Oct. 23, 2002

The Mississippi Invitational, in Gulfport, Saturday, Oct. 26th, features six boxers each from the three service academies. Given that fact, the nine-bout card, which begins at 7 p.m. EST, should be called the Service Academy Classic!

"I believe the match ups for all of our boxers are excellent," said head coach Eddie Weichers. "We have a good mix of boxers with National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) experience to a couple who are seeing their first intercollegiate bouts."

Leading off for the Falcons is C4C Luis Pena. He will face the Army's Darren Joyce in a 135-pound weight division. "Luis was discovered in our intramural competition and instructional class where he showed a lot of promise," said Weichers. "He is going against another freshman in Joyce who has just a little more experience."

In a 145-pound bout, the Falcons' Thomas Parker faces Mike Reel from Navy. Reel earned a decision over Air Force's Ryan Dorsey-Spitz earlier this month during a dual match prior to the Air Force-Navy football game. However, Reel faces a more experienced Parker.

The same can be said of the 175-pound bout between Air Force's Leif Nordhagen and Navy's Agur Adams. Nordhagen has more NCBA experience than Adams who earned a decision over the Falcons' Sean Mitchell in the AFA-Navy dual.

In two of the final three Air Force bouts, Chad Nikolic goes against Army's Bobby Greer and Frank Wilson takes on Navy's David Rainey in 198-pound weight division. In the final bout, Ben Chapman faces Army's Rob Horton in the heavyweight division.

"Greer made it to the NCBA finals last year. He is tall and Chad will have to get inside and try to corner Greer," said Weichers. "Frank is a hard puncher and he is going against a stylish boxer in Rainey. Ben has a good jab and moves well inside the ring and his opponent is an unknown.

"All of the bouts promise to be very competitive. We owe Maj Scott "Hoss" Ladner, one of my former boxers, a 'thank you' for setting up these bouts in Gulfport," said Weichers.

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