Marsteller Finishes Third at Scuffle
CHATTANOOGA – Chance Marsteller (New Park, Pa./Kennard-Dale) placed third at 165 pounds and was one of three place-winners for the No. 22/17 Lock Haven University wrestling team in Tuesday’s day two of the Southern Scuffle.
Kyle Shoop (Boiling Springs, Pa./Boiling Springs) placed fourth at 141 and Thomas Haines (Quarryville, Pa./Solanco) finished sixth overall at 285 to headline the LHU effort at the two-day tournament.
The Bald Eagles finished 10th overall in the team standings with 64.5 points.
This marked LHU’s first appearance at the Southern Scuffle since 2010. The Bald Eagles hadn’t had a Scuffle place-winner since 2009 and previously, their highest team finish was 11th in their first-ever appearance at the tournament back in 2004.
Marsteller, the No. 3 seed, was edged 3-2 in the semifinals by No. 2 seed Bryce Steiert, a two-time NCAA qualifier. The two were tied 0-0 after the first period and from there Marsteller pushed the pace, but just couldn’t find a takedown. The loss snapped Marsteller’s undefeated run as he’d opened the season with 22 straight wins.
In the consolation semifinals, Marsteller bounced back in a big way and cruised past Ebed Jarrell (Drexel), 10-5 to earn a spot in Tuesday’s third-place bout.
Marsteller locked up with a familiar face in the third-place bout as he met No. 6 seed Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech. Marsteller downed Lewis 3-1 in the quarterfinals on Monday.
Tuesday saw Marsteller once again came out on top in the bout with Lewis. Marsteller, ranked No. 8 nationally, used a late takedown and downed Lewis 6-4 for third place. Marsteller finished the Scuffle at 5-1 and he’s now 24-1 overall on the season.
Shoop opened his day in the consolation wrestle-backs and he quickly went to work on Air Forces’ Garrett O’Shea. Shoop was clinical on top and cruised to a 15-2 major decision win. In the consolation quarterfinals he locked up with No. 4 seed Russell Rohlfing of CSU Bakersfield. Shoop hammered his way to another lopsided win, majoring Rohlfing, 18-4.
In the consolation semifinals, Shoop picked up a medical forfeit over No. 2 seed Luke Karam of Lehigh. With the win, Shoop advanced to the third-place bout and got another shot at top-seed Josh Alber, who beat Shoop Monday in the quarterfinals. Earlier Tuesday, Alber lost to No. 5 seed Nick Lee (UNA, Penn State).
Alber, ranked No. 7 nationally, came out on top again as he earned an 18-3 tech fall (6:03) over Shoop. Shoop finished fourth overall after going 6-2 at the Scuffle.
Like Shoop, Haines opened his day in the consolation wrestle-backs, and picked up a dominating win to open Day 2 as well. Haines pinned Dustin Denninson (UNA, Utah Valley) at the 5:15 mark. In the consolation quarterfinals, Haines rolled by No. 7 seed Joey Goodhart (UNA, Drexel), 6-0. In the consolation semifinals, Haines fell to No. 5 seed Nathan Butler of Stanford (fall, 0:12). The loss to Butler moved Haines to 4-2 for the tournament and into the fifth-place bout.
Haines injury forfeited out of the fifth-place bout. He finished sixth overall after going 4-2 at the two-day event.
Lock Haven will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 12 and Saturday, Jan. 13 at the Virginia Duals.
