Championship Website

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – For the second consecutive weekend, a Gettysburg College athletics team will try to use the friendly confines of home to its advantage as Bream Gym will host the 2012 Centennial Conference Wrestling Championship on Saturday, Feb. 25.

One week after the Bullets swept the team titles inside the school's natatorium, the Gettysburg wrestling team will challenge for its first-ever Centennial team title on its own mat. The Bullets will also be looking for their first championship won by an individual since 2009.

“It gives everyone a chance to sleep in his own bed and not have to worry about travel,” said Gettysburg Head Coach Andy Vogel. “It's a familiar feel, and I'm hoping that we will have a good home crowd there to cheer our guys on. At this point in the year, feeling healthy and rested are two important things, and hosting should help with that.”

Gettysburg last hosted the CC Wrestling Championship in 2007. The team finished seventh in the eight-team field that year with Matt Shank '08 and Andrew Goldstein '09 claiming individual titles at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively.

Goldstein claimed the school's last conference crown by an individual in 2009, but several Bullets this season have opportunities to stake a claim to the top of the podium. Gettysburg returns three place-winners from last season's event and several newcomers have the potential to make a splash as well.

“I believe we have at least four guys who have a chance to win the conference, regardless of where they are seeded,” stated Vogel. “If we put together a solid top to bottom performance, we should finish higher than last year and put more guys on the podium.”

Last winter, the Bullets placed sixth in the eight-team field with four grapplers finishing among the top four. The three returning place-winners from a year ago are senior Abe Evans, and sophomores Matt Spano and Jared Leon .

Evans is a two-time place-winner at 125, finishing fourth as a freshman and runner-up last season. He enters his final conference tournament sporting a 28-8 record this year. The veteran will be challenged for the top spot by a pair of newcomers in Chris Donaldson from Ursinus College and Paul Bewak from Johns Hopkins University.

Spano took third in his first conference tournament appearance at 133 pounds. After winning 22 matches last year, the second-year grappler has put up 32 victories in 2011-12. With last year's 133 champ Paul Marcello of Johns Hopkins University moving up a weight class, Spano will be a top seed alongside Alex Blank from Ursinus College, Sam Cambell from Washington & Lee University, and Mike Tancredi from McDaniel College.

Leon recorded his second consecutive 20-win season with a 20-12 record this year. A fourth-place finisher at this meet a year ago, he will face a very deep bracket at 174, including returning champion Ryan Dormann from Stevens Institute of Technology and New York University's Greg Martino. Leon fell in close decisions to both Dormann and Martino this season.

“Abe will have to turn around some losses from earlier this year, but it is certainly within his abilities to do so,” noted Vogel. “I believe Matt is the best wrestler at 133, and if he wrestles the way he is capable, he will be going to the NCAA tournament. Jared is in a tough weight class for sure, but a top three finish is our expectation.

Perhaps Gettysburg's strongest potential for its first individual title in three years comes in the 165 bracket. Freshman Zach Thomson has taken the conference and nation by storm, racking up a 38-1 record and receiving a No. 3 national rank by both the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and D3wrestle.com. He has won his last 21 matches and is just two wins short of tying the school's single-season record for victories.

Thomson swept through the CC this year, going a combined 11-0 in tournaments and duals against Centennial foes. Included in that number are wins over NYU's David Rice and Stevens' Joey Favia, the fourth and eighth-ranked wrestlers in Division III and the likely No. 2 and No. 3 seeds for the upcoming conference championship. Thomson handed Rice his first and so far only loss of the season 8-4 on Jan. 14 and the Bullet first-year took down Favia in an all out war 12-11 on Feb. 12. With the conference owning only 11 national qualifiers – 10 champions and one wild card selection – one of the top wrestlers in the nation at 165 will see his season end Saturday.

“It helps to see what tools his opponents have,” noted Vogel. “Now that he has seen how those guys wrestle, he has been able to train to be ready for their strengths and try to take advantage of their weaknesses. One advantage in beating them earlier this year is that he is the top seed, so the two of them will match up in the semifinals and he won't have to take on both of them this weekend. If he wrestles anywhere close to his capabilities, he should win the rematch as well.”

Following the graduation of three-time conference place-winner Bobby Christopher '11, junior Kevin Poplaski has filled the void at heavyweight and will be one of the top seeds this weekend. Poplaski marched his way to a heavyweight school record 29 wins and lost only once to a conference foe. That one setback was a 6-5 decision at the hands of McDaniel College's Joe Camlin, the likely No. 1 seed for this weekend's tournament.

The remainder of Gettysburg's lineup will be shooting to stand on the podium for the first time. Newcomers Andrew Petroulias and Tony Stanell will take up the challenge at 141 and 149, respectively.

Both junior Joe Fiore and senior Anthony Iorio scored victories at last season's conference event and will aim for more in the 157 and 184 brackets, respectively. Junior Marshall Puls put up five wins in conference competition this season and rounds out the lineup at 197.

The United States Merchant Marine Academy has won the last four CC crowns, but with the graduation of a talented class, the 2012 title appears up for grabs. Ursinus finished with an unblemished conference dual record with Stevens in the rear-view mirror. From a team standpoint and an individual standpoint, all the titles will be up for grabs on Saturday.

“Any time top wrestlers compete,” said Vogel, “it often comes down to who is peaking at the right time. We have worked hard to make sure Zach (Thomson) and our other guys are peaking this weekend, so I feel confident the team will perform.”

Weigh-ins for Saturday's event begin at 8 a.m. with opening competitions set for 10 a.m. The consolation finals and championship bouts will start approximately at 3 and 4 p.m., respectively.