Flashes' 184-pounders lead the way at Nittany Lion Open
Kilgore, Chine place second, third as Kent State preps for Wolverines
By Ty Linder
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. Head coach Jim Andrassy was staring down the barrel of a most interesting scenario in the 184-pound weight class at the Penn State Open.
As the coach watched his two wrestlers junior Eric Chine and freshman Dustin Kilgore hack their way into the semi-finals of the 64-man bracket, he couldn't help but speculate the possibilities the two might meet in the title bout. However, the feelings went for naught as Virginia's Rocco Caponi a former Ohio prep wrestler for Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary defeated Chine in the semi-finals 3-1. He then knocked off the upstart freshman Kilgore in the championship match 7-2.
“They both wrestled well. The one thing I'd like to see our guys do as a whole is wrestle our style of matches. A lot of times we tend to let our opponents dictate the style of the match. We all train very, very hard and don't always bring that over onto the mat,” Andrassy explained.
Kilgore won his first two matches by a combined total of 25-8 to reach the tournament semis. There, he came up against fellow Ohioan Chris Honeycutt of Edinboro. In that bout, Kilgore gutted out a tough 7-6 decision to reach the title match.
“Dustin is without a doubt the best freshman I've seen on this campus,” Andrassy said. “He has a chance to do some absolutely great things for this program and university. I'm in awe to tell you the truth.”
Also adding hardware on this day was Jermail Porter. Porter finished second at 285 pounds, falling to Penn State's John Laboranti 5-2. The Nittany Lions totaled five individual champions, meaning they accounted for half the first place awards on the day. Porter won four matches after drawing a first round bye. His wins all came by decision, 3-2, 6-3, 10-3 and 5-2 in the semis over Andy Totusek of Old Dominion.
The “follow the leader” style tournament also saw Kent State's Kurt Gross and Obie Simpson see significant action for the first time this season. After a first round pin, Gross lost a tough 5-4 decision. He spent the rest of the afternoon pedaling his way through the consolation bracket, winning four straight elimination matches before bowing out by way of medical forfeit. Simpson, meanwhile reached the round of eight before falling into the wrestle-backs. There, he also bowed out by way of medical forfeit.
Kent State withheld Dan Mitcheff, Drew Lashaway and Nic Bedelyon from competition on the weekend, giving them a second straight weekend off before the post-semester grind begins.
The Golden Flashes will try and jockey their wrestlers around into different spots as they travel to Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor to do battle with the Michigan Wolverines this Friday. The Flashes have met the Wolverines twice on the mat previously, losing both times. Kent State and Michigan are two of the 15 winningest division I programs in history, combining for over 1300 wins.
