PEMBROKE, N.C. – Eight Golden Knights made it through the first day of tournament action at the NCAA Division II Super Region I Championships hosted by North Carolina – Pembroke. Gannon is in sixth place as a team after day one.
Three grapplers finished the day undefeated, moving into the championship semifinals.
Matt Turek (Painsville, Ohio / Madison),
Ethan Swope (Luthersburg, Pa. / DuBois Area) and
Zack Zelcs (Ridgway, Pa. / Ridgway) each had byes in the first round and then earned victories in their only match of the day.
At 125 pounds, fifth-seeded Turek knocked off No. 4 seed Jonny Cronin of Newberry College. Turek held on for the win despite a late third-period takedown from Cronin to earn a 9-8 win. Swope needed extra time to finish his win over Michael Griffith of Mercyhurst at 149 pounds. He recorded a takedown 30 seconds into the sudden victory period to take a 3-1 decision. Zelcs grinded out a 3-1 win over fifth-seeded Shiheem Bryant of UNC-Pembroke at 174 pounds.
Adam Weinell (Blairsville, Pa. / Blairsville) finished the day 1-1 at 133 pounds. After suffering a loss to Kody Yong of Mercyhurst, Weinell bounced back with a 3-2 win, defeating Andrew Lischke of American International. He will take on Doug Maiorana of Pitt-Johnstown to open action tomorrow.
Sam Brehm (Wexford, Pa. / Pine-Richland) faced the No. 2 seed Taylor Knapp of Newberry in his first bout, losing 11-0 to fall into the wrestle-back bracket. He then recorded a 12-3 major decision, defeating the eight seed Nicco Niday of Ohio Valley 12-3. He will face No. 3 seed Zack Lundgren of Pitt-Johnstown in his first match tomorrow.
Robert Blotzer (McKeesport, Pa. / Serra Catholic) recorded the big upset win of the day for the Golden Knights when he knocked off former national champion and No. 2 seed Josh Shields of Mercyhurst. Blotzer was trailing 1-0 at the time of the fall in the second period. The win ended Shields decorated career at Mercyhurst. Blotzer, who lost to the No. 1 Seed Michael Williams 1-0 in his first match, will now face the No. 3 seed Sean Byrnes of Newberry.
Bret Terry (Canal Winchester, Ohio / New Albany ) bounced back from an opening loss to earn a 6-1 win over Randall Wagner of Shippensburg. He will face No. 4 seed Luke Etter of Shippensburg to open tomorrow's action.
In the team standings, Newberry is the field leader with 65 points. Pitt-Johnstown is second with 51, ahead of Kutztown (39), Mercyhurst (37), and West Liberty (34.5) to finish the top five.
Gannon was sixth with 26.5 points followed by East Stroudsburg (25.5), American International (25), Shippensburg (24), UNC Pembroke (22.5), Seton Hill (17), Anderson (10) and Ohio Valley (3.5) to conclude the field.
There will be two tournament sessions tomorrow, with the first beginning at 11 a.m. and the second set to start at 2:30 p.m.
