April 14, 2009

FAIRFAX, Va. - Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia native Mendbagana Tovuujav was recognized for his outstanding rookie season on Tuesday when he was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Freshman of the Year by D1CollegeWrestling.net (D1CW). The honor comes a week after Tovuujav was named to the CAA All-Freshman Team at 174 pounds.

Tovuujav was named the 2009 CAA Championships' Most Outstanding Wrestler after capturing the 174-pound title at the conference's annual championship tournament. The second seed in the weight class, Tovuujav won by technical fall (21-6) against Sacred Heart's Jonathon Rizzitello in the quarterfinals, 9-3 over the third seed Hunter Meys of Boston University in the semifinals and 3-1 in overtime against the ninth-ranked, No. 1 seed Alton Lucas of Hofstra in the championship bout. Lucas entered the match as the defending conference champion.

The St. Benedict's Prep (N.J.) graduate was one of two Mason wrestlers to qualify for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo. At the national tournament, Tovuujav took a pair of close losses at 174 pounds and was eliminated from the competition. In his first match, Tovuujav took on seventh-ranked Mike Miller of Central Michigan, falling by a final score of 7-5. After dropping down to the consolation bracket, Tovuujav was defeated 3-2 by 10th-ranked Kurt Brenner of West Virginia.

Including the two close losses at the NCAA Championships, Tovuujav wrapped up the season with a 24-9 overall record with four falls, four technical falls and four major decisions. He posted a perfect 6-0 record in CAA dual matches.

D1CW named Old Dominion's Ryan Williams the CAA Wrestler of the Year and ODU Head Coach Steve Martin the CAA Coach of the Year. The National Wrestler of the Year was Jake Herbert of Northwestern. Ohio State's Tom Ryan was named the National Coach of the Year and Wisconsin's Andrew Howe was named the National Freshman of the Year.