Dec. 27, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Contact: Ryan Mulford

SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings will travel to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois to take part in the two day Midlands Invitational on Dec. 29 and 30. The invitational is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. and run continuously throughout both days.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings are coming off a 46-3 victory over Wagner, which was their largest win since the 1996 when they beat Ohio Northern 54-0. Rashard Goff has carried the Vikings on his back all season winning 17 of his 19 matches. After an early season injury, Rob Michaels has come back strong leading the team with four pin falls in his eight victories. Four Vikings have double digit wins this season, including Goff with 17, Jordan Keller and Antonio Nicholson both have 12 wins and Corey Carlo has 10 victories thus far.

MIDLANDS A YEAR AGO: The Vikings finished 28th overall at Midlands last season. Rashard Goff led the way posting a 2-2 mark, including victories against opponents from Harper and Army.

VS. WAGNER: Cleveland State came out and dominated the dual from the beginning, cruising to a 46-3 victory on Dec. 19. After receiving the lead after a 125-pound forfeit, the Vikings never looked back. Josh Palivoda and Corey Carlo provided the Vikings with two tech fall victories with scores of 16-1 and 18-3 respectively. Lawrence Cavello and Antonio Nicholson continued the success posting back-to-back decisions by scores of 3-1 and 9-3 respectively. The Vikings finished the match in astounding fashion with four pin falls. Rob Michaels and JT Miller went back-to-back and Eric Schwartz and Rashard Goff also went back-to-back. Both Michaels and Goff's pins came at exactly 0:41 in the match.

VS. DREXEL: The Vikings were able to tally four wins in the nine contested matches, but fell 28-14. Jordan Keller got the Vikings on the board first by nabbing his sixth major decision of the season with a 15-2 victory over Michael Gomez. Antonio Nicholson also added his first major decision victory of the season by taking down Robert Robinson by a score of 10-2. Dustin Doty and Rashard Goff also earned victories for the Vikings. Doty notched his third victory of the season by defeating Scott Hunter, while Goff put up a 7-3 decision over Kyle Frey.

VS. BUCKNELL: The Vikings were able to pull out two victories in their 35-13 loss. Rob Michaels led the way for Cleveland State nailing down his fourth pin fall of the season over Nicholas Czapla at 2:03. Lawrence Cavello also scored a 6-4 overtime decision over Adam Healey.

DOMINATING PERFORMANCE: The Vikings 46 points were the most points CSU scored since defeating American in 2002, by a score of 44-19. In their dual meet against Wagner, the Vikings were able to win eight of the nine-contested match ups. In the crushing victory the Vikings received tech falls from Josh Palivoda and Corey Carlo, their first of the season. Cleveland State also pinned the Seahawks four times. Rob Michaels and JT Miller went back-to-back and after the lone Viking loss, Eric Schwartz and Rashard Goff were able to pin both of their opponents in a combined 1:54.

GOFF CLIMBING THE LADDER: After adding three more victories at the Bucknell Quad, Goff has now accumulated 17 victories this season adding up to 89 career victories. Currently, Goff is 29 victories behind Gerald Harris who tallied 118 victories from 1998 to 2003.

...AND PERFECT IN DUAL MEETS: Goff has been very strong in dual meet action posting a record of 6-0. Three of those victories have come by way of pin fall including a 41 second victory over Wagner's Mark Wagner on Dec. 19.

CONSISTENT CAVELLO: After red shirting his freshman season, Lawrence Cavello has solidified the 141 pound weight class for head coach Ben Stehura. Cavello has an overall record of 7-7, including a 4-2 mark in dual meets.

KEEPING IT UNDER CONTROL: In dual meets, senior Antonio Nicholson has made the most of his victories. Nicholson has been able to earn three victories after a Viking loss at the previous weight class, including a 10-2 major decision over Drexel's Robert Robinson on Friday (12/19).

MICHAELS TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: After suffering an early season injury at the Eastern Michigan Open, Rob Michaels has came back proving that last seasons 23 wins were no fluke. Michaels has already tallied nine victories in his 11 matches, including four wins by pin fall. Most recently, Michaels pinned Bucknell's Nicholas Czapla in 2:03, as well as Wagner's Joe Vitucci in 0:41 on Friday (12/19).

KELLER COMING THROUGH: The Kansas state champion at 119 pounds, his junior and senior season, Jordan Keller has proven that he can compete at the next level. Keller has already won 12 matches, which is tied for second best on the team and his six major decisions are a team high.

THE HEAD COACH: Ben Stehura (Lock Haven, 2000) Overall: 29-53-1

Former Viking graduate assistant coach Ben Stehura is in his first season as head coach. Stehura is only the third head coach for the Viking wrestling program after serving the last five years as the head coach at Division II Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C. The only head coach in Limestone history, Stehura quickly built the program and has already coached one NCAA National Champion, three NCAA All-Americans, five NCAA National qualifiers and eight NCAA All-Academic team members. A 2000 graduate of Lock Haven University with a Bachelor's of Science in Secondary Education, Stehura was a three-year starter, earning fourth and fifth place finishes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament.

UP NEXT: The Vikings will begin 2009 with their first home quad meet of the season on Saturday, Jan. 3. The Vikings will be competing against Buffalo, Gardner-Webb and University of Northern Iowa. Action is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. in the Woodling Gym.