South Mountaineer Volume 38, Issue 19

              DID YOU KNOW?
The Lehigh wrestling team went 4-3
this season against Pennsylvania
schools with two of those wins coming
against teams ranked in the Top 25.
Patriot League Championships Reviews
Women's Hoop Patriot League Tourney Preview
Men's Hoop Patriot League Tourney Preview
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
South Mountaineer
Volume 9, Issue 19
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
February 28, 1996
Penn State flexes muscles at Grace
Two seniors are only LU winners in regular season finale for both squads
by James Taylor
Sports CommunicationsAssistant
Two seniors wrestling their last
dual match at home in Grace Hall
temporarily resuscitated an
overmatched Lehigh squad, but
No. 12 Penn State had a little bit too
much firepower in the end and
defeated the Engineers 37-6 Sunday.
Penn St. improved to 11-8-1 this
season with its third straight victory
of the weekend and fourth in its last
five.
Brian Strunck and Cory
Brechbill, two unsung heroes during
their Lehigh careers, beat their
Nittany Lion opponents by decision
at 158 and 167 pounds, respectively,
but the Engineers were already
down 25-0 at that point.
Strunck won 6-4 in sudden
death, a period he is familiar with
this season. It was the fifth time in
16 dual matches that the West
Chester, Ohio, native has gone to
the extra period. He has a 2-3
record in those matches. Strunck is
19-13 overall, with eight of those
losses by two points or less.
Strunck is currently ranked
fifth at 158 in the Eastern
Intercollegiate Wrestling Association
Poll, but has wrestled better of late
and could surprise when the EIWA
Championships are held March 8-9
at Syracuse.
Brechbill won his fourth match
in a row and 15th overall with a 5-0
win at 167 pounds. Brechbill is
currently ranked second in the
EIWA.
Senior Jason Kutz, the sixth-
ranked 126-pounder in the country,
had his 24-match overall and dual
variety of moves en route to his
27-12 victory by technical fall.
"That's why he's No. 1, he
looked like he was having fun out
there," head coach Greg Strobel
said.
The crowd of 2,910 that jammed
into Grace Hall (capacity 2,600) was
Leonardis is also ranked second in
the EIWA.
Lacrosse player-turned-
heavyweight wrestler Travis
Jackson is out and previous 177-
pound sophomore Ednan Sheikh is
in at heavyweight. Sheikh went the
distance against Army's Todd
Lehigh sports no less than seven
regulars in the top six in their
respective weight classes.
The EIWA will give out 26 bids
for the NCAA Championships. The
champions and runners-up at each
of the 10 weight classes will receive
bids, plus six wild cards to be
decided on by the league.
If the Engineers can send five of
its wrestlers to the EIWA finals, the
league title should be theirs for a
second consecutive year.
Joe Ryan
Senior Cory Brechbill, ranked No. 2 in the EIWA at 167 pounds, carries the
momentum of four straight wins into the league championships March 8-9.
Penn State 37, Lehigh 6
118: Jason Betz (PS) WBF over Mike Sferra, 4:17
126: Sanshiro Abe (PS) tech. fall over Jason Kutz, 6:57
134: Biff Walizer (PS) WBF over Marc Lombardy, 6:55
142: John Hughes (PS) WBF over Chris Ayres, 4:50
150: Russ Hughes (PS) dec. Marat Vigdorchik, 5-3 (sd)
158: Brian Strunck (L) dec. John Lange, 6-4 (sd)
167: Cory Brechbill (L) dec. Brian Romesburg, 5-0
177: Frank Morici (PS) dec. John Van Doren, 6-4
190: Rob Neidlinger (PS) dec. John Leonardis, 14-7
Hwt:  Matt Gaul (PS) WBF over Ednan Sheikh, 6:29
win streak halted by Sanshiro Abe,
who is defending NCAA runner-up
and ranked No. 1 this season.
Abe, who had been in Bulgaria
and Turkey competing with his
Japanese National Freestyle Team
until a few days before the Lehigh
meet, had 12 takedowns on a
almost evenly mixed between Penn
St. and Lehigh fans, which made for
unfamiliar cheering noises when the
opponent did something good.
Lehigh suffered four pins in all
on the afternoon, including one at
142 pounds, where Penn State's
second No. 1 wrestler, John Hughes,
grappled with No. 20 Chris Ayres.
The freshman Ayres trailed 4-2
in the second period
when he tried going
chest-to-chest with the
senior Hughes and
quickly found himself
on his back.
Classmate Marat
Vigdorchik gave it a
valiant effort against
Penn State's third No.
1 in John's twin
brother Russ, but lost
in sudden death when
referee George Chilmonik penalized
him for stalling.
Freshman John Van Doren
fought well with Frank Morici
before finally dropping a 6-4
decision at 177.
Junior John Leonardis had his
four-match win streak snapped by
Rob Neidlinger at 190 pounds.
Kuehnlein February 16 despite
losing by major decision.
Sheikh's Penn St. opponent
pinned him with 31 seconds
remaining in the bout.
Next up for Lehigh is the EIWA
Championships at Syracuse, N.Y,
The Engineers are looking to repeat
as league champions and may have
the firepower to do it, despite their
7-9 dual record.
Leaders of Their Pack
The top two seeds in the Eastern
Intercollegiate Wrestling Association
at each weight class ranked by the
EIWA Newsletter as of February 14.
118:  1. Dave Caruso, Syracuse, fr.,
18-4; 2. Chris Madigan, ESU, sr, 26-8
126:  1. Jason Kutz, Lehigh, sr., 26-2
2. Willie Carpenter, Brown, jr., 19-8
134:   1. Carl Keske, Cornell, jr., 21 -4
2. Mark Piotrowski, Penn, so., 17-5
142:   1. Brett Matter, Penn, fr., 24-2
2. Chris Ayres, Lehigh, fr., 21-10
ISO:   1. Marat Vigdorchik, Lehigh,
fr., 23-10; 2. Randy Walsh, Navy, sr.,
25-6
158:  1. Mike Kwapniewski, Rutgers,
sr., 25-2; 2. Ed Mosley, Harvard, fr.,
17-3
167:  1. Jason Townsend, Syracuse, fr.,
14-5; 2. Cory Brechbili, Lehigh, sr.,
15-12
177:   1. Clint Matter, Penn., sr., 11-2
2. Joel Holman, Cornell, so., 19-5
190:  1. Carlos Eason, Cornell, jr.,
16-0; 2. John Leonardis, Lehigh, so.,
18-9
Hwt: 1. Joey Allen, Penn, sr., 10-0
2. Shannon Willits, Navy, sr., 17-7
INTRAMURALS
Wrestling tournament results
The intramural wrestling
tournament enjoyed more than 40
participants in eight weight classes
that culminated in a championship
round held at Grace Hall at noon
Sunday.
John Regina edged Mike
Taluskie for the super
heavyweight crown by a 4-3
decision. Other winners included
Greg Seid at flyweight, John
Heyman at featherweight, Roger
Mazzella at lightweight, Pete
Schemm won welterweight with a
pin just 13 seconds into the match,
Jacob Civitts won middleweight,
Scott Rosander at light
heavyweight, and Lehigh football's
starting linebacker Lance
Eckenrode at heavyweight.
Some upcoming intramural
competitions include: Softball,
beginning the day after spring
break; co-rec volleyball and a three-
on-three basketball tournament in
late March; and the hotshot
competition Buzzer Beaters is
scheduled for March 4.