WEST POINT, N.Y. – For the second year in a row, Matt Kyler of Clearfield has been named Army\’s most outstanding wrestler.
The sophomore 141-pounder received the Mike Natvig Award during the annual team awards ceremony in the Regimental Room of the Cadet Mess Hall Friday night.
Earlier, Kyler was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division I All-American Team for his 3.36 grade point average in Civil Engineering. Math major and teammate Richard Starks posted a 3.36 to help the Cadets rank 16th in GPA with a 3.012.
Kyler finished the season by placing sixth at the NCAA Division I Championships, becoming Army\’s first All-American in three seasons. The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champ was 4-3 record, all against seeded opponents, in the tourney.
He also won titles in the New York State Championships and All-Academy Championships, was runner-up at Penn State\’s Nittany Lion Open and placed third at the Body Bar Invitational.
His overall 43-8 record, including a team-best 16-1 log in dual meets and 21 bonus points, set a U.S. Military Academy record for wins in a season. He ranked third in Division I with 36 wins during the regular season.
Kyler, whose 15 falls were fifth-highest for one season in Cadet history, will take a 74-20 career record into his junior season.
Senior captain Fernando Martinez, sophomores Starks and Ryan Mergen and freshman Casey Thome were the other Cadet honored at the team gathering.
Martinez received the Arvin Memorial Award, presented to the member of the senior class who best distinguishes himself in leadership, scholarship and commitment to the Army wrestling team. The Highland, Ind. native compiled a 35-7 record at 125 pounds, finishing second at the EIWAs to earn his second trip to the nationals. He ended his four-year Cadet career with a 73-26 record.
Mergen, who hails from Monticello, Minn., was honored with the “Mr. Intensity” Award that goes to the most dedicated worker on the team. Mergen was 19-12 at 174 pounds.
Thome landed the Crum Memorial Award that honors the most courageous member of the freshman class. The Troy, Ohio native tied for fourth for the Black Knights with a 33-16 record at 149 pounds. He also finished second on the team with eight major decisions and was fourth with six falls.
Starks was named the Black Knights’ Most Improved wrestler. Originally from Midway, Ky., he finished third on the squad with a 34-9 record at 197 pounds. His fourth-place finish at the EIWA Championship earned him a berth to his first NCAA Tournament appearance where he compiled a 2-2 record.
Under the guidance of eighth-year head coach Chuck Barbee, who was named the EIWA Coach of the Year, Army compiled a 12-6 dual meet mark before finishing third at the 14-team EIWA Championships. The Black Knights qualified six wrestlers for the NCAA Championships, which was the program’s highest total since the 1987 squad won the EIWA Championships.
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ERIE, Pa. – Former Curwensville Area High School baseball standouts Bart McGary of Curwensville and Phil Solley of Grampian combined for 18 hits and 13 runs batted in to help key a strong showing by fourth-seeded Pitt-Bradford in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament last weekend.
After losing 8-0 to top seed Penn State Behrend in the first round, the Panthers defeated Lake Erie (Ohio) College 8-4 Friday and followed up by , two-time defending champion Frostburg (Md.) State 15-1 and Behrend 4-3 on Saturday to force another showdown with the Lions on Sunday.
Behrend (34-10) survived two Pitt-Bradford (23-20) comebacks for a 9-8 squeaker to earn a berth in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional at Kean (N.J) University this week.
The season didn\’t end for the Panthers, though.
On Monday, they received an invite for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference South Tournament. The fifth-seeded Panthers will travel to Washington, Pa., Wednesday to take on fourth seed Washington & Jefferson College (22-16). The winner will play top seed and host Alvernia (31-12) Friday at Reading.
McGary, who had four multi-hit games, was 10-for-20 with a double and six RBIs while Solley was 8-for-23 with a double, a home run and seven RBIs in Pitt-Bradford\’s five AMCC tourney games.
The two sophomores delivered the Panthers\’ big hits against Lake Erie. McGary singled to drive in the first two runs in the second inning, and Solley doubled with the bases loaded to make it 5-0 in the third. McGary had three hits in the game.
They had three hits apiece and got the Panthers rolling against Frostburg. Solley again had what turned out to be the game-winning hit with a two-run homer in the first inning. McGary singled for another run moments later and later added a two-run double and another run-scoring single.
In the victory over Behrend that extended the tourney, Solley knocked in the deciding run in the top of the ninth inning with his third single of the game.
The Panthers rallied from 4-0 and 8-3 deficits to give the Lions a scare in the finale. Solley had an RBI-single and trotted home on Justin Bifano\’s home run in the Panthers\’ four-run ninth inning that ended when, with one runner on, McGary\’s line drive to first base was snared.
Solley had three hits and McGary two in the Panthers\’ 1-0 and 9-8 losses at St. John Fisher (N.Y.) on Monday, May 5.
McGary\’s 12-hit week improved his batting average to .358, third on the team. He is third in hits (39), tied for third in RBIs (25), fourth in doubles (7), and fifth in runs scored (19). He also is first in walks (27) and second in times being hit (5).
Solley ranks fifth in average (.336) but is tied for first in homers (2). second in hits (43), total bases (55) and at-bats (128),
and fourth in runs (26).
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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Freshman Brittany Pataky of Clearfield pinch-hit in the final two games of the champion Lock Haven University softball team\’s four consecutive shutouts in the NCAA Division II Mid-Atlantic Regional on Kutztown\’s North Campus Field last week.
Behind the pitching of ace Kristen Erb, the No. 1-ranked Lady Eagles blanked Bowie (Md.) State 1-0, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division rival California 2-0 and PSAC-East\’s Bloomsburg 1-0 and 6-1 to claim regional honors for the third year in a row.
Erb, named the Mid-Atlantic tourney\’s Most Valuable Player, will carry a nation-leading 0.24 earned run average with 386 strikeouts in 315-1/3 innings into the 2008 NCAA D-II Championships that begin Wednesday in Houston, Texas.
Lock Haven (46-6) is paired against West Regional champ Humboldt (Cal.) State (53-18) in a 3 p.m. first-round game.
The Lady Eagles have reached the title game the last two years, winning the 2006 crown and losing 3-2 to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in 2007\’s 12-inning finale.
The eight-team tourney, part of the NCAA D-II National Spring Sports Festival in Houston, Texas, runs through Saturday, with the championship game set for 4:30 p.m.
Erb, a two-time National Pitcher of the Year, allowed only 11 hits and one run while striking out 39 batters in 28 innings in the regional. She also walked three and hit one.
The junior right-hander from Exeter High School in Reading was working on a late-season string of 72-2/3 scoreless innings when Bloomsburg\’s Tiff Corliss homered in the third frame of Sunday\’s finale.
Erb and right fielder Erica Eisenbise of Wernersville (Wilson H.S.) were named to the all-tourney team. Eisenbise\’s two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Lady Eagles a walk-off win against Bloomsburg Saturday.
Pataky reached base on an error Saturday and grounded out Sunday.
In 28 games, she has collected 13 hits for a .342 batting average. She has three doubles and eight RBIs.