Feb. 8, 2004

FAIRFAX, Va. - Virginia won six of 10 matches in defeating George Mason 29-14 in non-conference wrestling action Sunday afternoon at the John Linn Gymnasium. The Patriots drop their fifth straight match and fall to 2-7 overall, while the Cavaliers improve to 6-3 on the season.

George Mason senior Adrian Austin (Colonial Heights, VA/Matoaca), who is ranked 17th in the nation by InterMat at 149, posted a 10-3 win to put the Patriots on top early, 3-0. Austin improves his competition match win streak to 12 and his consecutive dual meet victories to nine in a row. Virginia's Paul Bjorio evened the match at 3-3 with a decision win at 157.

Two more Cavalier victories, one by Tim Foley at 165 and another from Mike Grogan at 174, gave UVa a 12-3 margin. Foley, ranked 13th nationally by InterMat and 12th by Amateur Wrestling News (AWN) won his match by pinfall. The next five matches went back-and-forth between the two schools Virginia claimed victories at 197 from Kevin Collier and 125 from Brian Sticca, while George Mason recorded wins at 184 from freshmen Jim Martin (Forty Fort, PA/Wyoming Valley West), at Heavyweight from Ryan Kittrick (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Coughlin) and at 133 from David Emison (Stafford, VA/North Stafford).

Leading 23-14, the Cavaliers' Scott Moore, ranked No. 1 in the nation by both AWN and InterMat at 141, took to the mat in the final match of the day and earned a pinfall win, giving Virginia a 29-14 win.

The Patriots host Colonial Athletic Association foe James Madison Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the John Linn Gymnasium.

VIRGINIA 29 GEORGE MASON 14
(Rankings based on Amateur Wrestling News/InterMat)
                                                                H-V
149 - (--/17) Adrian Austin (GM) dec. Aaron Martin, 10-3         3-0
157 - Paul Bjorio (V) dec. Mitch Webster, 8-5                    3-3
165 - (12/13) Tim Foley (V) pin Matt Horton (1:10)               3-9
174 - Mike Grogan (V) dec. Sean Early, 3-0                       3-12
184 - Jim Martin (GM) dec. Drew Michelotti, 4-3                  6-12
197 - Kevin Collier (V) pin Harry Zander                         6-18
HWT - Ryan Kittrick (GM) dec. Andrew Leffler, 9-2                9-18
125 - Brian Sticca (V) tech fall Ed Tan, 17-1                    9-23
133 - David Emison (GM) tech fall Ryan Stewart, 17-2             14-23
144 - (1/1) Scott Moore (V) pin Dan Yates (2:47)                 14-29