College Sports

Cougar grad captures NCAA gold Newton’s Matt Valenti, a graduate of Kittatinny and a junior wrestler at the University of Pennsylvania, became the Quaker’s third NCAA Champion on Saturday night in Oklahoma City with a 3-2 win in the finals at 133 pounds. Valenti went scoreless with Purdue’s Chris Fleeger in the first period. In the second period, Fleeger chose bottom and was ridden by Valenti the entire period. Both wrestlers were warned for stalling. Valenti chose bottom in the third and reversed Fleeger. With 1:57 left in the third, Fleeger called injury time and after a fresh start reversed Valenti to tie the score. Time ran out on the clock, but Valenti had riding time to secure the match and Penn’s first National Championship in six years. “One of the things that Coach (Jones) has stressed throughout the year is conditioning and being able to battle through competitions like this,” Valenti said of his progression in the tournament. “As a team coming into this tournament we knew that we would be in great shape towards the end of the tournament and would be able to push hard.” Valenti finishes the season with a 36-2 record and a 24-match win streak. His 36 wins ties his own school record for wins in a season. He has 105 career victories, which is sixth best in program history. Earlier this year he become the first junior at Penn to reach the 100-win plateau. Valenti is the highest Ivy League and EIWA place winner.