Barrick Wins 174 Title at East Stroudsburg Open, Fittery Fourth at 141

Nov. 17, 2007

Results

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Shippensburg University red-shirt freshman Chris Barrick (Carlisle/Big Spring) remained unbeaten in his first collegiate season, raising his record to 7-0 as he added six more wins on Saturday en route to winning the 174-pound championship at the 41st annual East Stroudsburg Open at East Stroudsburg University.

In addition, sophomore Steve Fittery (Denver/Cocalico), the 2007 NCAA Division II runner-up at 141 pounds, went 4-2 to finish in fourth place. Barrick and Fittery were the only non-Division I wrestlers to place in the top four of the 10 weight classes.

Barrick had an unbelieveable performance en route to becoming the fourth Red Raider to win an individual title in the last two years. In his six victories, he posted one fall and outscored his opponents 50-3, including 19-0 in the semifinal and championship match.

In seven matches this season, Barrick has totaled three major decisions, two falls and a technical fall while allowing just two of his opponents to register points.

Barrick began the day with a 16-0 tech fall against Josh D'Amico of James Madison University before pinning Rich Pelligrini of Wilkes University in 1:38. Both of Barrick's falls this season have come in under two minutes as he dispatched of York College's Jamie Arze in 1:22 on Wednesday. His closest contested match came in Saturday's third round when he edged Andy Geving of Columbia University 4-1.

In the quarterfinals, Barrick notched his second major decision of the day with an 11-2 victory over A.J. Brentzel of the University of Pittsburgh before blanking Andy Olsen of Harvard University 6-0 in the semifnals. Barrick posted his second-most convincing victory of the season in the championship match when he shutout Shane Mallory of host East Stroudsburg, 13-0.

Not to be outdone, Fittery raced out to four consecutive victories on Saturday, raising his season record to 5-0 before losing to Pittsburgh's Tyler Nauman in the semifinals at 141 pounds, 4-3. Ironically, Nauman is the younger brother of current Shippensburg red-shirt senior Dan Nauman (Middletown/Middletown). Nauman went on to finish second after losing 5-1 to Frank Molinaro of Penn State University.

Prior to his loss, Fittery had also posted some impressive victories with three consecutive major decisions and a fall in just 30 seconds over Luke Grassi. In the consolation bracket, Fittery lost 11-6 to Harvard's Corey Jantzen who was defeated by Molinaro in the semifinals.

A total of 17 wrestlers competed for Shippensburg on Saturday. In addition to Barrick and Fittery, the Red Raiders' performance was highlighted by three wins each from freshman Joey Anceraveage (Bloomsburg/Bloomsburg) at 149, red-shirt junior Kirby Fanus (Boiling Spring/Boiling Spring) at 149 and red-shirt sophomore Jon Hade (New Oxford/Bermudian Springs) at 184.

Anceraveage went 3-1 with three consecutive victories, including a major decision and fall, after a 7-6 opening loss to Cory Biscaha of the University of Maryland. Meanwhile, Fanus also posted three-straight wins following his opening loss to Chris Davis of Sacred Heart University.

Hade won his first three matches in comfortable fashion, 7-4, 7-0, 7-3 before losing in the quarterfinals to three-time All-American Mike Corcetti of the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, 7-4.

Other notable performers on Saturday included freshman Gary Atiyeh (Whitehall/Whitehall) at 125, red-shirt freshman David Sunderland (Saltillo/Southern Huntingdon) at 157 and red-shirt junior Jake Wilson (Carlisle/Carlisle) at 165, all of whom went 2-1.

Atiyeh posted a 15-7 major decision over Mike Margherita of Lehigh University in the consolation bracket while Sunderland had a 13-1 major decision over Tel Todd of Old Dominion University.

Also of note for Shippensburg, red-shirt junior Rob Cross (Watsontown/Milton) and red-shirt freshman Jon Rhone (Chambersburg/Chambersburg) each picked up their first career victories on Saturday.

After going 0-2 during the 2004-05 season and 0-3 during the 2005-06 season, Cross began his day at 149 with a 9-5 victory over Jason Mango of Bergen Community College. He finished the day 1-2 while Rhone went 1-1 with a fall in 1:56 against Mike Trani of Centenary College.

Shippensburg returns to action on Wednesday, December 5 against No. 5-ranked Pittsburgh-Johnstown at home in Heiges Field House beginning at 7:00 p.m.

- Red Raider Wrestling -