WRESTLING
WILLIAMSPORT — Lycoming junior 165-pounder Nolan Barger (Clearfield) suffered his first loss of the season in the NCAA Division II Mideast Region finals at Lamade Gym Sunday but still will be returning to the NCAA Division II National Championships at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, next weekend.
Messiah’s Jeff Hojnacki (36-12) denied Barger (31-1), ranked No. 2 in the nation, a second consecutive regional title and halted his 31-bout winning streak with a 10-5 revenge win keyed by three takedowns.
Barger had beaten Hojnacki 7-2 in the Middle Atlantic Conference finals Jan. 23 and engineered the initial takedown, but the Messiah sophomore reversed at the end of the first period. Two escapes and a takedown in the middle period gave Hojnacki a 6-2 lead that Barger couldn’t overcome.
Barger had breezed to the finals with a 16-1 (7:00) technical fall over Muskingum’s Tanner Walker, a fall in 2:48 against Waynesburg’s Landon Lohr and a 13-4 major decision over Brockport State’s Michael Falcon.
He accounted for 18.5 of the 43.5 points that gave the Warriors a program-best 10th place in the 18-team tourney.
Barger will be one of the returning All-Americans in the U.S. Cellular Center Friday after placing third last year.
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WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
EDINBORO — For the second time in just over a week, junior Jessica Shomo (Clearfield) broke her own Clarion record in the 60-meter dash with a 7.87-second sprint, but just missed qualifying for the finals at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships in Edinboro’s Mike S. Zafirovski Sports and Recreation Dome Saturday.
She was edged out for the eighth spot by East Stroudsburg’s Tirzah Johnson, who had an identical time, after wiping out the 7.98 standard she set a week earlier in the same venue.
Shomo also just missed scoring in the long jump, where her leap of 5.19 meters (17 feet, 1/3 inch) was edged out by Slippery Rock’s Samantha Taylor for eighth place.
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BASEBALL
WINCHESTER, Va. — Sophomore infielder Jarrett Fulmer (Clearfield) drove in Penn State Altoona’s lone run with a fourth-inning single in a 22-1 non-league loss to Shenandoah at Bridgeforth Field Sunday.
He also drew two walks and handled seven chances at second base for the Lions, who will take a 1-4 record to Florida for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational starting this weekend.
Fulmer has played in four games and sports a .200 batting average.
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PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — Freshman pitcher/outfielder Thomas Summers (Clearfield) has made three starts in the outfield and two relief appearances in Maryland-Eastern Shore’s first seven games.
In the Hawks’ opener against Fairleigh Dickinson at Lexington, S.C., on Feb. 19, he recorded the game-winning hit with a fifth-inning double that snapped a 1-1 tie in a 5-1 victory.
Summers started in right field again the next day in a 6-4 win and then pitched one inning, giving up one hit and one unearned run in a 7-5 loss Feb. 21.
He pitched one inning with two strikeouts and two walks as the Hawks opened their trip to Richmond, Va., with a 10-8 loss to St. Peters Friday.
He started in left field Saturday when the Hawks (3-4) were beaten 15-0 by the Richmond Spiders.
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SOFTBALL
WINCHESTER, Va. — Sophomore shortstop Megan Vanderburgh (Clearfield) had one hit in Shenandoah’s 8-0 and 6-2 non-league losses to Gettysburg at Henkel-Harris Field Sunday.
The Hornets dropped to 3-3 in the doubleheader added to the schedule just last week.
Vanderburgh has four hits and a .182 average.
