Marsteller, Klucker, LHU Winners at Clarion Open

CLARION, Pa. – Alex Klucker (Summerdale, Pa./East Pennsboro) and Chance Marsteller (New Park, Pa./Kennard-Dale) both dominated their respective weight classes and each finished a perfect 5-0 on the way to individual titles, highlighting the 2017-18 opener for the Lock Haven University wrestling team at Sunday’s Clarion Open.

Klucker went 5-0 with a pair of pins in a strong 157-pound bracket and Marsteller went 5-0 with four tech falls on the way to his title at 165 pounds in his much anticipated Bald Eagle debut.

Klucker, a redshirt-sophomore, needed just 29 seconds to pin his first opponent of the day and he followed that up with a 16-0 tech fall. He won 15-11 in the quarterfinals and upended Joe Lee by major decision, 19-8, in the semifinals. In the finals, Klucker pinned Kent State’s Casey Sparkman in just 2:23 to put an exclamation point on his run through the bracket and title.

Marsteller put on a clinic in his Lock Haven debut. The nationally ranked redshirt-junior went a perfect 5-0 at 165 with four of his five wins coming by way of tech fall. Marsteller’s first three bouts took just over 10 minutes as he overpowered his first three opponents by a combined 55-9 score.

In the semifinals, Marsteller dropped Pittsburgh’s Jake Wentzel 9-3 before another dominating effort in the finals. In the finals, Marsteller needed just over six minutes to tech Virginia’s Demetrius Romero, 20-5.

In five bouts Marsteller outscored the opposition by a combined 84-17.

Sophomore Jared Siegrist (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) placed fourth at 174 pounds after a 3-2 showing.

Up next:
Next weekend (Sunday, Nov. 12), Lock Haven will compete alongside a number of nationally-ranked teams including No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 8 North Carolina State, No. 9 Virginia Tech and No. 10 Lehigh at the 2017 Journeymen Collegiate Classic (Troy, N.Y., Hudson Valley Community College).