Bulls impress in quad meet sweep

Dominating three teams on your home turf is one thing, but breaking a school record held by the opposing team's head coach - that's just the nail in the coffin.

Kyle Cerminara broke the UB mark for career dual meet takedowns Saturday during an impressive Bulls wrestling sweep, shattering the record last set by John Stutzman, who was on the opposite side of the mat as the head coach of the Bloomsburg Huskies.

UB went 3-0 at Alumni Arena in dual meets against Gardner-Webb (1-5), Bloomsburg (3-1) and Findlay (1-2). Recording 20 takedowns in the three matches, Cerminara set a new mark of 149 with the majority of the season still ahead.

The previous record held by Stutzman was 135, but Cerminara passed that on Bloomsburg's Jesse Hasseman, just feet in front of Stutzman himself.

"It's a record I always wanted," said the 197-pound senior Cerminara. "I want to put it out of reach so it takes a lot to break it. I want to get as many as I possibly could."

Cerminara ended finishing up the day going 3-0, beating the seventh-ranked wrestler in Division II at 197 in Findlay's Justin Tazzi. Cerminara is now sitting pretty at just four wins away from Gary Cooper's all-time record of 113 career wins.

Regardless of the situation at hand, Cerminara's focus remained the same as it has in the past.

"My focus is the same as it always is, and that is to dominate everyone," Cerminara said. "I want to impress some people. I also wanted to score as many points I needed to help the team go 3-0."

Head coach Jim Beichner agreed it was all about the wins.

"He came out to dominate and that's exactly what he did again," Beichner said. "He broke John Stutzman's record. He smashed it. It'll take many takedowns to surpass it. He wrestled extremely well and is very confident."

The Bulls (3-0) began the day by beating Gardner-Webb, 40-3. The next round they faced slightly stiffer competition from Bloomsburg, a team that had previously beaten a ranked Pittsburgh team this season. At one point, the Huskies scored two decisions to take an 11-9 lead but let the lead slide through and fall 30-11 to UB.

The Bulls regained their suffocating form in the final meet, defeating Findlay 36-0 to cap off the sweep. Findlay was penalized three team points in the meet for misconduct to lead to the shutout.

Saturday was the first shutout for UB since the Bulls beat Syracuse 47-0 in 2000.

"They wrestled extremely well but not exactly perfect," Beichner said. "Every close swing match we won. We were very well prepared coming in. I'm pleased with their efforts."

Several other Bulls also went 3-0 on the evening, including 133-pound junior Mark Budd. Budd faced some top-of-the-line foes including Gardner-Webb's nationally ranked Josh Pniewski, who he pinned in the second minute of the first round for his 40th career win and scored a 7-3 victory over Andy Uhl of Findlay, who is Division II's top-ranked 133-pounder.

Budd improved to 12-1 on the season.

Sophomore 165-pounder Mickey Moran, sophomore 141-pounder Dana Gingerich, senior 184-pounder Garrett Hicks and senior heavyweight Harold Sherrell also went 3-0 on the day.

Moran picked up two pins as well as a victory by major decision to put his season record at 11-2.

Gingerich also had two pins, with one being in 40 seconds against A.J. Renteria of Gardner-Webb as well as a thrilling overtime pin on Bloomsburg's Brad Forbes.

Hicks won all his matches by decisions and Sherrell picked up a 2-1 victory over James Spaid, who is ranked 17th in the country by the NWCA/Intermat/NWMA.

Junior 157-pounder John Cummings, sophomore 174-pounder Nate Rock and freshman 125-pounder Louie Ruben had also amassed two wins apiece for the Bulls. Cummings beat the second-ranked player in Division II, Findlay's Angelo Vettese, by a technical fall.

UB wrestling hits the mats for the again on Saturday at the Mat Town Tournament at Lock Haven University beginning at 9 a.m.