Wrestling fans were treated to some exciting and competitive matches on Wednesday night, even though the Penn State varsity team was nowhere in sight.

Eighteen individual champions were crowned in the Intramural Wrestling Tournament Finals at Rec Hall.

"We had some good quality matches and a really good turnout," said Mark Belden, assistant director of intramural sports.

The tournament was composed of both a fraternity division and a residence hall/open division. Wrestlers competed in nine different weight classes in each division, gaining individual honors and also adding points to their team's overall total.

Acacia, last year's fraternity champion, once again was victorious, thanks to three individual winners from the fraternity.

John Shinn (junior-liberal arts), a member of the Acacia fraternity, contributed a victory in the 135-pound match, defeating Mike Bicks of the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity 5-2.

"My whole fraternity house was here to cheer me on," said Shinn. "I wanted to do my part and get some points for us."

Warren Gerhardt (senior-chemistry) later added to Acacia's total by winning his fifth consecutive 142-pound championship in a close match that came down to the wire. Gerhardt beat Tom McMullan of Sigma Pi by scoring with just ten seconds left.

"I was nervous at the end," said Gerhardt. "I wasn't expecting to win. That was probably the toughest match I've had in five years."

The "A-Team" won the open division with help from freshman Brooks Miller, who captured the heavyweight championship by a score of 4-0 over Kevin Killian. Miller, a former high school wrestler, said he enjoyed the format of the intramural tournament.

"It's pretty cool, there's a lot of great competition and it gave me a good opportunity to get back into competing shape," he added.

Sophomore Josh Colegrove also had an impressive showing in the open division's 167-pound match, beating Richard Boyd by fall at 3:23.

Colegrove, who has practiced with the Penn State varsity squad before, said that the tournament is different than competing for a high school or college team.

"It's nice for these guys who haven't wrestled since high school to get a chance to come out and use their abilities," Colegrove said. "And it's much easier because you just have to weigh-in once at the beginning of the tournament."