WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The #29 York College wrestling team split a pair of matches at the annual Budd Whitehill Duals Friday afternoon. The Green and White defeated RIT 30-7 before falling to #5 University of Wisconsin – Whitewater by a 30-9 tally. The split moves York’s record to 7-6-1 on the season.
     The Spartans opened the duals with a commanding 30-7 victory over RIT. After dropping the 125-pound bout to the nation’s fourth-ranked Mike McInally, senior captain Kyle Flickinger (New Oxford, Pa./Bermudian Springs) secured York’s first points of the day with an 8-3 decision over Shawn Burrington at 133 pounds. RIT would then take the 141-pound match before the Green and White strung together seven straight victories to close out the match. Albert Gleichauf (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) began the streak at 149 pounds with a solid 7-0 result while Eric Rush (Hershey, Pa./Milton Hershey) wasted little time in his bout as he recorded a pinfall just 1:51 into his 157-pound match. Senior captain John Niedrich (Freehold N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) and junior Brian Thomason (Wernersville, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) registered 7-4 and 4-3 victories at 165 and 174 pounds respectively before Chris Elliott (Crofton, Md./South River) notched a pin at the 6:17 mark of the 184-pound bout. George Saliba (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) and Joe Erb (Langehorne, Pa./Pennsbury) completed the scoring for the Spartans. Saliba nabbed a 10-4 decision at 197 while Erb took the 285-pound match by a 7-3 result.
     The day’s second match was not nearly as kind to the Spartan squad as York fell 30-9 to an exceptionally talented Whitewater team. Sporting four wrestlers among the nation’s top ten in their respective weight classes, including #1 ranked 141-pound Austin Bautista, Whitewater simply proved to be too much for the Spartans. Flickinger did record his second win of the tournament, tallying a 5-3 victory in his 133-pound bout. Gleichauf and Thomason also notched their second victories on the day as Gleichauf posted a 6-4 result and Thomason secured a 10-4 win.
     The loss pushes the Spartans into the consolation bracket for tomorrow’s second day of the Budd Whitehill Duals. The Green and White will face the winner of John Carroll and Rhode Island at 9:00 am.

York 30 - RIT 7

UW-Whitewater 30 - York 9

Brian Thomason photo courtesy of Scott Guise