Fittery, Nauman, Wilson Advance to Semifinals at 2008 NCAA Division II East Region Wrestling Championships
Feb. 29, 2008
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Sophomore Steve Fittery (Denver/Cocalico), red-shirt senior Dan Nauman (Middletown/Middletown) and red-shirt junior Jake Wilson (Carlisle/Carlisle) all advanced to the semifinals in their respective weight classes to lead the Shippensburg University wrestling team to a seventh place showing after the first day of the 2008 Division II East Region Championships being held at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
As a team, the Red Raiders have totaled 24.0 points and are currently tied with UNC-Pembroke for seventh. Host UPJ currently leads the two-day tournament with a total of 59.5 points while Newberry is second with 53.5 points.
Fittery, the top-seed and returning champion at 141 pounds, won his only match of the day by fall in 5:12 over Brandon Bradley of UNC-Pembroke. It Fittery's 11th consecutive victory and third by fall this season, sending him to the semifinals where he will wrestle fourth-seeded Shane Valko of Pittsburgh-Johnstown on Saturday.
Earlier this season, Fittery defeated Valko in a dual match against the Mountain Cats at home on December 5. A victory will send Fittery back to the championship match for the second-straight year against the winner of third-seed Doug Surra of West Liberty State and second-seeded Tony Washington of Newberry.
At 157 pounds, the second-seeded Nauman posted his 13th victory in 17 matches since the new year, defeated seventh-seeded Dave Zeek of Kutztown, 8-6. It was the third victory in as many matches this season for Nauman against Zeek and the second in the last nine days. Back on December 8, Nauman won 10-6 over Zeek at the PSAC Championships to finish fifth.
Meanwhile, Wilson, seeded fifth at 165 pounds, edged out a 4-2 victory over fourth-seeded Alonso Azumendi of Newberry to advance to the semifinals for the second-straight year after advancing to the semifinals at 157 pounds a year ago. It was the fifth victory in seven matches at 165 pounds this season for Wilson.
In addition to having three wrestlers in the semifinals of the championship bracket, the Red Raiders also have two wrestlers still competing in the consolation bracket in red-shirt freshman Chris Barrick (Carlisle/Big Spring) at 174 and red-shirt sophomore Jon Hade (New Oxford/Bermudian Springs) at 184.
Seeded sixth at 174, Barrick lost for the third time this season to Albert Miles of UPJ, 4-2 in the second sudden victory period. Barrick has posted a record of 28-6 this season, but has yet been able to beat Miles. The result of Friday's quarterfinal match was the exact same as the last time the two met back on December 5 in a dual match at Heiges Field House.
Barrick also lost to Miles in the championship match at the W&J Open on November 4 at Washington & Jefferson.
Despite the setback to Miles, Barrick was able to rebound and post a 5-2 decision over Curtis Beardsell of Kutztown in the consolation bracket, setting up Saturday's match against seventh-seeded A.J. Sayles of Gannon.
Seeded sixth at 184, Hade went 2-1 on Friday to become the fourth Red Raider this season to reach 20 wins. The last time Shippensburg had four wrestlers with at least 20 wins was in 2006 when Corey Jacoby, Jake Lininger, current assistant coach Mark Murphy and Jamie Thomas all advanced to the 2006 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships.
That year, Jacoby, Lininger and Thomas all won East Region championships en route to helping the Red Raiders finish a school-best third at the national championships.
Hade opened competition with a 5-2 victory over Justin McEntire of UNC-Pembroke before falling to third-seeded Mike Corcetti of UPJ by major decision, 15-3 in the quarterfinals. For Hade, it was the fourth loss in four matches against Corcetti this season.
In the consolation bracket, Hade defeated Joe Kent of Belmont Abbey 10-4 and is just two wins shy of taking third place.
Other competitors for Shippensburg on Friday included red-shirt freshman Andrew Jones (Haverford/Haverford) at 125, freshman Gary Atiyeh (Whitehall/Whitehall) at 133, red-shirt junior Kirby Fanus (Mt. Holly Springs/Boiling Springs) at 149 and red-shirt freshman Jon Rhone (Chambersburg/Chambersburg) at heavyweight.
All four wrestlers went 0-2 in their respective brackets and were eliminated from this year's competition.
The 2008 East Region Championships conclude on Saturday beginning at 10:00 a.m. The top four wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships hosted by Upper Iowa University in Rapid City, Iowa March 14-15.
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