For the second consecutive year the Golden Eagles will compete in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, the tournament taking place Sunday, November 9 at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pa. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m.
Slated to be among the Clarion travel party are 10 of the 11 placers from last weekend's Clarion Open, led by Zachery Marrero, the junior finishing as the 133-pound runner-up in his Golden Eagle debut.
Also expected to make the trip are redshirt freshman Sawyer Ayotte (174 pounds) and junior Adrian Gacek (184 pounds), both of whom started the season by placing third at their respective weights.
Redshirt freshman Colton Wade and sophomore Keagan Oler, fourth place finishers at 133 and 141 pounds, respectively, were on Coach Keith Ferraro's early travel list. Oler turned in perhaps the match of last Sunday's tournament for Clarion, beating Ohio State's Nic Bouzakis, then ranked #9 by Intermat, in sudden victory.
Other Clarion Open placers, all earning sixths, who could be on the bus ride east include freshman Gavin Lewis (133 pounds), sophomore Talan Hubbard (149 pounds), redshirt senior Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (165 pounds), sophomore Gabe Lilly (174 pounds), and redshirt senior Andrew Blackburn-Forst (285 pounds).
Last season was the first time the Golden Eagles participated in the Journeymen, one of the more prestigious early-season tournaments. Each team is allowed to enter a roster of up to 16 wrestlers. Unlike most tournaments, the Journeymen is not "bracketed," rather the wrestlers are split into pools and face-off in a round robin competition. The format is designed to give each wrestler multiple matches, with champions based on overall performance rather than a single-day winning streak.
A year ago, two current Golden Eagles won their individual pools, both at 165 pounds – Ayotte went 4-0 and Herrera-Rondon was 3-0. Sophomore Gabe Lilly turned in a 3-1 performance in his 174-pound pool.
A host of other Division I programs are also wrestling at the Journeymen – Appalachian State, Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Columbia, Cornell, Davidson, Duke, Franklin & Marshall, Harvard, Hofstra, Illinois, Indiana, Lehigh, Lock Haven, Long Island, Maryland, Navy, North Carolina State, Rutgers, Sacred Heart, and Virginia Tech.
Matches will be streamed live on FloWrestling, with live brackets on FloArena.
