By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director
LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. – The Penn State Mont Alto wrestling team had a whole host of wrestlers in contention for top-3 places on Sunday at the PSUAC/USCAA Invitational that was hosted by PSU Fayette. Mason Blank (Lancaster, Pa. / Lampeter-Strasburg) took third place at 133-pounds, Jack Coulston (Carlisle, Pa. / Boiling Springs) did the same at 141-pounds, Conner Herron (Frederick, Md. / Tuscarora) earned 4th-place at 133, while Bryce Palamar (Smithsburg, Md. / Williamsport) and Eric Wilson (Carlisle, Pa. / Boiling Springs) did the same in their respective division's. Nick Kostyak (Carlisle, Pa. / Boiling Springs) rounded up the wrestlers who were on the podium as he finished sixth at 174 pounds.
In Herron's first bout of the afternoon he pinned Jacob Armstrong from Williamson College of the Trades in a 1:05. Meanwhile, Blank started on the opposite side of the bracket and won his first matchup over Elliot Dean by a 15-4 score. Both wrestlers lost in their next matchup and were placed in the consolation bracket where Herron earned another pin, while Blank scored a 16-8 win.
At 141 pounds, Jack Coulston (Carlisle, Pa. / Boiling Springs) pinned his first opponent in 1:30, before dropping a narrow 3-2 decision to The Apprentice School's Shalek Colon. Coulston breezed through the consolation bracket with two more pins before pinning Derek Vincelette in 45 seconds to take 3rd place. Bryce Palamar (Smithsburg, Md. / Williamsport) lost to the eventual winner of the 149-pound division in his second bout of the day after a 7-0 win over Maryland's Josh Lipsey. Palamar earned fourth place with a 3-2 win before falling to PSU Fayette foe, Aaron Mylan by an 8-1 score.
John Halbrendt (Gettysburg, Pa. / Gettysburg Area) Ron Schilpp (Severna Park, Md. / Severna Park), Colby Mattice (Colonie, N.Y. / Colonie Central) and Davon Williams (Chambersburg, Pa. / Chambersburg Area) didn't have much luck in their divisions, but Nick Kostyak (Carlisle, Pa. / Boiling Springs) and Eric Wilson (Carlisle, Pa. / Boiling Springs picked up the slack earning team points. Mont Alto finished the event with a total of 54 team points as their were wrestlers from Apprentice, Alderson Broaddus, the University of Connecticut (WC), Garrett College, Penn State (WC), Williamson College of the Trades, Kent State-Tuscarawas, University of Maryland (WC), Penn State Behrend and James Madison University (WC).
The Penn State Mont Alto wrestling team returns to action in just over a week when they compete at the NCWA Mid-East Conference Qualifier on Saturday, February 29. The meet will take place at Moorestown High School in Moorestown, New Jersey and will begin at 9 a.m.
