Although its St. Patrick’s Day today (March17th), the NCAA Wrestling Pot of Gold awaits 10 NCAA Division I wrestlers at the Savvis Center, St. Louis, Missouri this Saturday, March 20th, where the "Rainbow" ends and the best collegiate wrestlers in the nation are crowned. Clarion will have 5 NCAA Qualifiers competing this year including Peter Derstine (125- Sr. Coral Springs, Florida) Frank Edgar (141, Jr. Toms River, N.J.), Chris Horning (157, So. Syracuse, N.Y.), Jeremy Reitz (165- Sr. Brookville, Pa.) and Matt Wilcox (Hwt. Fr. Guys Mills - Maplewood).

The 74th NCAA Division I Wrestling National Championships will get underway on Thursday, March 18th with Round 1 beginning at 11am. A second prelim round will start at 6:30pm, followed by a round of consolations. Friday has the quarterfinals starting at 10am, with the semi’s slated for 5:30pm Friday night. Saturday will feature the All-America place matches starting at 9am, with the championship finals scheduled for 5:30pm. ESPN 2 will cover the finals live! Airing the finals live is a first. The three previous years ESPN 2 had with "same day" coverage on a short tape delay. (All times listed here at local - Missouri times).

Last year Oklahoma State won the 73^rd NCAA D-I Nationals held at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. OSU won the team title going away with 143 points, while two-time defending champion Minnesota finished second with 104.5 and Oklahoma was third with 78. Rounding out the top five were Lehigh in fourth place with 69 points, and Arizona State fifth with 65. Clarion finished in 26^th place scoring 22 points with only four wrestlers qualifying for nationals.

In 2002 Minnesota won the 72^nd NCAA Division I Nationals at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York. The Golden Gophers scored 126.5 points, besting Iowa State who was second with 104 and Oklahoma who was third with 101.5. Rounding out the top five were Iowa with 89.5 in fourth place and Oklahoma State in fifth with 82.5. Clarion meanwhile scored 7 team points and finished in 41^st place as a team.

In 2001 Minnesota won the nationals at Iowa’s Carver - Hawkeye Arena scoring 138.5 team points, edging Iowa who finished with 125.5 in second place and Oklahoma State who was third with 115.5 points. Minnesota was the only team ever to win an NCAA title without posting a finalist. Clarion finished 42^nd with 4 points.

The team title in 2004?

This year’s title has Oklahoma State as a heavy favorite to repeat their team title from a year ago. The Cowboys under coach John Smith, finished the year ranked #1 in all major polls. Smith is in his 12^th year at OSU and also won the team title in 1994. OSU has won 31 national titles.

Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Michigan seem to be the teams who could challenge Oklahoma State’s bid for two straight titles. Iowa recently won the Big Ten Tournament by five points over Minnesota.

Remember, the Iowa Hawkeyes won 6 straight NCAA titles (1995-2000) before finishing second in 2001, fourth in 2002 and 8^th last year. Iowa has won 20 NCAA crowns since 1975 and should be figured to be in the title mix under coach Jim Zalesky.

Iowa won the team title in 2000 with 116.0 points, edging Iowa State with 109.5 points. Rounding out the top 5 in 2000 were third place Minnesota with 80 points, fourth place Oklahoma with 69.5 and fifth place Oklahoma State with 66.5. Clarion finished 26^th with 15 points.

The closest team title in years was in 1999 at the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State, when Iowa edged Minnesota 100.5 - 98.5 points. That team title was decided in the last match of the tournament when Minnesota heavyweight Brock Lesnar (current WWE Star) lost a 3-2 decision to Cal-Bakersfield’s Stephan Neal.

Clarion will be led by seventh year head coach Ken Nellis. The Golden Eagles posted a 4-8 dual meet record and a 2-5 mark in the rugged Eastern Wrestling League. Clarion finished 6^th as a team in the recently completed EWL Tournament and qualified five wrestlers to the nationals. The qualifiers include EWL Champions Peter Derstine at 125 and Chris Horning at 157, third place finisher Matt Wilcox at heavyweight, and fifth place finishers Frank Edgar at 141 and Jeremy Reitz at 165. Edgar and Reitz were wild card selections.

Derstine, a senior, will open the NCAA Tournament against #6 seed Kyle Ott of Illinois. Ott posted a 20-4 record this season and placed third at the Big Ten Tournament when he decisioned Indiana’s Joe Dubuque for third. Ott finished the season ranked 5^th in the nation at 125.

Derstine defeated WVU’s Casey Brewster 3-1 in the EWL finals. The EWL title was Derstine’s first. He also defeated Edinboro’s Chris Pruden 12-4 in the opening round and Bloomsburg’s Brian Sellers 3-2 in the semi’s. This season Derstine placed third at Reno, PSAC’s and Penn State Open and 5^th at Mat Town and has a season record of 32-9. Last year Peter was 23-11 overall and 4^th at EWL’s. He was the second alternate wild card and didn’t go to nationals. He has a Clarion career mark of 87-48.

Horning, only a sophomore, is unseeded and will open his first NCAA Tournament against unseeded Paul Siemon, a senior from Hofstra. Siemon enters the tournament with a 27-8 record and was the runner-up ay 157 in the CAA Tournament, getting pinned in the finals by Dave Miller of Rider at 2:47. Horning earlier this year defeated Miler of Rider in a dual meet matchup 10-3.

Horning won EWL’s from a third seed and defeated WVU’s #8 ranked Matt Lebe 7-4 for the title. Horning used a duck under for a single leg takedown with 23-seconds left, then with eight seconds remaining, used a power half to turn Lebe for a three-point near fall at the buzzer and won 7-4 with the crowd on its feet. He defeated Edinboro’s Eric Ring 6-0 in the opening round and defeated LH’s Charlie Brenneman 3-1 in the semi’s. He is now 24-8 this season and also placed 2^nd at PSAC’s and 4^th at Reno. Last year Chris was 16-19 overall at 165-pounds and third at PSAC’s. He has a two-year mark of 40-27.

Wilcox, only a freshman, will open the NCAA Tournament with a bye, then likely face #1 seed Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State. Rowlands is 39-1 and the #1 ranked heavyweight in the nation. Earlier this year at the Clarion duals, Rowlands won a technical fall decision over Wilcox 27-8.

Wilcox has really come of age in the last two months. At the EWL’s he won his third place match convincingly by a 20-4, technical fall at 5:54 over Bloomsburg’s Ryan Chaluda. In the consolation semi’s he rode LH’s Steve Itterly the entire third period to win by the riding point 8-7. He opened the tournament by pinning Pitt’s Travis Shirley at 1:13, then was pinned in the semi’s by #9 rated Russ Davie (who won the title) at 1:07. Wilcox, a true freshman, has a record of 12-12 this season and was 3-1 at the EWL’s. Wilcox has put together a strong 9-3 record in his last 12 matches.

Edgar, a red-shirt junior, is making his third trip to nationals. This year he will open the NCAA’s with a bye, then face #10 seed Doug McGraw (Penn). McGraw is 15-5 this season and won the EIWA Title at 141-pounds with a 10-8 overtime win over Cory Cooperman of Lehigh. McGraw was ranked 8^th in the country by AWN in the final poll.

Edgar was 2-2 at EWL’s and finished fifth, pinning Aaron Brown of Virginia Tech at 4:04, but lost 6-3 to WVU’s Joe Clarke in the semi’s and 9-4 to Cleveland State’s Anthony Coleman in the first round of wrestle backs. He took fifth when Edinboro’s Ron Doppelheuer injury defaulted to Edgar for fifth. Edgar has had a stellar season with a 36-7 record and was ranked 17^th entering the EWL tourney. He has a career record at Clarion of 80-44.

Edgar was 0-2 at the NCAA’s last year , losing in the opening round to #4 seed Jason Mester (Central Michigan) 3-2, and in the wrestle backs he lost a 5-3 decision to Ron Tarquinio (Pitt).

In 2001 Frank was an unseeded freshman and was pinned at 2:48 by Donnie DeFilippis (#5 seed) of George Mason in the opening round, then rebounded for a 5-4 win over Tom Waldron of Cornell in the wrestle backs. In his next match he lost 10-0 decision to Pat Diaz of James Madison.

Reitz heads to the NCAA’s for the second time in his career and will face #2 seed Troy Letters (Lehigh) in the first round. Letters has a record of 31-1 this season and won the EIWA Tournament at 165-pounds with a 9-4 championship win over Joe Mazzurco of Cornell in the finals. Reitz has not wrestled Letters this season but lost to Mazzurco 4-3 in a match for 3^rd place at Mat Town earlier in the season. Letters placed second at the NCAA’s a year ago as a freshman.

Reitz, a senior, finished fifth at EWL’s and earned a wild card selection to nationals when he defeated West Virginia’s Zac Fryling 6-1 for fifth place. He opened the EWL’s with a 6-2 loss to LH’s Jason Gilligan, then major decisioned Bloom’s Ryan Garner 13-4,, before losing to Pitt’s Zach Doll 5-0. Reitz was 22-17 this season and currently has a Clarion career with a mark of 68-48. He was 4^th at EWL’s in 2002 and 6^th in 2003.

He went to the NCAA’s in 2002 and was 1-2 at 157 pounds. He opened with a 9-7 win over Levi Weikel-Magden (Stanford), then lost to #3 Luke Becker (Minnesota) maj. dec. Jeremy Reitz (Clarion) 14-6 and Rocky Smart of Arizona State.

CLARION NOTES: Clarion had two All-Americans in 2003 when Rad Martinez finished fifth at 133-pounds and John Testa was eighth at heavyweight... Clarion has had tremendous success at the NCAA’s over the years ... 8 individual titles have been won including two by Kurt Angle (1990, 92), two by Wade Schalles (1972, 73), and one each by Sheldon Thomas (1996), Garry Barton (1972), Don Rohn (1973) and Bill Simpson (1973) ... Clarion also has 42 NCAA Div.I All-Americans ... Bryan Stout was Clarion’s only 4-time A-A (1994-97) ... 3-time All-Americans include Kurt Angle (1990-92), Sheldon Thomas (1995-97), Don Rohn (1973, 74, 76) and Charlie Heller (1980-82)... Nellis also led Clarion to a 27^th place finish with 16 points in 1999 and a 24^th place finish in 1998 with 25 points... Bob Bubb who coached Clarion from 1967-92 led Clarion to top team finishes of 4^th in 1973, 6^th in 1972 and 1987 and 8^th in 1992 ... Under Bubb Clarion had 16, top 25 finishes at the NCAA’s and 12, top 20 endings ... Jack Davis (1993-97) led Clarion to a 12^th place finish in 1996, 14^th in 1997 and 15^th in 1994 and 95 .... Clarion has an NCAA match record of 299-253.