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April 4, 2000

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

Seven University of Wyoming wrestlers placed at the USA Wrestling Rocky Mountain Regionals, held March 31-April 1 at War Memorial Fieldhouse in Laramie.

The Wyoming team was led by freshmen Matt Westenfelder, Kevin Kessner and Brad Steele, who all won their weight classes in the freestyle division.

Westenfelder, a true freshman from Nine Mile Falls, Wash., won the 167.5 pound weight class by going 5-0. Westenfelder defeated teammate and fellow true freshman Levi Prevost in the championships match. Prevost went 3-1 on the day.

Kessner went 3-0 in the 187 pound weight class, easily defeating all of his opponents. Kessner won by scores of 10-0, 13-2 and by fall at :41. A freshman from Rock Springs, Kessner has four years of eligibility left for the Cowboys.

Steele, who was Wyoming's starter at heavyweight this past year, won all three of his matches at 214 pounds on his way to the championship. In the championship match, Steele defeated teammate Craig Rumsey 3-2. Rumsey, who won his first two matches by a combined score of 23-0, finished 2-1.

In the 139 pound weight class, Wyoming wrestlers finished second and third. Kelly McConville was second with a 2-1 record. McConville lost to Mike Eierman, a former All-American at Nebraska, in the championship match. Mark Hamrick placed third, going 3-1 with three dominating victories. Hamrick's only loss came to the eventual champion Eierman in the second round.

Two Cowboys were placewinners in the Greco-Roman division. Westenfelder placed second in the 167.5 pound weight class and Hamrick was third at 139 pounds. Westenfelder went 2-1 to earn second-place honors. Hamrick also went 2-1, and clinched third-place with a 13-6 victory over Justin Winney. Westenfelder and Hamrick were placewinners in both the freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions.

"The thing that is so encouraging is that we had three true freshman and two redshirt freshman wrestling so well," said University of Wyoming head wrestling coach Steven Suder. "Each of them was able to place in a strong tournament. The future of our program looks very bright."