WRESTLERS OF THE WEEK: Bradley by MAC; VonOhlen by WWC; Wilcox by EWL; Ruth by Big Ten; Porto by USCAA; Poster by NSIC; Viterisi by MIAA

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01/08/2013


Bradley Honored as MAC W.O.W. for Second Time

The senior-captain claims his second Mid-American Conference weekly honor after taking first place in the Southern Scuffle at heavyweight.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the second time in a little over a month, Mizzou’s heavyweight Dom Bradley has been named as the Mid-American Conference’s Wrestler of the Week for the week of January 2. Bradley claims the honor after helping the Tigers to a third place finish at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. 

Bradley defeated the then-No. 1 ranked Tony Nelson of Minnesota in a thrilling championship bout that went to a tiebreaker. Bradley earned the 2-1 decision in extra time, ending Nelson’s streak of 40 consecutive wins dating back to last season. The matchup acted as a preview to a possible matchup between the two grapplers in the NCAA Championships this March, as Nelson will try to defend the heavyweight title he claimed last year in St. Louis. 

Mizzou’s ‘big man’ also defeated the No. 3-ranked Alan Gelogaev of Oklahoma State in the semifinals to reserve a date with Nelson in the championship round. Bradleyheld strong in his match against the former Big 12 rival with a 2-1 decision. 

After taking an Olympic redshirt last year, Bradley has yet to lose in 2012-13. He has a team-best 22-0 record as the squad’s anchor, and has now improved his career collegiate record to 88-12. Bradley is now the top-ranked heavyweight in the nation in most polls. He was named an All-American two seasons ago.

This is the third weekly honor that a Tiger wrestler has claimed this season. Nathan McCormick, Missouri’s other team captain, was named as the Wrestler of the Week back on December 19th.  

Cole VonOhlen Named WWC Wrestler of the Week

OREM, Utah – Air Force senior Cole VonOhlen (Jackson, Minn.) has been named the Western Wrestling Conference Wrestler of the Week, as announced today by the league. It marks the second time this season and ninth time in his career that VonOhlen has been awarded the honor.

VonOhlen, currently ranked fourth in the nation by InterMat at 149 pounds, was one of three Air Force placewinniners to lead the Falcons to an eighth-place team finish at the Southern Scuffle. VonOhlen, who registered three falls and two decisions, posted a 5-1 record for the tournament to finish as the runner-up at 149 pounds.

In addition to pinning Minnesota’s Thomas Giaimo, Army’s John Belanger and Navy’s Zach Basich, VonOhlen earned a 9-7 decision over nationally ranked Drake Houdashelt of Missouri and a 10-5 semifinal win over then-second-ranked Dylan Ness of Minnesota. VonOhlen’s lone loss of the tournament came in the finals versus Oklahoma State’s top-ranked Jordan Oliver.

VonOhlen, who was also named Air Force Athlete of the Week for his performance, now has a 21-2 overall record on the year.

Wilcox Named EWL Wrestler of the Week

BLOOMSBURG—Bloomsburg (PA) University wrestler Nick Wilcox (Greene, NY/Greene Central) has been named the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Wrestler of the Week for the period ending Jan. 6.
 
In the Huskies match with 20th-ranked University of Maryland, Wilcox, a 133-pounder, scored a 6-3 win over nationally ranked Geoffrey Alexander to help the Huskies to a 22-15 victory.
 
Wilcox, ranked 16th by the Wrestling Report and 18th by Amateur Wrestling News (AWN), is 16-4 on the season.

Penn State’s Ruth Tabbed Big Ten Wrestler of the Week; 
Top-ranked Ruth won 184-pound title at Southern Scuffle

Wrestler of the Week
Ed Ruth, Penn State
184 – Jr. – Harrisburg, Pa. – Susquehanna Township

· Won six bouts, including three pins and two major decisions, to win the 184-pound title at the Southern Scuffle 
· Scored falls in the first three rounds, defeating American’s Thomas Barriero (2:14), Campbell’s James Cook (3:29) and Duke’s Diengo Bencomo (3:37)
· Earned major decisions over Virginia’s Stephen Doty (13-4) and Missouri’s No. 9 Mike Larson (11-0) in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, respectively
· Took down defending NCAA 184-pound champion and second-ranked Steve Bosak of Cornell (7-3) to win the title
· Helped No. 1 Penn State to its third consecutive Southern Scuffle crown
· Ranked first nationally at 184 pounds 
· Earns his first weekly award of the season and the third of his career
· Last Penn State Wrestler of the Week: Frank Molinaro (Feb. 7, 2012)

Big Ten 2012-13 Wrestlers of the Week
Nov. 6                   Tony Dallago, Jr., ILL
Nov. 13                 Michael McClure, Jr., MSU
Nov. 20                 Matt McDonough, Sr., IOWA
Nov. 27                 Daryl Thomas, Sr., ILL
Dec. 4                    Logan Stieber, So., OSU
Dec. 11                 Derek St. John, Jr., IOWA
Dec. 18                 Michael McClure, Jr., MSU
Jan. 2     Robert Kokesh, So., NEB and Jason Welch, Sr., NU
Jan. 8                     Ed Ruth, Jr., PSU

Porto honored by USCAA
  
The United States Collegiate Athletic Association Players of the Week were announced on Tuesday.

Apprentice School wrestling freshman Phillip Porto was named Wrester of the Week for his performance in the Waynesburg Invitational on January 5.  Porto, a freshman machinist apprentice from Virginia Beach, VA, went 5-1 in the tournament and finished third.  Three of his wins came by fall and his only loss came to the eventual tournament champion from Waynesburg University
 
SCSU's Poster Earns NSIC Wrestler of the Week Honors

St. Cloud State University redshirt freshman Clint Poster (Pierz, Minn.) has been selected as the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's Wrestler of the Week after his 4-0 performance at the Grand Canyon Duals on Jan. 5 in Phoenix, Ariz.

Poster opened the action out west with a fall at 2:24 against Western State's Shawn Seppala at 157-pounds.  The fall helped the #4 ranked Huskies gain a 38-3 win over Western State.  In second round action at the GC Duals, Poster added an 8-3 victory over #14 Colorado Mesa's Telbe Storbeck.  The Huskies went on to win the match by a 32-3 tally over #14 ranked Colorado Mesa. 

In the third round of competition, Poster charted a 3:30 fall against California Baptist's Paul Miller.  SCSU scored a 33-9 victory in the match against CBU.  To complete the tournament, Poster scored his third fall of the day with a pin at 4:52 against Colorado Mines' John Crowley.  As a team, SCSU defeated Mines by a 39-6 score. 

Poster is 17-1 this season for the Huskies at 157-pounds.  He is the son of Karen and Kevin Poster of Pierz and he is a 2011 graduate of Pierz-Healy High School.

Viterisi named MIAA Wrestler of the Week

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After going 2-1 at 149 pounds on day one of the UCM Duals Sunday afternoon at the Multipurpose Building, Mules redshirt-junior Nick Viterisi was selected as this week's MIAA Wrestler of the Week.

Viterisi posted wins in the 149 pound bout against Nick Ridgeway of top-ranked Nebraska-Kearney and Newman's Aaron Engels while falling in overtime to second-ranked Newberry's Deral Brown. Brown is ranked eighth in the latest NCAA-II Individual Rankings at 149 pounds. 

The Bloomington, Ind. native's victory over Ridgeway in the dual against the number one ranked Lopers came via a hard-fought 3-1 decision before winning his bout against Engels in the Newman match on a pin in 2:08. In Viterisi's final match of the day against Brown of the second-ranked Newberry Wolves he took the eighth ranked wrestler at 149 pounds to overtime before dropping the match on a sudden-victory 4-2 decision.

Viterisi's record for the 2012-2013 season is now 10-4.