CLARION WRESTLERS HOST BLOOMSBURG FRIDAY/ RIDER & OHIO U. SUNDAY

 

            Clarion University’s NCAA Division I Wrestling program will be very busy this weekend as the Golden Eagles wrestle three times in three days. Clarion hosts EWL rival Bloomsburg on Friday, Feb. 4th at 7pm, then hosts Rider and Ohio University on Sunday. The Sunday bouts will start at Noon and 2 pm.

 

            Friday night’s match can be heard locally on WWCH-AM (1300), while the Sunday noon matchup against Rider will be aired on WCCR-FM (92.7) in Clarion. Both matches can be heard on the internet at redzonemedia.com with Rich Herman calling the play by play and john Stroup doing the color.

 

            Clarion has had a quality 2010-11 season under fifth year head coach Teague Moore. Clarion is 3-5 in dual meets defeating Davidson (36-15), Princeton 25-21 and Edinboro 25-21, while losing to #3 Virginia Tech (39-3), North Carolina (32-10), West Virginia (39-4), Eastern Michigan (33-10) and #17 Kent State (44-6). Injuries have hurt the Eagles in recent matches, but the team is likely to have more of its full lineup this weekend.

 

Clarion’s lineup Friday will be: Thomas Gowing (2-10, Jr. Eugene, Or.) or Trey Hicks (1-9, So. Amityville, N.Y.) at 125 or 133; Devin Cook (7-10, Fr. Bedford) also at 133, Hunter McGraw (11-9, Fr. Crestwood) or Garet Pisani (4-4, Fr. Ridgway) 141, Anthony White (17-9, Fr. Philadelphia, Pa. North Catholic) at 149; #6 James Fleming (21-2, So. West Mifflin, West Mifflin) at 157, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (19-6, Jr. Tashkent, Uzbekistan) at 165, Scott Joseph (9-15, Sr. Export, Kiski Area) at 174, Steven Cressley (11-13, So. Punxsutawney) at 184, Alex Thomas (13-8, So. Seaford, De., Sussex Tech) at 197 and Quintas McCorkle 17-10, Jr. Alexandria, Va.) at heavyweight.

 

            Bloomsburg is led by sixth year head coach John Stutzman, who has led the Huskies to an 11-5 dual meet record this season and a second place finish at the PSAC Championships. Bloomsburg is on a 3-match losing streak right now having dropped matches to West Virginia (19-12), Edinboro (23-15) and #23 Pitt (22-8).

 

            Impressive wins have come against Northern Iowa (18-15), Buffalo (21-12), North Carolina State (28-18) and Penn (25-13).

 

            Bloomsburg lineup is paced by at 133 by PSAC Champions Nick Wilcox (15-12), Derek Shingara (16-14) at 141, Mike Dessino (20-5) at 174, along with Frank Hickman (20-7) at 157, Josh Veltre (16-8) at 165, Nate Graham (19-7) at 184 and Zac Walsh (15-10) at heavyweight.

 

            On Super Bowl Sunday Clarion will host Rider at Noon and Ohio University at 2pm. Rider is led by veteran coach Gary Taylor, who is in his 33rd year. The Broncs are 6-10 in dual meets this year with a 29-6 win over George Mason and 36-12 over Franklin and Marshall. Recent losses have been to Kent State (26-16), NC State (21-14), Binghamton (18-17),  Rutgers (29-3) and Old Dominion (22-13).

 

            Top wrestlers for the Broncs include Jimmy Kirchner (18-10) at 133, Zac Cibula (22-9) at 149, Jim Resnick (14-3) at 165 and Rob Morrison (21-6) at 174.

 

            Ohio University is led by 14th year head coach Joel Greenlee who has the Bobcats coming to Clarion with a dual meet record of 7-4. The Cats have big wins over Buffalo (16-15), N.C. State (29-12) and Northern Illinois (30-11). Losses have come against American (30-10), UT Chattanooga (20-18) and Army (17-16).

 

            Top wrestlers are Jake Wojcik (11-5) at 133, #15 Germane Lindsay (21-6) at 141, Brad Squire (11-3) at 149, Nick Purdue (22-3) at 174, #16 Erik Schuth (16-2) at 197 and Jeremy Johnson (25-8) at heavyweight.

 

Clarion won the PSAC Team Title at Bloomsburg on December 4th, with Clarion scoring 125.5 points and having three individual champions in Fleming, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov at 165 and Alex Thomas at 197. Earlier this year the Golden Eagles wrestled at the Clarion Knight Point Open, The Oklahoma Invite in Brockport, N.Y., and the Body Bar Invitational hosted by Cornell University.

 

On December 29-30 the Golden Eagles finished 17th at the Midlands tournament with sophomore James Fleming taking fourth place at 157-pounds.

 

CLARION NOTES: Clarion has an all-time series lead of 22-17-1 against Bloomsburg and an 18-15-1 mark in EWL matches… Clarion won lost year 22-17 at Bloomsburg … The Huskies won 22-12 at Clarion in 2009 … Clarion also has a 2-10 record against Rider and a 2-3-1 mark against Ohio University…

 

CLARION 22 BLOOMSBURG 17

At Bloomsburg – Jan. 29, 2010

125- Joe Waltko (CL) wbf James Bak (BL) 3:27

133- Jason Guffey (BL) dec. Jay Ivanco (CL) 5-2

141- Greg Lewis (CL) maj. dec. Ian Desole (BL) 12-2

149- #19 James Fleming (CL) dec. #18 Josh Roosa (BL) 3-2

157- #8 Matt Moley (BL) dec. Hadley Harrison (CL) 7-1

165- Ricky Schmelyun (BL) tech. fall Nick Milano (CL) 16-0; 4:32

174- Nate Graham (BL) wbf Steven Cressley (CL) 4:45

184- Clint Podish (CL) dec. Derek Coffey (BL) 6-1

197- Alex Thomas (CL) dec. Brian Shaw (BL) 5-1

HWT- Quintas McCorkle (CL) dec. Zac Walsh (BL) 2-1