Nov. 23, 2003

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Junior All-America Chris Rodrigues placed fourth at 125 pounds to lead the University of North Carolina wrestling team in the fourth annual Missouri Open at the Tigers' Hearnes Center Field House.

Third-seeded Rodrigues, who went 3-2 on the day, fell to the bracket's top seed, Kyle Ott of Illinois (5-1), in the third-place bout. In route to his final match of the day, Rodrigues defeated Andrew Bradbury of Lindenwood (7-3) and sixth-seeded Andrew Staylor of Arizona State (6-4) before falling to the eventual champion at 125 pounds, Oklahoma's Sam Hazewinkle (9-5). Rodrigues then downed Missouri's Austin DeVoe, the bracket's No. 5 seed, by a 9-6 decision to move on to the third-place match.

Junior Mark Canty led the other Tar Heel competitors with a 2-2 mark at 184 pounds. He defeated Kevin Grece of CMSU by an 11-3 major decision and Chattanooga's John Davis via a fall at 3:00. Heavyweight Ryan Adams also went 2-2 in the tourney, defeating Willie Cowan of CMSU (5-2) and picking up a forfeit win over Truman's Bryan Jourick.

At 133 pounds, redshirt freshman Bobby Shaw went 1-2 on the day, picking up an 11-3 major decision over Oklahoma State's Ryan Roberts for his lone win. Also posting a 1-2 record were redshirt freshman Jacob Paul (141 pounds), sophomore Brian Baglio (149 pounds) and junior Venroy July (197 pounds). Sophomore Garrett Atkinson was 0-2 at 165 pounds, as was junior Andrew Slack at 149 pounds and sophomore Ashton Buswell at 157.

The Tar Heels return to action Saturday, Nov. 29 at Mat Town in Lock Haven, Pa.