No. 10 Cortland State at Empire Collegiate Conference Championship
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Cortland captured three individual titles and placed third out of eight teams at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) Championships on Saturday at Lycoming College.
The Red Dragons compiled 93 points without many of their top wrestlers. Ithaca won the team title with 130 points, followed by Brockport (98), Cortland, Oneonta (86.5), Lycoming (80), RIT (54.5), Alfred (32) and Oswego (20.5).
Junior Lou Puca, ranked seventh nationally at 174 pounds, fourth-ranked sophomore Joe Giaramita at 197 pounds and ninth-ranked junior Lance Moore at 285 lbs. each won his respective weight class to lead 11 Cortland wrestlers who earned top-six finishes.
Puca posted a 4-0 record that included a 10-0 major decision against Brockport's Peter Hailer in the semifinals and 2-0 decision against Oneonta's Danielle Graff in the championship bout. Puca raised his record to 23-7 on the season. Giaramita improved to 24-5 overall by compiling a 3-0 record. He reached the title match with a 4-1 decision against Oneonta's Chad Obzud and defeated nationally third-ranked Brockport's Paul Glover 3-1 in the championship bout.
Moore also went 3-0 to earn his title, improving to 19-3 on the season. He went to overtime twice to claim his title, besting Brockport's John Wilkinson 2-1 in an overtime tiebreaker in the semifinals and defeating Shane Bartrum of Ithaca 4-2 with a takedown in the second sudden-victory period.
No. 6 Wilkes at Will Abele Invitational
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- Wilkes scored a total of 104.5 team points on way to second place at the 2014 Will Abele Invitational held on the campus of Ursinus on Saturday afternoon.
The Colonels wrestled at least one wrestler at each of the10 weight classes garnering nine top four finishers including the 285 lb. champion Nick Dawson. Host Ursinus took the team championship with 140 team points, while Wisconsin-Platteville followed Wilkes in third place with 70.5 total points
Dawson began the day with a 5-1 decision before pinning his next opponent in 2:30 to reach the finals. There he would meet teammate Matthew Transue who scored two falls and a major decision in the semifinals to reach the title bout. Dawson claimed the title with a medical forfeit in the championship match.
Levi Veppert posted a second-place finish at 184 lbs. falling in the finals to Ursinus' Daniel Manganaro. Veppert used an 8-6 decision in the quarterfinals and a 12-2 major decision in the semifinals to reach the championship bout.
No. 8 Messiah vs. Waynesburg
WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- Following up a dual-meet win on Friday, the Falcons defeated Heidelberg (25-12), Waynesburg (27-13), and Penn State-DuBois (48-3) at a quad-match hosted by Waynesburg to go 3-0 for the day. The results bring Messiah's overall duals record to 17-2 for the season.
As the matches always do, the 125-pounders started things off and Messiah's Lucas Malmberg collected the day's first pin against Heidelberg's Delian Schneider (6:34). Malmberg also won his second match against his Waynesburg opponent with an 8-4 decision. He is currently tied for second on the team for the most wins this season.
Kyle Coblentz also went 2-0 for the day but did so by the slimmest of margins with a 2-0 decision against Heidelberg's Justin Kihn. However, Coblentz kept his second opponent scoreless as well with a 6-0 decision.
Current wins leader on the Falcons' team this season and No. 1 ranked Kaleb Loht continued his streak with two wins on the day. Loht first collected a major decision (10-0) against Heidelberg and later a pin (1:52) against his Waynesburg adversary.
