College Wrestling

Rider University 18, Lock Haven University 16

LOCK HAVEN, PA—The Broncs won five of the ten bouts to defeat Lock Haven in an Eastern Wrestling League dual meet Friday night.

“It was an interesting match with a lot of hard fighting on both sides,” said Rider head coach Gary Taylor, who now has 416 career victories. “We were fortunate to come out with a win.”

The match featured four overtime bouts, of which Rider won three. “Last time we had this many overtimes the outcome was not as good, although we won the match.”

Rider won just one of the four overtime matches in a recent victory over Drexel.

For Rider (12-7, 3-2 EWL) junior Greg Velasco (Union Beach, NJ/Keyport) won with a reversal in the first tie-breaker in the final bout for the victory. “He did that with one second left,” Taylor said.

Freshman Chad Walsh (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) won by fall to give Rider a 15-3 lead.  “Chad really came though big,” Taylor said. 

Sophomore J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, Va./Christiansburg) and senior Chuck Zeisloft (Woodbury Heights, NJ/Gateway) also won in overtime.

“J.R. got a nice win to get us started,” Taylor said. “That was a good win for him and for his team.”  Wert beat Jake Field, who came in with 17 wins. “That was a very hard-fought match that J.R. was losing 5-0 at one point.”

Junior Rob Deutsch (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) won to give Rider a 6-0 lead.

Lock Haven (5-12, 2-3 EWL) trailed 15-3 before taking a 16-15 lead with one bout remaining.

Rider defeated Lock Haven 23-12 last year and 19-14 the year before. That was the first meeting between these two teams since 2009.

Rider has won the last four meetings with the Bald Eagles but Lock Haven leads the all-time series 16-7.

Rider hosts cross-town rival Princeton next Friday night. Rider's graduating seniors will be honored before the match.

Rider 18, Lock Haven 16

125  J.R. Wert-R dec. Jake Field-LH                   11-9 ot              3-0

133  Rob Deutsch-R  dec. Ronnie Perry-LH         6-3                    6-0

141 Chuck Zeisloft-R  dec. Bobby Rehm-LH       6-4 ot                9-0

149  Dan Neff-LH dec. B.J. Clagon-R                 7-4                    9-3       

157  Chad Walsh-R  wbf Elias Biddle-LH             2:03                  15-3

165  Aaron McKinney-LH dec.  Conor Brennan-R 3-1 ot               15-6  

174  Tyler Wood-LH  dec. Steve Nelson-R          6-1                    15-9

184  Fred Garcia-LH  dec. Clint Morrison-R         5-3                    15-12

197  Phil Sprenkle-LH major dec.  Don McNeil-R 14-1                  15-16 

Hwt  Greg Velasco-R  dec, Brad Emerick            3-2 ot                18-16