February 17, 2004
Bald Eagles Round Out EWL Schedule With Clarion, Bloomsburg

A LOOK AT CLARION: 
       The Golden Eagles of Clarion University are 3-8 overall and 1-5 in the EWL, last falling to Cleveland State University, 20-14. Clarion’s sole victory in the league came against Virginia Tech, 24-15. 
     The Golden Eagles have four wrestlers with 20 wins or more headlined by Frank Edgar at 141 pounds. Edgar, the 2004 PSAC champion, is 33-5 on the season. 
     Clarion’s 125-pounder Peter Derstine, now a senior, has a 27-10 overall ledger. The Golden Eagles also front a powerful duo at 157 and 165 pounds with Chris Horning, this past week’s EWL Wrestler of the Week, and Jeremy Reitz. Horning is 21-7 on the season while Reitz is 20-14. 

**InterMat rankings.

      A sophomore, Louis Russo, and a freshman, T.J. McCance, fill in the lineup at 133 and 149 pounds. Russo is 2-7 on the season and McCance is 10-14.
    Junior Aaron Wright sports a winning record of 16-12 at 174 pounds. Backing up Wright could be Marcus Surin, a sophomore with a 2-4 overall mark.
      At 184 pounds, Clarion mats red-shirt freshman Kyle Cathcart. Cathcart is 9-14 overall. Sophomore Charlie Cilinski (2-17) will wrestle at 197 pounds, while freshman Matt Wilcox (7-10) will vie for the points at heavyweight.

A LOOK AT BLOOMSBURG: 
      The Huskies of Bloomsburg University are 7-7 overall and even at 3-3 in the EWL after scoring a 23-17 win against Cleveland State in most recent league action. Bloomsburg, led by second year head coach Dan Wirnsberger, also defeated Clarion (23-12) and Virginia Tech (22-18), while suffering losses to EWL opponents Pittsburgh (41-3), West Virginia (32-7) and Edinboro (28-16). 
      The Huskies are led by 197-pounder Chad Hoare. Hoare captured Bloomsburg’s only individual crown at the 2004 PSAC Championships and is currently 17-13 on the season. 
       Leading Bloomsburg in wins is Scott Heckman at 141 pounds with a 21-14 overall win-loss record including four pins. 
The remainder of the lower weight lineup includes two freshmen, Brian Sellers (15-18) at 125 pounds and Bryan Hart (18-10) at 133 pounds. Hart owns the team’s best dual meet ledger, good for a 9-3 mark in team head-to-head match-ups. 
Bloomsburg fronts Brad Forbes at 149 pounds. A sophomore, Forbes is 13-7 overall and along with Hart, shares the team lead with five wins by major decision. 
        The Huskies’ middle weight lineup consists of freshman Josh Loew, who is 6-7 in his first season of action at 157 pounds, and Ryan Garner, a senior, who is 11-16 while wrestling primarily at 165 pounds. Taking the mat at 174 pounds is junior James Bertulis (11-12) and freshman Nate Shirk is 17-12 at 184 pounds. 
        The heavyweight slot is filled by junior Aaron Ferrance (8-18) and possibly senior Ryan Chulada (15-12). 

Below is the LHU weight-by-weight preview:

125: Jim Collins (Jonestown/Northern Lebanon) looks to rebound after losing his last four match-ups since winning the PSAC title. Collins is now 15-10 on the season and 5-7 in dual meet action.

133: Dave Predko (Ridgway/Ridgway) won one of two bouts last weekend, beating West Virignia’s Seth Lisa, 4-3, to improve to 10-8 on the season. Predko has matched up earlier in the season against both of this week’s potential opponents, losing to Clarion’s Louis Russo, 7-5, in sudden victory at Mat-Town USA while defeating Bloomsburg’s Bryan Hart, 5-1, in the semifinals of the PSAC Tournament.

141: Junior James Barnes (Windsor, Conn./Windsor) is likely to stay at 141 pounds for the final week of competition after spending the earlier part of the season at 133 pounds. Barnes lost by technical fall to Pittsburgh’s Ron Tarquinio last weekend, dropping him to 9-10 on the season.

149: Ranked 15th in the nation after losing two tough matches in the past two weeks then suffering from the flu, Mike Maney (Clarence/Bald Eagle Area) is on the mend and ready to challenge for a few more regular season wins. Maney, now 27-5 overall, is 9-2 in dual meet action and still shares the team lead with seven wins by fall. Maney has not matched up with Bloomsburg’s Brad Forbes this season, but has seen Clarion’s T.J. McCance twice, defeating the Golden Eagle 3-1 at the West Virginia Open and 8-1 in the first round of the PSAC Championships. 

157: Haven wins leader Charlie Brenneman (Hollidaysburg/Hollidaysburg) is 28-7 after going 1-1 in last weekend’s dual meet action. Brenneman is also the Bald Eagles leader with seven wins by major decision. The senior grappler has recently wrestled both potential opponents, losing a 5-2 tie-breaker to Clarion’s Chris Horning in the second round of the PSAC Championships but bouncing back in the consolations to defeat Bloomsburg’s Josh Loew, 8-5. 

165: Jason Gilligan (Brookville/Brookville) has won five of his last six matches, raising his overall record to 14-8. Along with Maney, Gilligan leads Lock Haven with seven falls. This season, the senior Bald Eagle has matched up twice against Clarion’s Jeremy Reitz, losing by a 3-2 score each time. The first was a tiebreaker loss at the Mat-Town tournament and the second time was a regular decision in the PSAC championship semifinals. 

174: Ryan Summers (Plainwell, Mich./Plainwell) went 1-1 in action at 174 pounds for the Bald Eagles last week. The red-shirt freshman posted an 8-1 decision against West Virginia’s Doug Studenic before suffering 10-2 major decision against Pittsburgh’s Francis Iorfido. Summers is 10-8 on the season and 1-2 in dual meet action.

184: Senior Mike Greenberg (Canton/Canton) moved his overall ledger to 15-13 after splitting a pair of matches last week. Greenberg is currently 3-2 in EWL dual meets. He faced off against both potential opponents at the PSAC championships, defeating Clarion’s Kyle Cathcart 6-2 in the first round and Bloomsburg’s Nate Shirk by a 9-0 major decision in the consolation bracket.

197: Red-shirt freshman Carlos Ponce (Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah Miami Lakes) is now 8-15 on the season. Ponce is familiar with one of two of this week’s opponents, losing a close 7-4 decision against Bloomsburg’s Chad Hoare in the first round of the conference championships.

HWT: Steve Itterly (Bethlehem/Nazareth), now 10-14 overall, is questionable for this week after re-injuring his knee in the Pittsburgh match. Tim Meyers (Mill Hall/Central Mountain) could fill in at heavyweight for the Bald Eagles. Meyers is 2-6 this season.

UP NEXT: Up next for the Lock Haven wrestlers is the 2004 EWL Championships from March 6-7 at Bloomsburg University. 

###LHU###