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Issued: March 3, 2006

SIKORA ADVANCES TO THE SEMIFINALS AT NATIONALS

EWING, NJ - UW-Eau Claire's Derek Sikora (Sr.-Neillsville, WI) concluded the first day of action at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships hosted by the College of New Jersey by going 2-0 and advancing to the semifinals in the 165-pound weight class which will be held tomorrow morning.

The No.1 seeded Sikora defeated the eight seed Dustin Bliven of Wartburg by a 10-5 decision in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals.

Earlier in the day, Sikora defeated Steve Martell of Johnson and Wales University (RI) by a major decision, 8-0, in the first round.

Sikora has now won 16 matches in row and is 29-2 this season.

In the semifinals, Sikora will face the five seed Gerald Bowne of York College (PA). Bowne defeated the four seed Corey Murphy of Thiel College by pin fall to advance to the semis. Bowne has a record of 35-3 this season.

In the other semifinal it will be the No.2 seed Ryan Valek of Augsburg and unseeded Tim Maxworthy of Heidlelberg College. Maxworthy upset the No.3 seed Richard Howard of McDaniel College in the first round and then the No.6 seed Scott Dorn of UW-La Crosse in the quarterfinals.

Of the three remaining participants, Sikora has only faced Valek this season, whom he defeated 3-1 in overtime at the Blugold Invitational.

Matches will continue again tomorrow morning with semifinal and consolation matches beginning at 9:30 a.m. The championship matches will begin at 6 p.m. and can be seen via the web on the tournament's web site

Tournament Web Site

- JR -

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