Karns Takes 2nd & Venditti 6th At MAWA Eastern National Tourney On April 29 & 30

Dawg sophomores Aaron Karns and Nick Venditti captured place winning honors at the 2006 MAWA Eastern National Championships held at the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, Maryland, on April 29 and 30.  Both Nick and Aaron had a great weekend of wrestling.  Karns took 2nd place runner-up honors in the 189lb Advanced Division and Venditti took 6th place honors in the 152lb Elite Division.

Aaron Karns wrestled fierce in the winners bracket making the trip to the championship final by securing 3 convincing victories.  Karns tore out of the gates winning his first match by fall in a lightning quick 10 seconds over Timothy Murphy of Nazareth, PA.   Aaron then shut-out the West Region #1 seed, Jaime Reitzi of Middleton, PA, by an outstanding 3-0 decision in his second match of the day.  In the semifinal, Karns was not to be denied and simply overwhelmed his opponent by recording an 11-2 major decision over the East Region #2 seed, Matt Santini of Phillipsburg, NJ.  The championship final was an exciting nail-biter that saw Aaron come up just 1-point short in a well-wrestled 2-3 decision to Joe Kennedy of Milford, PA.  Delaware Valley's Joe Kennedy was a 2006 PIAA AAA State Qualifier, NE AAA Regional 3rd Placer, and a District 2 champion at 189lbs.  Simply outstanding wrestling Aaron!

Nick Venditti, bulked up to 152lbs from his season weight of 135lbs, also wrestled tough as nails at Eastern Nationals.  After dropping an intense opening match by 1-point, a 2-3 decision to the South Region #1 seed, Brett Ludwig of Carlisle, PA, Nick showed outstanding determination in the consolation bracket.  After receiving a bye in the first round, Venditti captured an excellent 8-4 decision over South Region #1 seed, Shawn Sims of Long Branch, NJ.  Nick then recorded a thrilling victory in his next match with a double overtime 2-1decision over North Region #2 seed, Matthew Bogardus of Futlon, NY.  Venditti's win over Bogardus avenged Nick's prior loss to him at the North Regional championship.  In yet another heart-racing match, Nick came up just 1-point short in a 2-3 double overtime decision to Ryan Rotelli of Lodi, NJ, before dropping his final match by a narrow 2-5 decision to Eric Powell of Plymouth Meeting, PA.  Simply outstanding wrestling Nick!