12/2/2001 - Wrestling
Kovach Captures Heavyweight Division at Penn State Open
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Navy wrestler Steve Kovach (Jr./Parkesburg, Pa.) won the heavyweight division of the Penn State Open Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over Pennsylvania's Matt Feast.
Kovach won four matches en route to the championship match, including a 6-2 win over Josh Walker.
"We wrestled a little better than we did last year in terms of the number of guys we had place," Navy head coach Bruce Burnett said. "We are still making some technical mistakes but everybody competed hard. Mark Conley (Sr./Exton, Pa.) lost a close match in the semifinals and so did Jim Letchford (Jr./Marlton, N.J.). Both matches could have easily gone the other way. Everybody is prone to make a mistake and competitions are still practice right now."
Conley fell to Penn State's Scott Moore via a tiebreaker in the semifinals of the 141-pound weight class, his first loss of the season. However, Conley placed third due to a forfeit by Matthew Storniolo. Conley won his first and second round matches by major decision and pinned Lock Haven's John Holsinger in the quarterfinals at the 3:10 mark.
Letchford wrestled his way to a third-place finish in the 174-pound weight class. Despite dropping a narrow 8-7 decision to Cornell's Tyler Shovlin, Letchford responded with an 11-2 pasting over Mark Himes from Duquesne in the third-place match.
Dan Hemminger (So./Annapolis, Md.) also wrestled well for the Mids in the 141-pound weight class, going 4-1 to earn a spot in the fifth-place match. Maryland's Brandon York ended Hemminger's strong run through the bracket with an 11-7 win.
Navy returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Mids play host to East Stroudsburg University.
Championship Finals
125- Mason Lenhard, Penn 1-1;tb over Joe Dubuque, Indiana
133- Matat Tomaev, Penn St 8-3 over Josh Moore, Penn St
141- Sean Gray, Virginia Tech F4:00 over Scott Moore, Penn St
149- Nate Wachter, Penn St FF over Joe Henson, Penn
157- Shad Benton, Pitt-Johnstown 8-3 over Derek Zinck, Lehigh
165- Josh Henson, Penn 6-1 over Josh Weidman, Maryland
174- Edward Aliakseyenka, Montclair St 12-4 over Tyler Shovlin, Cornell
184- Scott Justus, Virginia Tech 6-5 over Mark Becks, Penn St
197- Sean Salmon, Ohio U 3-1 over Mike Faust, Penn
HWT- Stephen Kovach, Navy 3-1`;sv over Matt Feast, Penn
Consolation Finals (for third and fifth)
125- Peter Derstine, Clarion 3-2 over Terrance Clendenin, Lehigh; Geoff Head,
Virginia Tech 8-2 over Tyrone Hodge, Lock Haven
133- Charlie Soto, Edinboro FF over Phil Mansueto, Cleveland St; David
Hoffman, Virginia Tech 2-1 over Jason Cucolo, Sacred Heart
141- Mark Conley, Navy FF over Matthew Storniolo, State College HS; Ron
Tarquinio, Pittsburgh 5-4;tb over Brandon York, Maryland
149- Jody Giuricich, Penn 9-0 over Adrian Austin, George Mason; Dustin
Manotti, Unattached 8-6 over Chris Pirch, Cornell
157- Don Carlo-Clauss, Virginia FF over George Carter, Bloomsbutg; Matt Lebe,
West Virginia 4-2 over Chris Haines, Lock Haven
165- Troy Letters, Lehigh F2:50 over Doc Vecchio, Penn St; Steve Forrest,
Sacred Heart 13-4 over Bill Boeh, Duquesne
174- Jim Letchford, Navy 11-2 over Mark Himes, Duquesne; Keith Clifton,
Citadel 16-4 over Jeremy Rankin, James Madison
184- Hunter Guenot, Bloomsburg 5-2 over Brian Neuman, Bucknell; Dave
Colabella, James Madison 3-2;tb over Marcus Schontube, Penn
197- Ryan McGrath, Rutgers 4-0 over Mahnseah Boley, Buffalo; Anthony Reynolds,
Sacred Heart F2:31 over Cannan Prater, Virginia Tech
285- Josh Walker, Penn St 4-1 over Ryan Painter, Virginia; Kevin Shippos, Penn
St 5-3 over Reuben Daniels, Edinboro
Outstanding Wrestler:Sean Gray, Virginia Tech (141)
Most Falls: Troy Letters, Lehigh (3 in 4:11) (165)
