COLLEGEVILLE, PA – The York College wrestling team competed in the North/South Duals Saturday hosted by Ursinus College. The #28 Spartans went 2-2 on the day, moving their 2008-09 mark to 6-5-1. Senior captain Kyle Flickinger (New Oxford, Pa./Bermudian Springs) notched his 100th career victory while teammates Brian Thomason (Wernersville, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) and Chris Elliott (Crofton, Md./South River) posted 3-0 and 3-1 individual marks for the duals.
     After a rough 40-0 defeat at the hands of #3 Delaware Valley to open the day, the Spartans quickly recouped to dominate Johns Hopkins 37-0. Jerrid Hartman (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) kicked-off the match with a 7-1 win at 125 pounds before the 133-pound Flickinger nabbed a tight 4-3 victory. Tyler Scarinzi (Fallston, Md./Archbishop Curley) then tallied another close win with a 3-2 result at 141. Albert Gleichauf (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) and Eric Rush (Hershey, Pa./Milton Hershey) recorded back-to-back pinfalls in the 149 and 157 pound classes, respectively. Gleichauf’s came at the 4:54 mark while Rush recorded his victory at 1:58. John Niedrich (Freehold N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) posted an 8-4 win at 165 with Thomason and Elliott notching their first wins of the day courtesy of 12-3 and 7-1 decisions. The Spartans finished off the sweep in the 197 and 285 classes as James Lauglin (Hanover, Pa./South Western) secured three points in a tough 3-2 bout and Shane Cooley (Wrightsville, Pa./Wrightsville) won an 8-2 result in the final match.
     York would look to go on a two match win streak but fell just short courtesy of a 19-16 loss to the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, the #13-ranked team in the nation. Senior Sean Hightman (Dover, Pa./Northeastern) and Flickinger got the Spartans off on the right foot with Hightman’s 5-3 victory at 125 pounds followed Flickinger’s 6-4 decision at 133. Flickinger’s victory gave the senior 100 wins for his stellar career in the green and white. Kings Point would go on to take the next three matches and the team lead at 13-6. York battled back to secure the next trio of bouts. Niedrich recorded a 14-3 major decision before Thomason and Elliott each captured three-point victories. Leading by three at 16-13, the Spartans dropped the final two bouts to suffer a tough 19-16 defeat.
     The Green and White closed the day with a 29-12 victory over host Ursinus. Hightman opened the scoring at 125 pounds with a 7-4 decision. York would drop the 133 and 141 classes before Gleichauf recorded an 11-2 major decision at 149 pounds. Following a tough 6-4 defeat in the 157-pound class, the Spartans rattled off five straight victories including two pins and a major decision. Senior captain Niedrich recorded a pinfall 4:43 into his 165-pound bout. Thomason then doubled-up on Niedrich’s pin with a fall of his own in his 174-pound match, recording his third win of the day just 2:37 into the bout. Elliott also tallied his third victory of the duals with a tight 6-5 win at 184 pounds. George Saliba (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) and Joe Erb (Langehorne, Pa./Pennsbury) finished off the duals with victories as Saliba recorded a 10-2 major decision at 197 before Erb notched a 7-5 victory at 285.
     The Spartans return to action on next weekend when they travel to Lycoming College for the Budd Whitehill Duals. The two-day event is slated to begin Saturday, January 9, at 9:00 am.

Delaware Valley 40 - York 0

York 37 - Johns Hopkins 0

USMMA 19 - York 16

York 29 - Ursinus 12

Kyle Flickinger photo courtesy of Steve Doemland