Dean helps Division 2 Lowell complete Division 1 sweep
By Rob Sherrill
At the Southern Scuffle, Cornell University freshman Gabe Dean turned in one of the collegiate season’s biggest upsets with his stunning finals victory over Penn State ace Ed Ruth.
Last Wednesday, his younger brother, Max, came up with a win that was no less important for the Lowell (Mich.) wrestler.
Dean’s pin over state champion Logan Marcicki at 189 stopped a 24-point Detroit Catholic Central run, and the Red Arrows won five of the final six matches to stun the Shamrocks, 36-27.
Lowell (22-1), the top-ranked team in Division 2, completed a season sweep of the state’s top two Division 1 teams with the win. The Red Arrows had previously beaten Davison, 34-33. Now ranked No. 18 by WIN, Lowell has lost only to No. 17 Chicago (Ill.) Marist.
Marcicki, battling a season-long knee injury, led much of the match, but Dean scored the fall midway through the third period. Marcicki jumped out to an early lead and almost had Dean turned for back points, but Dean kept working and finally put Marcicki on his back in the third period. He pinned him 5 minutes, 1 second into the match.
Detroit Catholic Central (10-4) erased an early 7-0 deficit with five straight wins, including pins from Myles Amine (140) and Drew Garcia (171), a technical fall by Malik Amine (145), a major decision by Tyler Morland (152) and a decision by Nick Bennett, wrestling up a weight at 160.
Garett Stehley (215) followed Dean’s pin with a major decision, Josh Colegrove (285) also won and Sam Russell (103) and Lucas Hall (112) followed with pins. Zeth Dean, Max’s brother, sealed the win with a major decision at 119.
Three time zones to the west…
In what turned out to be a tune-up for the biggest dual meet in California this season — when No. 20 Clovis Buchanan lost to No. 4 Clovis 39-29, on Jan. 30 — Buchanan got pins from Esequiel Olivera (170), Peter An (182), Kai Dill (195), Zakary Levatino (285) and Durbin Lloren (120) in a 37-32 victory over Clovis West last week.
Connor Francis (160) opened the match with a technical fall and Olivera, An and Dill followed with their consecutive falls for a 23-0 lead. Greg Gaxiola clinched the match with an 11-5 decision at 132.
Clovis has now won 82 consecutive matches against California opponents. The Cougars’ last in-state loss came to Buchanan, on January 24, 2007.
State tournaments resume this weekend
Three weeks ago, Georgia opened the 2014 state tournament calendar with its dual state championships. The dual state theme resumes this weekend as Tennessee holds its dual state meet Friday and Saturday at the Williamson County Agricultural Center in Franklin.
Defending Division 1 champions Cleveland (AAA) and Greeneville (A-AA) and Division 2 runner-up Nashville Father Ryan (Division 2) are the top seeds.
