Sports
Clarion Wrestlers win PSAC championship
Sophomore Alex Thomas wins the 197-pound weight class in the PSAC Championship on Saturday, Dec. 4. (Courtesy Photo / The Clarion Call)
The Clarion University wrestling team brought home the PSAC championship crown this past Saturday, Dec. 4, at Bloomsburg University.
This was Clarion’s first PSAC title since 1994.
Clarion had three individual winners at the event.
Sophomores Alex Thomas and James Fleming, and junior Bekzod Abdurakhmonov.
Thomas won the 197-pound weight class and was named “Outstanding Wrestler’s” of the tournament.
He went 4-0 in his weight class, and pinned all four of his opponents.
It took him all but 51 seconds to pin Edinboro’s Shawn Fendone, who he pinned a year ago in the PSAC finals.
He pinned his first two opponents in less than two minutes, and in the semi-finals he pinned Mercyhurst’s Michael Pollard at the 5:56 mark.
He is now 7-3 in the season. Fleming improved his record to 14-1 in the season. He beat Edinboro’s John Greisheimer 10-2 in the finals.
He used a five-point move in the second period to take a 5-0 lead.
He then got a four-point move, before cruising to the 10-2 major decision.
He pinned Dakota Kuhn at 2:30, then went on to pin Bloomsburg’s own Frank Hickman at 5:58 in the semi-finals.
Fleming is ranked 13th in the country.
Abdurakhmonov earned his title in the finals with a 2-1 decision over Bloomsburg’s Josh Veltre.
They wrestled to a 0-0 tie, and then put the Nelson Fieldhouse fans in a frenzy.
He appeared to have multiple takedowns, but they were all countered by tremendous counters.
Abdurakhmonov controlled the third period, before being docked a point for stalling, but that point wasn’t enough for him to lose.
He opened up his road to the title by defeating East Stroudsburg’s Jesse Dunn in 2:19.
He then defeated Gannon’s Zack McKendree in the semis.
He improved to 12-2 in the season and is ranked 18th in the country. Sophomore Joe Waltko, (133), and junior Cameron Moran, (141), each took home second place while
freshman Anthony White, (149), sophomore Steven Cressley, (184) and Quintas McCorkle, (heavyweight) took home third-place finishes.
Fifth-year head coach, Teague Moore, was excited by his wrestlers performances in winning the PSAC title.
“I have so much respect for the Clarion tradition, and what this means to our team, pin club, alumni and fans that I’m overwhelmed,” Moore said.
“We really wrestled as a total team today. Three champions, two seconds, three thirds and a fourth showed our team balance. I couldn’t be happier.”
Clarion claimed the team title with 135.5 points, while host Bloomsburg finished second with 110.5.
The three individual titles give Clarion 111 in its history.
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