WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army All-American Matt Kyler of Clearfield ranked third in NCAA Division I wrestling with 36 regular season wins, according to final statistics compiled by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and announced earlier this month on its website, InterMat.
Results of conference and NCAA tournaments were not included in rankings for four categories, wins, falls, technical falls and major decisions.
Only eight matmen in NCAA\’s three divisions had more wins than Kyler, including Division I leader Ben Kjar (39) of Utah Valley and runner-up Kaylan Baxter (37) of Old Dominion.
The Black Knight sophomore won the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) title at 141 pounds and went on to finish sixth in the NCAA Division I Championships for an overall 43-8 record that is a new high for wins by an Army wrestler.
Kyler was selected as the recipient of the first Mark Branch Award initiated by the website flowrestling.org to honor the wrestler who most exceeds expectations at nationals.
Kyler\’s 39-5 record that included a 9-3 showing against NCAA qualifiers didn\’t warrant a seed, but the former Clearfield Area High School standout and PIAA Class AAA champion won four of his seven bouts against seeded opponents to become Army\’s 15th All-American.
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BRADFORD, Pa. – Sophomore Phil Solley of Grampian (Curwensville Area H.S.) enjoyed the best week of his University of Pittsburgh-Bradford baseball career with six hits, including his first home run and triple, six runs batted in and eight runs as the Panthers won four of five games.
He rapped two singles and a triple and scored three runs Tuesday when the Panthers ended a 10-game slide with a 12-7 victory at Susquehanna.
On Wednesday, Sloppy hit safely in both games and drove in three runs as Pitt-Bradford (10-13, 3-7) defeated Hilbert 19-5 and 5-1 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference action.
At Penn State-Altoona in an AMCC twinbill on Saturday, Solley\’s three-run homer gave the Panthers a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning, and they went on to prevail 10-5 after losing 5-4 in eight innings.
Solley played right field against Hilbert and PSU-Altoona, his fourth position as a starter. He also has three starts behind the plate, three in left field and seven as the designated hitter.
His 23-game totals are 17 hits for a .309 batting average, 14 RBIs and 12 runs scored.
Panther sophomore Bart McGary of Curwensville played in four games last week, starting two at third base after DHing in two, and had three hits.
He\’s carrying a .276 average on 16 hits and also scored 10 runs and driven in 11.
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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Multi-hit games against Seton Hill and Mansfield early last week got senior Scott Hugney of Frenchville (Clearfield Area H.S.) into the .300 Club for Slippery Rock University.
The Rock first baseman/designated hitter singled and doubled in a 5-3 loss to Seton Hill Tuesday and registered his third three-hit game of the season and drove in a pair of runs in a 16-5 romp over Mansfield, which rebounded to take the second game 10-9 in eight innings.
Hugney did not play in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division weekend series against Lock Haven, The Rock (18-14) winning 9-3 and 10-4 at home Saturday and splitting the twinbill, 1-4, 10-5, on the Bald Eagles\’ home field Sunday. Slippery Rock is fourth in the PSAC-West at 7-5.
In 19 games, all but four as a starter, Hugney has totaled 15 hits, four doubles, six runs batted in and seven runs scored.
Freshman shortstop Adam Jury of Bigler (Clearfield Area H.S.) played in only one game and was hitless in his lone trip to the plate, dropping his average to .333.
He has six hits and has scored six four runs in 10 games, five of them as a starter.
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LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Now solidly entrenched as the Lock Haven University second baseman after playing several games earlier in the season, freshman James Zimmermann of Woodland (Clearfield Area H.S.) continued his improvement in the college ranks with six hits in five games last week.
The highlight was his first three-hit effort for the Bald Eagles Tuesday. He cracked two singles and a double and drove in two runs as Lock Haven bounced East Stroudsburg 11-5 after losing the opener 8-4. Zimmermann had a single and a sacrifice fly in the first game.
He added one hit each day as Lock Haven (13-25, 3-9) lost three of four PSAC-West games to Slippery Rock.
Zimmermann, who handled 22 chances without an error during the week, has hiked his batting average each of the last four weeks and now is hitting .254 with 17 safeties and nine runs batted in. He has scored 10 runs.
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GREENSBURG, Pa. – Andrew Kirsch of Clearfield played a key role in an extra-inning win against Fairmont (W.Va.) State Wednesday and drove in two runs in Sunday\’s 8-1 Senior Day victory over Wheeling (W.Va.) Jesuit which gave the Seton Hill University baseball team a share of first place in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Northern Division.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 2-2 with Fairmont State, Kirsch singled to move Jason Crighton from first to third. Crighton, who had walked, then scored the winning run on Rick Smykla\’s single to give the Griffins a split. They lost the opener 3-1.
Seton Hill (20-17, 8-4 WVIAC) took three of four games from Wheeling Jesuit Saturday and Sunday to climb into first place with Pitt-Johnstown. The co-leaders will tangle in a pair of double-headers at Johnstown this weekend.
Kirsch was 4-for-16 in the Griffins\’ 5-2 week, his average slipping to .299. The senior left fielder has 29 hits, including seven doubles and two triples, and 21 RBIs. He\’s tied for second on the squad with 10 stolen bases in 13 attempts.
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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Freshman second baseman Nikki Collins of Clearfield had five hits, one a game-winner, in three games for the Slippery Rock University softball team last week to raise her batting average 63 points.
She singled home The Rock\’s first run in a 3-0 win over PSAC-West opponent Clarion and added two singles and another RBI in the 9-0 nightcap victory Saturday.
On Tuesday, she belted two doubles in the second game as Slippery Rock (18-10, 2-8 PSAC-West) swept Lake Erie College 14-12 and 15-6 in six innings. The Rock rallied for 11 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in the opener, which ended with Stacey Rhoades\’ three-run, walk-off homer.
Collins has started every game for The Rock and sports a .241 average with 13 hits and seven RBIs. She is tied for second on the team with five doubles and also has scored 15 runs.
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LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Brittany Pataky of Clearfield came through with her fourth consecutive pinch-hit, a run-scoring double, in the opener and followed up with a single and a double and two more RBIs as the Lock Haven University softball team swept Clarion 10-0 in six innings and 20-0 in five innings on April 7.
The freshman first baseman\’s pinch-hitting streak came to an end in the second game of the Lady Eagles\’ 4-0 and 7-1 wins
over Edinboro Saturday.
Pataky\’s average rocketed 60 points to .360. She has nine hits and five RBIs.
The four wins gave Lock Haven (29-5) a 10-0 start in the PSAC-West and extended the Lady Eagles\’ winning streak to 16.
Junior pitcher Kristen Erb of Reading (Exeter H.S.) set the NCAA Division II record for consecutive scoreless innings during the second game against Edinboro, which halted the streak at 86-2/3 innings with a two-out run in the seventh. The previous standard of 83-2/3 innings was set by Kelley Tiesi of Shippensburg two years ago.
Erb was named PSAC-West Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time in five weeks.
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CLARION, Pa. – Freshman catcher Dana Johnson of Grampian (Curwensville Area H.S.) played a role in the Clarion University softball team\’s third win of the season Wednesday.
She doubled and scored the tying run on an error in the fourth inning, and the Golden Eagles triumphed 4-3 with a run on a wild pitch by the Tiffin (Ohio) hurler in the sixth.
Johnson also saw action as the designated hitter and a pinch-hitter in two other games.
Her average is .103, and all three of her hits have gone for extra bases. She also has three RBIs and two runs scored.
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NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Middle distance runner Rebecca Shiner of Clearfield placed high in three individual events and ran a leg on a victorious relay foursome for the Westminster College women\’s track and field team in two meets last week.
At the Presidents\’ Athletic Conference North Quad Meet hosted by Grove City Thursday, the Titan junior ran the 1,500 meters in 5:18.94 for runner-up honors and the 800 in 2:33.14 for fourth place. Those races attracted 12 and 19 entries, respectively.
She also carried the baton on the second leg for Westminster\’s 4×400 relay team that won in 4:20.6.
Two days later, in a field of 54 runners, Shiner lowered her 800 time to 2:21.44 to claim fourth place at the Slippery Rock Invitational.
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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University senior Nate Shadeck of Frenchville (Clearfield Area H.S.) finished second in the 400-meter hurdles at the SRU Track and Field Invitational in N. Kerr Thompson Stadium Saturday.
His time of 53.84 seconds was bettered only the 53.01 recorded by Daniel Greaves of Wheeling (W.Va.) Jesuit.
Two dozen hurdlers from 15 schools competed.