After a slow first round, junior Mark Basola of Keough landed a string of combos against graduate student Jeff Christoforetti in the first 160-pound class fight. The stellar third round secured a unanimous win for Basola.Sophomore Adam Burns of Zahm secured an automatic spot in the semifinals due to a pre-match injury to Billy Henderman.In the next fight, sophomore Preston "The Punch Thrower" Carter of Carroll stormed out like a hurricane in the first round against junior Daniel Liem of Morrissey. The victory, however, went to Liem after Carter suffered a broken nose in the second round.Senior Bobby Gorynski wasted no time and came out aggressively in his match against senior Tim Uhalde. Using his quickness to get inside on Uhalde, Gornyski prevailed in a unanimous decision.165 lb. Senior Mark "Rambo" Desplinter had no intentions of a long fight against freshman Michael "Tyson" Thompson of Keenan. With a flurry of combos, Desplinter gained the victory with a technical knockout in the first round.Senior Patrick "No Tomorrow" McMorrow of O'Neill overcame the longer reach of senior Chase Heaton by landing key inside punches. McMorrow continued to dominate on the way to a unanimous decision.Graduate student Brian "Huggy Boy" Nicholson faced off against Senior Chris "Count of Monto Fisto" Milliron in an extended fight. Blood was drawn repeatedly until the fight was stopped in the second round giving the victory to Nicholson.In the next fight, senior Colin Kerrigan of Fisher came up against junior Jeff Schaal of Morrissey. Kerrigan gained a unanimous victory after a strong third round.170 lb. Senior Justin "Fleece" Alanis got off to a slow start against sophomore Tom Digan of O'Neill but that all changed in the second round. Alanis knocked down Digan twice with devastating jabs that ended the fight in a technical knockout in the second round.Senior Brad Wanchulak of Siegfried and graduate student Matt "Touch Me and I'll Sue You" Smith waged one the most closely contested bouts. In the end, Wanchulak used vicious left hooks to record the split decision victory.Junior Andrew "Goes Down Frazier" Breslin only needed a few well placed left hooks to take down freshman Guy Hippleheuser of Carroll. Early in the first round, the match was halted giving Breslin the nearly flawless victory.Sophomore Dan Ward of St. Edward's jumped off to a quick start in his fight against senior Craig Thompson. Ward kept his momentum to score the unanimous victory over Thompson.180 lb. Senior Michael Schmied failed to repel the vicious inside punches from senior Jim "Where Did the Day Go" Christoforetti, who won in a unanimous decision.Junior Jeff Golen of Alumni fought evenly with junior Nicholas Klein of Morrissey for the first two rounds. In the third round, Golen made an aggressive push to earn a unanimous win.In the next fight, freshman Mike Reilly of Fisher gained the edge in the first round but failed to hold off senior Dana Collins with ferocious combos to win in a split decision.Graduate student Doug "Sudden Death" Bartels kept in mind quality not quantity in his fight against sophomore Stu Stypula of O'Neill. Bartels landed heavy jabs on his way to a unanimous victory.190 lb. After gaining an early advantage, freshman Patrick Ryan of Keenan could not hold off the sweeping hooks of junior Chris "Youngblood" Adams of Keough. In a close split decision, Adams came through with the win.Junior Chris Cavanaugh of Morrissey fully exploited his height advantage against senior John "Stitch" Hughes of Siegfried. The fight was ended in the third round to give Cavanaugh a trip to the semifinals.Sophomore Andy "Doogie" Houser of Alumni controlled the initial pace of his fight against graduate student William Zizic. After a slow start, Zizic took over in the third round and gained the win in a technical knockout.
