WRESTLING
EASTON – Shawn Hall of Clearfield won the 184-pound title and Jeff Smallwood of Curwensville was runner-up at 133 as the first-year Penn State-DuBois team made an auspicious debut in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Mid-East Conference Championships Saturday at Lafayette College.
The two freshmen and heavyweight champ James Mosher of Sheffield led the Lions to a third-place finish with 77.5 points.
Seeded No. 2, Hall (10-3) pinned Lafayette’s Julian Gulbinski in 2:15 and major decisioned Army Prep’s top seed Shawn Sweany 15-5.
Smallwood (7-7) bettered his No. 3 seed by pinning Delaware’s Isiah Anton in 2:01 and decisioning the Penn State Club Team’s No. 2 seed Jason Turpyn 8-1 to reach the finals, where he was edged 3-1 by Penn State’s Rob Vollrath.
West Chester earned team laurels in the 13-team tourney with 104 points. Army Prep was second with 94.5. Northampton Community College wound up fourth, one point behind Penn State-DuBois.
Hall, Smallwood and Mosher qualified for the NCWA Championships March 11-13 at the Hampton (Va.) University Convocation Center.
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JOHNSTOWN – Clearfield Area High School graduate Kyle Keane of Bradford bounced back from an upset loss in the semifinals to grab the bronze medal at 165 pounds in the NCAA Division II Super Region 1 Tournament Saturday at Pitt-Johnstown’s Sports Center.
The Pitt-Johnstown redshirt senior, ranked No. 2 in the region and No. 3 in the nation, bested seventh seed Bryce Sopko of Limestone (S.C.) 7-2 in his only bout Friday.
In the semis Saturday morning, Keane was upset 6-4 by Jake Varilek of Belmont Abbey (N.C.).
Keane, who had beaten the No. 6 seed 7-3 in the Super Region 1 Duals on Jan. 22, then pinned Josh Whitlock of Newberry (S.C.) at 2:31 and beat Bret Terry of Gannon 4-1 in the wrestlebacks.
Varilek was shut out 7-0 by No. 1-ranked and defending champ Josh Shields of Mercyhurst in the finals, while Sopko pinned Whitlock for fifth place.
Keane (21-6) is one of six Mountain Cats who qualified for the NCAA Division II nationals March 12-13 at Omaha, Neb.
No. 1-ranked Shane Valko (Forest Hills H.S.) at 133 and sixth seed Chris Dempsey (Ambridge) at 285 won titles, Patrick Walsh (Schuylkill Valley) was runner-up at 184 and Ryan Link (Penn Cambria) at 125 and Ryan McIntyre (Claysburg-Kimmel) at 149 placed fourth.
Keane will be making his third trip to the NCAA Division II nationals. He earned All-American status with a fourth-place finish in 2008, when he also was the East Region champ.
Newberry (120 points) claimed its third consecutive title since unseating UPJ as No. 1 in the East Region. Gannon (103.5) was second and UPJ (99) third after two years as runner-up.
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MEN’S BASKETBALL
GREENSBURG – Sophomore Todd Hryn of Clearfield scored two points in Pitt-Greensburg’s season-ending 77-63 loss at Pitt-Bradford in the first round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference last Wednesday.
The 6-5 guard/forward tallied 53 points and pulled down 49 rebounds in 13 games, with two starts, for the Bobcats, were 10-10 in the AMCC and 12-14 overall.
Hryn shot 35.2 percent (19-for-54) from the field and 61.1 percent (11-for-18) at the foul line.
He also had two assists, five steals and two blocked shots.
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ERIE – Matt Shiner of Clearfield played in one of Penn State-Behrend’s two games in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament last week.
The freshman guard saw action in the third-seeded Lions’ 67-48 home win over sixth seed Penn State-Altoona Wednesday.
Penn State-Behrend was ousted by No. 2 seed Pitt-Bradford in Saturday’s semifinal at Buffalo, N.Y. Pitt-Bradford, in turn, lost the championship game to host Medaille 89-77.
Shiner has subbed in 11 games for the 18-8 Lions, who received the third seed for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III South Tournament.
They will welcome sixth seed Misericordia to the Junker Center Wednesday night, with the winner moving on to Saturday’s semifinals at Catholic University in Washington D.C.
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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
DUBOIS – Brittany Barrett of Mahaffey finished her junior season for Penn State-DuBois with 104 points and 83 rebounds in 22 games.
The Curwensville Area High School graduate made 33 of 111 field goal attempts for 29.7 percent, including 15 of 39 for 38 percent from three-point range, and sunk 23 of 39 free throws for 68 percent.
Barrett, a guard, had 29 assists and 23 steals and also blocked five shots.
Her three-year career totals are 269 points, 245 rebounds, 62 assists, 63 steals and 18 blocks for 59 games.