JANUARY 25, 2014
KING'S DESIR WINS MAC TITLE, STARK SECOND WHILE MAZZOCCHI THIRD
FULL BRACKETS
GRANTHAM -- King's College senior Tommy Desir (Scranton/Scranton) captured the 165-pound title at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships Saturday at Messiah College in Grantham. In addition, Monarch junior Shane Stark placed second at 184, senior Chris Mazzocchi was third at 149, while sophomore Keith Wanamaker was fourth at 157.
With the return of the MAC wrestling tournament for the first time since the close of the 2005-06, Desir becomes King's first MAC champion since David Morgan won the 133-pound title eight years ago.
The seventh ranked wrestler at 165-pounds according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, Desir went 3-0 on the day and improved to 20-0 on the year. After receiving a first-round bye, the too-seeded Desir won his first match by pinning Buck Kauffman of Elizabethtown in 2:59, then followed up with a 6-3 decision over Jon Goodwin of Messiah in the semi-finals. In the title match he earned the MAC crown with a 4-2 decision over second-seeded Stephen Cannon of Messiah.
Stark, meanwhile, entered the tournament as the second seed and received a bye into the semi-finals. Â There the Lake Lehman product won a 2-0 decision over Levi Veppert of Wilkes to advance to the finals. Stark than fell painfully short of the crown when he dropped a 3-2 decision to top-seeded Josh Thomson of Messiah in the finals.
Mazzocchi had a solid tournament, going 3-1 on the day. He won his first round match with a 16-0 Â technical fall over Walter Fox of Lycoming but then fell in the semi-finals to second-seeded Vince Fava of Delaware Valley 3-1. In the consolations, Mazzocchi defeated James Delillo of Delaware Valley with a pin in 1:03 before capturing third place with a 17-0 technical fall over Greg Kabakjian of Messiah.
At 125, King's sophomore Jamie Scarantino went 0-2 on the day, falling to Kyle McNulty Elizabthtown 11-0 in the semi-finals before being pinned by John Archangeo of Elizabethtown in 7:16.
In the 157-pound class, King's had two entries. Wanamaker received a first-round bye before falling in the semi-finals to Emanual Ajagbe by an 18-2 technical fall. In the consolations, Wanamaker who his first match by a medical forfeit, before downing Stephen Turmner of Wilkes 8-4. In the consolation finals he was pinned by Ben Wise of Messiah in 2:18.
Also at 157, Gordon Custer went 1-2 on the day. He dropped his first match to Stephen Turmer of Wilkes via pin in 2:18, then won his first consolation match with an 8-1 decision against Rafi Sayada. He was eliminated in the consolation semi-finals with a 6-3 loss to Messiah's Wise.
At 197, King's senior Cemah Tudae-Torboh went 0-2 in the event. He lost his first match 8-0 to eventual runner-up Ben Kramer of Messiah. In the consolations he fell 8-0 to Jason Wright of Messiah.
At heavyweight, Monarch freshman Elijah Gresham also went 0-2. In his first bout he was pinned by top-seeded Jeremy Reith of Elizabethtown in 2:12 before falling to Mike Boardman of Delaware Valley by fall in 4:23.
Team Scoring
Messiah, 102.5
Wilkes, 94.5
Delaware Valley, 93.5
Elizabethtown, 60.0
King's, 42.0
Lycoming, 4.0
