Dec. 29, 2011
Contact: Tim Ertle
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CLEVELAND STATE SOUTHERN SCUFFLE PARTICIPANTS:
125 - Ben Willeford (So. - Baton Rouge, La.)
133 - Michael Carlone (Fr. - Mayfield, Ohio)
133 - Nick Flannery (So. - Framingham, Mass.)
141 - Josh Palivoda (Sr. - Raymond, Ohio)
149 - Lawrence Cavello (Sr. - Willard, Ohio)
149 - Mike Mencini (Jr. - Twinsburg, Ohio)
157 - Tanner Lemon (Fr. - Canton, Ohio)
165 - Sheldon Brandenburg (Fr. - Wadsworth, Ohio)
165 - Corey Carlo (Jr. - Fairview Park, Ohio)
165 - Koort Leyrer (So. - Holt, Mich.)
174 - Aric Thurn (Jr. - Clyde, Ohio)
184 - Corbin Boone (So. - Holt, Mich.)
197 - Nick Anthony (Jr. - Fairborn, Ohio)
285 - Chris Weber (Jr. - New Berlin, Wis.)
SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State wrestling team will open the calendar year at the Southern Scuffle, hosted Jan. 1-2 at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena. The two-day event features 22 teams - eight of which are included in the latest NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. Wrestling begins at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday (Jan. 1) and gets started an hour earlier on Monday (Jan. 2).
WATCH THE ACTION: Tickets for the event are $15 for adults and $5 for youth under 18 each day. Tickets are available at GoMocs.com or can be purchased from the box office at (423) 266-6627. Additionally, brackets will be updated live with links available on the wrestling schedule page of GoMocs.com. The finals will be streamed live through MocsVision on GoMocs.com.
THE OPPONENTS: Highlighted by defending NCAA Champion and fifth-ranked Penn State, the field also includes No. 3 Minnesota, No. 4 Cornell and No. 10 Missouri. No. 11 Oregon State, No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 21 Virginia and No. 25 Hofstra round out those from the top-25. Individually, over a quarter of all the ranked wrestlers in the nation will compete at the Southern Scuffle. There are 52 ranked in the current InterMat Top-20, including 25 in the top-10 of the 10 weight classes.
LAST TIME ON THE MAT: The Vikings closed 2011 with a 1-2 performance at the Northern Illinois Quad in DeKalb, Ill. on Dec. 21. The Vikings blanked Cumberland 49-0 before falling to No. 22 Kent State 43-6 and the host Huskies 38-0. Nick Flannery went 2-1 at 133 pounds, winning each of his first two matches via fall in under 2:45. His lone loss came on an 8-6 count in an extra period.
TOUGH TESTS: Five of the six CSU losses have come against teams ranked in the NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll or the NWMA Mid-Major Poll. When CSU fell to Pitt on Dec. 11, the Panthers were ranked ninth in the nation. At the NIU Quad, No. 22 Kent State defeated the Vikings. Eastern Michigan is tied at No. 14 while Old Dominion and Boston, who the Vikings lost to at the Wrestle for a Cure Duals on Nov. 12, are ranked 16th and 23rd, respectively, in the NWMA Mid-Major Poll. The six teams that have defeated CSU have a combined record of 26-16 in duals, and nine of those 16 losses were against ranked teams currently ranked in the top-25.
REGIONAL RESPECT: Three Vikings received recognition in the Dec. 13 Atlantic Region rankings conducted by Allen Brown, editor of WrestlingReport.com. Junior Corey Carlo was slotted 19th at 165 pounds, while Nick Flannery (133) and Josh Palivoda (141) both earned honorable mention status.
PIN IT TO WIN IT: Last season, the Vikings totaled 21 pins. With six pins at the CSU Open and five more at the NIU Quad, the Vikings have passed that total with 26 pins as a team. Last year, Lawrence Cavello and Rob Michaels finished with a team-best four wins via fall while Nick Flannery (133) already has seven pins this season. No Viking has had more than seven pins in a season since Alek Hughes recorded eight falls in 2007-08.
The head coach: Ben Stehura (Lock Haven '00)
At Cleveland State: 12-49 (four years) ... Overall: 38-99-1 (eight years)
THE STEHURA FILE: Ben Stehura is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Viking wrestling program, and has recruited a talented group of young wrestlers that expect to make noise in the Eastern Wrestling League this year. Stehura has a history of developing young talent, as he has coached seven NCAA qualifiers, three NCAA All-Americans and two Olympic alternates over the past seven years. Stehura joined CSU in 2008 after building a successful program at Limestone in Gaffney, S.C. The first head coach in Limestone's history, Stehura took the team from three wins his first year to 13 in 2007-2008. Stehura will use his experience with coaching a young program to lead the Vikings during the 2011-12 season, working to improve in EWL competition and continuing the history and tradition of CSU wrestling.
UP NEXT: The Vikings will continue their southern swing with a dual against Chattanooga at 2:00 p.m. on Jan. 8. The following day, CSU will take on Appalachian State at 3:45 p.m. and Campbell at 8:00 p.m. in Campbell, N.C.
