Nov. 24, 2009

Contact: Renee Adam

Cleveland, Ohio - Following three pins and one major decision victory, the Cleveland State wrestling team posted its first dual meet victory of the season, topping cross town rival John Carroll, 31-13 on alumni night in Woodling Gymnasium.

"We had three starters back in the lineup tonight and that made a huge difference in the final outcome," head coach Ben Stehura said. "Everyone just kept working at it through their matches, and we had some pins late that really helped us out. It was great to have the alumni back for tonight's meet, and it was great to have Al DiGiovanni on the bench with us tonight."

After falling behind after the first match, Chris Weber got things started for the Vikings with a pin at 7:17 in the heavyweight class after tying 2-2 after three rounds forcing overtime.

Zachary Zupancic followed suit and recorded a pin at 5:30 in the 125 pound weight class, putting the Vikings up 12-4. With the pin, Zupancic pushed the momentum of the meet to the favor of the Vikings, forcing the Blue Streaks to do something big in order to catch up in the overall score.

Mike Mencini, Dan Castillo and Corey Carlo each recorded victories in the 141, 149 and 157 weight classes respectively. Mencini had an 8-5 decision putting CSU up 15-7, while Castillo shortly followed with a 9-7 decision and Carlo won on an 8-5 decision putting the score at 18-7 in favor of CSU.

Rob Michaels had a great showing in the 165 pound weight class tonight, pinning JCU's Andrew Shafer in just 29 seconds. Michaels' pin put the Vikings up by 20, 27-7.

Marcus Effner put up the final CSU victory of the night, winning a 13-1 major decision over Travis Hammer in the 174 weight class, giving the Vikings a 31-7 lead.

"They really stuck with it tonight and it's always good to get a win to help boost the confidence of the team," Stehura said. "I'm looking forward to the meet at Ohio and hope that we will bring the same level of competition that we had tonight."

The Vikings have a little over a week of training before they travel to Athens, Ohio to take on Ohio University on Friday, December 4 at 9:00 a.m.

Final Results
CSU 31, JCU 13
125: Zachary Zupancic (CSU) Pin 5:30 John Cobos (JCU) (12-4 CSU)
133: Kevin Nycz (JCU) 8-4 Dec. Zech Huff (CSU) (12-7 CSU)
141: Mike Mencini (CSU) 8-5 Dec. Greg Ryan (JCU) (15-7 CSU)
149: Dan Castillo (CSU) 9-4 Dec. Mauricio Gonzalez (JCU) (18-7 CSU)
157: Corey Carlo (CSU) 8-5 Dec. Connor Suba (JCU) (21-7 CSU)
165: Rob Michaels (CSU) Pin 0:29 Andrew Shafer (JCU) (27-7 CSU)
174: Marcus Effner (CSU) 13-1 Maj. Dec. Travis Hammer (JCU) (31-7 CSU)
184: Ben Adams (JCU) Pin 4:34 Nick Anthony (CSU) (31-13 CSU)
* 197: Jim Nemunaitis (JCU) 14-3 Maj. Dec. Jeff Schuller (CSU) (4-0 JCU)
HWT: Chris Weber (CSU) Pin 7:17 Alec Barker (6-4 CSU)

*-denotes starting match