WILLIAMSPORT, PA – Reversing yesterday’s results, the York College wrestling team again split a pair of matches at the Budd Whitehill Duals hosted by Lycoming College. Today, the #29 Spartans dropped their first match to John Carroll 18-14 before rallying to defeat #17 Cortland 22-17. The Green and White put together a 2-2 mark for the tournament, moving their record to 8-7-1 on the year.
    In their first match of the day, the Green and White dropped a tight 18-14 results to the Blue Streaks from John Carroll. Jerrid Hartman (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) secured the match’s first points as he captured a 7-5 victory at 125 pounds. John Carroll proceeded to take the next four matches and jump out to a 12-3 lead. The Spartans stormed back into contention with major decision victories at 165 and 174 pounds. Senior captain John Niedrich (Freehold, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) topped Tyler Mickley 11-3 before Brian Thomason (Wernersville, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) bested Devon Jurczak 16-6. With the score now standing at 12-11, John Carroll and York would split the next two matches. The Blue Streaks’ Ben Adams secured three points at 184 pounds while the Spartans’ George Saliba (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) won the 197-pound bout by a 5-1 result. With the squads separated by a single point at 15-14, the result would come down to the heavyweight bout. John Carroll’s Matt Harmon would prevail in the 285-pound match by an 11-4 score line securing the victory for the Blue Streaks.
     The loss to John Carroll pushed the Green and White into the Challenge Bracket to face Cortland in York’s final match of the Duals.
     Against the #17 Red Dragons, the Spartans captured a 22-17 victory to close out the Whitehill Duals. Sean Hightman’s (Dover, Pa./Northeastern) win by forfeit gave the York squad an early 6-0 lead before Cortland battled back to take a 10-6 advantage with three straight victories. The Spartans countered with their own trio of wins as Eric Rush (Hershey, Pa./Milton Hershey), Niedrich, and Thomason recorded victories. Rush tallied a 6-3 result at 157, Niedrich added three points courtesy of a 9-7 score, and Thomason registered a major decision winning 16-4. York, now up 16-10 with three bouts remaining, secured the team victory when 197-pound James Laughlin (Hanover, Pa./South Western) received a win via forfeit, putting the advantage out of reach.
     York hits the road again next week as the Spartans travel to Wilkes-Barre, PA to take on #16 Wilkes University. The match is slated to begin at 7:00 pm.

John Carroll 18 - York 14

York 22 - Cortland 17

Jerrid Hartman photo courtesy of Eric Linsley