Clarion University's NCAA Division I Wrestling program returns home this weekend for two dual meets at Waldo S. Tippin Gym. Saturday the Golden Eagles host EWL rival West Virginia at 7pm, then on Sunday Clarion will entertain Eastern Michigan University at 2pm.
Saturday night's match can be heard locally on WCCR-FM (92.7), while Sunday's match will air on WWCH-AM (13000). Both matches can be heard on the internet at redzonemedia.com with
Rich Herman calling the play by play and john Stroup the color commentary.
Clarion is off to a fantastic start to the 2010-11 season under fifth year head coach Teague Moore. Clarion is 3-2 in dual meets defeating Davidson (36-15), Princeton 25-21 and Edinboro 25-21, while losing to #3 Virginia Tech (39-3) and North Carolina (32-10).
Clarion also finished 17
th at the Midlands tournament with sophomore
James Fleming taking fourth place at 157-pounds. The Golden Eagles won the PSAC Team Title at Bloomsburg on December 4
th, with Clarion scoring 125.5 points and having three individual champions in Fleming,
Bekzod Abdurakhmonov at 165 and
Alex Thomas at 197.
Last year coach Moore led the Golden Eagles to a 4-2 EWL dual record a year ago, an 8-8 overall dual meet slate, and third place finishes at the PSAC's and EWL's. Always wrestling an extremely competitive D-I schedule, Moore has a career dual record of 36-52-1 entering Saturday's match.
Clarion's lineup this weekend will be:
Thomas Gowing (2-8, Jr. Eugene, Or.) or Trey Hicks (1-8, So. Amityville, N.Y.)at 125; Joe Waltko (18-4, So. Allison Park, North Allegheny) or Devin Cook (7-8, Fr. Bedford) at 133; Cameron Moran (10-6, Jr. James City, Kane) or Colby Pisani (1-6, Jr. Ridgway) at 141, Anthony White (16-7, Fr. Philadelphia, Pa. North Catholic) at 149; #8 James Fleming (20-4, So. West Mifflin, West Mifflin) at 157, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (17-5, Jr. Tashkent, Uzbekistan) at 165, Scott Joseph (8-13, Sr. Export, Kiski Area) at 174, Steven Cressley (11-10, So. Punxsutawney) at 184, Alex Thomas (12-7, So. Seaford, De., Sussex Tech) at 197 and Quintas McCorkle 17-8, Jr. Alexandria, Va.) at heavyweight.
West Virginia, coached by Craig Turnbull who is in his 32nd season, leads the Mountaineers into Clarion with a dual meet record of 3-4. WVU is wrestling at Bloomsburg (tonight). WVU has an impressive 18-15 road win over #8 Illinois on Jan. 7th, while narrowly losing to Michigan State 21-18 at home on Jan. 14th.
Top WVU wrestlers include Shane Young (20-6) at 125, #15 ranked Nathan Pennesi (17-4) at 133, red-shirt senior Brandon Rader was an NCAA All-American in 2006 and 2007 at 149 (6-7), Donnie Jones (10-3) at 165, #20 Matt Ryan (13-3) at 184.
Coach Turnbull is a Clarion University graduate and compiled an outstanding overall record of 82-19-2 while wrestling for the Golden Eagles from 1971-74.
Eastern Michigan is coached by fifth year mentor Derek DelPorto. The Eagles are 7-5 in dual meet competition this year including big wins over Harvard (24-22), Cleveland State (38-3) and Lock Haven (34-6), with losses coming against #9 Northwestern (34-3), Binghamton (29-6), #24 Missouri (32-6) and Michigan State (19-15).
Top wrestlers include Jared Jermaine (10-6) at 125, Filberto Colon (13-5) at 133, Aaron Sulzer (13-7) at 157, Nick Whitenburg (11-5) at 197 and David Wade (10-6) at 285.
CLARION NOTES: Clarion is 14-16-2 in EWL matches wrestled all-time against WVU, and 14-17-2 in the history between the two schools ... Clarion's win last year (20-14) was the first in 8 years against the Mountaineers… Clarion's last win before 2010 was in 2001 – a 27-10 victory.. Clarion lost 22-14 two years ago (2009) at Tippin Gym… Clarion also defeated Eastern Michigan last year 19-13 at EMU – that win was Clarion's 500th dual meet win … Clarion is 2-3-1 against EMU in the all-time series .. Clarion won 21-14 in 2009 and the two teams tied in 2008 16-16 … EMU won in 2007 20-15, and 29-16 in 2006.
LAST YEAR'S RESULTS
CLARION 20 WVU 14, Jan. 22, 2010 WVU Coliseum
CLARION: 3-4; 1-1
WV: 0-7; 0-1
Ref: Nate Chapman
CLARION 19, EASTERN MICHIGAN 13 – Jan. 15, 2010 AT EMU
