NCAA D-I QUALIFIER

Clarion=s NCAA Division I Wrestling team is ready for its "second season" as the Golden Eagles prepare to compete in the 32nd annual EWL (Eastern Wrestling League) Championships, which also serves as the NCAA Division I Qualifying Tournament for its seven league members.

The 2007 EWL=s will be hosted at Cleveland State University’s Woodling Gymnasium. Session 1 is set for 11am Saturday March 3rd and will feature quarterfinal action. Session 2 starts at 6pm on Saturday and features semifinal matches and round 1 of consolations. Session 3 starts Sunday March 4^th at 10am and will have the consolation semi=s, followed immediately by the consolation finals. Session 4 will feature the championship final matches starting at 4pm. A total of 32 wrestlers will qualify for the NCAA Tournament from the EWL=s including the top two finishers at each weight class and 12 wild card selections by vote of the head coaches.

Tickets will be available at the door.

"We’re looking forward to competing at the EWL’s," said Clarion first year head coach Teague Moore. "Hard work, patience and steady improvement have been our main goals this season. We’re really young with 5 freshmen and 6 first time EWL competitors, but we’re still looking at the EWL’s as a measuring stick to see how much we’ve been able to improve during the season. The competition will be very strong, but our goal is to try and qualify wrestlers to the to NCAA Division I National Tournament in March."

Clarion enters the EWL’s with an 7-13 dual record and an 0-6 mark in the EWL. Ready to represent the Golden Eagles will be Patrick Feeley (8-7, Fr., Johnstown, R.I.) At 125; Sal Lascari (21-11; So., Gray) at 133; Greg Lewis (15-12; So., New Providence) at 141; Hadley Harrison (21-16; Fr., McKean) at 149, Lucas Christopher (4-15; So., McMurray) at157; Mario Morelli (13-12; Fr., DuBois) at 165; Dominic Ross (14-13; So., Sharon) at 174; Scott Joseph (6-22; Fr., Export) at 184; Dixon Jordan (6-21; Fr., Cheverly, Md.) At 197 and A.J. Brooks (16-10, So., Lewes, De.) at heavyweight.

In 2006 at Edinboro, the Fighting Scots won their eighth team title in nine seasons in finishing first with 120.5 points, West Virginia was second with 110.5, Pitt third with 97, Bloomsburg fourth with 94.5, Cleveland State fifth with 82, Lock Haven sixht at 70.5 and Clarion seventh 29.5 points.

The 2005 EWL’s were hosted at Clarion’s W.S. Tippin Gym. Edinboro won the team title with 113 points, with Lock Haven second at 104 and Pittsburgh third with 98. Rounding out the field were fourth place West Virginia with 93, Bloomsburg fifth with 81 and Clarion and Cleveland State tied for sixth with 62 points.

The 2004 EWL Tournament, hosted at Bloomsburg, saw the most closely contended title race in league history. When the dust settled, West Virginia and Edinboro tied for first place with 99.5 points, while Pittsburgh was third with 97 points, Cleveland State fourth with 80.5, Bloomsburg fifth with 79, Clarion sixth with 70, Lock Haven seventh with 57.5 and Virginia Tech eighth with 44.5

The 2003 EWL Tournament, hosted by West Virginia, saw Edinboro win the team title with 129.5 points and West Virginia second with 123.5. Cleveland State finished a distant third with 80.5, Lock Haven fourth with 75.5, Pitt fifth with 75, Clarion sixth with 63.5, Virginia Tech seventh with 44.5 and Bloomsburg eighth with 44.

The 2002 EWL Tournament was won by West Virginia with 114.5 points, Edinboro second with 104.5, Lock Haven third with 104, Pitt fourth with 87.5, Cleveland State fifth with 67, Clarion sixth at 66, Virginia Tech seventh with 48.5 and Bloomsburg eighth with 41 points. The 2002 EWL’s were hosted by Lock Haven.

The 2001 EWL tournament was won by Edinboro with 123.5 points, with Lock Haven finishing second at 95, Pitt third with 94.5 and Clarion fourth with 87 points.

Edinboro has won or tied for first in eight of the last nine EWL Tournaments including titles in 2006, 2005, the tie in 2004, a win in 2003, and a string of four straight from 1998-2001. West Virginia tied for first in 2004 and won the title in 2002, while Lock Haven won in 1997, West Virginia in 1996 and Clarion won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 95.

Edinboro is the favorite. The Fighting Scots are ranked #6 in the nation with no other EWL team ranked in the top 25. If West Virginia or Bloomsburg could catch fire, one could mount a challenge if Edinboro falters. West Virginia and Bloomsburg were 4-2 in EWL duals, Cleveland State 3-3, Lock Haven and Pitt 2-4 and Clarion 0-6.

CLARION NOTES: Clarion has crowned 51 EWL champions since the league started in 1976... The Golden Eagles have crowned at least one individual champion in every year except 1983, 1989, 2000 and 2006 ... Clarion has three team titles including 1980, 94 and 95 ... Kurt Angle won 4 titles (1988. 1990-92) ... Charlie Heller (1980-82), Sheldon Thomas (1994, 96, 97) and John Testa (2001-2003) are the only other Clarion wrestlers to win three EWL individual titles since the league began in 1976... The NCAA=s are in Detroit, Michigan March 15-17... TV Coverage of the EWL’s are scheduled as follows: "SPORTSTIME OHIO - March 8 - 10pm; March 13 - 10:30pm; March 15 - 4pm; March 18 - 6:30pm; March 19 - 4pm; March 22^nd - 5pm; CSTV - March 12 - 9pm; FSN PITTSBURGH - March 11 - 1:30pm and March 16 - 1PM.

Here’s a look at the 2007 EWL’s by Weight Class - Rankings are lowest registered between Intermat and AWN Magazines:

WEIGHT CLASS PREVIEW:

125 - Lock Haven’s # 10 Obenson Blanc (28-5) is the defending champion from 2006, while 2005 champion #11 Mike Sees (27-4) also returns setting up a potential battle of champions. Blanc defeated Sees in this year’s dual meet 8-2, and defeated Sees in the EWL finals last year 7-3. Sees topped Blanc 10-5 in the PSAC finals in 2007. Also vying for a top placing are CSU’s Ryan Riggs, Edinboro’s Eric Morrill (14-13), Pitt’s Brad Gentzle (13-12) and Clarion’s Patrick Feeley. Gentzle was third at EWL’s last year.

133 - Pitt’s #13 ranked Drew Headlee (20-7) hopes to be in the finals after sitting out last season and finishing third in 2005. He earned All-America status in 2005 with an 8^th place NCAA showing. Also looking tough here will be Edinboro’s Ricky Deubel (24-9), Bloom’s Ricky Donald (22-9) and Cleveland State’s David Armstrong. Armstrong was third here last year and Donald fifth. Also making this a very tough weight class will be Clarion’s Sal Lascari (21-11), Nick Hyatt of Lock Haven and Mark Anderson of West Virginia.

141- WVU’s #5 ranked Brandon Rader (16-1) returns as defending EWL champion and placed 6^th at NCAA’s a year ago. A host of wrestlers will be battling for places from second through sixth and they are Cleveland State’s Mike Hurley (3^rd last year), Clarion’s Greg Lewis (15-12; 6^th last year), Bloomsburg’s Darren Kern (25-11), Edinboro’s Daryl Cocozzo (14-11), Pitt’s Joe Ciampoli (12-13) and Lock Haven’s Zach Kell (10-12).

149- Edinboro’s #5 Gregor Gillespie (27-2) is the defending champ and favorite here. Gillespie was 7^th at the NCAA’s last year. West Virginia’s talented Dave Jauregui (18-3) defeated Gillespie 10-9 in the dual meeting though and could lay claim to the title. Pitt’s Joey Ecklof (5-6) was fourth last year, while Bloomsburg’s Matt Moley (23-10), Ryan Hurley of Cleveland State, Clarion’s Hadley Harrison (21-16) and LH’s Donnie Ament (11-13) are all vying for the awards stand. Hurley was 5^th here last year and 3^rd in 2005. This may be one of the most competitive weight classes at EWL’s.

157- The most talented weight class features returning 2006 EWL 3^rd place finisher #12 Matt Hill (28-3) of Edinboro, battling it out with 2006 runner-up #8 ranked Seth Martin (32-5) of Lock Haven, Pitt’s #9 Matt Kocher (20-6), who was 6^th in 2005 and Cleveland State’s Victer Crenshaw, who was fifth here in 2006. Also making this an outstanding field are WVU’s Zach Fryling (19-5; 3^rd at 165 in 2005) and Bloomsburg’s Dennis Bermudez (22-15). Clarion will have Lucas Christopher. Martin defeated Hill 5-1 in the PSAC finals earlier this season, while Hill defeated Martin 6-1 in the dual. Fryling defeated Hill 3-2tb this season, Bermudez defeated Martin 9-7 ot, Kocher defeated Bermudez 17-6 and Hill defeated Kocher 4-3. Should be fun here.

165- #8 rated Deonte Penn (30-2) of Edinboro should take first place honors here after finishing third a year ago. Penn went on to place 4^th at NCAA’s last year and was an EWL champion at 149-pounds in 2004. Throw a blanket over the rest of the field they are so close. Pitt’s Sean Richmond (20-11) was 6^th at 157 last year, CSU’s Marcus Effner was 5^th at 157 in 2005, Bloom’s Ricky Schmelyun (27-13), Clarion’s Mario Morelli (13-12), Landis Wright (22-10) of Lock Haven and Eric Connolly (5-9) of WVU can make it interesting. Morelli’s father, Pete Morelli, won an EWL individual crown in 1977 for Clarion at 118-pounds.

174- Pitt’s #2 Keith Gavin (21-3) will be the prohibitive favorite at 174-pounds having gone through the league with a 6-0 mark. Last year’s EWL winner Kurt Brenner (8-2) will try and get back to the finals to face Gavin, who defeated him in this year’s dual 9-4. Edinboro’s Phil Moricone (22-8) lost a 3-1 decision to Gavin and a 4-3 decision to Brenner this year. Watch LH’s Mike Metzger (11-9) who was 5^th at 184 in 2005, Clarion’s Dominic Ross (14-13), Andrew Jordan (15-15) of Bloomsburg and Nate Kmetz of Cleveland State.

184- Edinboro’s #7 Alex Clemsen (30-2) was second in 2006 and 2004 and third in 2003, but look sto take the gold medal in 2007. WVU’s Chance Litton (17-11) was fourth here last year and Bloom’s Nate Shirk (21-7) was fifth in 2006. Others to watch include LH’s Tom Kocher (16-12), Cleveland State’s David Gilkey, Kyle Deliere of Pitt (6-13) and Clarion’s Scott Joseph (6-22). Kocher was 5^th at 197 last year.

197- Returning EWL Champion #18 Jared Villers (23-5) of WVU is the favorite to repeat here, while Edinboro’s Jim Gibson (19-8), who was 4^th at 184 in 2005, applies the pressure along with CSU’s Chris Hahn. Lock Haven’s Jeremie Cook (15-13), Pitt’s Eric Cassidy, Bloom’s PJ Distefano (11-23) and Clarion’s Dixon Jordan (6-21) will look to place.

HWT- Heavyweight should be very competitive from top to bottom. Bloomsburg’s #11 Mike Spaid (30-5) is the returning champion, while CSU’s Rashard Goff returns as the runner-up. Clarion’s AJ Brooks (16-10) was fourth here last year, while 2005 EWL champion #19 Zach Sheaffer (25-10) is ready to come back in 2007 and challenge for his title. Edinboro’s Joe Fendone (23-8) is certainly capable of making the finals and West Virginia’s Dustin Rogers (15-5) has also had a strong season. Fendone was second at 197 last season. Someone here isn’t going home happy.