Feb. 24, 2007

PEMBROKE, N.C. - Payne Lint, Don Cummings and Andy Lamancusa all won regional titles to lead the Lakers to a second place finish at the NCAA East Regional at UNC-Pembroke. In all, six Mercyhurst wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships two weeks from now in Kearney, Nebraska and eight total Lakers placed.

Mercyhurst finished second with 113.5 points, just 6.5 points behind Pitt-Johnstown, who - despite having no individual champions - captured the team title with 120.

In addition to the three champions for Mercyhurst, J.J. Zanetta and Zack Schafer both finished second at their weights. Hudson Harrison took fourth, Kenny Bluska was fifth and Trevor Gallo claimed sixth.

At 125, the fourth seeded Lint advanced to the finals earlier in the day with a 12-7 win over Derrek Bosso of UPJ, the No. 1 seed. He then knocked off the No. 3 seed, Belmont Abbey's Chris Neidermeier 5-2 to claim his first career East Regional title.

Cummings, the top seed at 149, defeated fifth seeded Chris Chambers of Kutztown, 8-7, to earn a trip to the title round. There he picked up an 8-6 decision over Latra Collick of Newberry.

The No. 1 seed at 157, Lamancusa scored a pin in the semifinals, dispatching Adam Phillips of Belmont Abbey in 2:10. Then he edged out Gannon's Zack McKendree, seeded third, in the finals 3-2.

Schafer won his semifinal, 8-4, in a rematch win over the No. 4 seed, Eli Garshnick of UPJ. But in the 174 finals, Tommy Clark pulled out an 8-7 win to give Schafer a second place finish.

Zanetta took a 2-1 decision in the 141 semis, but the two-seed knocked off the top seed in the finals, as Steven Fittery of Shippensburg captured a 4-2 win.

Harrison dropped a decision in sudden victory, 4-3, to the top seed, Kevin Kalbach of Kutztown. In the wrestlebacks, the fifth-seeded Harrison disposed of Gannon's Anthony Sayles (WBF, 5:53) and UNC-Pembroke's J.J. Davis (10-5) to claim third place.

Kenny Bluska scored a 5-3 decision in the wrestlebacks over the eight-seed, Kelvin Valencia of American International. Then after the five-seed fell, 5-4, to the third seed wrestler, Cy Wainwright of Newberry, he captured a forfeit win in the fifth place bout.

In the wrestlebacks at 197, Gallo, the No. 7 seed, scored a 12-4 major decision over the six-seed, Kyle Davis of Kutztown. Fourth seed Kelly Anundson of Newberry then sent Gallo to the fifth place match with a 4-1 decision. Shippensburg's Peter Grodziak then scored a 3-2 decision in the fifth place match.

Two other Lakers were eliminated on day two. Braxdon Scaletta fell 5-4 to Darren Murray of Shippensburg at 133 in the wrestlebacks. Kutztown's Roy Gecelosky ended Gerred Tolson's day at 184 with a 4-2 decision.

With three champions, Mercyhurst tied for the most of the 13 teams at the event with Shippensburg.

The Raiders finished third with 110 points. West Liberty State took fourth with 91.5 points and Newberry rounded out the top five with 86 points.