WRESTLING
HAMPTON, Va. – Redshirt junior 125-pounder Brad Pataky of Clearfield picked up three wins, two over ranked foes, for Penn State in the 30th Annual Virginia Duals in the Hampton Coliseum Friday and Saturday.
The 14th-ranked Nittany Lions, seeded fourth in the National College Division, advanced to the semifinals with wins over Virginia Tech 26-9 and 13th-ranked Kent State 22-13.
Penn State’s title bid ended with a 23-14 loss to top seed and fourth-ranked Oklahoma State, and the Nittany Lions fell to second seed and 10th-ranked Oklahoma 22-15 in the consolation match.
Pataky, who was ranked No. 12 by InterMat and No. 14 by Amateur Wrestling News and Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine, avenged his Nittany Lion Open finals loss to Virginia Tech’s Jarrod Garnett with a solid 12-6 decision. Pataky took command at 5-2 with the second of his four takedowns with just two seconds left in the first period. His final takedown made it 10-3 with 56 seconds left. When they were ranked sixth and ninth in early December, Pataky was trying to takedown Garnett when he got caught and pinned at 4:49.
Three takedowns, a reversal and a riding time point added up to a 9-4 victory over Kent State’s Troy Opfer.
Pataky came up short against No. 9 Chris Notte of Oklahoma in a bout decided when the Sooner countered the Nittany Lion’s takedown attempt with a shoulder lock for two-and-two and an 8-4 lead. Pataky, who had shot a double-leg for the opening takedown with just 15 seconds gone, wound up with riding time but couldn’t pull off a late takedown that would have sent the match to overtime.
A pair of takedowns were critical in Pataky’s 8-6 squeaker over No. 13 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma. The first gave him a 3-2 lead in the second period, but Patterson’s second takedown put him ahead 5-3 going to the final period. Pataky came off the bottom with a reversal and near fall for the deciding points.
Pataky is 17-5 with a 10-2 dual-meet record for the 8-3-1 Nittany Lions.
Oklahoma State won the championship for the seventh time with a 30-6 thumping of No. 11 Lehigh, which had knocked off Oklahoma 18-16 in the semis.
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WEST POINT, N.Y. – Matt Kyler of Clearfield racked up four bonus point wins as Army cruised to three weekend victories before losing to Rutgers Sunday evening in the finale of a quad meet in Christl Arena.
The senior 149-pounder entered Friday’s match against Hofstra ranked No. 8 in NCAA Division I by InterMat and Amateur Wrestling News and No. 9 by Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine.
He took down Tyler Banks six times and piled up more than four minutes of riding time for a 15-4 major decision as Army broke into the win column, 28-9, in Gillis Field House.
In Sunday afternoon’s opening match, Kyler was taken down to his back by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s Martin Bell but came back to control the bout. He dominated Bell from the top, accumulating five-plus minutes of riding time en route to a 21-6 technical fall in the Black Knights’ 38-4 triumph.
Kyler had one of Army’s three bonus wins in a 31-9 victory over Boston University. He registered four takedowns in the first period Andrew Swank and had a comfortable lead when he earned his sixth fall of the season at the 4:29 mark.
In the 28-10 loss to Rutgers, Kyler again was a takedown machine with a half dozen two-pointers in a 16-3 major decision over David Greenwald. However he was able to turn the Scarlet Knight only one time for two near fall points.
Kyler is 5-1 in duals and 18-2 overall for the 3-3 Black Knights.
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HAMPTON, Va. – Clearfield Area High School graduate Kyle Keane of Bradford kept his dual meet record unblemished as undefeated Pitt-Johnstown, ranked No. 5 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division II Poll, breezed to the American College Division title.
Keane beat Tyler Mullen 12-5 in Friday’s 43-3 rout of Division I Davidson and earned bonus points for the Mountain Cats (6-0) in wins over State University of New York-Brockport 35-3 and Nassau (N.Y) Community College 31-9 Saturday in the Hampton Coliseum.
The redshirt senior major decisioned Brockport’s James Forsyth 10-2 and pinned Nassau’s Lenny Michel in 1:52 to pad his record to 14-4. He is 6-0 in duals.
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LEXINGTON, Va. – Holden Lowe and Shawn Hall of Clearfield and Jeff Smallwood of Curwensville made their debuts for the first-year Penn State–DuBois team and were a combined 8-3 over the weekend on a trip that concluded with the Washington & Lee Quads in Doremus Gym Saturday.
Hall began his college career with three falls and Lowe recorded two decisions and a forfeit as they joined former Clearfield Area High School teammate Andrew Spicer in the Lions’ lineup.
On Friday, the Lions received five forfeits in a 48-12 victory over West Virginia Tech at Montgomery, W.Va., with Spicer at 125 pounds, Smallwood at 133 and Lowe at 141 having no opponents.
Hall, wrestling at 184, pinned Seth Gatewood in 47 seconds for the fastest of the Lions’ three falls.
On Saturday, Penn State-DuBois (6-7) defeated Washington & Lee 31-13 and lost to Washington & Jefferson 30-13 and Gettysburg 31-12.
Hall clinched the win over W & L by pinning Eric Veres at the 6:47 mark. Lowe was edged 4-2 by Sam Campbell while Spicer lost a 13-2 major decision to Ben Ersing.
Against W & J, Hall flattened Stefen Firmstone in 3:56 and Lowe decisioned Brad Fyffe 13-10. Spicer was blanked 2-0 by Zach Cecchetti and Smallwood was nipped 9-8 by Brandon Sansom, a junior from Brookville with 46 career wins.
Smallwood received a forfeit and Lowe trimmed Mike Slabinski 5-4 to account for nine points against Gettysburg. Spicer was pinned by Abe Evans in 1:35 and Hall was beaten 12-6 by Luke Mitchell.
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LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Redshirt junior 174-pounder Derek Caldwell of Curwensville lost by decision in Lock Haven’s 36-9 win over Millersville in Thomas Fieldhouse last Wednesday.
Marauder redshirt sophomore Shane Smith (13-4), a two-time Wilkes Open runner-up and 2009 NCAA qualifier as East Region champion, bested Caldwell 8-3.
Caldwell is 0-2 in duals and 3-11 overall for the Bald Eagles, who are 1-3.
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MEN’S SWIMMING
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – John Lytle of Clearfield remained undefeated in dual meet individual events and also keyed a relay win, but Notre Dame lost 158.5-139.5 to Northwestern in the Rolfs Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon.
The senior tri-captain and Peta Petrovich, who swept the backstroke races, were the only winners for the Fighting Irish, who fell to 4-2.
Lytle touched the wall in the 50-yard freestyle in 20.86 seconds and the 200 free in 1:41.34.
His 46.43 split set the tone for the 400 free relay quartet that was victorious in 1:33.42.
In the 200 medley relay, Lytle had too much to make up on the anchor leg and the Fighting Irish finished second in 3:05.08 despite his heat-best 20.29 effort.
Lytle has been a individual-race doublewinner in every meet.
In relays, he has led off in six freestyle wins and anchored two medley victories.
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WINTER PARK, Fla. – Juniors Chris and John Bodle of Clearfield swam on Westminster ‘C’ relay teams in Saturday’s 109-77 victory over host Rollins College.
John posted a 27.63 butterfly leg and Chris a 24.55 freestyle leg for the 200-yard medley foursome that finished fifth in 1:51.02.
Chris led off with a 25.64 split for the 200 free quartet that was fifth in 1:41.92.
The outdoor meet in Alfond Pool was the highlight of the 4-1 Titans’ 10-day trip to the Sunshine State.
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MEN’S BASKETBALL
ERIE, Pa. – Matt Shiner of Clearfield saw late-game action in Penn State-Behrend’s 77-57 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference win over visiting Pitt-Bradford last Wednesday.
The freshman guard has appeared in five games for the 8-3 Lions, who edged LaRoche 58-55 at Pittsburgh Saturday to move into a tie for second place with Penn State-Altoona at 5-2.
