JANUARY 24, 2015

KING'S SPARKS, KILPATRICK PLACED 3RD AND FOURTH AT MAC WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

FULL BRACKETS

WILKES-BARRE — King's College freshman Matt Sparks and Howard Kilpatrick both reached the medal stand in the rookie year as the duo placed third and fourth at the 2015 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships Saturday at Wilkes University.

Delaware Valley won the team title with 125.5 points, edging defending champion Messiah by 1.5 points.  Messiah earned 124 points. Wilkes finished in third with 73 points. Lycoming took fourth with 58.5 points, and King's finished fifth with 21.5 points.

Competing in the 133-pound weight class, the fifth-seeded Sparks won his first-round match with a 8-6 decision over Matt Schneider of Lycoming. In the second round he fell to fourth-seeded Hunter Harris of Messiah by a fall in 1:01.  In the consolation round, Sparks posted a 6-1 decision over sixth-seeded Cody Barbiche of Lycoming.

In his second next match he earned a 6-3 decision over Daniel Rodriguez of Messiah. In the consolation semi-finals Sparks received a medical forfeit win over second-seeded Michael Fleck of Wilkes. In the consolation finals he took home the bronze  y avenging his second-round loss to Harris with a 15-1 major decision.  Sparks went 5-1 on the day to improve his freshman ledger to 19-12.

 

Kilpatrick, meanwhile, was seeded third in the event and went 2-2  in the tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, Kilpatrick registered a 10-2 major decision over Steve Orlic of Delaware Valley. In the semi-finals he fell to second-seeded Sean Lombardi 13-2. In the consolations he remained alive with a 14-4 decision over King's teammate Keith Wanameker.  In the consolation finals Kilpatrick dropped a hard-fought 8-6 decision to fifth-seeded Nick Racanelli. Kilpatrick now stands at 13-8 on the year.

In other weight classes, freshman Kevin Kelly went 0-2 at 141-pounds. He fell in his opener by fall in 2:48 to top-seeded Kaleb Loht, the defending Division III national champion. Kelly then was pinned in his second match in 5:46 to Tanner Fasold of Lycoming.

At 149, Giacomo Dinacola lost 12-1 in his first match against Morgan Fuller of Wilkes, then dropped a 12-3 decision to Adam Peris of Messiah.

In the 157-pound class, Wanamaker won his first match with a 11-3 victory over fourth-seeded Tag Wilber of Messiah. Wanamaker then fell by fall to fifth-seeded Nick Racanelli of Wilkes in 5:57. In the consolation bracket, the Monarch junior stayed alive with a pin in 1:15 over Greg Kabakjan of Messiah but then fell to teammate Kilpatrick 14-4 in the consolation semi-finals.

At 165-pounds King's freshman Ryan Carden dropped both his matches, falling by pin in 0:14 to fourth-seeded Steve Turner of Wilkes before a 15-0 loss to third-seeded Nolan Barger of Lycoming.

In the 184-pound class, Monarch freshman Zach Smith received a first-round bye before falling 15-2 to second-seeded Levi Reppert of Wilkes. In the consolations he stayed alive with a 9-2 decision over Anthony Mancuso of Lycoming. In the consolation semifinals he was pinned in 1:41 by fifth-seeded Alex Price of Delaware Valley.

At 197, sixth-seeded Ryan Longenberger lost 3-1 in his opening match to third-seeded Ric Bach of Wilkes.  Longenberger then stayed alive in the semi-finals with a pin in 1:33 over teammate Fjoralb Cekici. After a 3-1 decision over Ethan Barnes of Delaware Valley, Longenberger fell 3-1 in the consolation semi-finals to fourth-seeeded Kyle Koser of Messiah.  Cekicki, meanwhile, dropped his opener at 184 to Koser before falling to Longenberger.

At 285-pounds King's Brad Lucas won his opener with a 9-4 decision over David Giovanacci of Messiah. In his next match he was pinned in 2:10 by top-seeded eventual champion Zach Roseberry of Delaware Valley. In the consolations he posted a 3-1 decision over teammate Ralph Bernardo and then fell by fall in 1:02 to fourth-seeded Isaiah Shipman of Messiah.