West Virginia 39 Clarion 4

WVU Wrestling: MountaineersGo 2-0 in League Play

CLARION, Pa. (January 22, 2011) – Four victories by fall allowed theWestVirginia wrestling team to build an early lead and earn a 39-4victoryover Clarion Saturday night at W.S. Tippin Gym. With the win,WVU went 2-0 over the weekend trip with its win overBloomsburg on Friday nightand improved its record to 6-4 overall, 2-0 inthe Eastern Wrestling Leaguewhile the Golden Eagles fell to 3-3, 1-1EWL. “We had verygood intensity tonight and a very competitive approach inevery match,” saysWVU coach Craig Turnbull. “I was very pleased with theeffort all the waythrough the lineup. It was one of our most completeefforts from the 125-poundclass through the heavyweights.

We did a greatjob out of the blocks.” SophomoreShane Young grabbed a quick 6-0 lead for the Mountaineers as hepinned Clarion’sThomas Gowing in 2:39 after earning an early takedown.Nathan Pennesi extendedthe lead to 9-0 with a 7-0 decision victory overGolden Eagle Devin Cook. WVU freshmanMichael Morales earned a victory by fall over Cameron Moranin 1:41 beforeredshirt senior Brandon Rader had a similar result,gaining a victory by fallin 6:23 to extend the Mountaineer lead to 21-0.The Golden Eagles cut the leadto 21-4 as No. 8 James Fleming picked up a13-2 major decision win over RyanGoodman. “Gettingthree falls in those first four weights was crucial for us,”Turnbull says.

“Donnie(Jones) also did a great job with his toughopponent.” With just tenseconds remaining in the 165-pound matchup, WVU’s DonnieJones earned atakedown to gain a 6-5 advantage over No. 29-ranked BekzodAbdurakhmonov tograb the decision win to increase the score to 24-4. WVU’s AlexMeade earned his first win as a Mountaineer by defeatingClarion’s ScottJosephy by a 2-1 sudden victory decision to increase thelead to 27-4 for theteam. At 184pounds, WVU’s No. 18 Matt Ryan defeated Steven Cressley to buildthe lead up to33-4 with a fall in 1:50. Senior Kyle Rooney beat hisfirst ranked opponent ofthe year with a 9-7 decision over Clarion’s No.30 Alex Thomas.

PhilipMandzik also picked up his second dual meet victory of the seasonwith a 4-3sudden decision win over Clarion’s Quintas McCorkle. “Alex isworking on his conditioning, but he hung in there and got thatdecision win forus,” Turnbull says. “It was also great to see Philip(Mandzik) get a win outthere. All the way through it was a good nightfor us.” TheMountaineers will compete next Saturday at Lock Haven with a starttime of 7p.m. -dw-

For additional information, contact: DanielWhitehead, WVU

WVU (6-4, 2-0) 39, Clarion (3-3, 1-1) 4
125: No. 19Shane Young (So., 22-6) won by fall Thomas Gowing (Jr., 2-9),2:39 6-0
133: No. 13Nathan Pennesi (r-Fr., 19-4) dec. Devin Cook (Fr., 7-9), 7-0 9-0
141: MichaelMorales (Fr., 13-7) won by fall Cameron Moran (Jr., 10-7),1:41 15-0
149: No. 31Brandon Rader (r-Sr., 8-7) won by fall Anthony White (Fr.,16-8), 6:23 21-0
157: No. 8James Fleming (So., 21-2) maj. dec. Ryan Goodman (r-Jr.,9-13), 2-13 21-4
165: DonnieJones (r-Sr., 12-3) dec. No. 29 Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Jr.,17-6) 24-4
174: AlexMeade (r-So., 1-2) SV dec. Scott Joseph (Sr., 8-14), 2-1 27-4
184: No. 18Matt Ryan (r-Jr., 14-4) won by fall Steven Cressley (So.,11-11), 1:50 33-4
197: KyleRooney (Sr., 7-7) dec. No. 30 Alex Thomas (So., 12-8), 9-7 36-4
HWT: PhilipMandzik (7-14) dec. Quintas McCorkle (Jr., 17-8), 4-3 39-4