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Cavaliers Claim Two Championships At Mat Town Open
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Nov. 22, 2015
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Virginia wrestling team had a pair of wrestlers claim championships and five wrestlers place on Sunday (Nov. 22) in competition at the Mat Town Open hosted by Lock Haven University.
Joseph Martinez (Platteville, Colo.) and Patrick Gillen (Shelton, Conn.) claimed championships at 125 pounds and heavyweight, respectively. Sam Krivus (Greensburg, Pa.), Chris Yankowich (Norristown, Pa.), Garrett Peppelman (Harrisburg, Pa.), Will Schany (Blair, Neb.) and Ethan Hayes (New Lebanon, Ohio) all placed in the event.
“Today was another positive step forward in the overall development of our team,” said Virginia head coach Steve Garland. “We had a lot of guys competing and getting better today. For me, as a coach, there is no greater joy than seeing your guys in this mode. I’m happy for (Joe) Martinez and (Pat) Gillen getting the feel of a tournament championship again, and I’m thankful so many other guys got this tournament in before we let them have some time off.
“Looking ahead, we have the two toughest tournaments in our sport coming up, so they better enjoy their hug from mama while they can get it and be ready to come back and train hard.”
At 125 pounds, Martinez claimed the championship, picking up a pair of major decisions and a tech fall on the way to the championship round where he defeated Tanner Shoap of Drexel by major decision. Shoap was competing unattached in the event.
Krivus took third place at 141 pounds, advancing to the semifinals of the main draw before falling into the consolation bracket and taking third place. Krivus used a major decision and a decision to advance to the semifinals before falling by decision and dropping to the consolation bracket. He then used a decision to advance to the third-place match where he picked up a 7-0 decision over Joe Ghione who was competing unattached from Lock Haven.
Junior Emilio Martinez (Platteville, Colo.) also competed at 141 pounds, going 1-1 in two bouts at his weight class.
Yankowich took second at 149 pounds, using a pair of major decisions and a pair of decisions to advance to the championship bout. Yankowich fell by a 4-0 decision to Ken Theobold of Rutgers in the championship round to claim second. Theobold was competing unattached in the event.
The Cavaliers had a fourth wrestler place with redshirt freshman Peppelman taking third place at 165 pounds. Peppelman picked up a major decision and a decision to advance to the semifinals before falling to the consolation bracket as he dropped his semifinal match by decision. He then picked up a tech fall against Cavalier teammate Dustin Roemer (Pinehurst, N.C.) in the consolation semifinals and a decision over Jordan Pagano of Rutgers to take third place. Pagano competed unattached at the Mat Town Open.
Roemer, who dropped his opening bout, picked up a pair of falls in the consolation bracket before facing Peppelman in the semifinals of the bracket.
Schany finished second at 184 pounds, falling to Kellan Stout of Penn State by major decision in the finals of the weight class. Schany picked up a pair of decisions to advance to the championship bout against the unattached wrestler from the Nittany Lion squad.
At heavyweight, it was an all Cavalier final as Gillen picked up a 5-3 decision against Hayes to give Virginia the champion and second-place finisher in the weight class.
Virginia will return to action the weekend of Dec. 4-5 when the Cavaliers compete at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev.