Feb. 26, 2001

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

A Look Ahead: The Cowboy wrestling team will host the 2001 West Regional Wrestling Championships this Saturday at the Arena-Auditorium. The action gets started at 10:00 a.m. and the finals are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. Wyoming will be hosting Air Force, Eastern Illinois, Fresno State, Marquette and Northern Iowa as the six teams compete for 20 individual spots in the 2001 NCAA Wrestling Championships. An all day pass for adults is $16.00, while the price is $10 for UW students and $4.00 for kids 18 and under. A pass to the final session is $8.00 for adults, $5.00 for students and $2.00 for kids 18 and under.

West Regional Outlook: The 2001 West Regional promises to be a competitive day of wrestling. Both Northern Iowa and Fresno State come into the Regional nationally ranked. In the Intermat team rankings Northern Iowa is #15 and Fresno State is #16, while in the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll Fresno State is #16 and Northern Iowa is #18. The Bulldogs enter the Regional with a record of 13-6 while the Panthers are 11-8. Air Force and Wyoming each have winning dual records and will have some individuals place high in their weights. There are eleven individuals competing who are nationally ranked in their respective weight classes. The leader of the group is Fresno State junior Stephen Abas. Abas is ranked #1 at 125 pounds and has a record of 26-0 this season. Abas was the National Champion at 125 in 1999. The toughest weight class appears to be at heavyweight, where three wrestlers are ranked. Senior Billy Blunt of Fresno State is ranked #3 with a record of 20-3. Paul Hynek, a sophomore from Northern Iowa, is #7 and Air Force junior Kevin Hoy is #15. Also at heavyweight is Brad Steele of Wyoming, who has won 20 matches and was nationally ranked much of the year. Others who are individually ranked are Derrick Hayes of Fresno State (#16-133), Chad Boudreaux of Northern Iowa (#17-133), Scott Frohardt of Air Force (#18-149), Nathan Vasquez of Fresno State (#9-157), Eric Brown of Northern Iowa (#16-174), Kyle Hanson of Northern Iowa (#15-184) and Craig Rumsey of Wyoming (#18-197). The day will begin with preliminaries and consolation semifinals at 10:00 a.m. The second session will begin at 3:00 p.m. with consolation preliminaries and consolation semifinals. The final session of the day will begin at 7:00 p.m. with the Parade of Champions followed by the championship finals and consolation finals. True second matches will take place starting at 9:30 p.m. Afterwards the coaches will make their wildcard selections at the wildcard meeting.

2000 West Regional Results: Northern Iowa won the 2000 West Regional team championship over second-place Brigham Young. The Panthers also led the way with seven national qualifiers. BYU had five qualifiers while Eastern Illinois and Fresno State each had three. The finishers after Northern Iowa and BYU were Eastern Illinois (3rd), Air Force (4th), Fresno State (5th), Wyoming (6th) and Marquette (7th). Wyoming had one qualifier in Corey Hamrick at 133 pounds. Wyoming to Qualify at West Regional: When UW joined the Mountain West Conference, that changed the way the Cowboys will qualify for the NCAA Championships. With only two MWC teams with wrestling programs, the conference doesn't sponsor the sport. Wyoming will qualify wrestlers for the national tournament by competing in the West Regional, which will be held March 3 in Laramie, Wyo. Also competing in the West Regional along with Wyoming will be Air Force, Fresno State, Eastern Illinois, Marquette and Northern Iowa. There will be a total of 20 qualifiers in the tournament.

Rumsey Nationally Ranked: Amateur Wrestling News released its latest individual rankings on Feb. 19 and senior Craig Rumsey was ranked. Rumsey was ranked #18 at 197 pounds. Sophomore Brad Steele and senior Steven Schenk have each been nationally ranked this season but weren't in the latest rankings. Rumsey had a sweep this weekend over Portland State and Fresno State. Rumsey defeated Randy Davidson of Portland State by fall at 6:03 and he beat Tom Gohde of Fresno State 9-4. With those two wins Rumsey moved his overall record to 18-11. Mark Hamrick leads the Cowboys with 21 victories while Steele and Schenk have 20 wins apiece.