PA Crowns 2 NCAA Champs; Medals 14 Wrestlers at Division I Championships

Pennsylvania Wrestling once again proved itself superior on the National level with 5 finalists and 2 Champions. Many thought it should have been three Champions with defending Oklahoma State National Champion Jordan Oliver (Easton Area HS) falling short to redshirt freshman Logan Stieber from Ohio State (4-3) with a controversial no call on a takedown to end the match. Jordan and his OSU head coach John Smith were visibly upset following the match. At 125 LBS true freshman Nico Megaludis, a 3X State Champion from Franklin Regional HS, made it to the finals for Penn State but ran into returning NCAA runner-up and former NCAA Champion Matt McDonough of Iowa. The #10 seed Megaludis was unable to muster an upset, falling (4-1) to the #1 seed and 3x All-American.

PA’s biggest match came when two District 6 wrestlers collided in the 184 LBS finals when returning NCAA Champion Quentin Wright of Penn State (Bald Eagle Area HS) took on Cornell senior Steve Bosak (State College Area HS). Wright was a 2X PA State Champion winning gold in 2007 at 160 LBS and 2008 at 171 LBS. Bosak was a 2x State runner-up finishing 2nd in 2007 at 145 LBS and 2nd in 2008 at 160 LBS. It was a match PA fans wished there wouldn’t be a loser. Unfortuantly only one could be crowned NCAA Champion and that wrestler was Steve Bosak who took Wright down in OT after a scramble to win it 6-4. It was Bosak’s first NCAA Championship and Cornell’s second of the night. Ironically, both Penn State and Cornell finished the 2012 NCAA Tournament with 3 individual Champions, but Penn State won their 2nd straight NCAA Team Championship while Cornell finished in 4th.

At 174 LBS Penn State’s Ed Ruth (Susquehanna Township HS) got revenge from last season by dismantling Stanford’s Nick Amuchastegui by major decision (13-2). Amuchastegui knocked Ruth out of the Championship round last season in the same weight class so the victory was extra sweet for the PA District 3 native.

Overall PA performed extraordinary, but for those who followed the Tournament closely, it was nearly an all-out PA dominance had things gone slightly better. A total of 8 former PA wrestlers were within one win of All-American status. That may be a mute point, but it shows that PA wrestlers weren’t going 0-2 in the Tournament, they were battling their way through.

Among those 8 wrestler who came within one win of All-American status 6 were former PA State Champions…

At 125 LBS University of Pittsburgh wrestler Anthony Zanetta, a 2x PA State Champion from Keystone Oaks HS, lost 6-4 in OT to 8th place finisher Steve Bonanno of Hofstra.

At 133 LBS true freshman Zach Horan of Central Michigan University, a PA State Champion last season for Nazareth HS, fell 5-3 to 8th place finisher Steven Keith of Harvard. In addition, AJ Schoop from Edinboro University, a 2010 PA State Champion from Tyrone HS, fell (9-5) to 7th place finisher Zach Stevens of Michigan. Also a match away from earning All-American honors was University of Pittsburgh’s unseeded wrestler Shelton Mack from Meadville HS, who was a 3x PIAA State qualifier. Mack fell (6-1) to 4th place finisher Chirs Dardanes of Minnesota.

At 141 LBS Edinboro University’s Mitchell Port (Bellefonte HS), a 2010 PA State Champion, was downed (6-4) to 5th place finisher Michael Mangrum of Oregon State.At

174 LBS former Northampton Area HS star Jimmy Sheptock of the University of Maryland fell (5-1) to 8th place finisher Ryan DesRoches of Cal Poly.

At 184 LBS two former PA State Champions each were one win from earning All-American status with Central Dauphin product Tony Dallago, a 2009 Class AAA PA State Champion at 189 LBS and Jon Fausey (Line Mountain HS), a 2009 Class AA PA State Champion at 189 LBS, both falling short of a medal. Dallago lost to the #1 seed and 7th place finisher Joe LeBlanc from Wyoming (9-6) and Fausey lost (2-0) to 6th place finisher Ben Bennett of Central Michigan University.

Those 14 former PA wrestlers who did manage to bring home medals were…

125:

2nd Place:  Nico Megaludis (Penn State) of Franklin Regional HS

6th Place:   Nic Bedelyon (Kent State) of Indian Valley HS

 

133:

2nd Place:  Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) of Easton Area HS

 

149:

5th Place:  Tyler Nauman (Pittsburgh) of Middletown Area HS

6th Place:  Justin Accordino (Hofstra) of James M. Coughlin HS

 

157:

3rd Place:  Dylan Alton (Penn State) of Central Mountain HS

5th Place:  James Fleming (Clarion) of West Mifflin HS

8th Place:  Walter Peppelman (Harvard) of Central Dauphin HS

 

174:

1st Place:  Ed Ruth (Penn State) of Susquehanna Township HS

 

184:

1st Place:    Steve Bosak (Cornell) of State College Area HS

2nd Place:  Quentin Wright (Penn State) of Bald Eagle Area HS

 

197:

4th Place:  Matt Wilps (Pittsburgh) of Chartiers Valley HS

8th Place:  Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) of Delaware Valley HS

 

285:

3rd Place:  Mike McMullan (Northwestern) of Wyoming Seminary Prep (Hometown is Easton, PA)