PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Off since December 22, the Golden Eagle wrestling team hits the mats again on Sunday, January 12, when Clarion travels to Pittsburgh to participate in the Pitt Duals at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse.
Clarion will wrestle a total of four matches on Sunday including a 10am bout against Davidson, an 11:30am dual against North Carolina State, a 1pm match versus Duke and a 2:30pm dual against North Carolina.
The Clarion – Davidson match at 10am can be heard live on the radio on WCCR-FM, 92.7 in Clarion, as well as on the internet at redzonemedia.com, with Rich Herman and John Stroup calling the action. Clarion, under second year head coach Troy Letters, enters the dual meet with a 4-6 overall record. The extremely young Golden Eagles, who have six freshmen in their lineup, opened the season with a 2-2 mark at the Eastern Michigan duals having defeated Campbellsville (34-3) and Tiffin (43-6), while losing to Northern Illinois (21-15) and EMU 26-15. The home dual season opened on Nov. 22nd with a 30-12 loss to Rutgers, then at the Journeyman Northeast Duals Clarion lost a 21-13 decision to #11 Virginia and rebounded for wins against Columbia (20-16) and Buffalo (34-7). On December 7th Clarion was fourth at the PSAC Championships, while on December 15 Clarion lost the EWL opener to Edinboro (40-3) and on Dec. 21 lost to #25 Rider (21-16).
Clarion’s lineup will likely have Jonathan Mele (10-10, Fr. Berkely Hts., N.J.) at 125, Sam Sherlock (11-7; Jr. West Mifflin) at 133, John Pezze (2-6; So. N. Huntingdon/Norwin) or Tyler Bedelyon (6-9; Sr. Lewistown) at 141, #18 Justin Arthur (17-4; Fr. Huntington, W.V.) at 149; #17 Austin Matthews (11-2; Fr. Greenville/Reynolds) at 157; Michael Pavasko (10-9; Fr. Munhall/Steel Valley) or Steven Nelson (5-6; Fr. Haddonfield, N.J.) at 165; Ryan Darch (10-10; Jr. Batavia, N.Y.) at 174; Dustin Conti (4-8; Fr. Jefferson/Jeffrerson Morgan) at 184, Daniel Sutherland (4-6; Jr. North Bellmore, N.y.) or Brandon Contreras (4-10; Sr. Rochester, N.Y.) at 197 and Evan Daley (11-8; Fr. Erie/Fort LeBoeuf) at 285.
Davidson, under the direction of head coach Bob Patnesky (9th season), enters the duals with a 2-4 dual meet record having defeated Anderson (42-9) and Belmont Abbey (31-6), while losing to Ohio State (42-6), George Mason (28-16), Sacred Heart (22-19) and Boston University (24-19). Top wrestlers include Donald Patrick (11-1) at 184, Kevin Birmingham (9-4) at 149, Philip Elias (4-2) at 125 and Anthony Elias (7-4) at 133.
North Carolina State, led by second year head coach Pat Popolizio, enters Sunday with a quality dual meet record of 7-1. The Wolpack feature wins against Buffalo (31-7), Binghamton (27-9) and Cleveland State (35-3) with its only loss coming against #7 ranked Illinois (26-15). Top wrestlers include #4 ranked Nick Gwiazdowski (22-2) at 285, #19 Pete Renda (15-5) at 174, along with Micah Perez (14-7) at 125, Sam Speno (14-3) at141, Brian Hamann (14-5) at 149, Thomas Gantt (19-6) at 157 and Nijel Jones (10-3) at 165.
Duke, led by second year coach Glen Lanham, has the Blue Devils coming to Pitt with a 1-3 dual meet record. Duke defeated Cleveland State 19-16, and lost 25-10 to Ohio State, 22-15 to Indiana and 27-7 to Purdue. The Devils top grappler is #19 ranked Conner Hartmann (7-3) at `197. Others to watch include Connor Bass at 149, Immanuel Kerr-Brown at 157, Trey Adamson at 174 and Jacob Kasper at 184.
North Carolina, under the direction of 11th year head coach C.D. Mock, has the Tar Heels at 2-4 in duals meets this season. UNC has defeated Wisconsin (24-21) and Binghamton (22-14), with losses coming against Old Dominion (25-6), Hofstra (25-15), Central Michigan (18-16) and Michigan State (22-19). The Tar Heels have two ranked wrestlers including #10 Nathan Kraisser (15-3) at 125 and #6 Evan Henderson (21-3) at 141. Also very tough are Alex Utley (13-7) at 184, Christian Barber (19-5) at 149 and Ethan Ramos (11-7) at 174.
CLARION NOTES: Clarion holds a 3-0 record against Davidson and a 1-0 mark against Duke (2003) … Also a 1-0 mark against North Carolina State (1992) and a 5-3 record against North Carolina…. Clarion defeated Davidson 36-15 in 2011, while losing to North Carolina 32-10 also in 2011… Clarion defeated Duke 34-11 in 2003 while also defeating North Carolina State 29-12 in 1992… Clarion travels to Bucknell on Jan. 18 to take on Brown and Bucknell.
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