Wrestling

No. 6 Aggies Finish Third At Ithaca Invitational
Shivak (174), Housekeeper(184), Helms (197) Capture Individual Titles

ITHACA (NY) - The Delaware Valley College wrestling team, ranked sixth in Division III, crowned three individual champions and finished third out of 17 teams at the prestigious, two-day Ithaca College Invitational.

The Aggies racked up 134.5 points and only trailed fifth-ranked College of New Jersey (153.5 points) and unranked Springfield College (137.5 points). No. 14 Ithaca (129.5 points) and No. 12 Cortland (117.0 points) rounded out the top five while archrival and 13th-ranked Lycoming College finished seventh with 92 points.

Individually, Delaware Valley had seven placewinners at the tournament, including a trio of champions as returning national qualifiers Jason Shivak (174), Josh Housekeeper (184) and Andrew Helms (197) topped their weight classes.

Shivak, a two-time defending MAC champion and national qualifier, was seeded third at the tournament, but won all five matches including a pair against nationally-ranked wrestlers to claimthe crown. The junior cruised through his first three matches against unseeded opponents then met second-seeded and seventh-ranked Tim Ruberg of Johnson and Wales in the semifinals. Shivak pulled out a 6-5 victory to reach the finals. He then defeated the top seed and fifth-ranked Paul Vaccaro of The College of New Jersey, 3-2, for the title.

Housekeeper, a two-time national qualifier and an All-American back in 2002, won five matches as the top seed to win the 184-pound title. The senior pinned his first two opponents then downed the ninth seed, Robert Stubbs of Ithaca, in the quarterfinals. Housekeeper followed with a 9-0 blanking of fourth-seeded Joe Fitzimmons of Roger Williams to reach the finals, where he met No. 3 Ben Locke of Cortland. Housekeeper won the tournament with a 4-2 triumph.

Helms, a junior who is ranked seventh nationally in his weight class, was the top seed at the tournament and went a perfect 5-0. He picked up back-to-back pins in his first two matches and then followed with a 14-8 decision to reach the semifinals. Helms then downed No. 4 Bryan Petti of Ithaca, 4-1, to reach the finals. He then won the title with a 3-2 triumph over No. 3 Tom Medonis of Springfield.

Returning All-American Barry Wise entered the year ranked second in the country at 133 pounds and wrestled a weight class higher at the Ithaca Invitational. The junior top seed went 5-1 to take third-place honors, including a medical-forfeit victory over teammate and freshman Dan Hall in the consolation finals.

Hall (141), Mike Weston (125) and Desmond Wiggins (133) all placed third at the Invitational.