SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. -- The No. 8 Kutztown University wrestling team captured its share of the 2018-19 PSAC Division II Dual Championship with a 37-3 victory at Shippensburg to close out the regular season Thursday evening.

Fourth-ranked Andrew Dunn Jr. (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic (Virginia Tech)) tallied his 10th pin of the season at 285 lbs., sixth-ranked T.C. Warner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Bloomsburg)) recorded a technical fall at 174, and Joe Renne (Great Meadows, N.J./Hackettstown) (125) and Connor Rogovich (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) (165) each had major decisions for the Golden Bears, who won 9-of-10 bouts.

In the first season of a new championship structure within the PSAC that recognizes a Division I and Division II dual champion rather than a team champion based on the individual tournament-style PSAC Championships, Kutztown claimed its first conference team title of any kind.

The Golden Bears, No. 5 Pitt-Johnstown and Gannon will share the PSAC DII Championship after finishing with identical 6-1 league records.

With Pitt-Johnstown and Gannon having already wrapped up their share of the title last Friday, Kutztown (14-1 overall) knew it needed to do its part by defeating the Raiders.

Renne got the guests off to a desirable start with a 10-2 major decision over Julius Starkey in the 125 lb. bout. Jake Downing got Shippensburg (4-9, 0-7 PSAC) on the board with a decision at 133, but the Maroon and Gold won the remaining eight weight classes.

Anthony Petril (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby (Ursinus)) claimed his 15th victory of the season with a 6-2 decision against Cole Rush at 141 --the first of three straight decisions by the Golden Bears. Jake Jones (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) notched a 4-0 win over Colton Babcock at 149 and 12th-ranked Chad Haegele (Warrington, Pa./Archbishop Wood) extended his win streak to 17 matches with a 6-0 decision over Drake Brenize.

The Raiders hung around past the halfway point of the match by only yielding one bonus point in the first five weights, but that all changed starting with Rogovich's 18-7 major decision at 165 that pushed KU's lead to 17-3.

Sixth-ranked Warner remained undefeated (12-0) with a 17-0 tech. fall at 2:00 of the first period against Austin Klucker at 174 and top-ranked Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) followed suit by improving to 13-0 with a forfeit victory at 184.

A 7-3 decision for senior James Meyer (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) at 197 put the Bears up 31-3 and fourth-ranked Dunn Jr. authored his team-leading 10th pin of the season at 1:56 against the Raiders' Derek Berberick.

Kutztown's 14 dual victories are its most since a school-record 17 (17-4) in 2009-10 and tied for the fourth most in program history.

The Golden Bears will have a week to prepare for the NCAA Division II Super Region I Championships at Mercyhurst University on Feb. 22-23, where they'll look to qualify wrestlers for the NCAA Championships in early March.

 

#8 KUTZTOWN at SHIPPENSBURG Thursday, February 14, 2019 | Shippensburg, Pa. (Heiges Field House)
WT.		KUTZ	SHIP
125	Joe Renne (KUTZ) major dec. Julius Starkey (SHIP), 10-2	4	0
133	Jake Downing (SHIP) dec. Lucas Miller (KUTZ), 8-5	4	3
141	Anthony Petril (KUTZ) dec. Cole Rush (SHIP), 6-2	7	3
149	Jake Jones (KUTZ) dec. Colton Babcock (SHIP), 4-0	10	3
157	#12 Chad Haegele (KUTZ) dec. Drake Brenize (SHIP), 6-0	13	3
165	Connor Rogovich (KUTZ) major dec. Abner Thompson (SHIP), 18-7	17	3
174	#6 T.C. Warner (KUTZ) tech. fall Austin Klucker (SHIP), 17-0 (2:00)	22	3
184	#1 Jeff Reimel (KUTZ) won by forfeit	28	3
197	James Meyer (KUTZ) dec. Alexi Castro (SHIP), 7-3	31	3
285	#4 Andrew Dunn Jr. (KUTZ) pinned Derek Berberick (SHIP), 1:56	37	3