Pittsburgh had claimed the regular season crown and came in as the favorite to unseat the Fighting Scots. The Panthers had a strong showing, including four champions, but they were no match for an Edinboro squad which finished with all ten of its wrestlers finishing in the top ten. That included four winners and seven third place finishers. Pittsburgh’s Ryan Tomei was named the EWL Championships Outstanding Wrestler.
Edinboro was in second place after the first session, trailing the Panthers by 18.5 points. Head coach Tim Flynn has always preached that you can win championships in the consolation round, and the Fighting Scots definitely picked up steam with six straight wins.
Then came the finals, with the Fighting Scots running off wins in an incredible all ten bouts. Torsten Gillespie (149 lbs.), Jarrod King (165 lbs.), Phil Moricone (174 lbs.) and Pat Bradshaw (184 lbs.) came away with championships.
It marked the third straight title for King at 165 lbs. although he was scheduled to face West Virginia’s Donnie Jones for the third straight year, only to see Jones forfeit the match. King now heads to Nationals for the third time looking to defend his 165 lb. championship.
Bradshaw will make his third trip to Nationals after winning his second straight EWL title. After winning the 197 lb. weight class last year, he moved down and prevailed by a 3-2 decision over Zac Thomusseit of Pittsburgh in the finals at 184 lbs. despite wrestling with an injured finger on his left hand.
Gillespie made an incredible turnaround after losing all three of his matches a year ago at 149 lbs. He won a 4-0 decision over Clarion’s James Fleming, who came in ranked 15th, to join his brother Gregor as an EWL champion. Gregor won three EWL titles.
Moricone made his return for a sixth year worthwhile. After missing over a year of competition with neck and knee injuries, he is headed for his third trip to Nationals after winning the title at 174 lbs. He was a 6-1 winner over Nate Graham of Bloomsburg.
Edinboro’s four champions earned automatic berths to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships set for March 18-20 in Omaha, Neb. In addition, Chris Birchler’s third place finish at heavyweight earned him one of the EWL’s 19 automatic bids. He makes his second trip to Nationals after representing East Stroudsburg last year.
Eric Morrill came in ranked ninth by Amateur Wrestling News and 17th by InterMat before at 125 lbs., but his third place finish means he must wait until March 10 to see if he is one of 46 wrestlers awarded bids by the NCAA. Shawn Fendone was on the bubble at 197 lbs. and his third place finish could put him under consideration, although the EWL received just one automatic bid at that weight class.
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