Shoop, Klucker Pace #22 Bald Eagles at Navy Classic
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Kyle Shoop (Boiling Springs, Pa./Boiling Springs) made his highly anticipated season debut and Alex Klucker (Summerdale, Pa./East Pennsboro) continued his strong early-season run, as the duo paced the No. 22 Lock Haven University wrestling team’s effort Saturday at the 2019 Navy Classic, hosted by the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland (Wesley Brown Field House).
Shoop, ranked sixth nationally, finished second overall at 141 pounds after going 4-1. Klucker, ranked No. 15 in the nation, was third overall after going 4-1 at 157.
Shoop and Klucker were two of several Lock Haven individuals who turned in notable efforts.
Jared Siegrist (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) was fourth at 174, while DJ Fehlman (Warren, Pa./Warren) finished fifth overall at 133 after an impressive six-win day. Corey Hazel (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) placed fifth at 184 after bouncing back from a quarterfinal loss in a big way.
For Shoop, the action marked his official 2019-20 season debut. It was a highly anticipated debut at that after his All-American run last spring in Pittsburgh. Shoop has led Division I in tech falls in each of the last two seasons and his hard-riding style has made him a fan favorite near and far.
Shoop is one of four returning national qualifiers in LHU’s lineup this season. All four were in action as Fehlman, Klucker and Hazel are all returning national qualifiers for head coach Scott Moore’s side.
As a team, Lock Haven finished fourth (85 points) overall in an impressive 18-team field.
No. 4 Virginia Tech won the team title with 116 points. Campbell was second (107 points) and Michigan State was third (99 points). LHU edged out Rutgers (83.5 points) to round out the top-five today.
Lock Haven finished as the top team from the Mid-American Conference (MAC), besting six others from the MAC, including Ohio, Edinboro, Kent State, Old Dominion, George Mason and Cleveland State.
Shoop, who is ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation at 141 pounds by FloWrestling, was the No. 1 seed at 141 and looked fit for the billing as he breezed into the finals with a 4-0 record. Making his official 2019-20 season-debut, the returning All-American needed little time to shake off the rust as he opened the day with a dominating 12-2 major decision. Shoop picked up two more wins, improved to 3-0 on the day and locked up his spot in the 141-pound semifinals where he met Ohio’s Shakur Landry. In the semifinals, Shoop rolled to an 8-4 win and improved to 4-0 on the day.
In the finals, Shoop was edged out, 2-1, by Joshua Heil of Campbell – the No. 2 seed and nation’s 17th-ranked 141-pounder – in a tightly contested early-season top-20 matchup. Shoop was dominant on top in both the second and third period, and racked up a huge advantage in riding time, but Heil escaped with the narrow victory.
Klucker, ranked 15th nationally, finished third overall at 157 after securing a huge upset in the third-place bout. Klucker was 4-1 on the day with his only loss coming in the semifinals to No. 23 Jake Tucker of Michigan State. Klucker, the No. 2 seed today, responded in a big way and knocked off top-seed BC LaPrade of Virginia Tech. Klucker pinned the nation’s 13th-ranked 157-pounder in just 1:39. The pin for third highlighted a workmanlike day that led to four solid victories. Klucker is now 10-2 on the season.
Siegrist, ranked No. 24 in the nation at 174, finished fourth overall after going 3-2. The No. 2 seed jumped out to a 3-0 start with three dominating wins, but he fell in the semifinals to No. 3 seed Jacob Oliver of Edinboro, 10-4. In the third-place bout, Siegrist fell to Michigan State’s Layne Malczewski, 9-2. For Siegrist, his three wins to open the tournament came by way of an 8-2 decision, a pin (2:52) and a major decision (15-4).
Fehlman – nationally ranked No. 17 at 133 – went 6-1 and finished fifth at 133. After opening the day with a win, Fehlman lost his second bout of the tournament in the Round of 16 and had to battle back. He did just that and rattled off five straight wins to improve to 6-1 on the day. Fehlman’s strong wrestle-back performance pushed him into the fifth-place bout, where he won by forfeit, before the Bald Eagles nationally-ranked 133-pounder finished with six wins.
The six wins on the day pushed Fehlman over the 90-career win plateau. Currently sitting on 94 total career wins, Fehlman will look to become LHU’s 22nd 100-match winner this season.
Hazel went 5-1 at 184 and finished fifth overall. The nation’s 12th ranked 184 pounder and No. 5 seed was 2-0 on the day, but fell to the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals. Following that 5-1 quarterfinal loss, Hazel rattled off three wins to take fifth overall at 184 and finish the day with five wins (5-1). In the fifth-place bout, Hazel dominated Billy Janzer of Rutgers, 6-2.
Rounding the solid day for LHU was Blake Reynolds (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) who was 3-2 with a tech fall and two pins. Once again, Trey Hartsock (Lewistown, Pa./Mifflin County) got the call at 285. He picked up a pair of wins, including a pin and a notable, 3-2, victory over American’s Niko Camacho.
