Wrestling

BEREA, OHIO -- Three Baldwin-Wallace College wrestlers, junior 165-pounder Gino Russo (Northfield Center/ Nordonia), sophomore 197-pounder Paul Burger (Mentor) and senior 285-pounder Bryan Kmetz (Brunswick), will travel to Dubuque, Iowa on March 2-3 to compete at the 2007 NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championship Tournament at Loras College.

All three grapplers earned their berths at the Division III National Tournament by winning individual titles at the 2007 Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Tournament on February 17 at Heidelberg College in Tiffin. For Kmetz, he is making his second trip to the national tourney. Both Russo and Burger are making their first appearance.

"All three had an outstanding OAC Tournament and deserve to be national qualifiers," said veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Rich Fleming. "Each one has had a good season and all three are wrestling their best right now. We are very proud of each one and what they have accomplished so far, and we are excited about their chances at the national tournament."

Russo gained his OAC title with a bye and a 2-0 record as the number-one seed at 165 pounds. He defeated No.2-seed David Daugherty of Wilmington College in the OAC Championship match, 5-3. This season, Russo compiled an impressive 21-4 record and an .840 winning percentage and led the team with 59 takedowns. The past two years, Russo is 49-9 overall, including being last year's OAC runner-up at 157 pounds.

Burger won his title with a 3-0 record with a first round medical forfeit, a pin in 2:37 of John Carroll's Matt Harmon in the semifinals and a thrilling, 5-4 decision against Heidelberg's Ryan Fogliano in the championship match. Burger has a 9-1 record this season with his only loss coming to Harmon in his first match. Burger missed the first three months of the season recovering from a football injury this fall when he was a second-team All-OAC middle linebacker. He enters the NCAA tourney on a nine-match win streak.

Kmetz had a 2-0 record at the OAC Tournament with a bye and successive first period pins against No.4- seed Adam Kosch of Ohio Northern University and then a 54-second fall versus No.2-seed Ryan Bowers of Heidelberg. He finished the regular season at 15-0 overall with nine falls and enters the OAC Tournament at 87-13 for his career with 28 falls.

Competition at Loras begins at 10:00 a.m. CST on March 2 and continues again on March 3. For more information, you can visit the Championship Web site at depts.loras.edu/sports/2007ncaawrestling/index.html.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Rich Fleming, please call his office at 440-826-3258, FAX him at 440-826-2192 or e-mail him at rfleming@bw.edu.