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Vikings Open EWL Competition Against Lock Haven

Vikings Open EWL Competition Against Lock Haven
Posted: Jan 21, 2011

Jan. 21, 2011

Contact: Dan Carr

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SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State wrestling team returns home to open Eastern Wrestling League action against Lock Haven at Woodling Gym on Sunday (Jan. 23) at 1:00 p.m. It will be the first conference meet of the year for the Vikings, who are 3-7 on the season after a trio of losses at the Rutgers Quad.

LAST TIME ON THE MAT:Cleveland State dropped three matches at the Rutgers Quad last Saturday (Jan. 15), falling to Rutgers, 47-0, Army, 39-3, and the US Merchant Marine Academy, 28-16. Corbin Boone, Lawrence Cavello, Josh Palivoda, Nick Flannery and Matt Donohoe won matches for the Vikings, with Flannery's victory coming in a major decision and Donohoe winning by fall.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: A good mixture of experienced returners and talented freshmen give Cleveland State reason to believe the Vikings will make noise in the Eastern Wrestling League this season. With two open crowns and 16 wins on the year, senior Robbie Michaels has emerged as one of the top wrestlers in the EWL. Lawrence Cavello (10 wins overall) and sophomore Aric Thurn (eight wins) each have multiple dual meet victories this season. A trio of freshmen, Ben Willeford (125), Nick Flannery (133) and Matt Donohoe (157), have made an immediate impact this season. Willeford placed sixth at the Eastern Michigan Open while Flannery and Donohoe have both won 11 matches this year.

DOUBLE DIGIT VICTORIES: Five CSU wrestlers have at least 10 wins on the season, surpassing the number of Vikings who accomplished that feat last season (four). Brandon Sommers leads the team with 18 victories, while Robbie Michaels has posted 16 wins. Matt Donohoe and Nick Flannery both have 11 wins. Lawrence Cavello joined the club last Saturday, with his 10th victory coming in the Vikings' meet with the US Merchant Marine Academy.

CSU ALL-TIME VS. LOCK HAVEN: This will be the 32nd meeting between the Vikings and the Bald Eagles, with Lock Haven owning a 21-11 advantage in the overall series. The Bald Eagles have won five of the last six meetings, including a 33-6 decision last season at Lock Haven. Three current Vikings have recorded wins against Lock Haven, including Josh Palivoda in 2008 (7-1 decision), Lawrence Cavello in 2009 (5-3 decision) and Robbie Michaels last year (10-5 decision).

WATCH IT LIVE: Sunday's meet with Lock Haven will be video streamed live online at CSUVikings.com. Travis Holmes will have the play-by-play with Ian Barker doing color commentary.

OR FOLLOW ALONG ONLINE: Live scoring for Sunday's meet will also be available via the NWCA Live Scorebook program. Just go to CSUVikings.com, find the meet on the main page under the Calendar heading, and click on Live Scorebook, and you'll be able to view live updates of the Vikings' performance in each match of the meet.

ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S BEST: Robbie Michaels has broken into WrestlingReport.com's Atlantic Regional Division I rankings He is the 20th best wrestler at 165 pounds in the most recent rankings, released Jan. 1. Michaels joins Pittsburgh's Ethan Headlee (eighth), Clarion's Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (12th), Bloomsburg's Josh Veltre (18th) and West Virginia's Donnie Jones (21st) as ranked EWL wrestlers at 165.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE EWL: Cleveland State is represented well in the current EWL individual win standings. The highest ranked Viking is Brandon Sommers (18-10 on the season), who is tied for 10th overall in the conference and leads the 149 division in wins. Robbie Michaels (16-6) has the third most victories in the 165 class. Aric Thurn is tied for fifth at 174 with eight wins while Matt Donohoe (11 wins) ranks eighth in the 157 class.

PIN IT TO WIN IT: Last year the Vikings combined for 11 pins all year. With the season a little more than halfway completed, this year's team has already topped that mark, pinning opponents 17 times through Jan.21. Robbie Michaels and Brandon Sommers lead the team with three pins each while five wrestlers have two apiece, including Lawrence Cavello, Nick Flannery, Brandon Sommers, Chris Weber Matt Donohoe and Ben Willeford. Koort Leyrer has the team's other pin.

TESTS AGAINST THE BEST: Cleveland State is wrestling against one of the toughest schedules in the country, with five dual meet opponents currently ranked in the top 30 of the Jan. 17 NCAA rankings. The Vikings have already faced Northwestern (22nd), Indiana (23rd) and Rutgers (10th) and have matches upcoming against, Pittsburgh (14th) and Edinboro (26th).

ON TOP OF THE EWL: Robbie Michaels was rated as the top wrestler in the EWL at 165 in the latest conference rankings by WrestlingReport.com, posted Dec. 7. The rankings consist of the top five wrestlers in the EWL at each weight class.

WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Robbie Michaels was selected as the EWL Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 8 after winning the 165 pound division at the Eastern Michigan Open. Michaels was the EWL's first wrestler of the week selection of the 2010-11 season. He is also the first CSU grappler to earn the honor since Rashard Goff won it on Jan. 12, 2009.

PHENOMENAL FRESHMEN: The most recent Viking recruiting class is turning out to be a strong one, as four true freshmen have made an immediate impact. Brandon Sommers leads the squad with 18 wins and three pins and is third with two major decisions, wrestling mainly in tournament competition. Ben Willeford has started at 125 in every meet this season, compiling eight wins. Matt Donohoe and Nick Flannery, with 11 overall victories each, have also been solid dual meet competitors, combining for six wins this season.

BACK-TO-BACK: CSU's last two outings have been quad meets, the first time since 2004-05 that the Vikings have scheduled back-to-back quad meets. Cleveland State went 2-1 at the Indiana Quad on Jan. 9 but was 0-3 at the Rutgers Quad last Saturday (Jan. 15).

DUAL MEET SUCCESS: 11 different wrestlers have won matches in dual meets this season. This is a step up from last year, when only nine Vikings recorded dual meet victories. A Viking has won a match at every weight class this year, with two CSU wrestlers winning at 197. The most noticeable improvement has been at 133, the one weight class in which Cleveland State failed to win a dual meet last season. This year's starter at 133, Nick Flannery, has won four dual meet matches, including one by pin and one by major decision.

NEXT UP: Cleveland State continues its Eastern Wrestling League slate with a trip to Edinboro on Saturday (Jan. 29) at 7:00 p.m.

THE HEAD COACH
Ben Stehura (Lock Haven '00)
AT CSU: 9-37 (3rd year)
OVERALL: 35-87-1 (7th year)

Ben Stehura is in his third season as the head coach of the Viking wrestling program, and has recruited a talented group of young wrestlers that expects to make noise in the Eastern Wrestling League this year. He has coached an NCAA national champion, three NCAA All-Americans and six NCAA National Qualifiers in his seven seasons as a head coach.