ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Matching up against the toughest collegiate wrestlers in the nation, seniors Jose Leon (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Leighton Brady (Tulsa, Okla.) and junior Joey Rivera (Stroudsburg, Pa.) competed at the 2004 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis on Thursday, March 18.

It turned out to be a tough day at the office, as all three bowed out of the competition on the first day of the three-day event.

Rivera, wrestling at 141 pounds, was a 4-2 opening-match victim of second-seeded Nate Gallick of Iowa State. Rivera nearly bested Gallick, who was seeking revenge after falling to Rivera, 8-5, during ISU's 22-14 win over the Terriers in Ames in November.

Rivera went on to win his first match, 2-1, over Wyoming's Black Gunter in the consolation bracket, before falling, 15-0 (7:00), to Tommy Owen of Minnesota.

In the 125-pound bracket, Leon fell to second-seeded Luke Euctice of Iowa and to Northern Iowa's Chris Helgeson, 19-12, in an elimination match.

Brady had two close matches at 165 pounds and came up on the short end of both of them. He opened the competition with a 7-4 loss to Cornell's Joe Mazzurco, an opponent he had defeated 7-6, in the title match of the Cortland Open earlier this season. He ended his career with a 4-2 loss to Navy's Michael Barikian.