, Okla.
11 a.m CT
Davidson College Athletics
vs
NCAA Tournament (First & Second Round)
Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com
Patrick, Birmingham Prepped for NCAA Championships
3/19/2014 2:01:00 PM | Wrestling
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Davidson grapplers Scott Patrick and Kevin Birmingham have arrived in Oklahoma City, where they will compete in the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The duo will commence competition on Thursday. All of the action will be broadcast live via ESPN 3.
Birmingham is up first for the Wildcats and will wrestle Cody Ruggirello in a pigtail at 11 a.m. CT (Noon ET) on mat four. Patrick's bout vs. No. 8 TJ Dudley of Nebraska is TBD. Session II, consisting of wrestleback preliminaries and consolation matches will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Links
Davidson Notes | Bracket | ESPN 3 Schedule | Championships Schedule
Birmingham Draws Ruggirello
Birmingham (20-8) is set to square off with Hofstra's Cody Ruggirello. A redshirt junior, Ruggirello will also be taking part in his first NCAA Championship and earned his bid with a fourth-place finish at the EIWA Championships. Ruggirello enters the match up 25-9 and shares a number of common opponents with Birmingham. The winner of the bout will face No. 15 Mitchell Minotti of Lehigh.
Patrick to Battle No. 8 Dudley
Patrick (22-3) who earned his bid by winning the SoCon title at 184 pounds, will face No. 8 TJ Dudley of Nebraska. Dudley, who enters with a 26-5 record, is a redshirt freshman that boasts wins over national qualifiers No. 10 Kenny Courts of Ohio State, Lazarus Reyes of Illinois and Blake Stauffer of Arizona State. The winner of the bout will face either No. 9 Dominic Abounader of Michigan or Arizona State's Stauffer.
Birmingham & Ruggirello's Common Opponents
Facing each other for the first time Thursday morning, Davidson's Kevin Birmingham and Hofstra's Cody Ruggirello share four common opponents from this season:
Take 'Em Down
Birmingham has taken down a number of ranked opponents this season, including two as a part of his seven-pin win streak. He pinned No 20. Justin Arthur of Clarion in 4:56 and sent No. 25 Matt Frisch of The Citadel to the mat in 2:57 to cap his streak. Earlier in the season, Birmingham pinned No. 16 Alexander Richardson of Old Dominion as well. The loss to end his win streak was to No. 10 Richard Durso of FMU, and his lone conference loss was to No. 10 Dylan Cottrell.
School Record
With his pin of Tyler Ziegler in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Championship, Birmingham tied the school record of 14 set in 2004-05 by Matt Pendle. Birmingham pinned six straight opponents from Dec. 7 to Jan. 15.
Wins By Fall
His tie of the program record has earned Birmngham a spot atop the national leaderboard for wins by fall. Entering the week of March 17, he ranks sixth in NCAA?Division I?with 12 DI?pins (14 overall) in a time of 36:39. Birmingham has ranked as high as third earlier in the season.
Patrick Dominates
Scott Patrick dominated his season at 184, going 22-3 on the season and is in position to break the school's single season winning percentage record of .875, set in 1998-99 by Ian Kaplan. Patrick won 10-straight bouts from Nov. 11 to Jan. 12 before suffering a setback to Pittsburgh's Max Thomusseit. He started his season off 8-0 in dual match action before taking his first loss at Pitt. Patrick finished the season 7-1 in conference action, with his lone loss coming to Campbell's Ville Heino in the regular season. Patrick redeemed himself by downing Heino for the 2014 SoCon title.
Two in a Row
Patrick's win at 184 pounds marks the second consecutive season the Wildcats have boasted a conference champion. Last season, Anthony Elias came from the seventh seed to win the title at 133 pounds and earn a bid to the 2013 National Championships.
Coming Full Circle
Patrick's bid to Nationals is particularly satisfying for volunteer assistant Christian Sinnott, who was a national qualifier at 184 pounds. While at Central Michigan, Sinnott earned All-American honors for his fourth-place finish at the 2008 NCAA?Championships. Including Sinnott, four of Davidson's coaches have competed at NCAAs - head coach Bobby Patnesky (West Virginia - 133), Erik Wince (Gardner-Webb - 174), Brandon Sinnott (Central Michigan - 174) and Christian Sinnott (Central Michigan - 184).
Going for No. 2
Kerry 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.
Birmingham is up first for the Wildcats and will wrestle Cody Ruggirello in a pigtail at 11 a.m. CT (Noon ET) on mat four. Patrick's bout vs. No. 8 TJ Dudley of Nebraska is TBD. Session II, consisting of wrestleback preliminaries and consolation matches will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Links
Davidson Notes | Bracket | ESPN 3 Schedule | Championships Schedule
Birmingham Draws Ruggirello
Birmingham (20-8) is set to square off with Hofstra's Cody Ruggirello. A redshirt junior, Ruggirello will also be taking part in his first NCAA Championship and earned his bid with a fourth-place finish at the EIWA Championships. Ruggirello enters the match up 25-9 and shares a number of common opponents with Birmingham. The winner of the bout will face No. 15 Mitchell Minotti of Lehigh.
Patrick to Battle No. 8 Dudley
Patrick (22-3) who earned his bid by winning the SoCon title at 184 pounds, will face No. 8 TJ Dudley of Nebraska. Dudley, who enters with a 26-5 record, is a redshirt freshman that boasts wins over national qualifiers No. 10 Kenny Courts of Ohio State, Lazarus Reyes of Illinois and Blake Stauffer of Arizona State. The winner of the bout will face either No. 9 Dominic Abounader of Michigan or Arizona State's Stauffer.
Birmingham & Ruggirello's Common Opponents
Facing each other for the first time Thursday morning, Davidson's Kevin Birmingham and Hofstra's Cody Ruggirello share four common opponents from this season:
| Birmingham | Opponent | Ruggirello |
| W - Fall, 2:03 | Nick Tourville (Boston Univ.) | W - Dec, 7-0 |
| W- SV, 9-7 | Shabaka Johns (VMI) | W - Fall, 1:32 |
| L - MD, 6-20 | Ian Paddock (OSU) | L - SV, 3-5 |
| L - Dec, 1-5 | Christian Barber (UNC) | W - Dec, 7-5 |
Take 'Em Down
Birmingham has taken down a number of ranked opponents this season, including two as a part of his seven-pin win streak. He pinned No 20. Justin Arthur of Clarion in 4:56 and sent No. 25 Matt Frisch of The Citadel to the mat in 2:57 to cap his streak. Earlier in the season, Birmingham pinned No. 16 Alexander Richardson of Old Dominion as well. The loss to end his win streak was to No. 10 Richard Durso of FMU, and his lone conference loss was to No. 10 Dylan Cottrell.
School Record
With his pin of Tyler Ziegler in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Championship, Birmingham tied the school record of 14 set in 2004-05 by Matt Pendle. Birmingham pinned six straight opponents from Dec. 7 to Jan. 15.
Wins By Fall
His tie of the program record has earned Birmngham a spot atop the national leaderboard for wins by fall. Entering the week of March 17, he ranks sixth in NCAA?Division I?with 12 DI?pins (14 overall) in a time of 36:39. Birmingham has ranked as high as third earlier in the season.
Patrick Dominates
Scott Patrick dominated his season at 184, going 22-3 on the season and is in position to break the school's single season winning percentage record of .875, set in 1998-99 by Ian Kaplan. Patrick won 10-straight bouts from Nov. 11 to Jan. 12 before suffering a setback to Pittsburgh's Max Thomusseit. He started his season off 8-0 in dual match action before taking his first loss at Pitt. Patrick finished the season 7-1 in conference action, with his lone loss coming to Campbell's Ville Heino in the regular season. Patrick redeemed himself by downing Heino for the 2014 SoCon title.
Two in a Row
Patrick's win at 184 pounds marks the second consecutive season the Wildcats have boasted a conference champion. Last season, Anthony Elias came from the seventh seed to win the title at 133 pounds and earn a bid to the 2013 National Championships.
Coming Full Circle
Patrick's bid to Nationals is particularly satisfying for volunteer assistant Christian Sinnott, who was a national qualifier at 184 pounds. While at Central Michigan, Sinnott earned All-American honors for his fourth-place finish at the 2008 NCAA?Championships. Including Sinnott, four of Davidson's coaches have competed at NCAAs - head coach Bobby Patnesky (West Virginia - 133), Erik Wince (Gardner-Webb - 174), Brandon Sinnott (Central Michigan - 174) and Christian Sinnott (Central Michigan - 184).
Going for No. 2
Kerry 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.
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