Clarion University wrestlers Peter Derstine (Sr. Coral Springs, Fl.) and Chris Horning (So. Syracuse, N.Y.) won individual titles at 125 and 157 pounds respectively, and the Golden Eagles qualified five wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Championships, with their performance this weekend at the 29^th EWL Championships.

Also earning NCAA qualifying spots were Matt Wilcox, who was third at heavyweight, and wild card selections Frank Edgar at 141 and Jeremy Reitz at 165.

Held at Bloomsburg’s Nelson Field House Saturday and Sunday, the team championship ended in a tie between West Virginia and Edinboro, who both ended the tournament with 99.5 points, while Pitt was a close third with 97.5 points. Cleveland State was fourth with 80.5 points, Bloomsburg fifth with 79 and Clarion finished sixth with 70 points. Rounding out the eight team field was seventh place Lock Haven with 57.5 points and Virginia Tech eighth at 44.5.

Derstine, seeded second, defeated WVU’s Casey Brewster 3-1 in the finals. He escaped to start the second period, then notched a takedown with 30 seconds left in the period and rode Brewster out to lead 3-0. Brewster escaped to start the third period, but Derstine stayed on the offense, and nearly took Brewster down twice in the final 40-seconds, keeping the Mountaineer off the scoreboard. The EWL title was Derstine’s first. He also defeated Edinboro’s Chris Pruden 12-4 in the opening round and Bloomsburg’s Brian Sellers 3-2 in the semi’s. He now has a season record of 32-9 and has a Clarion career mark of 87-48.

Horning, seeded third at 157, rallied to defeat WVU’s #8 ranked Matt Lebe 7-4 for the title. Lebe’s first period takedown and second period escape had him ahead 3-0 entering the third period. Horning scored a reversal early in the third, then cut Lebe loose for an escape and a 4-2 lead. Horning used a duck under for a single leg takedown with 23-seconds left, then with eight seconds remaining, used a power half to turn Lebe for a three-point near fall at the buzzer and won 7-4 with the crowd on its feet. He defeated Edinboro’s Eric Ring 6-0 in the opening round and used a takedown with 15-seconds left to defeat LH’s Charlie Brenneman 3-1 in the semi’s. He is now 24-8 this season and has a two-year mark of 40-27.

Both Derstine and Horning will be making their first trips to the nationals.

Wilcox meanwhile has really come of age. At the EWL’s he won his third place match convincingly by a 20-4, technical fall at 5:54 over Bloomsburg’s Ryan Chaluda. In the consolation semi’s he rode LH’s Steve Itterly the entire third period to win by the riding point 8-7. He opened the tournament by pinning Pitt’s Travis Shirley at 1:13, then was pinned in the semi’s by #9 rated Russ Davie (who won the title) at 1:07. Wilcox, a true freshman, has a record of 12-12 this season and was 3-1 at the EWL’s. Wilcox has put together a strong 9-3 in his last 12 matches.

Also earning his third trip to nationals was 141-pounder Frank Edgar (Jr. Toms River, N.J.), who finished fifth but received one of the seven coaches "wild card" choices to participate at nationals. Edgar was 2-2 at EWL’s, pinning Aaron Brown of Virginia Tech at 4:04, but lost 6-3 to WVU’s Joe Clarke in the semi’s and 9-4 to Cleveland State’s Anthony Coleman in the first round of wrestle backs. He took fifth when Edinboro’s Ron Doppelheuer injury defaulted to Edgar for fifth. Edgar has had a stellar season with a 36-7 record and was ranked 17^th entering the EWL tourney. Edgar was 1-2 at the NCAA’s in 2001 and 0-2 last year. He has a career record at Clarion of 80-44.

Earning his second trip to the NCAA’s is senior Jeremy Reitz (Brookville). He finished fifth on Sunday when he defeated West Virginia’s Zac Fryling 6-1 in his final match. He opened the EWL’s with a 6-2 loss to LH’s Jason Gilligan, then major decisioned Bloom’s Ryan Garner 13-4,, before losing to Pitt’s Zach Doll 5-0. Reitz was 22-17 this season and currently has a Clarion career with a mark of 68-48. He was 4^th at EWL’s in 2002 and 6^th in 2003. He went to the NCAA’s in 2002 and was 1-2 at 157 pounds.

Also a fourth place finisher was 174-pounder Aaron Wright (Sr. Coudersport). Wright was 2-2 at EWL’s and lost his battle for third against Cleveland State’s Matt Kallai 2-1, Kallai’s third period reversal was the margin of difference in the match. Wright gained the consi finals by defeating Bloom’s Jim Bertulis 3-2. He finishes his season with a 19-14 record.

Clarion had four wrestlers who were 0-2 at EWL’s and they were Louis Russo at 133 (So. E. Hampton, N.Y.), T.J. McCance (Fr. Butler) at 149, Kyle Cathcart (Fr. Clarion) at 184 and Charlie Cilinski (So. Gainesville, Va.) at 197.

Russo, a sophomore, was 0-2 at EWL’s. He opened the tournament with an 8-0 loss to eventual winner Jacob Gray (Edinboro) and then lost a 6-3 decision to Pitt’s Mike Ciotti. Louis finished the season with a 4-11 record.

McCance, a red-shirt freshman, was 0-2 at 149. He opened with a 3-0 loss to Mike Maney (LH), then lost 13-9 to WVU’s Mike Torriero. T.J. finished his first season with a record of 10-17.

Cathcart, a red-shirt freshman, was 0-2 at 184 pounds and finished his first year with a 10-16 mark. Kyle lost his opening bout to Edinboro’s Alex Clemsen 10-2, then lost his wrestle back match to Mike Greenberg (LH) by an 11-4 margin.

Cilinski, a sophomore, was 0-2 at 197. He opened with a 24-10 loss to WVU’s Matt Daddino, then lost 6-1 to Edinboro’s Mike LaBella. He finished the year with a 2-19 record.

CLARION NOTES: Clarion has had at least 1 EWL champion in 26 of the 29 EWL Tournaments... Only 1983, 89 and 2000 did Clarion not crown a winner... With 2 champs Clarion has 50 winners since the EWL first started in 1976... Pitt’s Drew Headlee, who was top seeded at 125, failed to make weight on Sunday morning and was disqualified from continuing... Pitt also lost his seven points he had earned until then, which ultimately, cost them the team title.... This was the first tie in the team race in league history... The previously closest EWL came in 1996 when West Virginia (122.5) topped Lock Haven (122) by half a point and third place Clarion was third at 119.5 ... In 1994 Clarion won the league title with 108.5 points, and second place Edinboro was 2 points behind with 106.5... The D-I Nationals are in St. Louis, Missouri on March 18-20... The teams and the number of qualifiers which make up the EWL’s 37 include West Virginia with 7, Edinboro, Pitt and Cleveland State with 6, Clarion with 5, Lock Haven 3 and Bloomsburg and Virginia Tech with 2 each.

1. (TIE) West Virginia 99.5

1. (TIE) Edinboro 99.5

3. Pittsburgh 97.5

4. Cleveland State 80.5

5. Bloomsburg 79.0

6. Clarion 70.0

7. Lock Haven 57.5

8. Virginia Tech 44.5