The 2008 EWL Tournament will be held at the University of Pittsburgh on March 8.  Last year, Edinboro was crowned the EWL tournament champion and this year the Fighting Scots are nationally ranked, they won the 2008 EWL Dual Meet team title, and are the odds' on favorite to win the 2008 EWL Tournament.  

Chasing after the Fighting Scots will be both the Pitt Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers, two programs who have veteran teams capable of claiming the EWL Tournament championship.  Also, Bloomsburg has a good mix of veterans and young wrestlers, and could finish in the top three, while Lock Haven, Clarion and Cleveland State have numerous excellent wrestlers who could lead their teams into the top tier of the EWL's this year.

The EWL allocation for the 2008 NCAA Tournament is 32 entrants.  Let's review each weight class and the favorites to claim the coveted 32 bids to wrestle in the NCAA Tournament March 20-22, in St. Louis.

125 Pounds  The 2007 EWL champion at this weight, Obe Blanc of Lock Haven, is taking an Olympic year off from college wrestling to concentrate on freestyle.  The 2007 EWL runnerup, Mike Sees of Bloomsburg, however, is concentrating on Div I wrestling this season.  A senior from Northumberland, PA, Mike currently holds a top 10 national ranking, he won the EWL's back in 2005 and aims to bag his second title this season.  Four other very good EWL 125 pounders looking to make the finals are:  Eric Morrill (Edinboro), true freshman John Trumbetti (Lock Haven), Kyle Turnbull (West Virginia), and Jay Ivanco (Clarion).  Pittsburgh has two good 125 pounders - Brad Gentzle, who placed third at the 2007 EWL's, and sophomore Ryan Bosso, from Gibsonia, PA.  Also, keep an eye on Cleveland State senior, Ryan Riggs, who placed fifth at this weight last year.

133 Pounds One of the best wrestlers at this weight is Edinboro's Rick Deubel, out of Chagrin Falls, OH.  This season Mr. Deubel has won the PSAC Tournament, placed seventh at the powerful Southern Scuffle, and now has his sights set firmly on a EWL crown.  Also aiming for the top spot on March 8 will be Jason Guffey (Bloomsburg), Jimmy Conroy (Pittsburgh), Rob LaBrake (Clarion), Josh Palivoda (Cleveland State), and true freshman Billy Ashnault (Lock Haven).  West Virginia's likely entry will be hard-scrabble Jared Garvin, a junior from Morgantown, WV, who battled his way into the Mountaineer lineup this season.

141 Pounds  The 2007 EWL champion at 133 pounds, NCAA All-American Drew Headlee of Pittsburgh, is back and competing this season up a weight class at 141 pounds, and he enters the tournament as the favorite.  Looking for a shot at Headlee are Darren Kern (Bloomsburg), who was 2007 runnerup at this weight, and Sal Lascari (Clarion), who has a loss to Headlee this season, but decisioned Kern in a dual meet.  Cleveland State's likely entrant at this weight is veteran Mike Hurley, who is a former NCAA qualifier and two-time EWL place winner.  Lock Haven's 141 pounder is Owen Wilkinson, a true freshman out of Heartland, Michigan.  West Virginia's 141 pounder is true freshman, Steve Waite, who was a 2007 PIAA AA champion at 135 pounds, then competing for Ft. LeBoeuf High School.  Also, keep an eye on Edinboro true frosh, Torsten Gillespie, who placed in both the PSAC and Southern Scuffle events.

149 Pounds.  Arguably the best two grapplers this season at this weight are Edinboro's Daryl Cocozzo and Lock Haven's Matt Fittery, with Mr. Cocozzo already owning two wins (PSAC finals and EUP/LHU) over Mr. Fittery this season.  Following right behind those two is Mountaineer David Jauregui, who was an EWL runner-up at this weight last season, to NCAA champion Gregor Gillespie.  The other combatants, all capable of making the finals, are "big gas tank" Hadley Harrison (Clarion), three-time NCAA qualifier Ryan Hurley (Cleveland State), two-time Body Bar placer Joe Ciampoli (Pittsburgh), and two-time PSAC place winner George Hickman (Bloomsburg).

157 Pounds.  This weight class is deep, but NCAA champion Gregor Gillespie, a junior at Edinboro, is the man to beat.  Mr. Gillespie, from Webster, NY, won the NCAA's in 2007 (at 149), is a two-time NCAA All-American, a two-time EWL champion, unbeaten in EWL competition this season, enters the EWL Tournament with a season record of 29-2, and sports a remarkable career W/L of 103-8.  There are four other wrestlers who all have a reasonable shot at making the 2008 EWL finals, and they are as follows:  Pitt's Matt Kocher, who is a two-time EWL finalist and placed fifth in the 2007 NCAA Tournament; West Virginia's Zac Fryling, who is a three-time NCAA qualifier; Bloomsburg's Matt Moley, who was 2006 PIAA AAA runnerup for Spring-Ford High School and was a 2007 Wild Card selection to the NCAA's; and Clarion true freshman Travis Uncapher who owns a late February 7-6 win over Matt Kocher and has a solid season record of 21-9.  Cleveland State's likely entrant will be redshirt freshman Rob Michaels, and look for Lock Haven to enter true frosh John Mangini.

165 Pounds.  The leader at this weight is Edinboro's Jarrod King.  From Connellsville, PA, King transferred to Edinboro from Oklahoma University, and this season has won the PSAC Tournament, placed third in the Southern Scuffle, and completed his intra-league dual-meet competition with a 6-0 record.  King's top competition will come from Donnie Jones (sophomore/West Virginia), Marcus Effner (junior/Cleveland State), Rickey Schmelyun (sophomore/Bloomsburg), Ethan Headlee (true freshman/Pittsburgh), and Dominic Ross (junior/Clarion).  Lock Haven has been wrestling sophomore Derek Caldwell at this weight. 

174 Pounds.  The top dog - or should we say "cat" - at this weight is 2007 NCAA runnerup and EWL champ Keith Gavin of the Pittsburgh Panthers.   This season Mr. Gavin won the Vegas Tournament and the powerful Midlands event, is undefeated, and ranked number one in the nation.  West Virginia's Chance Litton (a two-time EWL place winner), and Edinboro's Phil Moricone (a two-time PSAC champ who placed third in the 2007 EWL's at this weight), are two guys aiming to get a crack at Gavin in the 2008 EWL finals.  Lock Haven's Tom Kocher placed twice in the EWL Tournament - fifth in 2006 at 197 pounds, and fifth in 2007 at 184, so keep an eye on him as he competes this year down at his fighting weight of 174 pounds.  Also watch Cleveland State junior, Jarrel Miller, who has won over 20 bouts this season, including a pin over Phil Moricone.  Mario Morelli has done a solid job manning 174 for Clarion this season, and Brian Shaw has done yeoman's labor at this weight for Bloomsburg.

184 Pounds.  At the head of this weight class is West Virginia junior, Kurt Brenner, out of Freedom, PA.  Brenner, who is undefeated this season in intra-league dual meets, was the 2007 EWL runner-up at 174 pounds.  Two excellent young 184 pounders are Edinboro true freshman Chris Honeycutt, a bluechip out of Ohio, and sophomore Jeremie Cook, a talented two sport (wrestling and baseball) athlete out of Florida.  Clarion's 184 pounder is sophomore Scott Joseph, a former WPIAL grappler for Kiski Area.  The Pitt Panthers have a solid 184 pounder in Dave Sullivan, a third-year sophomore who transferred in to the University of Pittsburgh from East Stroudsburg.  Veteran grappler, Jesse Hasseman, will represent the Bloomsburg Huskies at this weight, and Cleveland State likely will enter either Derek Cummins or Chris Hahn.

197 Pounds.  West Virginia's Jared Villers leads the way at 197.  Villers is a two-time EWL champion at this weight, and this season is the EWL wrestler who scored the most team points (29) in intra-league dual meets.  Edinboro's Pat Bradshaw is arguably the second best wrestler at this weight.  A sophomore from Sagertown, PA, Mr. Bradshaw placed in both the Vegas and Southern Scuffle tournament, and won the PSAC title.  Clarion has a very good 197 pounder in Jamie Luckett, who placed second in the 2007 NJCAA Tournament while competing for Alfred State before transferring into Clarion this current semester.  Other EWL 197 pounders capable of doing some damage at the 2008 tournament are Lock Haven junior Ben Hepburn, Pittsburgh true freshman Dave Crowell, and Bloomsburg sophomore Eric Shaw.  Also keep an eye on the Cleveland State entry - either true frosh Alek Hughes or sophomore Benny Balogh, both grapplers out of Ohio.

285 Pounds.  The two top seeds at this weight class probably will be Zach Sheaffer of Pittsburgh and Mike Spaid of Bloomsburg.  Big Mike, a 2007 NCAA All-American, won the EWL Tournament the past two years, and is prepared to win it again.  Mr. Sheaffer won the EWL Tournament back in 2005 and aims to grab the crown again this year.  This season Sheaffer has placed in the Body Bar, Vegas, and Southern Scuffle events, and edged Spaid in an early season dual meet.  Three other EWL heavy weights who will be in the thick of the scuffle for the crown are Dustin Rogers of West Virginia, Rashard Goff of Cleveland State, and Joey Fendone of Edinboro.  All five of the above-mentioned EWL 285 pounders have held national rankings during this season.  Clarion's heavyweight is true freshman Roman Husam from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and Lock Haven's big man is true frosh Dan Craig from Paw Paw, Michigan.  The EWL has a ton of athletic heavyweights, and the big guys will settle it on the mat March 8 at the University of Pittsburgh