No. 24 Wrestling advances to semifinals of Budd Whitehill Duals with pair of victories over nationally-ranked opponents

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The No. 24-ranked Ohio Northern wrestling team advanced to the semifinals of the 2012 Budd Whitehill Duals with a pair of victories over nationally-ranked opponents on Friday at Lycoming (Pa.) College.

The Polar Bears (7-3 overall) defeated No. 29 Thiel (Pa.) 39-6 in the first round and topped No. 11-ranked York (Pa.) 19-13 in the quarterfinals.

Ohio Northern will face No. 12 Wisconsin-Whitewater in the semifinals Saturday morning at 10:30 am.

The finals and third place matches are slated for 3 pm on Saturday.

Northern was seeded seventh in the 20-team, double-elimination field and opened the tournament with a 39-6 victory over 10th-seeded Thiel Friday morning.

ONU dominated the match, winning eight of ten weight classes, four of them by fall.

Sophomore Jerry Pasquale earned a pin in 1:35 in the 125-pound weight class to improve his record to 7-7 on the season.

In the 174-weight class, junior two-time All-American Kyle Kwiat got his seventh pin of the season in 1:32.  Kwiat, ranked No. 3 nationally in his weight class, improves to 19-0 on the year.

Freshman Cody Lovejoy advanced to 12-7 this season after getting a pin at 5:29 in the heavyweight class.

Senior Mick Letcher earned his 12th victory of the year with a pin in 1:45 in the 157-weight class.

Against York, the Polar Bears won six of the 10 weight classes to record the victory.

Letcher won by major decision at 157 pounds to improve to 13-3 on the season.

Freshman Cole Cochran (125), junior Jeremy Jones (133), Painter (165), Kwiat (174) and sophomore Michael Pawlitz (197) all added victories by decision for ONU.

No. 24 Ohio Northern 19, No. 11 York (Pa.) 16

125 — Cole Cochran (ONU) dec. Joey Giaccio, 6-1
133 — Jeremy Jones (ONU) dec. Charles Glatz, 6-1
141 — Chris Albright (YC) maj. dec. Nick Pataro, 13-2
149 — Chris Gugliotto (YC) tech. fall Kyle Brezovec, 16-0
157 — Mick Letcher (ONU) maj. dec. Thomas Demetrio, 13-2
165 — Billy Painter (ONU) dec. Trent Bond, 3-0
174 — Kyle Kwiat (ONU) dec. Matt Heisey, 3-1
184 — Alex Martocello (YC) maj. dec. D.J. Recknagel, 11-3
197 — Michael Pawlitz (ONU) dec. Kyle Minogue, 7-0
285 — George Saliba (YC) dec. Cody Lovejoy, 3-0

No. 24 Ohio Northern 39, No. 29 Thiel 6

125 ­­– Jerry Pasquale (ONU) pinned Shayduan Velez-Lara, 1:35
133 – Corey Brown (TC) dec. Jeremy Jones, 7-4
141 – Nick Pataro (ONU) dec. Jerry Cramer, 5-0
149 – Sean Byham (TC) dec. Kyle Brezovec, 4-2
157 – Mick Letcher (ONU) pinned unknown, 1:45
165 – Billy Painter (ONU) tech. fall Jerrold Roosa, 16-0
174 – Kyle Kwiat (ONU) pinned Jacob Trillow, 1:32
184 – D.J. Recknagel (ONU) maj. dec. Billy Roods, 14-1
197 – Michael Pawlitz (ONU) dec. Patrick Morris, 8-2
285 – Cody Lovejoy (ONU) pinned Kraig Smith, 5:29