Warrior Wrestlers Compete at Midwest Regionals
Cullen Moves On to NCAA Championships at 133-pounds

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.—Lycoming senior Sean Cullen (Cinnaminson, NJ) won four straight matches to claim first-place at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Qualifier on Saturday, February 17 in Manchester, Indiana. Cullen, who has advanced to the NCAA DIII Championships the past two years, was the number-one seed at 133 pounds for these regionals. Cullen will now be the sole Warrior traveling to Dubuque, Iowa for the March 3-4 Championships.

Sophomore Bryan Kopesky (Phillipsburg, NJ) had the team’s second-best seed as a number two. Kopesky won his first two bouts, then fell to Chad Craft of Mount Saint Joseph in a 6-4 decision. In the fifth place consolation match, Kopesky defeated Delaware Valley’s third-seeded Martin Porter 4-3.

125-pound Joe Palmitessa (Scranton, PA) was knocked out in the second round, but won two matches in the consolation bracket for sixth place. Meanwhile, third-seed Kyle Hopkins (Milton, DE) lost to second-seed David Manoogian of Case Western, 7-6, in the third round and also took sixth in the consolations.

At 149 pounds, junior Drew Barder (Millersburg, PA) won his first match, but fell in the second round of both the championship and consolation brackets. Freshman Chris Dahlheimer (Felton, PA) was seeded third at 157 pounds. He won three matches, including the fifth place bout over six-seed Russ Tischer from Case Western.

Senior Eric Miller (Muncy, PA) fell in the third round of the 165-pound consolation bracket, while his brother Matt Miller (Muncy, PA) lost in the third round of the 197-pound championship bracket. Matt eventually dropped the fifth place consolation match to Waynesburg’s Brandon Miller. Matt had beaten Brandon 13-5 in the championship bracket.

Unseeded 174-pound freshman Justin Waycaster (Watsontown, PA) raised some eyebrows in Manchester as he won three matches, beating the number-six and seven seeds. Waycaster eventually lost to three-seed Paul Donnell of Delaware Valley in the fifth place match. Junior heavyweight Troy Hansen (Westtown, NY) fell in the second round of the consolation bracket.

Please visit http://www.manchester.edu/Athletics/wrestling/stats2007/2007mwegional.htm for the tournament’s full brackets and results.

Final Placements for Lycoming
Team: 5^th with 62.5 points
125: Joe Palmitessa – 6^th
133: Sean Cullen – 1^st
141: Kyle Hopkins – 6^th
149: Drew Barder – unranked
157: Chris Dahlheimer – 5^th
165: Eric Miller – unranked
174: Justin Waycaster – 6^th
184: Bryan Kopesky – 5^th
197: Matt Miller – 6^th
285: Troy Hansen - unranked