ESU Wrestling/EIWA Championships

BETHLEHEM - East Stroudsburg University seniors Brad Kleckner (141) and Dan Roy (174) clinched a place and are still alive in the battle for NCAA tournament berths after the first day's action in the 98th Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships Saturday at Lehigh University.

Both Kleckner and Ray won two consolation matches and have reached the consolation semi-finals scheduled Sunday at 12 noon. The winners of those matches will compete in the third and fourth place matches and a possible berth in the nationals. The losers will finish in either fifth or sixth place.

A total of 33 wrestlers, the finalists at each weight plus 13 wild cards, will advance to the NCAA Wrestling Championships March 21-23 in the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y.

Kleckner, seventh seeded and now 19-7, won by default over Jeremy Feinberg of Franklin and Marshall in 3:45 and then was pinned by second-seeded Phillip Simpson of Army in 4:51. He came back to beat Arash Nejafi of Columbia, 10-4, and then pinned sixth-seeded Brett Vanderveer of Penn in 1:36.

Roy, fifth seeded and 22-9, had a bye in the first round and lost to his younger brother, Andrew Roy of Rutgers, 3-2 on a tie-breaker. He then defeated Matt Bernard of Army, 8-4, and PJ Jones of Harvard, 10-6.

Only two other ESU wrestlers won matches. Unseeded Joey Camacho (133) scored a stunning 7-6 win over third-seeded Rob Apgar of Brown and had one other consolation win. Keith Kleckner (149) scored one consolation victory before being eliminated.

Two of the Warriors' top wrestlers, Brandon Mihalko (165) and Matt Dudeck (157) were beaten twice with Mihalko, sixth seeded, losing to unseeded Sean Jenkins of Brown, 10-9, in the first round.

How ESU Wrestlers Did:

125 - Jon Clouser was pinned by Dan Green (Col), 2:16; Consolations - lost to Brian Kirschbaum (Pr), 10-0. Eliminated

133 - Joey Camacho was pinned by Jeff Everleth (Penn), 3:43; Consolations - def. Josh Perrin (Buck), 5-3;def. Rob Apgar (Brown), 7-6; lost to T.J. Grider (Army), 4-2. Eliminated

141 - Brad Kleckner won by default over Jeremy Feinberg (F and M), 3:45; was pinned by Phillip Simpson (Army), 4:51; Consolations - def. Arash Nejafi (Columbia), 10-4; pinned Brett Vanderveer (Penn), 1:36. Will face Juan Venturi of Princeton in consolation semi-finals.

149 - Keith Kleckner was pinned by Chris Pirch (Cornell), 6:21; Consolations - won major over Andy Bernstein (Bucknell), 14-2; lost to Eric Miller (Army), 10-5. Eliminated.

157 - Matt Dudeck lost to Warren Stout (Lehigh), 5-2; Consolations - lost to Dustin Tillman (Columbia), 3-0. Eliminated.

165 - Brendon Mihalko lost to Sean Jenkins (Brown), 10-9; Consolations - lost major to Bryan Lauer (Rutgers), 12-0. Eliminated.

174 - Dan Roy lost to Andrew Roy (Rutgers), 3-2 TB; Consolations - def. Matt Bernard (Army), 8-4; def. PJ Jones (Harvard), 10-6. Will face Jim Stanec of Cornell in consolation semi-finals.

184 - Anthony Petrock lost to Brian Neuman (Bucknell), 7-4; Consolations - lost major to Travis Manion (Navy), 9-1. Eliminated.

197 - Andy Sheaffer was pinned by Mike Faust (Penn), 6:26; Consolations - lost major to Ryan McGrath (Rutgers), 9-1. Eliminated.

285 - Marc Bauknecht was pinned by Bronson Lingamfelter (Brown), 3:34; Consolations - lost to Sean Wing (Cornell), 3-0. Eliminated.

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