The Huskies will compete against ten teams, including co-hosts, Oklahoma and SUNY Brockport. Kent State, Ohio University, and EWL-rival Cleveland State will be in attendance, along with Brown University, the United States Military Academy and the University of Pennsylvania. Buffalo and Rutgers University will also be represented at the tournament.
Bloomsburg is led by 2005 NCAA qualifiers Mike Sees (Northumberland/Shikellamy) and Jim Bertulis (Aston/Garnett Valley). Sees, at 125 pounds, and Bertulis, at the 165-pound weight class, both won their respective brackets last weekend at the Slippery Rock Open.
Last year, the Huskies finished fourth with 84.5 points at the Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Classic, as Oklahoma won the event with 212.5 points. Kent State finished second with 92.5 points, while University of Pennsylvania was third with 89.5 points. Bertulis recorded a second-place finish at the tournament, while Frank Beasley (Oden, IL/Centralia) won three matches, taking third place.
Sees, who is 5-0 this season, and Justin Thomas (Hunlock Creek/Benton) will wrestle for the Huskies at 125 pounds this weekend. He finished last year with a 21-3 record and had three pins. He was an EWL champion last season and also finished second at the PSAC Championships, helping the Huskies' win their first conference title since 1990. He was undefeated in dual matches last season, going 14-0. In the national rankings from wrestlingreport.com, Sees earned the 19th slot, and is also ranked 13th by the Wrestling Mall and Amateur Wrestling News at 125 pounds, and was 15th by W.I.N. Magazine.
Thomas, who returns to the team after missing the last two seasons of competition serving for the U.S. Army in Iraq, had a 3-4 career record, including one technical fall.
Ricky Donald (Millville/Bloomsburg) will wrestle at 133 pounds for the Huskies. Donald won four out of five matches at the Slippery Rock Open. Donald is a two-time PIAA state qualifier.
Two wrestlers will compete at the 141-pound weight class for the Huskies in Brad Forbes (Downingtown/Downingtown) and Joe Hasseman (Franklin, IN/Franklin). Forbes finished second at last weekend's Slippery Rock Open, tallying a 4-1 record. He was 16-9 last year and finished sixth at the EWL Championships. He is currently ranked second in the EWL.
Hasseman, who finished 3-4 in dual matches last season at 133 pounds, didn't wrestle last weekend due to injury. He finished last season with a 6-14 record, including two major decisions. In 2005, he had dual match wins over Kent State, Ohio University and Cleveland State.
At 149 pounds, George Hickman (Wilmington, NC/Riverside) and Darren Kern (Pennsburg/Upper Perkiomen) will wrestle for the Huskies. Hickman was 8-7 in dual matches last season, compiling a 14-20 record in his freshman campaign. Last weekend, Hickman went 1-2 at Slippery Rock. Kern, a red shirt freshman, compiled a 16-12 record last season in open tournaments. At the Slippery Rock Open, he compiled a record of 3-1, including wins over Washington & Jefferson and James Madison.
Jason Crawford (New Albany/Wyalusing Valley) will wrestle for Bloomsburg at 157 pounds. In high school, Crawford tallied more than 100 wins and also made a PIAA state tournament appearance.
Bertulis will wrestle for the Huskies at 165 pounds. The 2005 EWL Champion made his first NCAA championship appearance last season, finishing the year with a record of 33-8, 14-2 in dual match competition. Bertulis also posted a second-place finish at the PSAC Championships last season. In the most recent NCAA Division I rankings by wrestlingreport.com, Bertulis held the number 11 slot, while he is ranked first in the EWL. Bertulis earned the 12th slot by the Wrestling Mall and W.I.N. Magazine, and holds the 13th spot by Amateur Wrestling News.
Andrew Jordan (Newark, DE/St. Mark's) and Beasley will wrestle for the Huskies at 174 pounds. Jordan, an Old Dominion transfer, went 1-2 last weekend at both 174 and 184 pounds. He is a two-time Delaware runner-up and won over 80 matches in high school.
Beasley finished last weekend's tournament with a 3-2 record with wins over Gannon, Mercyhurst and Cleveland State. Last season, Beasley went 13-7, including four pins and three technical falls. He is currently ranked fifth in the EWL.
At 184 pounds, Chris Swan (Saylorsburg/Pleasant Valley) will represent Bloomsburg. Swan went 0-2 in last weekend's tournament. He was a PIAA state tournament qualifier in high school.
Jesse Hasseman (Franklin, IN/Franklin) and Blaine Cohick (Williamsport/Loyalsock) will wrestle for the Huskies at 197 pounds. Hasseman finished 3-1 at last weekend's tournament, while Cohick took third in the event, going 4-1 in the event. Last season, Hasseman went 8-26, recording all eight wins by pin. Cohick finished sixth at last year's PIAA state tournament.
2005 NCAA qualifier Mike Spaid (Boyertown/Boyertown) and Shawn Albert (Hatboro/Upper Moreland) will wrestle for the Huskies at the heavyweight bracket. Spaid, who did not wrestle last weekend, finished the 2004-05 season with a record of 17-22 record, despite a 2-8 start. He had seven pins on the season and went 2-2 at the NCAA Championships. Spaid, ranked third in the EWL, is currently 23rd in the nation by wrestlingreport.com and holds the 17th slot in the NWCA/Intermat/National Wrestling Media Association Poll.
Albert has a 2-4 career record and had one pin last season. He went 1-2 at last year's tournament, recording a win over Wagner.
The Huskies will travel to Brockport on Friday night with action to begin at Tuttle North Gymnasium at 10:00 a.m.
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