WRESTLING
WEST POINT, N.Y. – After receiving the Mike Natvig Award as the Army team\’s outstanding matman the last two years, junior 149-pounder Matt Kyler of Clearfield shared the honor with senior 197-pounder Richard Starks for the 2008-09 season.
Kyler\’s third consecutive outstanding season was highlighted by All-Academy Championships and New York State Championships titles and a 40-7 record that stands as the fifth-highest for wins in the program\’s history. His 43 wins as a sophomore are No. 1.
In addition, the former PIAA Class AAA champion was runner-up in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Tournament, earning a third trip to the NCAA Division I Championships, as well as the Oklahoma-Gold Classic at Brockport (N.Y.) State and the Body Bar Invitational at Cornell (N.Y.).
Kyler had an 18-0 record in dual meets and registered a team-high 18 falls.
His career record of 114-27 is No. 4 all-time for wins, just 20 behind leader Phillip Simpson, who graduated in 2005 with a 134-19 record.
Kyler\’s 38 falls are third on the Cadets\’ all-time list.
Starks, who was a three-time Kentucky state champion, engineered a 33-6 record, including 15-3 in duals, and won All-Academy and New York State crowns. He lost in the finals of the Oklahoma-Gold Classic, Body Bar Invitational and the Las Vegas Invitational.
A knee injury prevented him from competing in the EIWA finals and kept him out of the NCAAs.
Kyler, who was 1-2 in the NCAAs, was ranked all season in the Intermat/National Wrestling Coaches Association/National Wrestling Media Association poll as well as Amateur Wrestling News and Wrestler Insider Newsmagazine. He was in the top 10 of all three rankings at one point.
Army finished 10-6-2 in duals and placed seventh in the EIWA tourney.
* * * * * * * * * *
BASEBALL
LANCASTER – The 2009 season ended prematurely for former Clearfield Area High School standout Adam Jury and his Slippery Rock teammates in the 50th Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament last week.
Monday and Tuesday postponements forced the format to be changed from double-elimination to single-elimination after The Rock lost 8-5 to Kutztown Wednesday.
The Golden Bears snapped a 2-2 tie with five runs in the fifth inning and held off The Rock, which finished 36-15.
Jury singled and scored a run for Slippery Rock.
The 6-0, 195-pounder finished his outstanding sophomore season with a .395 batting average, third best among The Rock regulars.
He started 48 games, all but one either at shortstop or as the designated hitter, and was fourth in hits (62), runs (44) and walks (23) and fifth in runs batted in (41).
With 11 doubles and three home runs, Jury had 82 total bases for a .522 slugging average.
His on-base average was .478, and his fielding average was .889 for 90 chances. He was third on the team with 62 assists.
Kutztown was ousted from the PSAC tourney, 9-2, by West Division kingpin Mercyhurst, which then lost 16-2 to East Division winner West Chester in the championship game.
West Chester (42-10) is seeded No. 1, Kutztown (33-15) No. 2 and Mercyhurst (35-15) No. 3 for the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament.
* * * * * * * * * *
ERIE – Sophomore Kyle Kline of Clearfield got into one of the three games Penn State Behrend won on its home field last weekend to repeat as Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference champion.
He was called on to pinch-hit during Saturday\’s 11-4 victory over Penn State-Altoona.
The No. 29-ranked Lions, who also were regular season champions, defeated Pitt-Greensburg 16-2 Friday and Penn State-Altoona 7-2 Sunday in the title game.
They are seeded No. 4 for the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional that gets under way Wednesday at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, N.J.
Host Kean (34-9) is the top seed, with Keystone (37-4) second and Montclair State (26-17) third.
Penn State-Behrend (31-11) opens the eight-team, double-elimination tourney against The College of New Jersey (24-16-1).
Kline has appeared in 19 games, four as a starter, and has eight hits, three of them doubles, and five runs batted in.
* * * * * * * * * *
SOFTBALL
LOCK HAVEN – Sophomore Brittany Pataky of Clearfield made one pinch-hitting appearance for Lock Haven in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region 1 Tournament over the weekend.
She flied out in the fifth inning of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion Lady Eagles\’ 8-0 Mercy Rule win over Bowie (Md.) State in Friday\’s opener and has two hits and scored four runs in 18 games this season.
Kristen Erb (Reading/Exeter Township High School) fired a perfect game at the two-time Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Lady Bulldogs, striking out 12.
The Lady Eagle ace followed up with identical four-hit, 3-0 victories over PSAC rival California (34-10) on Saturday and Sunday as No. 2-ranked Lock Haven (44-5) advanced to this weekend\’s Atlantic Super Regional, a best-of-three series against Atlantic Region 2 winner Kutztown (46-10-1).
Erb (43-4), who struck out 28 batters and didn\’t walk any in the three games, was named PSAC Central Division Pitcher of the Year Tuesday after earning the PSAC Western Division honor the last three years.
Lock Haven third baseman Sara Norris of West Chester was selected Player of the Year for the first-year PSAC Central Division.
They were joined on the all-division first team by catcher Amanda Roosa (Pompton Lakes, N.J.), second baseman Amanda Gutmaker (Huntindgon Valley/Northeast) and shortstop Ilia Lopez and (Bloomsburg). Roosa and Lopez were the PSAC Western Division Players of the Year in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Clarion sophomore outfielder Carlie Cook of Brookville also made the PSAC Central First Team.
* * * * * * * * * *
MEN\’S TRACK & FIELD
MEADVILLE – Penn State-Behrend sophomores Michael Johnson and John Bowman of Clearfield competed unattached in Saturday\’s Allegheny College Gator Invitational, a last chance meet for athletes attempting to meet NCAA Division III Championships qualifying standards.
Neither was able to qualify in their specialties, Johnson in the 400-meter hurdles and Bowman in the discus.
Johnson did place 13th with a time of 1:01.30.
