Heidelberg College Wins its First-Ever Ohio Athletic Conference Wrestling Title
and Has Three Individual Champions
BEREA, OHIO -- The Heidelberg College Student Princes had three individual champions and won their first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference Wrestling Tournament Championship today (February 18, 2006) in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
Heidelberg totalled 99 points to outdistance second place and host BW who had 62.5 points. Ohio Northern University finished third with 52.5 points and was followed by Wilmington College in fourth with 44 points, Muskingum College in fifth with 34 points and defending champion John Carroll University and Mount Union College tied for sixth place with 33 points each.
Heidelberg, led by 2006 OAC Coach of the Year Jason Miller, also won its first-ever OAC regular season title with a perfect 6-0 dual match record.
Individually, Mt. Union senior 149-pounder Sean Connelly (Mentor) was tabbed as the John Summa Most Valuable Wrestler. Connelly, the number three seed, earned the honor as he defeated No.2-seed and the sixth-ranked wrestler in Division III Mark Zimmerman (Jeromesville/ Hillsdale) of Heidelberg in the semifinals, and then beat top-seed and No.5-ranked Carl Amerine (Columbus) in the championship match, 5-4 in an overtime tie-breaker.
The OAC-champion Student Princes’ three individual champions were sophomore 141-pounder Nick Sanchez (Lima/ Bath), sophomore 157-pounder Joe Pflung (Maple Heights) and junior 165-pounder Tim Maxworthy (Medina Buckeye). Other weight class champions besides Connelly were ONU 125-pounder Ty Klofta (Indian Lake), freshman 174-pounder Tim Miller (Wadsworth) and 184-pounder Ben Plowman (Maumee), Wilmington 133-pounder Alantino Keefer (Springfield) and BW senior 197-pounder Devin Carman (Ashtabula/ Geneva) and senior 285-pounder Bryan Kmetz (Brunswick).
FOR MORE INFORMATION on the OAC Wrestling Tournament, please either call BW Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple at 440-826-2327, FAX him at 440-826-2329 or e-mail him at kruple@bw.edu or call OAC Media Relations Director Julie Work at 330-963-0444, FAX her at 330-963-0459 or e-mail her at jwork@oac.org. You also can visit the OAC Wrestling Championship Web site by logging onto www.bw.edu/athletics/wr/sched/05oacchamp.