Wrestling: Four Win Opening Matches At Midlands
December 29, 2003 07:13 PM | General
December 29, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. – Four West Virginia University wrestlers won opening round matches at the 41st Midlands Wrestling Championships hosted by Northwestern University at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Greg Jones (184) led the way for WVU with three victories during session one on Monday.
Jones, wrestling in his first action of the season, posted two impressive wins in the morning session. The junior scored five takedowns in notching a 14-3 major decision over Randy Stout of Cornell. In his second match, Jones pinned Mike Kelly (3:22) from Wildcat Wrestling Club to advance to the quarterfinal round. In Session 2, Jones survived a scare from Paul Velekei of Penn. It would take a Jones’ escape in sudden victory overtime for the win and advance to the semifinals.
Matt Lebe (157) won two matches to join Jones in the quarterfinal round. He used a pair of double-leg takedowns in dominating James King of Ohio State for a 9-1 major decision. In his second match against Mike Kimberlin of Northwestern, Lebe opened the second period with an escape from the down position for a 1-0 lead. He then scored a takedown with :07 seconds remaining in the match to secure the 3-1 decision in advancing to the quarterfinals. In the evening session, Lebe fell 6-0 to fourth-seeded Matt Gentry of Stanford.
Also wining opening matches for the Mountaineers were Joe Clarke (141) and Brent Miller (HWT). Clarke and Miller each won three matches and dropped one Monday.
Clarke opened with a match against Andy Hiatt of Northern Illinois. After taking a commanding 5-0 lead, he finished the match with a fall at 2:53. In his second round match, Clarke gave up a three-point move in the final :30 seconds in dropping a 5-4 decision to No. 6 seed, Rob Becker of George Mason. The senior Mountaineer then posted winning decisions of 9-2 and 5-2 to close the day.
Miller, seeing his first action since the season opener, hung on for a 3-2 win over Pete Ziminski of Eastern Illinois. In round two, the junior was pinned by former Midlands champion, Chad Lamer of Hawk Wrestling Club. Miller would rebound with two impressive matches, scoring a fall (1:23) against Matt Fletcher of Illinois and earning a 1-0 decision over Body Ogunwole of Harvard.
Seth Lisa (133) dropped a pair of matches for WVU in the morning session.
Session 3 kicks off Tuesday’s action at noon. For ticket information, call the Northwestern Ticket Office at (847) 491-CATS.
