Three Defending National Champs at Fullerton on Sunday

Three defending national champions are among the 20 All-Americans from 2009 who will compete Sunday in the 44th Annual National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym.

The event begins at 2 p.m. and follows an 11:30 a.m. on-campus brunch which will honor the participants as well as strive to help save Cal State Fullerton’s financially endangered wrestling program. More than 1,500 tickets to the All-Star Classic have been sold in advance. The gym seats about 4,000. This is the first time the event has been held in California.

The featured match will come at 197 pounds since it’s a rematch of the NCAA Championship bout from last March in St. Louis. Iowa State’s Jake Varner bested Nebraska’s Craig Brester, 2-1, to take the title and a 3-1 advantage in the head-to-head series.

Heavyweight Mark Ellis of Missouri and 157-pounder Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska are the other defending national champions. There is one third-place winner, four fourth-place finishers, three fifth-place finishers, three sixth-place finishers, four seventh-place finishers and one eight-place finisher in the field.

The warm-up for the All-Star Classic will consist of three bouts among California standouts. At 141 pounds, Cal State Fullerton’s Adin Duenas will face Elijah Nacita of Cal State Bakersfield. At 184, Zack Giesen of Stanford will battle Enock Francois of Cal Baptist. And at 197, Riley Orozco of Cal State Bakersfield will face Abe Otrambo of UC Davis. Otrambo is a late replacement for the Titans’ John Drake, who had to scratch due to injury.

There is one late change in the All-Star lineup. James Nicholson of Old Dominion will replace Anthony Robles of Arizona State at 125 pounds.

The All-Star lineup:

125 – James Nicholson of Old Dominion vs. Zach Sanders of Minnesota
133 – Steve Bell of Maryland vs. Daniel Dennis of Iowa
141 – Nick Gallick of Iowa State vs. Alex Krom of Maryland
149 – Lance Palmer of Ohio State vs. Kyle Borshhoff of American
157 – Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska vs. Matt Moley of Bloomsburg
165 – Jonathan Reader of Iowa sState vs. Andrew Rendos of Bucknell
174 – Chris Heinrich of Virginia vs. Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska
184 – Max Askren of Missouri vs. Josh Patterson of Binghamton
197 – Jake Varner of Iowa State vs. Craig Brester of Nebraska
285 – Mark Ellis of Missouri vs. David Zabriskie of Iowa State

Advance tickets are available at: https://savefullertonwrestling.ticketleap.com/nwca-all-star-meet1-11-22-2009-14-0.

Parking is free.

The match is available for a fee on live video on the internet.

Courtesy of Cal State Fullerton Sports Information.

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