Leavenworth Times Article:
http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/articles/2006/03/08/sports/sports1.txt -------------------------
Sports
Bunch owns EWL crown
By JASON NICHOLS, Times Sports Editor
Getting Prepared — Times file photo/Jason Nichols — Shawn Bunch gets ready for his second NCAA Wrestling Championships appearance in 2003.
After winning his fourth straight Eastern Wrestling League championship and earning Outstanding Wrestler honors, Bunch is preparing for his fourth trip to the national tournament, which begins March 16. Bunch is now 35-1 and ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds.
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Shawn Bunch talks about staying focused, taking one match at a time and downplays his own quest for a national championship. But he’s not oblivious to his accomplishments at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
But even he was taken aback the way he ran roughshod through the 133-pound bracket at Saturday’s Eastern Wrestling League Tournament. One technical fall, one major decision and an easy 10-3 decision in the title match.
“I was impressed by it. I think it was a good run for me,” the Leavenworth native said.
With the win, Bunch captured his fourth straight EWL championship, the first Edinboro wrestler to do so. And he was also voted the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler for the second straight year. He joins just four other wrestlers to win four EWL titles — Don Reese of Bloomsburg, Kurt Angle of Clarion and West Virginia’s Vertus Jones and Greg Jones.
The three wins pushes Bunch’s season record to 35-1 at 133 pounds, where he has been ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division I for most of the season. The senior also moved into sixth place on Edinboro’s all-time wins list with a career record of 127-23.
Bunch is aware of his place in Edinboro history, but he’s not thinking about it yet.
“It’s something I’ll think about when it’s all done,” he said. “I can’t really celebrate that yet.”
Bunch opened the tournament with an impressive victory, winning by technical fall over Clarion’s Rob LaBrake. Bunch scored six takedowns in a 22-6 win. And in the semifinals, Bunch recorded five more takedowns in a 12-3 major decision over Bloomsburg’s Rick Donald. In the final, Bunch rolled past Pittsburgh’s Mike Ciotti 10-3.
But Saturday’s tournament wasn’t just a crowning achievement for Bunch, it was a big day for the Fighting Scots.
Edinboro captured its fourth straight EWL crown and eighth in the last nine years. The 16th-ranked Scots surged past West Virginia in the final rounds to win by a margin of 120.5 to 110.5. And most importantly, Edinboro qualified nine wrestlers for the upcoming NCAA Wrestling Championships, a number that tied the school record set in 1998.
“I don’t think we wrestled our best, but I never think that,” said Edinboro head coach Tim Flynn. “I give credit to the kids in the wrestlebacks. This morning I challenged those kids to win the tournament for us. We entered the session down by 2.5 points and we finished it up 14 points.”
Last season, Bunch was one of six national qualifiers for the Scots. This season, though, the team has been better. Edinboro finished the season as the only Division I team with an unbeaten dual record, wrapping things up 12-0.
“It was a big weekend for us,” Bunch said. “Most of us wrestled well and we got another EWL title. It’s a big deal for our school.”
Edinboro also won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title, during which Bunch repeated as conference champ and was named the Outstanding Wrestler.
Bunch, who has lost just three matches in the last two seasons, will enter the national tournament in the familiar role of favorite. He hopes to handle the pressure the way he did in the EWL tournament.
“It’s good for me to go in being the favorite here,” he said of the EWL event. “Hopefully I’ll be able to win and do the right things (at nationals).”
The national runner-up last season, Bunch will be looking for his second All-America finish at the national tournament and his first national title. But he said he doesn’t feel like his career is coming to and end. Though his run at Edinboro will be up, he plans to stay active competitively at the senior level.
“I’m not really feeling that it’s my last chance right now,” he said. “It just feels like another tournament. I don’t feel it’s coming to and end because I have more stuff to do.”
Bunch has defeated most of his main competitors in the 133-pound bracket this season. Others he has topped in previous seasons. But Bunch has felt joy and heartbreak at the national tourney, so he knows how to stay grounded.
The next thing on the list begins March 16 in Oklahoma City, Okla. — the national championships.
