After having three wrestlers attain All-American status on Friday, those three went out on Saturday morning and picked up wins to give the Fighting Scots a third, fourth and seventh place.
Shawn Bunch (Leavenworth, KS/Leavenworth) led the way with the third place finish at 133 lbs. The senior, who entered Nationals as the top seed before suffering a 9-2 loss to Purdue's Chris Fleeger in the semifinals, picked ups wins over the third and fourth seeds.
Deonte Penn (Solon, OH/Solon), unseeded at 165 lbs. entering Nationals, made a name for himself heading into his senior season with a fourth place finish. And freshman Gregor Gillespie (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) laid claim to the mantle of next great Edinboro wrestler with a seventh place finish at 149 lbs.
"This is huge," stated an elated head coach Tim Flynn in regards to the team's standing. "We haven't been up there in awhile. It's harder to get there. There are more programs (looking to do well) and more parity. It's just a fantastic job by the entire team."
Bunch showed few ill effects from his loss to Fleeger on Friday night. He faced third-seeded Tom Clum of Wisconsin in the consolation semifinals, and picked up a convincing 9-5 win. The bout began with a Bunch takedown at 2:53, with Clum escaping. Clum took his lone lead with a takedown at 2:00, but Bunch followed an escape with a takedown at 1:39, then turned Clum for three back points at 1:25. The first period ended with Bunch ahead, 8-3.
Bunch's escape seven seconds into the second period was the only scoring in that session. Clum registered a takedown at the 1:01 mark, and rode Bunch the rest of the way to wipe out riding time, but Bunch prevailed, 9-5.
In a rematch of last year's semifinals, Bunch met Mack Reiter of Minnesota, the number four seed, in the third place match. Bunch jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period thanks to a takedown midway through the period. He upped the lead to 3-0 with the quick escape to start the second period, then went up 5-1 on a takedown at 1:19. Reiter made it 5-1 with an escape with a minute left.
Bunch recorded his third takedown of the match at 1:33 of the third period. A Reiter escape was negated by 2:08 of riding time for Bunch, as he captured third place with an 8-2 decision.
A two-time All-American, Bunch concludes the season with a 40-2 record, tied for sixth in season wins. He ends his career with a 132-24 record, tying Matt King for fourth place in career wins. In addition, Bunch and King are the only Edinboro wrestlers to win 40 matches in a season more than once.
"What Shawn did was the hardest thing in sports," Flynn pointed out. "He had his dream shattered. He came back and beat two good kids. "
Penn gained some revenge for Edinboro with a wild 15-10 win over Oregon's Joey Bracamonte in the consolation semifinals. A year ago Bracamonte won by fall over Nate Yetzer at Nationals. This time it was Penn jumping to an 11-0 lead and then hanging on against the tough Duck.
Penn led 8-0 after one period, with a takedown at 2:36, followed by three near fall points at 1:00, and again at the 36-second mark. The lead went to 11-0 when Penn turned Bracamonte for three back points at 56 seconds. Almost immediately Bracamonte began his comeback with a reversal, ending the period at 11-2.
Bracamonte registered a takedown at 1:29 of the third period to pull to within 11-4, then cut Penn loose. Another takedown resulted in two back points to make it 12-8, with a Penn escape bringing the score to 13-8 with a minute left. Penn gave up another takedown at 45 seconds to make it 13-10, and was also injured in the process. He escaped to make it 14-10, and had a 2:29 riding time advantage.
The rib injury, however, forced Penn to injury default in the third place match against American's Muzaffar Abdurakmanov. Even still, Penn picked up a fourth place finish in his second trip to Nationals. He finishes the year with a 33-11 ledger.
"I've always said Deonte can beat anybody, he just needed to eliminate mistakes," commented Flynn. "If you ask me if I'm shocked (at his performance), no. When he's consistent, he's tough and he was consistent all weekend."
Gillespie, the seventh seed at 165 lbs., and Bunch became just the second tandem to win 40 matches in a season, joining Matt King and David Shunamon in 2002-03. In addition, Gillespie tied Bunch and several others in sixth place in season wins with 40. The 40th win capped an impressive freshman campaign, as he won by fall over Central Michigan's Mark Disalvo, the number five seed, at 6:22. It was his third fall at Nationals.
After a scoreless first period, Gillespie gave up a reversal to go down 2-0 at the 1:29 mark of the second period. He answered with a reversal of his own with 46 seconds left in the period, along with two back points for a 4-2 lead after two periods. Starting on top to begin the third, he rolled Bracamonte on his back for his third fall at Nationals and his sixth of the season.
Gillespie becomes the first true freshman at Edinboro to earn All-American honors, and set a freshman record for wins while going 40-4.
"Gregor's been doing that all year," noted Flynn. "Hopefully he builds on this and can be in the finals next year. He came in as a freshman and slammed him today. You look, and he lost to (Ty) Eustice, who's a fifth-year senior, and (Jonathan) Masa, who I believe wrestled for the Puerto Rican Olympic team, and could also be a fifth-year senior. He lost to two older guys. He didn't want to end the season on a sour note."
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