Recap

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Pitt-Johnstown wins NCAA Division II East Regional Title 

KUTZTOWN, PA – Pitt-Johnstown won its fourth-straight NCAA Division East Regional Wrestling Championship at Kutztown University Saturday afternoon. 

            UPJ, which has won nine of the last 10 team titles, scored 136 points.  Mercyhurst came on strong to finish second with 119, followed by West Liberty State with 97.5.  Gannon (86.5) and Shippensburg (80) rounded out the top five.  The host Golden Bears of Kutztown scored 68.5 points, while Anderson (45.5) was seventh, followed by Newberry (43), Limestone (35), UNC-Pembroke (31.5), Belmont-Abbey (10) and American International (0.5). 

            A total of 40 bids to the NCAA Championship were awarded to the top four finishers in each weight class. 

             Pitt Johnstown, under regional coach of the year Pat Pecora, claimed four individual titles.  Leading the way was outstanding wrestler and defending national champion Thad Benton, who defended his regional crown at 141 pounds.  Brandon Reasy won the 133 lb. bracket, Eli Garshnick won at 174 and Mike Corcetti won at 184.    Eight of the Mountain Cats’ 10 wrestlers earned bids to the NCAA Championships.  In addition to the four champions, also going to nationals are Zach Majocha (285), Albert Miles (165) Mike Fowler (197) and Joe Strittmatter (157).   

            Mercyhurst’s Will Tedder and Zach Schaffer won titles for the Lakers, winning at 157 and 165.  The Lakers will send six to nationals, including JJ Zanetta (141), Don Cummings (149), Hudson Harrison (174) and Lenny Calhoun (133).   

            West Liberty was shut out of the individual champions, but is sending five to nationals.  Matt Mossor (133), Tom Clark (174), Chris Taylor (197) finished as runners up, while Lucas Huffman (125), Chris Gibbs (184) and Justin Goneau (157) also placed in the top four.

             Ronald Paterniti won his third-straight title at 149 pounds to lead Gannon to fourth place.  He will be joined by two teammates at NCAAs – Anthony Sayles (165) and Brandon Monin (157).   

            Shippensburg grabbed three individual titles, including defending national Champion Corey Jacoby, who claimed his first regional crown at 197.  Jamie Thomas won at 125, while Jacob Lininger unseated defending champion Majocha of UPJ at heavyweight.  The Raiders will send five to nationals, including Mark Murphy (184) and Dan Nauman (149).

             Kutztown will send a school record five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, with runners-up Chris Chambers (149) and Kevin Kalbach (157) leading the way.  Brandon Clemmer (133) finished third, while Bret Wade (184) and Andy Freas (285) finished fourth.

             Other grapplers who qualified for nationals include Anderson’s Nick DiCarlo (141) and Darryl Scott (197); Newberry’s Quinn Tolbert (174), Kelly Anundson (285) and Alonso Azumendi (165); Limestone’s Daniel Clausing (125); UNC-Pembroke’s Willie Hilton (141) and Belmont-Abbey’s Chris Neidermeier (125).