Snyder an All-American for Second Straight Year
Finishes Fifth in Heavyweight Division at NCAA Championships
Championship Home and Results

EWING , N.J. --- Lycoming senior wrestler Tommy Snyder (New Columbia , Pa. /Milton) highlighted the Warriors’ successful 2006 season with his second straight All-American status qualifying finish in the heavyweight division at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.  Senior Derek Crane ( Elizabethtown , Pa. /Elizabethtown) and junior Sean Cullen (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) comprised the remainder of the Warriors’ contingent, placing tied for 28^th position with 10.5 team points at the two day event hosted by The College of New Jersey.

Snyder, ranked fifth in the nation and riding a personal 22-bout winning streak coming into the competition, garnered a first round bye thanks to his fifth-seeded position.  In the second round, he scratched his way past Bryan Kmetz from Baldwin-Wallace College by a close 2-1 decision.  Snyder eased up on the nerves of the Warrior faithful in the quarterfinals with a 6-2 decision over Oneonta’s Trevor Hiffa.  Hiffa had previously upset the #4 seed, Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Michael Hayes.

A narrow decision went against the Warrior standout in the semifinals.  Wartburg's Blake Gillis, the tournaments top-seeded heavyweight, clawed his way to the finals by a 2-0 score.  Snyder met up with Hayes in the upper tier of the consolation bracket for his next bout.  Looking to move onto the third place match, Hayes out-dueled Snyder 12-10 for a shot at third position.  Snyder earned redemption in the fifth place match with a 4-0 decision over seventh-seeded Brett Christensen from Simpson.

All three of the Warriors’ national qualifiers entered the tournament following strong performances at the Middle Atlantic Conference championships.  Snyder defeated Delaware Valley ’s Kevin Orr 6-0 for his third straight league crown and third consecutive appearance on the national stage.  Crane picked up his first conference title with a 9-7 decision at 174 pounds over Messiah’s Anthony Dill.  Cullen, although finishing second at 133 pounds, was voted by MAC coaches as one of the conferences “wild cards” to secure his second straight trip to the national meet.

Crane’s luck of the draw for the first round was anything but as he squared-off against Cortland ’s Stephon Sair, the top seed at 174-pounds and eventual class champion.  Sair won by major decision, 12-2.  Lycoming’s captain bounced back nicely in his next bout, defeating Ohio Northern’s Timmy Miller by an 8-6 decision.  Crane’s run came to an end in his next match against seventh seed Alan Stacilauskas from Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  Stacilauskas moved on via a 6-1 decision.

After finishing sixth and earning All-American status at last season’s national meet, Cullen had high hopes of repeating his performance over the weekend.  Unfortunately, the bouts didn’t play out as expected.  Brockport’s Anthony D’Ambra, the fifth seed at 133 pounds, forced Cullen to the consolation bracket with a 12-2 first-round major decision.  North Central’s Adam Johnson edged past Cullen with a 5-4 decision in Cullen’s next bout, ending his tournament experience sooner than expected.

Snyder, Cullen, and Crane accounted for 64 combined victories and a .762 winning percentage for the blue and gold in 2006.  Snyder finished the campaign with a 27-3 record while Cullen closed out at 19-8 and Crane at 18-9.