EWL FINAL BRACKETS

            (BLOOMSBURG, PA.): Clarion sophomore James Fleming won the EWL title at 157-pounds and was named co – “Outstanding Wrestler” after his impressive technical fall over Bloomsburg's Frank Hickman in the finals which helped the Golden Eagles to a fourth place team finish on Sunday at the 36^th annual EWL Championships hosted at Bloomsburg's Nelson Fieldlhouse.

 

            Held at Nelson Fieldhouse on the campus of Bloomsburg University, Pitt won the team title scoring with 132.5 points, West Virginia was second with 116.50, Bloomsburg third with 102.50, Clarion fourth with 95.50 Edinboro fifth at 91.50, Lock Haven sixth with 70.50 and Cleveland State seventh at 26.50 points.

 

            Fleming's finals win over Hickman started with a first period takedown and a 2-0 lead. In the second Fleming took Hickman down again and then scored a three and two point near falls to lead 9-0 after two periods. Fleming chose top in the third and used two, three-point near falls to win the bout.

 

            Fleming reached the title match after pinning Cleveland State's Matt Donohoe at 4:00, then posted an 8-0 major decision over Pitt's Donnie Tasser to get to the finals. Fleming is now 30-2 on the season and ranked #9 in the latest AWN poll.

 

            Fleming became Clarion's first EWL individual champion since Frank Edgar earned his title at 141-pounds in 2005.

 

            Clarion had 10 overall placewinners this year at EWL's including Bekzod Abdurakhmonov at 165 and Quintas McCorkle at 285 who finished third, Devin Cook at 133 and Alex Thomas at 197 were fourth, while Steven Cressley at 174 and Scott Joseph at 184 placed fifth and Tom Gowing at 125, Hunter McGraw at 141 and Anthony White at 149 were sixth.

 

            Abdurakhmonov was 3-1 at the EWL's and won his third place match by pinning Lock Haven's Dylan Caprio at 50-seconds. His record now is 35-10.

 

            McCorkle was 2-1 at heavyweight to take third. After losing his opener 4-1 to Phil Mandzik of WVU, he defeated LH's Harry Turner 4-2, then in the final bout of the evening, defeated Edinboro's Ernest James 4-2. Tied 1-1 in the third but McCorkle had 1:17 of riding time, the Clarion junior put the match away with a takedown with 20-seconds left. The win secured fourth place for the Golden Eagles as a team. McCorkle is now 23-13.

 

            Cook was 1-2 at 133, Thomas was 2-2 at 197, Cressley 1-2 at 174, Joseph 2-2 at 184, White was 1-3 at 149, McGraw 1-3 at 141, and Gowing 0-3 at 125.

           

 

            CLARION NOTES: EWL's qualified 20 wrestlers for the NCAA Division I Nationals in Philadephia March 17-19… Additional qualifiers to fill out the 33-person bracketed weight class will be announced in the next few days … Clarion's Abdurkhmonov has a solid chance of getting a wild card…

Clarion has crowned 52 EWL champions since the league started in 1976... The Golden Eagles have crowned at least one individual champion in every year except 1983, 1989, 2000, 2006-2010 ... Clarion has three team titles including 1980, 94 and 95 ... Kurt Angle won 4 titles (1988. 1990-92) ... Charlie Heller (1980-82), Sheldon Thomas (1994, 96, 97) and John Testa (2001-2003) are the only other Clarion wrestlers to win three EWL individual titles since the league began in 1976... The new qualifying system has already established qualifiers across the country in each weight class - 149 and 165 have 27 automatic spots, 125, 141, 184 and 285 have 28 spots, 133, 157, 174 and 197 have 29 spots determined by league qualifiers.... Since each bracket is limited to 33 wrestlers, the brackets will then be filled by the next best wild card entries left available via the season ranking system. Those will be determined in the days following the completion of all national qualifiers.

 

1. Pittsburgh                 132.5

2. West Virginia            116.50

3. Bloomsburg              102.50

5. Edinboro                  91.50

6. Lock Haven             70.50

7. Cleveland State        26.50

 

125- Anthony Zanetta (P) dec. Shane Young (WV) 3-0

133- Eric Morrill (E) dec. Nate Pennesi (WV) 3-1 ot

141- Tyler Nauman (P) dec. Matt Bonson (LH) 6-4

149- Dane Johnson (P)dec. Brandon Rader (WV) 3-1

165- Ethan Headlee (P) dec. Donnie Jones (WV) 6-0

174- Mike Dessino (B) dec. Alex Meade (WV) 3-1

184- Chris Honeycutt (E) dec. Max Thomusseit (P) 7-2

197- Zac Thomausseit (P) dec. Shawn Fendone (E) 6-4

285- Ryan Tomei (P) Zac Walsh (B) 8-2

 

THIRD PLACE

125- Sean Boylan (B) dec. Ben Willeford (CS) 8-1

141- Mike Morales (WV) dec. Derek Shingara (B) 4-1

149- Owen Wilkinson (LH)dec. Torsten Gillespie (E)

157- John Greisheimer (E) dec. Donnie Tasser (P) 4-2

174- Mike Khoury (LH) dec. Chris Hrunka (E) 3-2

184- Matt Ryan (WV) dec. Nate Graham (B) 6-0

197- Kyle Rooney (WV) dec. Alex Thomas (CL) 4-1

 

133- John Trumbetti (LH) dec. Nick Wilcox (B) 5-4

149- Josh Roosa (B) dec. Anthony White (CL) 7-1

157- Ryan Goodman (WV) dec. Matt Donohoe (CS) 8-6

165- Josh Veltre (B) Rob Michaels (CS)

197- Richard Perry (B) Nick Anthony (CS) 9-5

285- Harry Turner (LH) Phil Mandzik (WV) med. Forf.