WRESTLING FINISHES 3^RD AT TED REESE INVITATIONAL

GORHAM, Maine (December 2, 2006) - Sam Gauvine (Enfield, Conn.) captured top honors in the 141-pound weight class to lead the American International College wrestling team to a  third place finish out of 10 teams in the Ted Reese Invitational hosted by the University of Southern Maine Saturday.  With 97 points, the Yellow Jackets trailed tourney champion Plymouth State (183.5) and the host Huskies (164).

Besides Gauvine, the Yellow Jackets had four other wrestlers place.  Jeff Haddad (Old Saybrook, Conn.) finished second in the 133-pound class, while Dan Puccini (Ridgefield, Conn.) finished third at 197.  Kelvin Valencia (Hartford, Conn.) finished third in the heavyweight division, while Nick Laurino (Merrick, N.Y.) was fourth at 165.

Gauvine opened up by pinning Rob Ludwig of Plymouth State in 1:43, then topped Shawn Mosley of PSU 8-3.  He then proceeded to top Southern Maine's Nick Spencer 4-3 in the championship bout to capture the division.

Haddad would open up by pinning Shawn Lewis of Plymouth in 4:26.  He then defeated Stephen Velastro of USM 5-3 before falling to the Huskies' Matt Ulrich 7-4.

Puccini would pin Steve Gadreau of Bridgewater State in 4:33 before getting bumped to the consolation round by Jaret Grossman of Bryant 8-4.  He then bounced back by pinning Pat McCrohan of Johnson and Wales in 4:45, then pinned Adam Green of New Hampshire in 2:39 in the third place bout.

Valencia suffered an opening round 7-4 loss to David Smith of Plymouth State, then defeated Matt Callahan of UMass 7-4.  After pinning teammate James Bridges in 3:02, he pinned Adans Cueto of Southern Maine in 2:20 before topping Plymouth's Steve Parigan 3-2.

Laurino suffered a pair of losses to Shane Stephenson of Southern Maine by identical 9-4 scores, in the first round and in the third place bout.  In between, he defeated Nate Couse of New Hampshire 10-1, Bryant's Scott Lecca 8-5 and Tyler Linneweber of Bridgewater State 12-4.

The AIC wrestling team returns to action next weekend when it travels to Duquesne University for a tri-match against Duquesne and Clarion on December 10.  Duquesne is the alma mater of first-year AIC head coach Chaz Seibert.

The AIC wrestling team accepts its' third-place trophy from Saturday's Ted Reese Invitational.