Matter wins at Penn St. Open

The Penn wrestling team went into the Penn State Open this weekend looking to match their incredible performance at Iowa State only a few weeks ago and to improve on their results at last year's Open. The Quakers did achieve one of these goals in far surpassing their results from last year, when no Penn wrestler reached the finals. However, they were unable to achieve the same success that they had at the Cyclone Open in Iowa State. At this year's Open, four Penn wrestlers reached the finals of their respective weight classes, but only one, co-captain Clint Matter came out victorious. The senior easily defeated Ross Thantcher of host Penn State 12-2 at the 177 pound division. Matter who is undefeated has truly led the Quakers this year, winning all three of the tournaments that he has participated in. "I am very excited to be where I am right now," Matter said. "I am glad that I have been successful but I must keep working and preparing for the rest of the season." The other finalists, however, did not achieve the same success. Co-captain Brandon Slay, who had also won his first two tournaments of the year, lost a grueling 3-2 match to the defending champion and nationally-ranked No. 4 Glenn Pritzlaff of Penn State. "It was a battle but I came up short, Slay said. "However I beat some tough competition and will most likely face Pritzlaff again later in the year with a chance to redeem the loss." Co-captain Josh Bailer also lost in the finals, 12-6 to Dwight Gardner of Ohio University and Andrei Rodzianko lost a heart-breaker 1-0 in overtime after finishing regulation tied at 6-6. Sophomore Brett Matter who had been undefeated before the Open lost at the 142-pound weight class, but was able to overcome his only loss of the season to win the consolation finals by a forfeit. The Quakers were also hurt by the absence Steve Walker at 126 pounds and Joey Allen at heavyweight who were unable to make the trip due to sickness and injury. "We had a few letdowns," Slay said. "We lost some close matches that we really should have won." Host Penn State, ranked No. 5 in the nation, and Ohio University achieved the most success over the weekend. The Nittany Lions won three championships and posted two runner-ups, while Ohio won two championships, both over the Quakers, and had two runner-ups as well. Although Penn was outperformed by these two schools the weekend was still pretty successful, and the Quakers will now spend the next few weeks preparing for the Midlands Open Tournament in Chicago where they will again face some of the nation's best. "I think we did very well and achieved a lot of technical goals," Clinton Matter said. "We accomplished a great deal."