Pierce’s 2nd-place finish leads way for Penn State wrestling at Binghamton Bearcat Open
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said on Friday night that the Nittany Lions would have wrestlers competing at the Binghamton Bearcat Open.
Well, there were 12 Penn State wrestlers that hit the mat on Sunday in Binghamton, New York.
Freshman Connor Pierce was one of eight to place in the event. His second-place finish was the highest for the Nittany Lions.
Pierce bonused his way to the 149-pounds semifinals as he collected two major decisions and a fall. His first two rounds were those major decisions, where he outscored his opponents 25-2.
Pierce made the semifinals by pinning Clarion’s Brady Worthing in 4:03. In the semifinals, Pierce wasn’t scored on in a 5-0 defeat of Binghamton’s unattached wrestler of Michael Zarif.
In the finals, Pierce suffered a 14-3 loss to incoming Cornell commit, Meyer Shapiro, who decided not to compete his senior year of high school, and instead train with the Spartan Combat Regional Training Center.
Konner Kraeszig (174 pounds) and Lucas Cochran (197) were the only other Penn State wrestlers to finish in the top three of their weights. They each finished third.
Kraeszig opened his tournament with a 12-4 major decision over Columbia’s Aaron Ayzerov. He then made the semifinals by taking care of the Naval Academy Prep Schools’ Daniel Wask, 10-4.
Kraeszig was then kicked to the third-place match after suffering a 15-4 loss to Cornell’s Christopher Foca. He didn’t have to wrestle that third-place bout as Columbia’s Lennox Wolak medically forfeited.
Cochran opened with bonus points in his tournament by pinning Franklin & Marshall’s John Crawford in 2:35. He then used a 5-1 win over Wyoming Seminary sophomore Jude Correra to make the semifinals.
Cochran was then kicked to the third-place match by suffering a 12-0 loss to two-time NCAA qualifier in Navy’s Jacob Koser. Cochran finished his tournament off with a 9-2 win over Koser’s teammate in Jacob Lucas.
Other placewinners for the Nittany Lions included David Evans (fifth, 141 pounds), Levi Haines (fifth, 157), Donovon Ball (fifth, 184), Joe Lee (sixth, 165) and Levko Higgins (sixth, 197). Others who competed for Penn State were Karl Shindledecker (125), Marco Vespa (125), Brian Borden (157) and Jack Kelly (174).
5 former Centre County wrestlers compete
Not only did the Nittany Lions have several wrestlers competing, there were also five former Centre County athletes hitting the mat for their respective schools.
Bellefonte grads Jude Swisher (Pennsylvania) and Aidan O’Shea (Franklin & Marshall), St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy alums Caleb Dowling (West Virginia) and Boris “Zach” Witmer (Columbia) and Bald Eagle Area grad Gage McClenahan (Cornell) were those wrestlers. McClenahan (fourth, 157 pounds) and Swisher (fifth, 149) were the only ones to place in the tournament.
McClenahan opened with a default victory over Franklin & Marshall’s Josh Palmucci in 22 seconds. He then topped the Nittany Lions’ Borden, 7-5, to make the quarterfinals.
McClenahan used another two-point victory to make the semifinals, where he injury defaulted out of the tournament for that fourth-place finish.
Swisher, who was making his collegiate debut, opened with a 15-1 major decision over Princeton’s Jake Mann. He nearly picked up more bonus points to make the quarterfinals in a 10-3 win over West Virginia’s Jeff Boyd.
In the quarterfinals, Swisher dropped an 8-2 loss to eventual champion in Shapiro. He then won three straight bouts in the consolation bracket for that fifth-place finish.
Swisher pinned Binghamton’s Fin Nadeau in 7:46 to finish off his first college tournament.
Witmer reached the quarterfinals at 133 pounds by opening with a 13-9 win over Spartan Combat RTC’s George Oroudjov. He then pinned O’Shea in 2:02, before suffering a 4-1 loss to Cornell’s Ethan Fernandez, who won the weight class.
Witmer saw his tournament end due to a medical forfeit.
Dowling opened his tournament with a 5-1 loss to Haines, but bounced back with a 19-2 technical fall in 5:24. However, he was eliminated in the next consolation round.
After the loss to Witmer, O’Shea suffered a 7-5 loss to Binghamton’s Ivan Garcia to have his tournament cut short.
