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ESU preview

KUTZTOWN – Redshirt junior Braden Turner (157), redshirt junior Brendan McKeown (174) and freshman Tyson Searer (197) advanced to the semifinals, and sophomore Anthony Marino (125) and redshirt sophomore Luke DeLuise (184) are still alive in the consolations for East Stroudsburg University through the first day of the Super Region 1 Tournament, held Friday at Kutztown.

Saturday's matches will determine the regional champions and top four finishers at each weight, who will advance to the NCAA Division II Championships in Birmingham, Alabama on March 8-9.

Turner (No. 1 at 157) and McKeown (No. 2 at 174), both returning national qualifiers and their respective regional runner-ups last year, continued their strong tournament showings with a pair of wins Friday. Searer (No. 1 at 197) also got through to give the Warriors three semifinalists for the third straight year.

All three will look to join ESU's two previous regional champions, Ed Ebewo (197, 2012) and Jeff Jacobs (174, 2011), on Saturday. The Warriors are in their fourth year in Division II.

Turner opened his day with his first career pin in two seasons at ESU, taking care of Eli Stewart (Ohio Valley) in 51 seconds. He advanced to the semis with a 1-0 decision over Matt Martoccio (Kutztown) and will face 4th-seeded Art Hobley (West Liberty) on Saturday morning. Hobley knocked off 5th-seeded Sean Floor (Gannon) with a 2-1 decision.

McKeown, 18-1 on the season with 14 straight wins, made quick work of Zachary VanEss (AIC) with a 15-0 technical fall and won a 10-3 decision over 7th-seeded Angelo Bortoluzzi (Mercyhurst) in the quarters.

He will take on 3rd-seeded Gary Lantz (UPJ) in the semis, who won by injury default over McKeown on December 4 for his only loss of the season. Lantz pinned 6th-seeded Neil Grudi (Shippensburg) in 6:01 to make the semis.

Searer won both of his bouts by decision, 5-1 over Brian Beattie (Mercyhurst) in the opening round and 4-0 over Marshall Hobbs (Shippensburg) in the quarters. He will have his second meeting of the season with 5th-seeded Chase Long (Ohio Valley) in the semis, a rematch of Searer's 5-3:tb1 decision over Long in the SR1 Duals on January 25. Long got past 4th-seeded Nikos Garafola (UPJ) with a 4-2 decision.

The 157 and 174-pound brackets held true to form with the top four seeds advancing. At 197, Searer is joined by No. 2 Joey Grisko (Newberry), No. 3 Vinny Campanile (Kutztown) and No. 5 Chase Long (Ohio Valley).

Overall, 29 of the 30 wrestlers seeded 1st through 3rd in their brackets advanced to the semifinals.

Marino, who had a first-round bye at 125, ran into top-seeded Jeffrey Vesta (Newberry) in the quarters, who recorded a second-period pin. He bounced back with a 3-0 decision over Nick Lamoreaux (Kutztown) in his first consolation bout and will take on 5th-seeded Jake Smith (UNC-Pembroke) on Saturday morning. Smith was bounced from the quarters by a 16-3 major decision by 4th-seeded Ryan Link (UPJ).

DeLuise had a first-round pin of Zackery Farmer (Anderson) in 1:37 before falling to top-seeded Travis McKillop (UPJ) for the second time this season, dropping a 9-0 decision. He rebounded in the consolations with an 11-1 major decision over Daniel Cox (Millersville) and will see unseeded Dylan Bushby (Seton Hill) in his next consolation bout. Bushby advanced over 4th-seeded Luke Etter (Shippensburg) by injury default before dropping a 7-3 decision to 5th-seeded Eric Lundgren (Mercyhurst) in the quarters.

ESU's other three entries went 0-2 – freshman Devin Holmes at 133, freshman Nate Silverthorn at 165 and redshirt senior Joe Blaes at 285.

Silverthorn lost a 3-0 decision to 7th-seeded Zach Pincus (Millersville) in the first round and ran into 2nd-seeded Keith Ryan (UPJ) in the consolations, bowing out with a first-period pin. Ryan was upset by unseeded David Schlieper (West Liberty), 11-5, in his first-round match.

Blaes dropped an 8-0 major decision to 2nd-seeded Mike Carpenter (West Liberty) in the opening round and a 6-0 decision to Blake Lucas (Ohio Valley) in the consolations.

Saturday's action begins at 11 a.m. with the championship and consolation semifinals. The championship and consolation finals begin at 3 p.m.

ESU has had eight national qualifiers in its first three years in Division II, including four last year in Turner, McKeown, Ed Ebewo (197) and Thad Frick (165). Ebewo and Turner both went on to earn All-America honors.

ESU is tied for eighth in the team standings with West Liberty, both with 26.5 points. Both schools had three semifinalists. Defending regional champ Newberry holds a 13.5 point lead (76.5-63.0) over Pitt-Johnstown for the team lead. Newberry has eight semifinalists, followed by Pitt-Johnstown with seven. UNC-Pembroke and Mercyhurst have four and ESU, West Liberty and Kutztown have three each.


125 – No. 8 Anthony Marino (2-5) – Consolations
Quarters – No. 1 Jeffrey Vesta (Newberry) pinned Marino, 3:42
Consolations – Marino dec. Nick Lamoreaux (Kutztown), 3-0
Consolations – No. 5 Jake Smith (UNC-Pembroke)

133 – Devin Holmes (3-20)
1st Round – No. 1 Dylan D'Urso (Mercyhurst) tech. fall Holmes, 17-0
Consolations – No. 8 Dontae Brown (UNC-Pembroke) pinned Holmes, 1:56

149 – Joe Welk (5-10)
1st Round – No. 3 Nick Nichols (Seton Hill) advanced by forfeit
Consolations – No. 4 Michael Griffith (Mercyhurst) advanced by forfeit

157 – No. 1 Braden Turner (19-5) – Semifinals
1st Round – Turner pinned Eli Stewart (Ohio Valley), 0:51
Quarters – Turner dec. No. 8 Matt Martoccio (Kutztown), 1-0
Semis – No. 4 Art Hobley (West Liberty)

165 – Nate Silverthorn (4-15)
1st Round – No. 7 Zach Pincus (Millersville) dec. Silverthorn, 3-0
Consolations – No. 2 Keith Ryan (UPJ) pinned Silverthorn, 1:38

174 – No. 2 Brendan McKeown (18-1) – Semifinals
1st Round – McKeown tech. fall Zachary VanEss (AIC), 15-0
Quarters – McKeown dec. No. 7 Angelo Bortoluzzi (Mercyhurst), 10-3
Semis – No. 3 Gary Lantz (UPJ)

184 – No. 8 Luke DeLuise (15-10) – Consolations
1st Round – DeLuise pinned Zackery Farmer (Anderson), 1:37
Quarters – No. 1 Travis McKillop (UPJ) maj. dec. DeLuise, 9-0
Consolations – DeLuise maj. dec. Daniel Cox (Millersville), 11-1
Consolations – Dylan Bushby (Seton Hill)

197 – No. 1 Tyson Searer (16-7) – Semifinals
1st Round – Searer dec. Brian Beattie (Mercyhurst), 5-1
Quarters – Searer dec. Marshall Hobbs (Shippensburg), 4-0
Semis – No. 5 Chase Long (Ohio Valley)

285 – Joe Blaes (5-14)
1st Round – No. 2 Mike Carpenter (West Liberty) maj. dec. Blaes, 8-0
2nd Round – Blake Lucas (Ohio Valley) dec. Blaes, 6-0