Bloomsburg Wrestling Captures PSAC Wrestling Title

EAST STROUDSBURG —The Bloomsburg University wrestling team won the 2005 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship at East Stroudsburg University on Saturday. The PSAC championship was the first for the Huskies since the 1990 season.

The Huskies finished with 149.5 points compared to 134.5 for runner-up Edinboro. East Stroudsburg was third with 104.5 points.

“I am very excited for the guys,” said Bloomsburg coach Dan Wirnsberger. “We wrestled with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and really came together as a team. It was great seeing all the guys pulling for each other this weekend.”

“This was also a weekend that the team got rewarded for all its hard work,” Wirnsberger continued. “Everybody did a great job, especially Brad Forbes at 141 who is coming back from an injury. Also, freshman George Hickman at 149 won a lot of big matches as did Jesse Hasseman and heavyweight Mike Spaid, who all got lots of bonus points for us.”

At 125 points, Mike Sees (Northumberland/Northumberland) finished second after losing in the final to Obenson Blanc of Lock Haven, 8-7. Sees had reached the finals with a win by fall over Jamie Thomas of Shippensburg.

At 133 pounds, Tony Curto (Easton/Wilson) also finished second after losing in the finals to Shawn Bunch of Edinboro, 9-6. Curto reached the finals with a pin of Ryan McCallum of East Stroudsburg in the semifinals.

In the 141 pound weight class, Brad Forbes (Downingtown/Strath Haven) also took second after falling the championship match, 6-1, to Frank Edgar of Clarion. Forbes won his semifinal match, 9-0, over J.T. Taylor of Edinboro.

At 149, George Hickman (Wilmington, NC/Riverside) lost in the semifinals to Josh Medina of Lock Haven by a 21-8 score. In the consolation bracket, Hickman won in the semis, 12-9, over Bart Wylie of Clarion, then lost in the third place match to Ron Doppelheuer of Edinboro by fall in 52 seconds.

At 157 pounds, Chris Tate (Boothwyn/Garnett Valley) lost his semifinal match 11-0 to Chris Horning of Clarion, the top-seed in the weight. Tate then dropped into the consolation bracket and pinned Keith Kleckner of East Stroudsburg, in 2:27. In the third place match, Tate lost by fall to Seth Martin of Lock Haven.

In the 165 pound weight class, Jim Bertulis (Aston/Garnett Valley) lost in the championship match to Nate Yetzer of Edinboro, 13-5 after winning his semifinal match, 14-11, over Marcus Surin of Clarion.

At 174, the Huskies Bryce Hasseman (Franklin, IN/Franklin) took top honors winning by default in the finals. Hasseman had reached the finals with a 9-4 win over Eric Ring of Edinboro.

At 184 pounds, Jesse Hasseman (Franklin, IN/Franklin) finished fourth after losing to Sean McCracken of East Stroudsburg, 5-3, in the consolation finals. Hasseman advanced through to the consolation finals with pins of Mark Knock of Millersville and Mike Metzger from Lock Haven.

At 97 pounds, Chad Hoare (Reynoldsville/DuBois) became a two-time PSAC champion with a win 4-3 over Corey Jacoby, the top-seed from Shippensburg. Hoare reached the finals after picking up a win by default in the semis.

At heavyweight, Mike Spaid (Perkiomenville/Boyertown) reached the finals before losing to Stanley Foster of East Stroudsburg, 7-0. Spaid pulled the upset of the tournament when he pinned top-seed Joe Hennis of Edinboro in the semifinals in a time of 1:33.

The PSAC title was the 14th in school history for the Huskies. Bloomsburg won titles previously in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. Also, Bloomsburg won in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1990.