Center wrestled this past weekend at the Cumberland University Open and was the only Patriot to come home with the championship. On his road to triumph he was able to go 4-0, recording an impressive victory in the finals over the No. 2-ranked Nikolas Turner from Oklahoma City University in a 10-9 score at the 157lbs weight class.

Along with Center’s outstanding performance this past weekend, it’s his first award this season along with the first UC wrestler to win the award in the MSC Conference.  “Dustin seems to surprise me every time he gets on the mat,” said Cumberlands Head Men’s Wrestling Coach Andy Medders.  “He gets better as the day goes on even after being out of the wrestling world for a year. He looks better than ever across the table and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us the rest of this year.”

Dustin and the rest of the Patriots will be traveling and testing their skills this upcoming Saturday January 22^nd at the Ashland Open in Ashland, Ohio.

Article Provided by PJ Martinez, University of the Cumberlands Sports Information Student Assistant

The Patriots had a few placers in the tough tournament with Larone Madison (West Palm Beach, FL) taking second at 125 lbs. He fell short of the first place finish in a controversial call to Lindsey Wilson’s Klink Keith, 3-1 in overtime. Two weeks earlier, Larone defeated Klink in the finals of the Patriot Open with the match also going into overtime.

Jumping up to the 149 lbs. weight class, Patriot Andre Berry (Uniondale, NY) was Cumberlands only champion on the day defeating Virginia Tech’s Matt Rosen. Rosen was disqualified for flagrant conduct after a call that was made in Andre’s favor in the finals.

Following the only two finalists for the Patriots, Charles Simmons (Daytona Beach, FL) place 3rd at the 174 lbs weight class and Carleton Thompson (College Park, GA) and Travis Aubrey (Cynthiana, KY) co-shared 3rd place in the heavyweight division.

The Patriots will return to the mat for their next competition at NCAA Division I Missouri in the Missouri Open on Saturday, November 21st.

Augustin A. Garcia, MD, an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine said, “Cervical Cancer is the second most common malignancy in women worldwide, and it remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths for women in developing countries.”

Cervical Cancer is a very serious disease that should not be over looked. It can be diagnosed to anyone.

University of the Cumberlands alumni Becky D’Ambrosia is a victim fighting for her life against cervical cancer. Her young life has been altered by this merciless disease.

From Defiance, Ohio, D’Ambrosia was a female wrestler. She showed true promise when she won the United States Girls Wrestling Association (USGWA) National Tournament in high school and decided to further her career at the University of the Cumberlands in 2001. She was graduated in 2005 with a major in Psychology.

Kip Flanik, Cumberlands head women’s wrestling coach said, “Becky is a great person and a wrestler that I could always count on. Everyone on the team loved her and knew they could go to her with any problems.”

After D’Ambrosia graduated from UC she moved to Phoenix, Arizona to begin work on her master’s degree. Her life was set. She was happy with her fiancé, that she just married recently, and was starting a new life.

In March of 2009, D’Ambrosia was diagnosed with cervical cancer. In April she had surgery, but the ruthless cancer had already spread to her abdominal cavity. Sadly, last month, August, the doctors gave D’Ambrosia only six months to live.

“I have strong faith and that has carried me through the tough days. I know I will be okay regardless of what happens,” D’Ambrosia said to Jack Palmer of the Crescent News in a phone interview.

D’ Ambrosia’s tragic situation really took the people who cared for her by surprise.

“I was heart-broken when I found out. She is such a great person,” said Flanik.

Past team mates of D’ Ambrosia’s also stated grief to her situation. Toccara Montgomery, an alumnus of UC and former teammate of Becky’s said, “I was in disbelief that someone my age and that I was close with could be struck by such a tragic disease.”

Alaina Berube, also a UC alumnus and friend of D’ Ambrosia’s said, “I was a year younger than Becky, but we were still close. I was just shocked when I found out. It is really a tragic situation. I never expected it to happen to friends that I knew.”

Even though the doctors were not optimistic about Becky’s chances, Flanik described D’ Ambrosia’s attitude as very positive and having a strong relationship with God, when he went to visit her at the Phoenix Baptist Hospital.

D’ Ambrosia’s unfortunate story demonstrates how serious and deadly cervical cancer is for women.

Dr. Garcia, states that, “Early epidemiology data demonstrated a direct casual relationship between cervical cancer and sexual activity. Major risk factors observed include: sex at a young age, multiple sexual partners, promiscuous male partners, and history of sexually transmitted disease.”

Other causes of cervical cancer are weak immune systems, conditions that weaken the immune system like HIV/AIDS, smoking, and using oral contraceptives for more than ten years.

The best way to avoid this nasty disease is prevention.

According to TheHPVTest.com, women should get regular Pap testing to catch the cervical cancer before it spreads. Also it is very smart to get the HPV test and the new HPV vaccine.

Cervical cancer is only found in women according to Dr. Garcia, so all women should become knowledgeable about this killer disease. Taking care of the body with regular checkups is the best way to prevent the disease.

It may be too late to reverse the course of action of cervical cancer in Becky, but it is not too late to help educate young women across the world about the devastation that can be caused by such an evil disease. Educate and protect yourself. For more information visit http://www.webmd.com.

–University of the Cumberlands Sports Information

Men’s wrestling becomes the 18th sport sponsored by the Mid-South Conference and will begin competition in the 2009-10 season. The MSC joins the Great Plains Athletic Conference as the only conferences to recognize men’s wrestling as a conference sport in the NAIA division.

Campbellsville, Cumberland University, University of the Cumberlands, Lindsey Wilson College and West Virginia University Institute of Technology will make up the five-team conference.

“We’re incredibly excited about the addition of wrestling and what the sport and its student-athletes will bring to our conference,” Mid-South Conference Commissioner Mike Pollio said. “The Mid-South Conference continues to be one of the premiere conferences in the NAIA and we expect that wrestling will only strengthen that commitment to excellence.”

Full-time MSC members Campbellsville, Cumberlands, Lindsey Wilson and West Virginia Tech are joined by Cumberland — who prior to joining the MSC in wrestling was a football-only member — to makeup only the second wrestling conference in the NAIA. The MSC joins the Great Plains Athletic Conference as the only conferences to recognize men’s wrestling as a sport at the conference level.

The upcoming season will include the MSC Championships hosted by Campbellsville in late February prior to the NAIA National Championships scheduled for March 4-6, 2010 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

“We continue to look for ways serve our institutions, teams and most importantly our student-athletes,” Pollio said. “The addition of wrestling is another example of the Mid-South Conference serving our student-athletes by embracing their accomplishments both in competition and in the classroom.

“Wrestling is an ideal fit with the other 17 sports in the Mid-South Conference and we welcome its coaches and student-athletes with open arms.”

If you would like to know more details about how Wrestling was added as the MSC’s newest sport or what it means to our sport, listen in on an interview on Takedown Radio with Cumberland University’s Head Coach Jarad Swint.