November 18, 2007 - Rider 4th at Keystone Classic

November 18, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Wrestling
Rider Fourth at Keystone Classic

PHILADELPHIA, PA--With two runners-up, two third place finishers and a sixth place finisher, the Broncs placed fourth of 10 teams at the Keystone Classic, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Sunday. “We placed ahead of Arizona State without our full group so that’s not bad,” said Rider head coach Gary Taylor.

Senior Don Fisch (Williamstown, N.J./Delsea), ranked fourth in the nation at 141, moved up a weight and finished runner-up at 149, winning four of five bouts. In the finals, Fisch, the second seed, lost to the top seed, Scott Ervin of Appalachian State by tech fall.  Ervin is ranked fifth in the nation at 149. “Donnie looked good all day until the finals, when he wrestled a kid who has a very weird style,” Taylor said.  “The kid is ranked sixth so he is pretty good, but his style is weird and it threw Donnie off. The kid scored five points right off the bat and Donnie never recovered from it.” 

Sophomore Rob Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff), the second seed, placed runner-up at 157, winning three of four bouts. “Robbie is wrestling very well and had a good tournament,” said Taylor. “The kid he lost to in the finals is very good. The tournament committee showed Robbie a lot of respect seeding him second, and he showed everyone that was correct.”

Morrison competed at 165 last year but has moved down to 157 this year. “I still have a lot to work on but the tournament went well,” Morrison said.  “I was surprised by the seeding, but it had no effect on my wrestling. In a tournament like this anyone could win it. I just took it one match at a time and ended up doing well.” 

Junior Doug Umbehauer (Shamong, N.J./Lenape), the top seed at 184, place third, as did junior Zac Cunliffe (Farmingdale, N.J./Howell), the number two seed at 133. Cunliffe won five of six bouts, while Umbehauer won four of five bouts.

Sophomore Fred Rodgers (Perkiomenville, Pa./Boyertown) placed sixth at 141 pounds, winning three of six bouts. “Fred did a nice job,” Taylor said. 

Morrison, the second seed at 157, lost 13-3 in the finals to the top seed, Seth Garvin of Chattanooga. “On the whole I was pleased with the way things went,” Morrison said. “It would have been nice to get that last ‘W’ though.”

In the battle for third place, Umbehauer defeated the third seed, Josh Edmondson of Chattanooga 3-2.

Cunliffe defeated the top seed, Terreyl Williams of Appalachian State, 4-3 for the battle for third. “Zac missed almost all of last year with an injury but he is getting his timing back now,” Taylor said. 

After a first round bye Cunliffe defeated Abbie Rush of Boston U. 3-0 before losing to the seventh seed, Steve Hromada of Chattanooga 4-1. In the consolations Cunliffe defeated Ross Baldwin of Brown 11-2, defeated the third seed Jeff Schell of Brown 7-1 and defeated John Triggas of Brown 4-0. 

Fisch (Williamstown, N.J./Delsea) won three major decisions as he defeated Jerrad Trulson of Arizona State 17-7 in the first round, John Held of VMI 12-2 in the second round and the seventh seed, Chip Powell of Appalachian State 9-1 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals Fisch defeated Don Cummings of Mercyhurst 6-2.

In the first round Morrison defeated Mike Cubillos of Boston U. He pinned the sixth seed, Tom Fazio of Brown in 2:17 in the semi-finals after defeating the seventh seed, Tom Timothy of Penn 5-4 in the quarter-finals. 

Umbehauer (Shamong, N.J./Lenape) defeated Matt Gevelinger of Brown 7-6 in the first round, and Dan Zander of Penn 8-0 in the quarter-final round, before losing to the fourth seed, Brent Chriswell of Arizona State 4-2 in the semi-finals. “Doug had a tight match in the semis,” Taylor said. “’He was actually riding the guy out for the win and got reversed in the last few seconds. If he rode him Doug would have won and been in the finals. I know Doug was disappointed in that.”

Rodgers defeated the sixth seed, Mark Savino of Brown 5-4 in the first round before losing to the third seed 6-3. In the consolations lost 9-3 to the top seed, before losing to Orlando Jimenez of Arizona State in the battle for fifth. 

Sophomore Michael Darling (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) lost to the top seed at 165, Mike Cannon of American in the first round and went 1-2 in the tournament.

Freshman Mitch Fenton (Whitemarsh, Md./Archbishop Curley), the second seeded 125, won one of three bouts.

Rider competes at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational November 30. 

-RU-