Red Raider Wrestlers Travel to UPJ for East Coast Duals Saturday

Jan. 18, 2006

Schedule

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - On Saturday, Jan. 20, the Shippensburg University wrestling team travels to the Sports Center on the campus of Pittsburgh-Johnstown to compete in the East Coast Duals, which is a two-day event that features several of the top teams and wrestlers in Division II.

While there will be two sessions on Friday beginning at 6 p.m., Shippensburg is scheduled to compete in all four sessions on Saturday, with action beginning at 9 a.m. against Division III Delaware Valley. Each session is comprised of five dual meets.

After taking on Delaware Valley, the Red Raiders will face two of the six nationally ranked teams competing in this weekend‚s events over its final three duals. Newberry, who Shippensburg wrestles at 11 a.m., is ranked 12th, while Ship's 1 p.m. opponent, Carson-Newman, is ranked 14th. The Red Raiders close competition at 3 p.m. against Limestone.

Other nationally ranked teams in attendance include No. 5 Pitt-Johnstown, No. 15 West Liberty, No. 17 Mercyhurst and No. 20 Kutztown.

There will also be 19 nationally ranked individual wrestlers, including Pitt-Johnstown's No.1-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds, Mike Corecetti.

Shippensburg's lone ranked wrestler is senior 184-pounder Mark Murphy (Dillsburg/Northern York), who enters this weekend‚s competition with a 6-5 record. He will face No. 4-ranked Nate Jones from Carson Newman Saturday afternoon.

The Red Raiders' wins leader, 141-pound freshman Steve Fittery (Denver/Cocalico), has a 19-5 record this season. He won all three of his matches, including two by fall while wrestling at 141 pounds for the first time last week at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. This weekend, he will take on Newberry's Tony Washington, who is ranked sixth in the nation.

Red-shirt sophomore heavyweight Jason Groller (Easton/Easton) brings a 5-1 record into this weekend‚s duals, and red-shirt sophomore Rick Mascino (Philadelphia/North Catholic), wrestling at 174 pounds, is 10-8 this season, including 4-2 in duals.

Currently, the Red Raiders are 3-3 in dual meets and are looking to improve upon its 0-2 performance in the National Duals last week. Shippensburg hosted the East Coast Duals in 2006 and posted a 4-1 record.

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