Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Wrestle-offs start the 2007-08 season

It's that time again when the weather turns cold and the wrestling heats up. Nearly 1800 fans filled Rec Hall Sunday to watch the Penn State Wrestling team decide the depth chart. Penn State enters the season ranked #11 in the preseason with 7 wrestlers individually ranked. Five returning starters have moved to different weight classes to help fill out Penn State's lineup. While most of the weight classes were foregone conclusions coming into the season 184 and 285 were wide open.

Both Phil Bomberger and Mike Ward split time at 184 last season and both eyed the starting spot. It was Bomberger that won out 4-1 in the first match and then 2-1 in the finals to claim the starting nod.

At 285, sophomore transfer Stefan Tighe beat true freshman Cameron Wade 7-3 to win the heavyweight title.

The only surprise upset was at 174 where Mark Friend beat Jack Decker 7-1 in the finals. Both Friend and Decker beat returning redshirt sophomore David Erwin who was ranked #11 in the preseason.

FINALS:
125: #11
Mark McKnight pinned
Desmond Moore, WBF (4:01)
133: Tim Haas dec. Mike Eagan, 9-3
141: Frank Molinaro dec. Adam Lynch, 8-3 (#7 Jake Strayer did not compete)
149: #7 Bubba Jenkins maj. dec. Shane Everett, 14-5
157: #12 Dan Vallimont dec. Tim Darling, 8-1
165: #16 Dave Rella pinned Micah Bollinger, WBF (5:33)
174: Mark Friend dec. Jack Decker, 7-1
184: Phil Bomberger dec. Mike Ward, 2-1
197: None contested, #2 Phil Davis only entrant at 197
HWT: Stefan Tighe dec. Cameron Wade, 7-3

Strayer was slightly injured and did not compete while Phil Davis was uncontested at 197. Penn State opens up the season by hosting Maryland this Sunday, Nov. 11, in a 1 p.m. dual in Rec Hall.

3 comments:

Nick said...

Were you in attendance?

Galen said...

No, but I will be this Sunday.

Anonymous said...

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Penn State Athletics with this image. As you can see, they list Wrestling as one of the sports for which you can listen to live game audio if you subscribe to Penn State All*Access. When I check gopsusports, they don't have any indication that you can listen to Sunday's match for free. Does this mean I won't be able to listen to the matches without paying? I really have no interet in paying a fee that is based on them thinking I care about stupid basketball just to be able to hear the wrestling matches. I can just imagine the b-ball specific spam I'd get if I signed up.