Wrestling Starts Season at ESU Open, Placing Four

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Lock Haven University wrestling team got off to a promising start Saturday (Nov. 20), placing four wrestlers at the East Stroudsburg Open. Junior B.J. Mikeska (Derry, Pa./Bloomsburg University) led the way, finishing third at 165.

In the 38^th annual running of the meet, featuring grapplers from 40 teams, Mikeska, wrestling unattached, earned an 8-2 decision over Penn State University’s Phil Bomberger in the third-place bout.

Also earning places for the Bald Eagles were junior Seth Martin (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) in sixth at 157, freshman Rory McCoy (Hughesville, Pa./Hughesville) in seventh at 165 and junior Jim Collins (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) in eighth at 133.

Also wrestling unattached, Martin topped teammate Brian Hoover (Halifax, Pa./Halifax) in one of his five victories on the day, eventually falling by medical decision in the fifth-place match. McCoy looks to make 165 one of the deeper weights for the Haven, as he downed Princeton University’s Charlie Wiggins 8-3 to win seventh place.

Competing for the first time at 133 after winning the 2003-04 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title at 125, Collins, another unattached matman, ended Mike Anderson of Bloomsburg University’s four-match win streak by a 17-7 mark before falling by medical decision in the seventh-place bout.

McCoy was the top attached wrestler for the Bald Eagle program, joined by freshmen Brian Ellis (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and Clint Shirk (Julian, Pa./Bald Eagle Area) who each went 4-2. Shirks’s day included two wins by pinfall.

Mikeska, Martin, McCoy, Collins, Hoover, Ellis, Shirk and the rest of the Bald Eagles begin their dual-meet schedule Monday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. as they host Millersville University in the Thomas Field House.