Kline is Mat Town Open Champ for Bald Eagles
Barzona 4th at 125 in First Collegiate Outing
LOCK HAVEN – Nine members of the Lock Haven University wrestling team hit the mats today – competing both attached and unattached – as the Bald Eagles hosted the 12th annual Mat-Town Open and it was 125-pounder Josiah Kline (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge) who led the way.
Kline went 3-0 and took home the title. Both Jonathan Ross (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern York) and Jared Siegrist (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) finished as runners-up, taking second at 157 and 174 pounds, respectively.
Kline (125) opened the day with a pin after he needed just 26 seconds to pin Shane Metzler (Rutgers, UNA). He moved to 2-0 on the day and earned a spot in the finals after majoring Geo Barzona of Bucknell (UNA), 12-1. In the finals, Kline downed Dominic LaJoie (FLWC), 9-3 in a dominating effort.
Barzona, a former Central Mountain Wildcat in his first outing at the collegiate level, picked up a 7-2 decision over Brandon Loperfido of LHU (UNA) in the opening round then beat Nick Bauer of Wyoming Seminary 10-0 in the quarterfinals. Barzona then fell to LHU’s Kline in the semi-final round, 12-1. Then in the consolation semi-final, Barzona picked up another 5-2 win over Loperfido before losing the consolation final 5-0 to Nick Werner of Lock Haven (UNA) to finish fourth at 125.
Ross (157) majored Chase Gardner (Bloomsburg, UNA) 12-1 and edged out Will Kaldes (Pitt, UNA), 5-2 to earn a spot in the finals. In the finals, Ross fell 7-2 to Fred Green of Virginia.
Siegrist (174) open his day with pin, downing Brandon Stokes (Bucknell, UNA) in 3:52. He followed that up with a dominating 17-0 tech-fall win over Koltyn Eason (Edinboro, UNA). In the finals, Siegrist was downed 7-0 by Jordan Pagano (Rutgers, UNA).
Luke Werner (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) added a third-place finish at 125 pounds. After dropping his opening match of the day, Werner rattled off four straight wins to take third. He was 4-1 on the day with one major decision and one tech fall.
Up next:
The Bald Eagles will return to action on Friday, December 1 at 7 p.m. when they host No. 11 Rutgers in dual action. The dual will mark the first dual of the 2017-18 season for Lock Haven. The Bald Eagles are calling for a WHITE OUT and the match is also LHU’s Veterans Appreciation match. All veterans get in for free. For ticket information and more, visit the wrestling page at www.GoLHU.com.
LHU notes:
With Lock Haven’s dual with No. 11 Rutgers on the horizon, several Bald Eagle starters had a scheduled day off today … Three LHU wrestlers remain nationally ranked as Ronnie Perry (149), Chance Marsteller (165) and Thomas Haines (285) were all listed in last week’s InterMat national rankings … Perry was ranked No. 15, Marsteller No. 10 and Haines No. 15 … Marsteller is a perfect 11-0 on the season … The Bald Eagles continue to receive votes in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches’ Poll … The Bald Eagles haven’t officially cracked the top-25 since the 2002-03 season (ranked No. 24 on Nov. 26, 2002) … In all, the Bald Eagles returned all four of their NCAA Division I national qualifiers from last season … Along with Perry and Haines, DJ Fehlman (133) and Kyle Shoop (141) returned to the lineup.
