Lehigh University
Midlands
Six men place as Lehigh finishes 7th at Midlands
12/30/2009 10:15:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
 |
EVANSTON, Ill. – Lehigh wrapped up competition at the 47th Midlands Championships by placing a school-record six wrestlers on the podium with top-eight finishes, as action concluded Wednesday at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena. Senior co-captain Matt Fisk turned in Lehigh’s top finish as he wrestled back to a fourth place finish at 133. The Mountain Hawks also had a pair of fifth place finishers in senior Mike Galante at 165 and sophomore Zach Rey at heavyweight. The other three Lehigh place winners, senior Seth Ciasulli (141), freshman Robert Hamlin (174) and sophomore Joe Kennedy (197) all wrestled to eighth place finishes at the prestigious invitational event.
In the team race, Lehigh finished seventh with 65.5 points. Galante’s points did not count towards the team total as Lehigh had to declare 10 point scorers before the tournament, and with 12 entries coaches selected not to score Galante and junior Alex Caruso.
The day started well for Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks had five wrestlers in the round of 12 where a win would guarantee a place in the top eight. All five wrestlers: Fisk, Ciasulli, Galante, Hamlin and Kennedy picked up victories, with Fisk earning bonus points with a technical fall, and Galante also delivering a bonus win with a first period pin of Iowa State’s Mike Finch.
Rey entered the day as the lone remaining Mountain Hawk in the championship bracket, but the No. 2 seed suffered his first loss of the season, 3-2 in the tiebreakers to Iowa State’s No. 6 seed David Zabriskie in the semifinals.
After clinching spots on the podium, the five round of 12 winners moved on to the consolation quarterfinals, where again Fisk and Galante picked up wins to guarantee a top-six finish. Ciasulli, Hamlin and Kennedy all suffered losses which dropped them to the seventh-place matches. All three dropped their respective placement bouts and had to settle for eighth place in the tournament.
Fisk was the only Lehigh grappler to win in the consolation semifinals, as he upset No. 1 seed Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State 2-1 in the tiebreakers to earn a chance to wrestle for third. Fisk had to settle for fourth however, as he dropped a 5-3 decision to Old Dominion’s Kyle Hutter.
Galante was relegated to wrestle for fifth place after losing his consolation semifinal 8-4 to Nick Marable of Missouri, but the senior bounced back with a 4-3 win over Central Michigan’s Tyler Grayson to capture fifth place.
Rey also earned a fifth place finish. In the consolation semifinals, Rey dropped a 3-1 decision to Aaron Anspach, a former Penn State national runner-up who competed as a post-graduate. In the fifth place match, Rey picked up his second win this month over Missouri’s junior world freestyle champion Dom Bradley, again by a 2-1 score in the tiebreakers. Rey is now 14-1 this season against current college wrestlers.
Lehigh’s six place winners eclipsed the previous school record of five set in December of 2000.
In the overall team race, Iowa racked up 168.5 points to claim another Midlands team title. The Hawkeyes were followed by Iowa State (144.5), Central Michigan (118), Missouri (103), Wisconsin (90.5) and Maryland (74.5), which finished nine points ahead of Lehigh. Iowa’s Brent Metcalf, the champion at 149 earned the Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler Award, while American’s Steve Fittery, the 157-pound champ, earned the Champion of Champions trophy.
The Mountain Hawks will be back in dual action next weekend when they travel to Hampton, Virginia to take part in the Virginia Duals. Action begins Friday, January 8 at the Hampton Coliseum and continues through January 9.
Fourth Round Consolations
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
tech. fall |
David Marble (Bucknell) |
16-1, 5:38 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Tyler Nauman (Pitt) |
4-3 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Mike Finch (Iowa State) |
1:20 |
|
174 |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Enoch Francois (Cal Baptist) |
3-1, s.v. |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Eric Simaz (Cent. Mich.) |
7-2 |
Quarterfinals
|
285 |
David Zabriskie (Iowa St.) |
dec. |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
3-2, t.b. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Consolation Quarterfinals
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Kelly Kubec (Oregon St.) |
6-4 |
|
141 |
Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
5-0 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Zach Toal (Missouri) |
10-2 |
|
174 |
Luke Manuel (Purdue) |
dec. |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
5-3 |
|
197 |
Trevor Brandvold (Wisc) |
dec. |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
6-3 |
Consolation Semifinals
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Nick Fanthorpe (Iowa St.) |
2-1, t.b. |
|
165 |
Nick Marable (Missouri) |
dec. |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
8-4 |
|
285 |
Aaron Anspach (NLWC) |
dec. |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
3-1 |
Seventh-place match
|
141 |
Juan Archuleta (Purdue) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
2-1 |
|
174 |
Shane Riccio (Bucknell) |
dec. |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
3-2 |
|
197 |
Brent Haynes (Missouri) |
maj. dec. |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
16-5 |
Third-place match
|
133 |
Kyle Hutter (ODU) |
dec. |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
5-3 |
Fifth-place match
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Tyler Grayson (Cent. Mich.) |
4-3 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Dom Bradley (Missouri) |
2-1, t.b. |
