Edinboro finished with 138.5 points to outdistance the seven-team field. Rider was second with 122.5 points, while Lock Haven was third with 101.5 points.
7542Mitchell Port won his third EWL crown.
The tournament featured plenty of upsets and Edinboro was unable to avoid them. Only three number one seeds went on to win titles – Edinboro's Mitchell Port and Vic Avery at 141 and 184 lbs., and Cleveland State's Riley Shaw at heavyweight.
Kory Mines and Vince Pickett joined Port and Avery as champions. After two second place finishes at 125 lbs. Mines won a 3-1 decision over top-seeded Ben Willeford of Cleveland State thanks to a takedown just before the buzzer. The redshirt senior earned his second trip to Nationals and improved to 31-7.
Pickett (17-16) was one of the surprises of the tournament. The junior, the third seed, had a string of tough losses entering the EWL Championships, but he upset second-seeded Doanld McNeil over in the semifinals 4-3 in sudden victory, then claimed a 5-2 decision over Clarion's Ryan Darch to win the automatic bid and his first trip to Nationals.
Port won his third straight EWL crown thanks to a 13-2 major decision over Bobby Rehm of Lock Haven at 141 lbs. Ranked second at 141 lbs., he boosted his record to 32-1. He also received the EWL award for Most Dual Points.
Avery continued his impressive wrestling as he all three of his matches at 184 lbs. The junior claimed a 9-1 major decision over Lock Haven's Fred Garcia, the second seed. Avery is now 29-6.
Unfortunately, top-ranked Dave Habat (149 lbs.) and second-ranked A.J. Schopp (133 lbs.) were unable to avoid the rash of upsets. In search of his third straight EWL crown, Habat dropped a 6-5 decision to second-seeded B.J. Clagon of Rider, just falling short after trailing 5-1 entering the third period. Habat is now 30-2. Clagon, a redshirt freshman, would go on to be named the Outstanding Wrestler.
Schopp won his first match by fall, but the rust from a knee injury that cost him two months showed in his semifinal match against Ronnie Perry of Lock Haven. Perry, the fourth seed, posted a 5-4 decision.
Denied of becoming just the seventh wrestler in EWL history to win four titles. Schopp would go on to take third place with two more pins. That boosted his career record to 63 as he is now 19-2 on the season.
Seeded fourth at 165 lbs., Casey Fuller (16-17) fell one win shy of earning his first trip to Nationals. The redshirt junior won twice to reach the finals before dropping a 6-4 decision in sudden victory to second-seeded Conor Brennan of Rider. In the semifinals he had upset top-seeded Aaron McKinney of Lock Haven 4-1 in a tiebreaker.
Patrick Jennings entered the tournament as the number one seed at 174 lbs., but he and Schopp will now have to wait until Wednesday, March 11 when the NCAA announces the 70 at-large recipients. The redshirt junior lost in first match to Tyler Wood of Lock Haven 8-6 in sudden victory before coming back to take third place. Jennings is now 29-10.
Chase Delande took over as the starter at 157 lbs. recently, and the redshirt sophomore almost earned his first trip to Nationals. Delande finished third at 157 lbs., with all three of his wins coming by fall. With four weight classes wrestling "true second" matches, Delande (15-13) faced George Mason's Greg Flournoy, the top seed, with a trip to St. Louis on the line. He would drop a 5-3 decision.
Heavyweight Warren Bosch (16-20) split his four matches to finish fifth.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now