CHRIS HORNING EARNS ALL-AMERICA HONORS
                              CLARION FINISHES 33RD AT NCAA DIV. I WRESTLING NATIONALS
        Clarion’s Chris Horning (157 - Jr. Syracuse, N.Y. - Baldwinsville) placed 8th and earned All-America honors on Saturday, March 19th and the Golden Eagles finished 33rd in team scoring at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Nationals, capping a quality national tournament. Senior Frank Edgar (141 - Toms River, N.J.) narrowly missed being an All-American.
        Held at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Missouri, Oklahoma State won the team championship with 153 points, far outdistancing Michigan who was second with 83 and Oklahoma who was third with 77.5 points. Rounding out the top five were Cornell in fourth place with 76.5 points and Minnesota fifth with 72.5. Clarion, who had only two wrestlers at nationals, finished 33rd by scoring 12 points.
        Eighth year head coach Ken Nellis was very happy with Clarion’s performance at nationals. “I thought Chris and Frank (Edgar) wrestled very well at nationals and that they represented the program extremely well over the weekend,” said Nellis. “We’re extremely happy that Chris was able to come home as an All-American, and feel disappointed for Frank (Edgar) that he missed being an All-American by one win. He’s an outstanding person and a dedicated athlete who had a great career here.”
        Horning, a junior 157-pounder, was seeded #11 at his weight class and opened the nationals with with a 2-0 win over Brad Cieleski of Missouri. In second match he lost a tough 4-3 decision to #6 seed Trent Paulson of Iowa State. Horning led until 14-seconds left when Paulson gained his match winning takedown.
        In the wrestle backs Horning caught fire. He opened with a technical fall win (18-2 @ 6:10) over Tony Hook of Oregon State, then posted a major decision (10-2) win over Oklahoma State’s Kevin Ward, who was the Big 12 champion. In his match for All-American honors Horning defeated Travis Picard of Citadel 10-6, before losing by fall at 4:03 to Brandon Becker (Indiana). In that match Horning led in the second period before the fall. Then, in his final match, he lost a 6-5 decision to #7 seed Matt Lebe of West Virginia 6-5.
        The All-America placing was the first for Horning at Clarion. His 4-3 nationals record gave him a final season record of 30-8 and a career record of 72-37. In 2005 Horning won the PSAC title, was runner-up at EWL’s and 8th at nationals. In 2004 Horning posted a 1-2 record at nationals while winning an EWL title and placing second at PSAC’s at 157 pounds.
        Edgar finished a stellar career at Clarion at 141-pounds and narrowly missed an All-America placing. Seeded #9 at nationals, Edgar opened his tournament with an impressive 10-2 major decision win over Alex Tsirtsis (Iowa). In the second round Edgar defeated Pitt’s #8 seed Ron Tarquinio 4-2. In the quarterfinals Frank lost a 10-5 decision to #1 seed Nate Gallick of Iowa State and dropped back into the wrestle backs. Also the All-America round, Edgar went into double overtime before losing 6-4 to Indiana’s #12 seed Cassio Pero. The loss left Edgar with a final season record of 40-9 and a career record of 120-55. In 2005 Edgar was a PSAC and EWL champion and his 40 wins tie him for the 6th most single season wins of all-time. A 4-time NCAA D-I Qualifier, his 120 career wins place him 11th on the all-time win list with the Eagles.
        CLARION NOTES: Horning’s All-America placing gives Clarion 43 All-Americans in their rich tradition ... Clarion now had a match record at nationals of 6-5 and now has a 39-year nationals match record of 310-268... Clarion also has 8 NCAA Champions ... The titles came in 1972 (Garry Barton, Wade Schalles), 1973 (Don Rohn, Wade Schalles, Bill Simpson), 1990 Kurt Angle, 1992- Kurt Angle and 1996 Sheldon Thomas... At the Finals Ceremonies on Saturday, former Golden Eagle great Wade Schalles was the awards presenter at 133 pounds ... He was honored in pre-match ceremonies for his election to the 75th Anniversary All-Time team for Collegiate wrestling ... Schalles and teammate Kurt Angle were named to the team on Friday afternoon in ceremonies held at Union Station, just two blocks away from the Savvis Center ... Former Eagle head coach Bob Bubb, was also an awards presenter at 197-pounds on Saturday night ... The NCAA honored Bubb for being named for induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame... Bubb will be inducted at Stillwater, Oklahoma on June 4th, 2005... Coach Nellis’ teams at Clarion have finished 24th at NCAA’s in 1998, 27th in 1999, 26th in 2000, 42nd in 2001, 41st in 2002, 26th in 2003, 55th in 2004 and 33rd in 2005 ... Clarion finished the regular season with a dual meet record of 3-13-1 ... Nellis’ eight-year record is 47-72-3... The EWL had 5 All-Americans including NCAA Champ Greg Jones (WVU) at 174, NCAA runner-up Shawn Bunch (Edinboro), Pitt’s Drew Headlee was 8th at 133, and Horning and Lebe (WVU) at 157.