Wrestlers Place Second at East Regional Tournament;
Valko Wins Title at 133 lbs. and Five Other Advance to Nationals
02/27/09...Shane Valko (133 lbs.) (Windber, Pa.) pinned top-seeded Joey Kemmerer (Kutztown) in overtime to win the title at 133 lbs. to earn Outstanding Wrestler honors and lead the Mountain Cat wrestling team to a second place finish at Saturday's 2009 East Regional Wrestling Tournament at Mercyhurst College. Pitt-Johnstown, which advanced six wrestlers to the NCAA Division II National Tournament on March 13-14, finished second behind Regional Champion Newberry (S.C.) College.
Valko posted a 4-0 record with three falls and a decision, including the fall over kemmerer at 7:32 to claim the championship at 133 lbs.
Adam Whetstone (141 lbs.) (Claysburg, Pa.) and Kyle Keane (165 lbs.) (Bradford, Pa.) both wrestled for the East Region championship in their respective weight classes, but finished second with 3-1 records. Whetstone and Keane both posted two decisions and a major decision.
Ryan McIntyre (149 lbs.) (Claysburg, Pa.), Patrick Walsh (197 lbs.) (Leesport, Pa.) and Chris Dempsey (HWT.) (Sewickley, Pa.) all finished third to secure spots at the National Tournament. Walsh and Dempsey reached the semifinals, before placing third, while McIntyre suffered a loss in the quarterfinals, but recovered to win his next three matches.
Scott Morgan (125 lbs.) (North Huntingdon, Pa.) and Zach Lundgren (174 lbs.) (Dubois, Pa.) each placed sixth, but did not advance to nationals. Morgan reached the semifinals at 125 lbs., before finishing with a 2-3 record. Lundgren also posted a 2-3 record after suffering an opening-round loss.
Mazen Kholi (157 lbs.) (Allentown, Pa.) and Jon Moore (184 lbs.) (Leechburg, Pa.) were both eliminated on Friday. Kholi was 0-2, while Moore won his first match, but then suffered two consecutive losses.
Newberry won the team championship with 135.5 points. Pitt Johnstown (108 pts.) was second, followed by West Liberty State (92 pts.), Gannon (80.5 pts.) and Mercyhurst (71 pts.). Kutztown (53 pts.) was sixth, while Carson-Newman (49 pts.), Shippensburg (47 pts.), Anderson (44 pts.) and Belmont-Abbey (44 pts.) rounded out the top-10 in the 15-team field.
The Mountain Cats travel to the 2009 NCAA Division II National Tournament in Houston, TX on March 13-14.