Virginia Wrestling Rolls Past James Madison, 27-7

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Feb. 9, 2000

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia wrestling teamreturned to dual match action when the Cavaliers faced the James MadisonDukes in Memorial Gymnasium. Virginia didn’t waste any time taking controlof the match, as UVa won eight of the ten matches on the evening, includingthe first five consecutive match-ups, en route to a 27-7 victory.

The Cavaliers jumped out to a commanding 18-0 lead by claiming thefirst five matches of the evening. UVa’s Steve Garland (Middletown,N.Y./Middletown) started the night off with a 7-4 victory over JamesMadison’s Jonathan Huesdash in the 125 pound class to give the Cavaliers anearly 3-0 lead. Toby MacDonald (Venice, Fla./Venice) pushed the Virginialead to 6-0 after he topped JMU’s Mark Minuto by the score of 15-8 in the133 pound match. UVa’s P.J. Bory (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) handed theDukes’ Dave Vollmer an 8-1 loss in the 141 pound class to extend Virginia’slead to 9-0 through three matches.

Then, the Cavaliers’ John Pozniak (State College, Pa./StateCollege) posted the evenings lone fall of the match when he pinned JamesMadison’s Mike Robostello at 2:59 in the 149 pound class to make it a 15-0Virginia lead. UVa’s Don Carlo-Clauss (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Olympia)recorded Virginia’s fifth consecutive win when he gathered a 6-5 decisionover JMU’s Jimmy O’Connor in the 157 pound class to give the Cavaliers an18-0 lead.

James Madison recorded victories in the next two matches to make itan 18-7 contest when the Dukes’ Seth Cameron tallied a 10-2 major decisionvictory over UVa’s Brian Muir (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) andNathan Rickman topped Virginia’s Steve Mazzola (Cleveland, Ohio/St.Edwards) by the score of 9-3 in the 174 pound class.

However, the Cavaliers would claim the final three matchesbeginning with UVa’s Ryan McGrath’s (Blairstown, N.J./Blair Academy) 8-3decision over Sam Maltese in the 184 pound class. Jimi Massey(Williamsport, Md./Williamsport) held off JMU’s Elliot Williams by thescore of 6-5 in the 197 pound class before the Cavaliers’ Ryan Painter(Rainelle, V.W./Rainelle) topped the Duke’s D.J. Hockman by the count of8-2 in the heavyweight class to give UVa a 27-7 victory.

With the win, Virginia improves its dual meet record to 3-4overall, while the loss drops James Madison’s dual match record to 3-3 onthe season. The Cavaliers will return to home action on Saturday, February12th when Virginia host the Virginia Tech Hokies in a dual matchcompetition. The event is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be heldin Memorial Gymnasium.