Angry Fish Wrestling Club

Last Saturday, Angry Fish Coleman Scott and Phil Davis each won NCAA titles in commanding style.

In the finals, Coleman, a senior at Oklahoma State, pinned Iowa’s Joey Slaton in 49 seconds. Phil, a senior at Penn State, cruised to a 7-2 win over Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan. Senior Mark McKnight of Penn State wrestled eight matches to rise from an unseeded start to fourth place.

Six other Fish were in the tournament: Steven Bell (Maryland), Adam Frey (Cornell), Ryan Lang (Northwestern), Jarrod King (Edinboro), Josh Weitzel (Oklahoma), and Kurt Brenner (West Virginia).

Update: When this post went up, it failed to mention Mark McKnight. This was a gross oversight, probably resulting from the fact that it was written at quarter to three in the morning.

All hail National Champion Kerry Regner!

Kerry won the 63kg (138.75 lb) Greco division in convincing fashion, defeating Geoffrey Martin in the finals, 7-0 and 6-0. This establishes him, with little question, as the God of Blackhawk Wrestling. After spending the next day enjoying scenic Akron, Kerry returned to the U.S. Olympic Education Center at the University of Northern Michigan, where he has resumed his relentless pursuit of World Champion Joe Warren.

Northern Michigan Freshman Mike Rossetti placed fifth, for which he was placed in a burlap sack and sent home in the trunk. Freestyle news to follow soon.

Angry Fish Jake Herbert capped a dominant performance at the 184-pound national championships, today, with a 6-1 win over Jake Varner of Iowa State. Herbert, a junior, was undefeated coming in to the tournament, winning the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the Big-10 Championships. He is Northwestern’s first national champion since 1990, and the second NCAA champion from North Allegheny High School.

Oklahoma State junior Coleman Scott lost a tough 3-2 decision to Matt Valenti of Penn in the finals at 133. Coleman, a three-time national champion for the Angry Fish, and a three-time state champion for Waynesburg High School, took 5th last year, and 7th in 2005.

Ryan Lang, from Northwestern, also made the finals. Lang was a four-time state champion in Ohio, and was the 2002 Junior National freestyle champion. Lang, who did not wrestle for the Fish in high school, began representing the club with teammate Jake Herbert in freestyle tournaments in college.

Phil Davis, a junior at Penn State, took fourth at 197 pounds. Davis was NCAA runner-up last year, and was a Greco-Roman National Runner-Up in high school.

Also representing the Fish at nationals were Mark McKnight of Penn State, Adam Frey of Cornell, Matt Hill of Edinboro, Matt Storniolo and Josh Weitzel of Oklahoma, and Kurt Brenner of West Virginia.

On Saturday we had some major successes on different sides of the globe.

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Senior Rob Waltko of North Allegheny won the Pennsylvania High School State Championships at 171 pounds, beating A.J. Brentzel of Penn Trafford in the finals, 6-3. Rob, a two-time state finalist, will be attending Bucknell University this fall, on a full wrestling scholarship.

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Meanwhile, in Sofia, Bulgaria, Mike Rossetti took third place at 84kg (185 pounds) in the prestigous Ivan Iliev Junior Greco International. After losing to Pawel Polslad from Poland in the semi-finals, Mike defeated Bulgarian Ivan Blagoev in the consolation finals. Mike trains in Greco-Roman wrestling at the University of Northern Michigan, on a full scholarship.

Thanks to Sean McMahon of WVCD2.com for the pictures of Rob.