The PSU Wrestling team wrapped up their 2009-2010 campaign this past weekend at the 32nd annual New England Wrestling Association tournament at Western New England College in Springfield. The team placed 9th out of 14 teams and had four of their wrestlers earn All-New England honors including, Mike Willey, Seth Carter, Josh Carter and Freddie Wilkinson. Wilkinson earned All-New England honors for the third year in a row at his weight of 125 pounds, and Mike Willey earned his second All-New England Honors at his weight of 157 pounds.
Williams College defended their crown scoring an impressive 128.5 points, Springfield College would finish second with 100.5 points and Johnson and Wales would tie with Wesleyan 95 points. PSU would score 42.4 points edging out host WNEC and finishing just behind Roger Williams University, who scored 46 points.
Willey began his weekend with a first round bye and won his first match before falling in overtime 3-2. His next match was a backdraw match which he won, before he ultimately feel to Carl Breitenstein of Williams College. Willey finished the season at an impressive 18-8, bringing his career record to 41-17.
Seth carter also received a first round bye and won his first match, he was than defeated by Josh Berkovic of Wesleyan. He defeated his opponent from the US Coast Guard Academy in his backdraw match but fell to Ethan Raymond of Bridgewater State College. He brought his freshman year to a close with a 21-12 overall record.
Josh Huber would win his first two matches of the tournament before falling in his last two to be eliminated from contention. His season record was an impressive 27-6 bringing his career record to 39-10.
Fred Wilkinson lost in his opening bout but won two backdraw matches to keep himself alive in the tournament but would fall in two matches on Sunday bringing his season with 21-12 record and a career record of 73-52.
Fermi Wheeler finished the tournament with a 2-2 record at 149 pounds, as did Rob Phillips at 184 and Jake Gagnon at 285 pounds. Wheeler brought his freshman campaign to a close with a record of 18-16, Phillips finished at 10-16 and Gagnon finished his year at 16-8.
On Sunday NEWA inducted it’s newest members of the NEWA Hall of Fame and PSU Head Coach Tommy Prairie. Prairie was a three-time First Team All American for Williams College. While at Williams he was a two-year captain and finished 4th and 2nd at the Division 3 National Championships. At the end of his career he amassed a record of 106-8. As a coach he has lead the Panthers to an overall record of 17-20-1 he has recruited consistently good wrestlers year after year and continues to do so.