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LHU heads to Cleveland State, goes for undefeated EWL dual record

(TIM BARNHART/LHU SPORTS) Lock Haven University’s Jonathan Ross glances toward his teammates in an NCAA wrestling match versus Bloomsburg University.

By SAM KUPERMAN

For The Express

LOCK HAVEN- The No. 23 Lock Haven University wrestling team will face Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) foe Cleveland State Saturday afternoon. A win for LHU, who comes in as a massive favorite, would move the Bald Eagles to a perfect 6-0 in the EWL. This would give LHU an outright EWL Team Dual Championship for the first time since the 1994-95 season.

Lock Haven is 8-3 overall, following last weekend’s home victories over Rider (23-9) and Clarion (35-6). The Clarion win gave the Bald Eagles the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship, as LHU defeated all three PSAC Division I teams this season.

Cleveland State is very much a rebuilding team. The Vikings are 4-9 on the year, with a 1-4 mark in the EWL. Last season Lock Haven dominated Cleveland State 31-6 in a home dual.

This year’s contest is a makeup of a dual that was snowed out on Jan. 20. This will be the back-end of a Saturday doubleheader for CSU, as the makeup match comes at 3:30 p.m, directly after the Vikings host Northern Illinois at 2 p.m.

Lock Haven enters with four wrestlers ranked in the top 20 per InterMat. The three returning ranked athletes are No. 5 Chance Marsteller at 165 pounds, No. 17 Corey Hazel at 184, and No. 11 Thomas Haines at 285. Sophomore Luke Werner now joins the party, coming into the week as No. 19 at 125.

141 redshirt-junior Kyle Shoop slipped out of the top 20, despite going 2-0 last week with two technical falls. He leads the nation in tech falls at 14, and holds the Lock Haven career record of 39.

The NCAA Coaches’ Panel Rankings, which play a major role in determining how many automatic slots for national qualifiers each conference gets, have six Bald Eagles ranked.

Werner (No.32), 133 pounder DJ Fehlman (No. 30), Shoop (No. 21), Marsteller (No. 5), Hazel (No. 17) and Haines (No. 22) find themselves in these rankings. All of these wrestlers except for Werner have qualified for the NCAA Wrestling Championships in past seasons.

Cleveland State’s most formidable active wrestler is probably Armando Torres, a redshirt senior who previously competed for Eastern Michigan. He’s 27-10 on the year, with a 9-4 dual record and 3-2 EWL dual mark. Torres versus Fehlman could have some intrigue, and certainly holds major late season implications.

The coaching matchup might be the storyline that stands out the most. Lock Haven’s Scott Moore and Cleveland State’s Josh Moore are twins. This is Josh’s first year as the head coach of the Vikings, after serving as the top assistant at CSU the previous three years.

As the regular season winds down, Lock Haven seems to be wrestling its best at the right time. The team has a real chance to add some significant accolades to its already-impressive season. It just needs to take care of business in Cleveland this weekend.

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