EDINBORO, Pa., March 9, 2013 – Former Middletown High wrestler Richard Perry of Bloomsburg State qualified for the NCAA Division I championships by finishing second at the 38th annual Eastern Wrestling League tournament at 197 pounds.
Perry fell to three-time EWL champion Matt Wilps of Pittsburgh, 5-4, who was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler. The top two wrestlers from 197 pounds qualified for the NCAA Division I championship meet on March 21-23 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Perry (28-4) beat Justin Oretega of Clarion in the semifinals, 13-5. In the final against Wilps, he gave up a takedown and escape in the second period to fall behind 3-0. A reversal cut the Wilps lead to one. In the third period, a Perry reversal gave him a 4-3 lead but he couldn’t prevent a Wilps escape that tied the match at 4-4. Wilps, who is ranked No. 1 in the country in the NCAA tournament seedings, picked up a point for riding time and earned the 5-4 win.
Pitt won the EWL title for the third straight year, beating host Edinboro by 8½ points with Bloomsburg taking third, three points behind Edinboro.
Malone wrestles tough at Big 10 tournament
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., March 9 — At the Big 10 tournament, Granby native Dom Malone (125) of Northwestern University won his first round match over Wisconsin’s Matt Cavallaris with his team-leading eighth pin of the year in 2:35 but fell in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Matt McDonough of Iowa, 5-4 in a hard-fought battle.
Malone (17-12) was the aggressor from the start against McDonough and scored the first takedown of the match and had the 4-1 lead after a second first-period takedown. McDonough evened things up at 4-4 by the time the first period expired but Malone had racked up riding time. In the second, McDonough recorded an escape at 1:13 to take the 5-4 lead but Malone still had 1:05 of riding time.
Neither wrestler scored the remainder of the period and Malone started the third period down. Malone was unable to escape as McDonough, who is a two-time NCAA champion and three-time finalist, erased Malone’s riding time to take the narrow 5-4 victory.
Malone dropped his first consolation round match to Joe Duca of Indiana, 6-2, and was eliminated.
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