Blanc, Medina Win PSAC Titles, Team Takes Fourth

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa.—On the strength of individual titles for both freshman Obe Blanc (Naples, Fla./Lely) and junior Joshua A. Medina (Las Vegas/Pima C.C.), the Lock Haven University wrestling team took fourth place at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament tonight, hosted by East Stroudsburg University.

Blanc and Medina both won their first individual PSAC titles, as they are newcomers to the PSAC meet. Also winning places for the Haven were Seth Martin (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) in third, Matt Fittery (Denver, Pa./Cocalico) in fourth, Rory McCoy (Hughesville, Pa./Hughesville) and Mike Metzger (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin) in fifth, and Morgan Horner (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J./Hasbrouck Heights) in sixth.

Bloomsburg University took the individual title, followed by Edinboro University, ESU and Lock Haven.

125: Blanc, scored a 15-5 win over Edinboro’s Greg Sill on Friday. Blanc topped ESU’s Roberto Ramos 11-7 before handing Bloomsburg’s Mike Sees his first loss of the season by an 8-7 ledger. Blanc scored a takedown in the final seconds of regulation to get the win.

133: Junior Jim Collins (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) suffered a tough 5-2 defeat at the hands of Clarion University’s Chris Lape before rebounding with a dominating 16-0 tech fall of Millersville University’s Dave Roberts. Collins then lost in a first-period fall to Kutztown’s Nicholas Nauroth.

141: Fittery scored a fall at 4:30 over Millersville’s Cody Becker. He then dropped a tough 9-4 decision to No. 10 Frank Edgar of Clarion University. Fittery rebounded with a 12-8 win over Shippensburg’s Joe Provini before losing by fall to Edinboro’s J.T. Taylor in the third-place bout.

149: Medina, posted a 16-5 major win over Slippery Rock University’s Jacob Zeoli on day one. He then got a pair of convincing wins, 21-8 over George Hickman of Bloomsburg and 13-7 over Mark Smith of East Stroudsburg.

157: Martin picked up the squad’s third major victory Friday in an 11-2 decision of ESU’s Keith Kleckner. After being edged by Edinboro’s Matt Hill 3-2, he rebounded with a 10-6 win over Slippery Rock University’s Cory Mancuso and then a pinfall victory over Bloomsburg’s Chris Tate in the third-place match.

165: McCoy battled for a 6-2 loss to Keith Smith of East Stroudsburg. After a win by medical forfeit and a 9-6 loss to Marcus Surin of Clarion, McCoy hit for a first-period fall in the fifth-place bout over Gerald Christian.

174: Sophomore Carlos Ponce (Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah Miami Lakes) fell victim to a 7-6 decision by Shippensburg University’s Kyle Skinner in the pigtails, later dropping by fall to Ryan Wasser of Kutztown.

184: After competing at 197 for the last few weeks, Metzger made the switch to 184 with a win by default. He suffered a 4-2 loss to Jim Gibson of Edinboro followed by a loss by pin to Bloomsburg’s Jesse Hasseman on Saturday before edging Kutztown’s Roy Gecelosky 6-3 for fifth place.

197: In a class that provided optimism on day one and heartache on day two, Horner, a former national-qualifier who had yet to compete this season, pinned Millersville’s Jeremy Wampler in 1:11 on Friday. He then dropped the next three matches by medical default to finish sixth.

Hwt: Freshman Jamie Nagel (Shade Gap, Pa./Mount Union Area) dropped his first two matches on Friday, a pin by Kutztown’s Andrew Freas and a 6-1 decision to Clarion’s John Fager.