Murphy, Groller, Fittery Win NCAA East Regional Titles
Feb. 24, 2007
PEMBROKE, N.C. - With senior Mark Murphy (Dillsburg/Northern York), red-shirt sophomore Jason Groller (Easton/Easton) and freshman Steve Fittery (Denver/Cocalico) each capturing individual championships, the Shippensburg Red Raider wrestling team rolled to a third-place finish at the NCAA East Regionals held North Carolina-Pembroke.
It is the second-straight season in which Shippensburg earned three first-place finishes. Last year, Corey Jacoby (197), Jake Lininger (285) and Jamie Thomas (125) won individual titles. Ship also captured three individual championships in 2000 with Kevin Bocella (184), Jeff Putt (125) and Brett Owen (149).
Along with Ship's three first-place finishes was red-shirt junior Darren Murray (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin), who battled through the wrestleback bracket to take fifth place at 133 pounds. Junior Peter Grodziak (Allentown/Parkland) grabbed a fifth-place finish, as well, and junior Dan Nauman (Middletown/Middletown Area) took sixth. Red-shirt sophomore Jake Wilson (Carlisle/Carlisle) also placed fifth and earned a spot in the NCAA Championships.
As a team, the Red Raiders earned 100 points, finish just ahead of fourth-place Newberry and behind second place Mercyhurst, which earned 113 points. Pitt-Johnstown took the team championships with 120 points.
While Murphy had two All-American honors and three NCAA Championship appearances to his credit, he entered the 2007 NCAA East Regionals looking for his first regional title. He finished second as a freshman and junior and fourth as a sophomore.
The No. 2 seed at 184 pounds, Murphy rolled into the semifinals Saturday afternoon and earned a 5-3 decision over sixth-seeded Pino Scavella of Gannon to reach the finals. His opponent in the championship round was a familiar foe; No. 1-seeded and the top-ranked wrestler in Division II Mike Corecetti of Pitt-Johnstown, who owned a 1-3 mark over Murphy including a victory in last year's East Region title bout.
Murphy, however, made quick work of Corecetti, pinning him in 53 seconds.
Groller, wrestling at 285 pounds, reached the semifinals via a pin of Rich Dlmas of Kutztown on Friday evening. Saturday afternoon, he registered a 9-4 win over third-seeded Cy Wainwright of Newberry to advance to the championship round.
He drew No. 4 seed Christopher Dempsey of UPJ, who had upset top seed William Moss in the semis. Groller, though, became the Shippensburg second-straight heavyweight champion as he defeated Dempsey, 9-5.
Fittery. at 141 pounds, reached the final round with a 12-8 win over UPJ's Shan Valko in the semis. The finals pitted the weight classes' top two seeds with Mercyhurst's J.J. Zanetta seeded No. 1 and Fittery No. 2. Fittery edged Zanetta by a 4-2 decision, and in the process, became the first Shippensburg freshman to win an East Region championship.
After falling to West Liberty's Matt Mossor in the semis of the wrestleback bracket, the unseeded Murray squared off against No. 3 seed Reimark Neidermeier of Belmont-Abbey and notched a 10-4 decision to take fifth place for Shippensburg.
Grodziak also reached the fifth-place match-up via pin in 4:59 over Gannon's Chris Wolski, but they fell to West Liberty's Chris Taylor before topping Mercyhurt's Trevor Gallo by a 3-2 score to take fifth.
No. 5-seeded Wilson, wrestling at 157 pounds worked his way through the wrestleback bracket into the fifth-place match and defeated fourth-seeded Adam Phillips of Belmont Abbey by an 8-1 decision.
The 149-pound Naumann also reached the fifth-place bout after falling to Joey Hegadorn of West Liberty in the wrestleback semis. Kutztown's Chris Chambers managed to edge Naumann in by a 7-4 decision.
With three Red Raiders advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships, it is the fifth time in the six-year tenure of Ship coach Don Tabar that at least one Red Raiders has qualified.
- Red Raider Wrestling -
