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March 19, 1999

State College, PA – Virginia’s Matt Roth (Wescosville, Pa./Parkland)and Jim Harshaw (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) both won theirmatches in consolation bracket of the 1999 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Byviture of their wins today, both men will finish in at least eighth place.They will continue in the NCAA tournament on Saturday morning. The two menrepresent Virginia’s first All-Americans since Mike Krafchick in 1994. Rothand Harshaw are only the fifth and sixth All-Americans in Virginia history.

Roth, seeded eighth at 125, defeated Adrian Tramultola fromUT-Chattanooga in a pin at 3:57. He then defeated Matt Azevedo of ArizonaState 5-1 to advance to the consolation quarterfinals where he would meethis long-time nemesis Chuckie Connor of North Carolina. For the secondconsecutive time, Roth defeated Connor, seeded seventh, this time by ascore of 3-2. It was Roth’s 100th career win at Virginia and guaranteed himAll-American status. His pin was his career-leading 28th and his 11th ofthe season, establishing a new single-season record. Roth then fell toMoses Delfin, the 6th seed, 7-5 in sudden victory. He will face 12th-seededJason Silverstein of Purdue for seventh place on Saturday morning. Roth nowhas a career record of 101-46. His 101 wins is in a tie for third all-timeat Virginia for career wins.

Harshaw, the 11th seed at 165, defeated Chris Snyder of CentralMichigan with a pin at the 3:37 mark. His pin tied him for thesingle-season record with 11 pins. Harshaw then defeated Andy Varner ofCal-State Bakersfield 7-0 to advance to the consolation quarterfinals,where he defeated the fourth seed, Josh Holliday of Minnesota, 10-8.Harshaw then fell to the top seeded Joe Heskett of Iowa State in a fall inthe first period. He will wrestle the sixth seed, Mark Samples of Edinboro,for seventh place. Samples defeated Harshaw 7-5 earlier in the tournament.Harshaw now has a career record of 102-36. His 102 wins is the second mostcareer wins at Virginia (Mike Krafchick, 116). He also has a record of 40-7this season. His 47 matches is the second-highest total in Virginia history(Jason Mutarelli, 49, 1998) and his 40 wins ranks third all-time for asingle season (Derek Capanna, 42, 1989).

At 197, Craig Fenstermaker (Hilton Head, S.C./Northampton (Pa.))defeated the eighth seed Tony Wieland of Northern Iowa 8-2 and then MikeFrench of Cal-Poly 6-5 before falling to the second seed, Andrei Rodziankoof Penn 11-1. He concludes his season with a record of 28-11.

Action continues tomorrow morning at Penn State at 11:00 am.

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