The Division II Super Region I Wrestling Tournament lived up to its name on Saturday at the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center, as a talent-packed field produced individual champions from 8 different teams, and 13-of-15 squads had at least one wrestler advance to the NCAA Division II Finals to be held in Omaha, Nebraska on March 12-13, 2010.  Newberry College (Newberry, SC) amassed a total of 120 points and advanced seven wrestlers to take home the team title.

"The competition here is unbelievable," Pitt-Johnstown coach Pat Pecora said. "This has turned into a real meat grinder. It doesn't get much tougher than this. This is the best region in Division II."

Gannon University finished second with 103.5 points, while Pitt-Johnstown took third with 99 points.

The Mountain Cats sent three wrestlers to the finals and walked away with two individual champions-Shane Valko (133 pounds), and Chris Dempsey (285)-while Patrick Walsh (184) settled for runner-up.

Valko, ranked no. 1 nationally, had little trouble with fifth-ranked Corey Bowers of Gannon University, combining two takedowns with an escape and riding time for a 6-3 decision.

"It feels good," Valko commented. "I went out there, did my stuff, and came out victorious. But, it is just Regionals. Now I have to focus on the big picture and win Nationals."

Dempsey was a strong contender for the Outstanding Wrestler award, as the unranked junior entered the tournament seeded sixth and edged No.1 seed Niall McGrath (GU) 4-3 in 2OT.

McGrath had pinned his way through the tournament, but failed to solve Dempsey's strong defenses, as neither wrestler managed to score on anything but escapes, and Dempsey earned the win on riding time advantage.

"It was a great match," Pecora said. "I think he deserves the Outstanding Wrestler award."

Walsh's bid for an individual title ended quickly, as the senior got into an upper-body battle with no. 1 seed Tim Darling of Kutztown that ended in a fall at 1:08 after Darling sent Walsh straight to his back with a bear hug.

"Pat got a little away from the game plan," Pecora said. "We wanted that match to go three periods and Pat got into an upper body tie that was just a poor decision."

Pitt-Johnstown also sent three wrestlers-Ryan Link (125 pounds), Ryan McIntyre (149), Kyle Keane (165)-to the Consolation finals.

Keane won his bout 4-1 over Gannon's Bret Terry to finish third, while Link dropped a 3-2 decision to Newberry's No.1 seed Matt Oliver and McIntyre lost 8-3 against Gannon's Kevin McElhaney (no.2) to finish fourth respectively.

All six Mountain Cats that finished in the top four places advance to the National Finals.

While Pecora would have liked to win another East region title, he is satisfied with his squad's performance.

"We always want to win the regional championship," Pecora said. "Ultimately, you wouldn't want to win the title and only get three guys to nationals. We accomplished one of our goals by getting six guys to nationals."

Newberry ended the tournament with one individual champion, two runners-up, three third-place, one fourth-place, one fifth-place, and one sixth-place.

While Gannon had no individual champions, the Knights had two runners-up, two third-place, two fourth-place, one fifth-place, and one sixth-place.