Four boxers qualify for nationals

By KEVIN GORMAN
Collegian Sports Writer

Four Penn State boxers punched tickets to Colorado Springs, Colo., with victories in the finals of the National Collegiate Boxing Association's Northeast Regionals on Saturday at the White Building gymnasium.

Freshman 147-pounder Mike Francis and three juniors -- Vince Calio (156 pounds), Derek Vietro (165) and Jim Bernier (172) -- qualified for the NCBA's national championships April 6-7.

Although Penn State Coach Bill Wrable will send four of his five finalists to nationals -- 17 boxers in five years as a coach -- he didn't want to give the impression that he was pleased.

"It's not how many you send," he said, "it's what you do out there."

Calio was named the tournament's most outstanding boxer for the second consecutive year with a decision over Lock Haven's Jason Pletcher. But the most outstanding bout was in the 180-pound class between Penn State's Clinton Shultz and Shippensburg's Mike Ward.

Shultz floored Ward with a right one minute into the first round, but Ward recovered to win the second. The two weary boxers stood toe-to-toe in the third, Shultz wobbly and Ward bleeding from the mouth. Ward delivered a left-right-left combination that sent Shultz to the mat.

Each fighter had a knockdown and a standing eight count, but the judges favored Ward in a 3-2 split decision.

Other highlights:

-- Westfield (Mass.) State's Steve King forced Francis, a counterpuncher, to be the aggressor and took a first-round advantage when Francis slipped and received a standing eight count.

But Francis regrouped in the second and circled toward the power of King, a lefthander, forcing him to attack. Francis then used his reach advantage and a strong right hand to bloody King's nose and win by decision.

-- Calio, who hadn't boxed since December after injuring his right hand, was not in top form. But he used a left jab and two strong rights in the second to stun Pletcher, then caught him with a right for a standing eight count in the third to win by decision.

-- Vietro decisioned Shippensburg's Rick Dartrone with a strong third round after a big exchange when he forced Dartrone to the ropes and worked him over until referee Tony Wolfe gave him a standing eight count just before the bell.

-- Bernier, a 5-foot-8, 172-pounder, TKO'd Westfield State's Brian Roust, a 6-footer. Bernier neutralized Roust's reach advantage by fighting wildly inside, knocking Roust's mouthpiece out in the first, forcing two standing eight counts in the second before landing a hard right to knock Roust out in the third.

-- Lock Haven had three fighters advance:

Josh Lander won a decision over Maffeo by TKO in the 125-pound class; Patrick Woody dominated the 132-pound class, winning a first-round TKO over Central Connecticut's Mark Bastiannse and Karl Fritz was the victor over Shippensburg's Sean Jehu by decision in a bloody bout in the 190-pound class.

-- Three fighters received walkovers and advanced without fighting: Westfield State's Joe Boudreau (112 pounds) and Dan Maffeo (119) and Mansfield's Joe Povenski (heavyweight).