GUELPH Ontario (Canada) – Brad Pataky of Clearfield pinned his way to a gold medal to help the New York Athletic Club wrestling team win the men\’s freestyle title at the Guelph Open Sunday.
Pataky, who was a Penn State red-shirt last season and is seeking an Olympic red-shirt this season, reigned at 55 kilograms (121 pounds) with falls against Aso Palani of Canada, Chris Camarata of Canada, Michael Martinez of Wyoming and silver medalist Frank Mensah of Canada. Martinez placed fourth.
Ryan Churella of Ann Arbor, Mich., was the gold medalist at 74 kilograms (163 pounds) for the New York AC, which took team honors with 30 points. Canada\’s Brock Wrestling Club was second with 24 points.
Bryan Hasseman of Colorado Springs, Colo., at 84 kilograms (185 pounds) and Mike Faust of Iowa City, Iowa, and the Gator Wrestling Club at 120 kilograms (264.5 pounds) also earned gold medals.
* * * * * * * * * *
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army sophomore Matt Kyler of Clearfield won four matches Friday and Saturday to repeat as 141-pound champion at the 39th annual New York State Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships.
Kyler, who was top-seeded, pinned Niagara County Community County\’s Mike Tiller in 2:58 and Oneonta State’s Michael Gregg in 4:57 Friday night, major decisioned Buffalo\’s Andrew Stella 14-3 in the semifinals and bested New York University\’s Stephen Hult 11-6 in the finals.
Kyler leads Army in wins with a 27-5 record as well as pins with 13 and bonus-point wins with 16.
He is ranked in three NCAA Division I national polls, 15th by Wrestling International Newsmagazine, 18th by Amateur Wrestling News and 19th by USA Today/Intermat/National Wrestling Coaches Association.
Senior captain Fernando Martinez (125) also earned a title as the Black Knights walked off with team honors for the first time since claiming back-to-back crowns in 2004 and 2005.
The Cadets had three runners-up and four other top-six placewinners in amassing 152 points to beat out Buffalo (147.5) in the 18-team tournament.
* * * * * * * * * *
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Freshman Tom Barger of Clearfield posted an important fall in Lycoming College\’s 26-17 Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference win over Messiah Friday night.
The teams, both ranked in the Brute/adidas/National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, split the 10 bouts, but the Warriors prevailed with three pins and one technical fall to improve to 3-1 in the ECWC.
Barger\’s fall against Alex DeHart at the 4:40 mark gave Lycoming (9-4) a 12-3 lead after three bouts, but the hosts had to rally with bonus-point wins in the last two matches.
Barger is 9-7 for Lycoming, which leaped from 29th to 13th in the nation after placing fourth in the Budd Whitehill National Duals the previous weekend. Messiah is ranked No. 23.
* * * * * * * * *
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown 165-pound wrestler Kyle Keane (Bradford, Clearfield Area High School) improved to 18-5 for the season with a decision in the Mountain Cats\’ 34-3 victory over Gannon Saturday night.
Keane shut out Brandon Monin 6-0 as the Mountain Cats dominated the dual between two of the top-ranked NCAA Division II East Region teams. UPJ (9-4) is No. 1 and Gannon (4-2) is No. 3.
Latest National Wrestling Coaches Association national rankings show UPJ sixth and Gannon 13th.
* * * * * * * * * *
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – University of Notre Dame swimmers won only four races in losses to Big EAST rival Louisville 166-124 Friday evening and Northwestern 189-111 Saturday afternoon in the Rolfs Aquatic Center, and John Lytle of Clearfield accounted for three of them.
The sophomore freestyle sprinter also was second in one individual event and helped Fighting Irish relay teams to four seconds.
Lytle registered both of Notre Dame\’s wins against Northwestern, touching the wall in 20.85 seconds in the 50-yard event and 45.14 in the 100, 1:05 ahead of the runner-up. Both times are his season-bests.
In the relays, Lytle swam a race-best 44.25 anchor leg in the 400 medley and a 45.72 leadoff leg in the 400 free.
Against Louisville, Lytle won the 100 free by more than a half-second in 45.40.
He had the fastest closing lap in the 200 free but couldn\’t overtake the Cardinals\’ Andrei Radzionau, who touched in 1:39.37. Lytle stopped the clock at 1:39.57.
He powered his way to a 20..24 anchor leg that gave the Fighting Irish 200 medley relay quartet at second and started the 400 free foursome to a second-place effort with a 46.47 first leg.
Lytle has nine firsts in individual events and four firsts in relay races for the 3-6 Fighting Irish.
* * * * * * * * * *
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Brandon Good of Clearfield was a member of three victorious relay teams as the Lycoming College men\’s swimming team concluded its dual-meet schedule with wins over Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham 97-23 and host King\’s College 97-25 on Jan. 16 and Lebanon Valley 142-112 at home Saturday.
In the three-team meet at Wilkes-Barre last Wednesday, the junior co-captain turned in a 25.33-second butterfly leg for the Warriors \’A\’ 200-yard medley relay foursome and a 23.77 second leg for the 200 freestyle relay quartet.
He also finished second in the 200 fly in 2:17.79.
Against Lebanon Valley, Good anchored the winning 200-yard medley relay foursome with a 22.81-second freestyle lap.
He added a second in the 50 free in 23.36.
With the Warriors\’ seventh win in nine meets locked up, Good swam exhibition in the 100 fly, and his 56.27 was the sixth fastest in the Middle Atlantic Conference this season. His 57.93 against Misericordia on Jan. 9 ranks No. 11.
He also owns the sixth fastest 200 fly time, a 2:12.88 he posted in the prelims of the Wooster (Ohio) Invitational on Nov. 30.
Good helped Lycoming\’s 200 medley and 200 free relay teams record the second fastest times for MAC teams this season.
The Warriors are off until the MAC Championships Feb. 8-10 at the Wilkes-Barre Catholic Youth Center.
* * * * * * * * * *
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Junior diver Ryan Sayers of Frenchville (Clearfield Area High School) and freshman swimmer Brandon Boyer of Clearfield helped Washington & Jefferson defeat Bethany 65-39 in a Presidents\’ Athletic Conference meet on Jan. 16.
Sayers, in his first appearance of the season, earned first place on the one-meter board with 173.25 points, while Boyer turned in the fastest backstroke leg, 26.50 seconds, for the 200-yard medley relay team that finished second.
On Saturday, the Presidents lost 180-94 at Grove City to finish 1-2 in the PAC and drop to 5-5 overall.
Boyer contributed points in four events, including a third in the 200 back in 2:09.60 and a fourth in the 100 back in 57.94. He had a 50.01 second leg for the 200 free relay team that was second and led off with a 26.74 backstroke leg for the 200 medley foursome that wound up third.
Sayers checked in with a second on the three-meter platform with 172.80 points and a third on the one-meter board with 163 points.
* * * * * * * * * *
SELINSGROVE – Clearfield native Ruth Williamson (State College, DuBois Central Catholic High School) scored 10 points as the Susquehanna University women\’s basketball team split a pair of Landmark Conference games in O.W. Houts Gymnasium over the weekend.
The senior guard hit one of her two three-point shots and had one rebound in Friday night\’s 66-57 win over Drew (4-10, 2-2 conference).
In a 67-59 loss to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (9-5, 1-3) on Saturday, Williamson scored seven points, including one trey in four attempts, pulled down four rebounds and had one assist and one steal.
She played 13 minutes in each game for the Crusaders, who are 2-3 in the conference and 9-7 overall.
Williamson has scored 89 points in 14 games for a 6.4 average. She is one of the team\’s top percentage shooters, 38.4 (28-for-73) and leads in three-point accuracy at 38.2 percent (13-for-34).
In addition, she has 33 rebounds, a 2.4 average, eight assists, 14 steals and five blocks.
