A pair of Fighting Scots – Eric Morrill (125 lbs.) (below right) and Jarrod King (165 lbs.) (left) -- came away with individual championships, with a total of five Boro wrestlers placing. Making the showing even more impressive was that Edinboro did not have anyone competing at 141 lbs., and freshman John Greisheimer was competing as the starter at 157 lbs. for the first time and lost both of his matches.
King repeated as the champion at 165 lbs., and in the process the sixth-year senior picked up his 100th career win, including his time at Oklahoma. King, the top-ranked wrestler at 165 lbs. and the defending national champion, won all five of his matches to improve to 18-0 on the season and 100-25 for his career. His title came thanks to a 2-1 decision over second-seeded Dan Vallimont of Penn State. It marked the second win for King over Vallimont, ranked eighth by Amateur Wrestling News and ninth by InterMat. He earlier won a 4-3 decision over the Penn State All-American in a dual match.
King breezed through the rest of a very difficult field, winning his first two matches by fall, the defeating North Carolina’s Kyle Kiss in the quarterfinals by a 5-1 decision. In the semifinals he posted a 12-4 major decision over Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford, the fifth seed and ranked 16th by InterMat.
Morrill, meanwhile, came away as the champion at 125 lbs. thanks to the biggest win of his career, a 4-3 decision over All-American Anthony Robles of Arizona State. Robles came in as the number one seed and was ranked second by Amateur Wrestling News and third by InterMat. A year ago Robles reached the semifinals at Nationals before losing to Edinboro’s Paul Donahoe.
Morrill, ranked seventh and the number three seed, improved to 17-2 with four straight wins, three of those against seeded opponents. In the quarterfinals he won a 10-4 decision over Alan Bartelli of Boise State, the sixth seed and ranked 14th by Amateur Wrestling News and 15th by InterMat. That was followed by a 10-8 upset of Penn State’s Brad Pataky, the second seed and ranked sixth, in the semifinals via a 10-8 decision. Pataky had defeated Morrill in the earlier dual match.
Three other Fighting Scots placed, led by an impressive showing by Phil Moricone (below left). He came in unseeded after wrestling for the first time since November 2008 with a pair of matches last weekend in the CSU Open. Since that time he had been out with a back injury, followed by a knee injury.
Moricone quickly served notice that he was back with an 11-0 major decision over Chance Litton of West Virginia, the number one seed, in his opening match. He would lose to eventual champion Mike Benefiel of Oklahoma State, the fourth seed, in the semifinals by a 13-6 decision, but won twice more in the consolation round to go 5-1 on the day. In the third place match he won an 11-3 major decision over Ohio’s Jacob Ison.
Pat Bradshaw brought home fifth place at 184 lbs. The fourth seed, the senior finished with a 5-2 record to improve to 17-7. He is ranked 20th by Amateur Wrestling News. He captured the fifth place match with a 6-2 decision over North Carolina’s Nick Tenpenny, the sixth seed.
Torsten Gillespie finished sixth at 149 lbs. for the second straight year. The junior is now 14-9 after winning three of five matches. Arizona State’s Vicente Varela was awarded a medical forfeit in the fifth place match. His wins included a 4-1 decision over Navy’s Glen Shober, the sixth seed. Gillespie came in seeded seventh.
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