Wrestling: Lebe Advances To Day Two
December 29, 2004 04:20 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
December 29, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. – Junior wrestler Matt Lebe advanced to day two at the 42nd Midlands Wrestling Championships hosted by Northwestern University.
Junior Matt Lebe won his first three matches including a pigtail bout victory with a fall over Chris Bitello of Northern Iowa at 2:43 at 157 pounds. The No. 7 seed Lebe then picked up two more wins via decision over Ohio State’s Keegan Mueller and No. 10 seed Nate Galloway of Penn State.
In the quarterfinals, Lebe fell 10-1 to Illinois’ Alex Tirapelle, the defending Midlands champion. Lebe will likely face Northwestern’s Mike Kimberlin tomorrow afternoon in wrestlebacks.
At 165 pounds, Eric Mullen upset the 2004 Division II national champion Travis Koppenhafer with a 9-6 decision. Junior Mullen then dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 8 seed Christian Arellano of Cal State Bakersfield and a 15-9 decision to Dwayne Coward of UNC Pembroke.
Senior Ryan Wilman also won his first round bout at 174 pounds with an impressive 18-3 technical fall over Iowa’s Ben Stedman. Wilman continued to wrestle well, falling 3-2 in the second tie breaker of overtime to the No. 1 seed Eric Hauan of Northern Iowa. Mountaineer Wilman then fell 2-1 to Purdue’s Charles Gary.
Session III is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. EST on Thursday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
West Virginia next travels to Penn State on Jan. 9 for a non-league dual meet at 1:00 p.m.
