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Mizias continue wrestling success at Mercyhurst

4 min read
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Obade

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Crooks

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G. Mizia

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F. Mizia

The Mercyhurst College wrestling team made a bit of program history this month when it won its first PSAC team championship. The Lakers have a 5-0 record in the conference, are 15-3 overall and ranked No. 3 in Super Region I.

The Lakers have two former Bentworth wrestlers, brothers Gus and Francis Mizia, on their roster.

Gus Mizia is a 174-pound sophomore who has a 24-4 record this season and 48-18 career mark. Mizia set the Mercyhurst single-season record with eight wins by major decision as a freshman.

Francis Mizia, who won a state Class AA championship for Bentworth last year, is a 165-pound freshman who has a 22-9 record in his first season of college wrestling.

Millersville’s Eli Obade continues to have an all-conference caliber senior season with the Mauraders.

A 6-9 forward from Charleroi, Obade leads the PSAC in rebounding, blocked shots and field-goal percentage. Obade averages 11.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game and is shooting 59.7 percent (114 of 191) from the field. Obade is third on Millersville’s team in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per game and had a season-high 28 points against Goldey-Beacom. His season-high in rebounds is 21 against Lock Haven.

The Thiel men’s team has clinched a first-round home game in next week’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament. One key contributor to the Tomcats’ 12-9 record has been senior guard R.J. Brownlee, a Donora native and Ringgold graduate.

Brownlee is averaging 5.5 points per game and has played in 20 of Thiel’s 21 games, including making nine starts. Brownlee will play his final regular-season home game Saturday against Grove City.

The basketball team at Chatham has a local flair as three players on the Cougars’ roster are from Washington County.

Marguerite Sargent of Washington is a fifth-year senior guard; Emily Schmidt of Eighty Four is a sophomore forward and Anna Shashura of Fredericktown is a freshman guard. A Washington High graduate, Sargent is averaging 5.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Schmidt, a Ringgold graduate, averages 7.7 points per game and Shashura, a Beth-Center graduate, is averaging 4.0 points. Schmidt has 52 points in Chatham’s last three games, including 24 against Westminster Feb. 2.

Kevin Crooks, a Washington native and Trinity graduate, is having a big season for Allegheny.

A sophomore, Crooks was named Allegheny’s Male Athlete of the Week Nov. 5 after setting a pair of in-season bests against Westminster. He shattered his best time in the 200 butterfly, recording the second-best time by a North Coast Athletic Conference sophomore that weekend while beating his previous in-season best time by more than three seconds with a clocking of 2:00.52. Crooks then swam 4:20.64 in the 400 individual medley, which was the best time for an NCAC sophomore at that point in the season and 2.67 seconds faster than his in-season best.

In January, during a meet against Wittenberg that was held in Boca Raton, Fla., Crook led a 1-2-3 Allegheny sweep in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall in 2:12.48. Crooks then won the 500 freestyle with a personal best 4:58.55 in a meet against Penn State Behrend in Erie. He also won 400 individual medley (4:26.39) and 200 butterfly (2:04.11) against Oberlin, and led a 1-2 Gators finish in the 400 IM (4:21.22) in a tri-meet against Wooster and Grove City.

Crooks will be competing in the NCAC Champions that begin today in Canton, Ohio.

Jake Pletz, a Venetia native and Peters Township graduate, won the 200 backstroke for Westminster in the Titans’ home meet against Mount Union. A sophomore, Pletz had a winning time of 2:03.05.

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