LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Two wrestlers on different ends of the eligibility spectrum earned chances to compete for an NCAA championship on Saturday night as Brock Zacherl and Michael Pavasko won individual titles at the 2016 Eastern Wrestling League championships hosted by Lock Haven.  The two earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships hosted this year at Madison Square Garden on March 17-19.
 
Overall, the Golden Eagles had a strong showing at the EWL's, taking fifth place with a team score of 41.5 points.  In addition to Zacherl and Pavasko, two other Clarion grapplers had opportunities to earn trips to the NCAA Championships; Evan DeLong took third place at 165 pounds and Dustin Conti came in fourth at 197 pounds.
 
Zacherl and Pavasko are the 56th and 57th individual EWL champions in Golden Eagle history.  They will be the first Clarion wrestlers to represent the Blue and Gold at the NCAA Championships since Justin Arthur and Austin Matthews in 2014.
 
Pavasko is the lone senior on the Golden Eagle squad and has dealt with the team's struggles over the past several years, making his victory on Saturday an especially poignant one.  He breezed to an 8-3 decision over Bloomsburg's Casey Glunt in his first round match but faced a much stiffer test in the semifinal.  Pavasko overcame Lock Haven's Tyler Wood by a 3-2 decision to advance to the finals, where he defeated Cleveland State's Gabe Stark 7-3 to move on to the big dance.
 
On the other end of the spectrum, freshman Brock Zacherl improved his season record to 27-1 with a pair of victories at 141 pounds. He held a bye directly to the semifinal round where he claimed a 6-2 decision over George Mason's Tejon Anthony.  Zacherl very nearly claimed a major decision in the finals, beating Cody Wheeler of Lock Haven by a 7-0 score to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career.
 
DeLong was impressive on Saturday, reaching the "true" second place match in the 165-pound bracket by winning the consolation side after bowing out of the main draw in the semifinals.  DeLong earned a 5-1 decision over the Patriots' Patrick Davis but fell in sudden victory to the Fighting Scots' Casey Fuller in the semis.  He wrestled his way to a third-place finish, beating Nathan Wynkoop and Davis (again) along the way, but again fell to Fuller in earning third place.
 
Conti also came tantalizingly close to an NCAA bid, reaching the third-place match at 197 pounds.  He earned a major decision over the Patriots' Cameron Houston in the consolation quarterfinals, winning 12-1, and beat Edinboro's Vincent Pickett 5-2 to move on to the third-place match.  Conti dropped a narrow decision to Lock Haven's Phil Sprenkle, falling 5-4.
 
125 - Patrick DeWitt
1st Round – DeWitt over Ibrahim Bunduka (George Mason) Dec. 3-2
Semis – Jake Field (Lock Haven) over DeWitt Fall 1:58
Cons. Semis – Zach Valcarce (Rider) over DeWitt Dec. 11-5
 
133 – Roshaun Cooley
1st Round – Andy Schulz (Bloomsburg) over Cooley MD 11-3
Cons. Quarters – Anthony Rivera (Edinboro) over Cooley Dec. 6-2
 
141 – Brock Zacherl
1st Round – bye
Semis – Zacherl over Tejon Anthony (George Mason) Dec. 6-2
Final – Zacherl over Cody Wheeler (Lock Haven) Dec. 7-0
 
149 – Brodie Zacherl
1st Round – Dan Neff (Lock Haven) over Zacherl TF 21-6 (5:00)
Cons. Quarters – Nick Montgomery (Cleveland State) over Zacherl MD 8-0
 
157 – Jake Keller
1st Round – Austin Matthews (Edinboro) over Keller Fall 2:00
Cons. Quarters – Keller over Chas Busz (Cleveland State) Fall 2:00
Cons. Semis – Brendon Colbert (Bloomsburg) over Keller Dec. 9-4
 
165 – Evan DeLong
1st Round – DeLong over Patrick Davis (George Mason) Dec. 5-1
Semis – Casey Fuller (Edinboro) over DeLong SV-1 3-1
Cons. Semis – DeLong over Nathan Wynkoop (Cleveland State) Dec. 4-2
Third Place Match – DeLong over Patrick Davis (George Mason) Dec. 1-0
True Second Place Match – Casey Fuller (Edinboro) over DeLong
 
174 – Michael Pavasko
1st Round – Pavasko over Casey Glunt (Bloomsburg) Dec. 8-3
Semis – Pavasko over Tyler Wood (Lock Haven) Dec. 3-2
Finals – Pavasko over Gabe Stark (Cleveland State) Dec. 7-3
 
184 – Dom Rigous
1st Round – Rigous over Xavier Dye (Cleveland State) Dec. 7-2
Semis – Victor Avery (Edinboro) over Rigous Dec. 9-4
Cons. Semis – Rigous over Luke Ludke (George Mason) MD 12-3
Third Place Match – Xavier Dye (Cleveland State) over Rigous MD 11-2
 
197 – Dustin Conti
1st Round - Sam Wheeler (Cleveland State) over Conti Dec. 6-1
Cons. Quarters – Conti over Cameron Houstson (George Mason) MD 12-1
Cons. Semis – Conti over Vincent Pickett (Edinboro) Dec. 5-2
Third Place Match – Phil Sprenkle (Lock Haven) over Conti Dec. 5-4
 
285 – Evan Daley
1st Round - William Miller (Edinboro) over Daley Dec. 8-3
Cons. Quarters – bye
Cons. Semis – Mauro Correnti (Rider) over Daley Dec. 7-1