[Men's Wrestling] Talon Pisarchuk and Michael Kling win 2023 NCWA MEC Wrestling Titles and are ...
Junior Talon Pisarchuk (JR/Bensalem, PA) and freshman Michael Kling (FR/New Castle, DE) put on dominating performances to win their respective weight classes at the 2023 National Collegiate Wrestling Association Mid East Conference championships. In doing so, both wrestlers punched their ticket to the 2023 NCWA national championships to be held in San Juan on March 9-11. Joining them will be senior Ainsley Doyle (SR/Wilmington, DE) and junior Chase Whartnaby (JR/Chichester, PA), who both earned second place finishes, as well as senior Daniel Tommarelli (SR/Springfield, PA), who finished third. The tournament was hosted by Slippery Rock University.
Pisarchuk was seeded second in the 165-pound class. He won his first two bouts via pins, both coming in under a minute. In the semi-final round he defeated #2 seed John LoCascio of Ramapo University, 12-5, to put him in the finals against #1 seed Bob Berry from Rowan University. Pisarchuk was in complete control of the match, dominating Berry in a 6-0 victory.
Kling was the #1 seed at 149 pounds and he showed exactly why from the start. After receiving an opening round bye as the #1 seed, he won two very methodical decisions, 8-0 over Chris Lively of Rutgers and 7-3 over Grant Ebid of Rowan before taking on #2 seed Thomas Merritt of host Slippery Rock in the finals. In a close contest, Kling proved to be too much, as he rode things out to an 8-4 victory to claim the crown.
The #1 seed at 133 pounds, Doyle was tied in the championship match before getting caught and eventually pinned in the first period. The #2 seed, Whartnaby made it to the finals before losing to #1 Brian Amole of Penn State, 11-1. Tommarelli won in dramatic fashion, 8-7, to claim third place at 157 pounds over #3 seed Chis Fanelli of Montclair University to join the other four at nationals.
Overall, Williamson finished an impressive fifth out of 13 teams in the team standings, its highest finish in nine years.
"I could not be prouder of our guys," shared an ecstatic Williamson head coach Ron Frank. "This is a very hard conference. For us to get five guys through is a credit to our guys and their hard work and preparation. As a team, our guys to a man have worked hard and pushed each other and improved each week and you saw the results of that out there today."
The five won't have much time to rest on their laurels, as they will now continue their journey together to get ready for nationals. Facing the best of the across the nation will be a huge test for the group but according to Frank, don't count them out.
"Our guys always seem to find a way. We know things will be incredibly tough out there but anybody looking past our guys will regret it. Win or lose, our guys will be ready and will give all they have to represent Williamson, themselves and their families. We could not be more excited for them."