Lock Haven bolsters EWL

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- After Penn State's departure from the Eastern Wrestling League in 1991, for the most part, the league declined due to the fact that the Nittany Lions were thought of as the mainstay of the conference.

Lock Haven finished in fifth place in the team race, setting a school record by placing five wrestlers in the top eight. What is more remarkable is that the Bald Eagles placed 71 percent of their wrestlers, sending seven guys to the championship tournament.

At 126 pounds, Terry Showalter became an All-American for the first time, placing sixth after losing to Cal State-Bakersfield's Coby Wright, 5-1, in the fifth-place consolation match.

"Terry was 2-2 last year at the NCAAs, and he got a lot of valuable experience in his first trip," Lock Haven wrestling coach Carl Poff said of his redshirt sophomore. "To his benefit, he went up against some guys who he hadn't faced all year, and that helped his chances of placing."

Lock Haven's 142-pounder Cary Kolat became a four-time NCAA All-American when he won his second national title for the Bald Eagles. Kolat finished the year 24-0, recording 10 falls and six technical falls. He defeated Roger Chandler of Indiana, 5-2, in the championship finals, in their second meeting of the season.

"Chandler is a pretty easy guy to figure out," said Kolat, a runner-up in 1993 and third-place finisher in 1994 while wrestling for Penn State. "If you're beating him after two periods he cracks under pressure, and then you have him."

Kolat also said his collegiate wrestling career was an enjoyable journey, but he is ready to move on.

"I'm glad it's over," Kolat said. "Cutting the weight all of the time has sort of worn down my body, but now I'm going to shift my focus more toward my education, my fiancee and my international wrestling career."

At 150 pounds, Bald Eagle Mike Rogers equaled last year's sixth-place performance, losing to Illinois' Eric Siebert, 7-6, in the fifth-place consolation match. Rogers finished his senior year 30-5. He also qualified for the national tournament three times.

The Bald Eagles' 158-pounder Brian Leitzel, who came into the tournament seeded 10th, proved the championship officials wrong as he placed sixth to earn All-American honors. Leitzel lost the fifth-place consolation match to fourth-seed Matt Hughes of Eastern Illinois, 8-2.

"Brian's been to nationals twice before, where he's picked up a great deal of experience and, in a tournament like this, experience is everything," Poff said of his three-time NCAA qualifier. "He beat some pretty good wrestlers to become an All-American, but he stayed close with Illinois' Benion, so he proved he can compete with the top wrestlers in the country."

At 177 pounds, Lock Haven's Mike Geurin finished one spot back from his seventh-place showing a year ago. Geurin, the tournament's sixth seed, finished in eighth place, losing to No. 12 seed Jim Straight of Edinboro in the seventh-place consolation match, 1-0.