KUTZTOWN, PA (February 5, 2010) - The Kutztown University wrestling team continued its magical season with a 32-9 win over Mercyhurst on Friday night at Keystone Arena. (Match Results)
The win is the 16th of the season to give the Golden Bears the new single-season school record, surpassing the former record of 15 set by Al Zellner in 1986-87 and Rob Fisher in 2001-02.
“It is a long standing record,” said Fisher. “It's great and we are going to pile onto that record. Our guys have really wrestled strong over the years and this season they started to believe in themselves. Now we know that we are really a team to be afraid of, our goal is to finish in the top 10.”
With Chris Sheetz (Barto, PA/Upper Perkiomen) leading off at 125 pounds, the contest began in familiar fashion with an early fall. He earned a pin in 25 seconds, marking his seventh consecutive win by fall. Sheetz success of late has contributed to the Golden Bears momentum of eight consecutive dual wins.
After Sheetz, the Golden Bears rattled off three consecutive decisions to build a 16-0 lead. Austin Williams (Pen Argyl, PA/Pen Argyl) (133 pounds) had an 8-2 win, while junior John Paukovits (Northampton, PA/Northampton) scored an 8-0 major decision with riding time. Brett Martinez (Slatington, PA/Northern Lehigh), at 149 pounds, narrowly edged Robert Blotzer by a score of 5-3.
The Lakers roared back, cutting the deficit to 16-6, before Tim Darling (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) clinched the match with a 12-0 major decision. Darling improved his record to 10-0 on the season, with all the wins but one being for bonus points.
Scott Snyder (Slatington, PA/Northern Lehigh) edged out Chris Nocchi 4-3 and Kevin Bolinski wrapped up the match with a fall at three minutes, 21 seconds.
Anthony Frost (West Reading, PA/Wyomissing) gave the hardest battle of the day for the Golden Bears, despite dropping his bout 10-4. Wrestling up two weight classes at 165 pounds, Frost had his hands full going up against NCAA Division II returning champion Josh Shields. Shields had his eyes set on a major decision with the score 8-2 in the third period, but a take down by Frost capped his strong effort.
“Frost just gave a heroic effort, he took a beating for awhile but wore his guy down,” said Fisher. “You could see the tide turning by the third period.”
The Golden Bears will return to action on Friday February 12 at 7 p.m. when they host York College at Keystone Arena.
