LANCASTER, Pa. - The Gloucester County College Roadrunner Wrestling Team will be taking a full contingent to the NJCAA National Tournament in Rochester, MN. All ten of GCC's wrestlers qualified during the NJCAA Eastern District Tournament held on Saturday February 11 at Thaddeus Stevens College in Lancaster, PA. Along the way the team picked up its first District Championship in wrestling since the 2002 season.

The Roadrunners followed the direction of first year Head Coach Pete DiPol who made it a point of emphasis all week to treat each match as it were for the championship, whether it be a main draw match or a wrestleback. The Roadrunners took that to heart as each wrestler earned team points on the way to the victory and battled in wrestleback matches so no wrestler finished worse than fourth in his weight class. Sophomores Justin Pencook 157lb. and Lou Shearer 133lb. both won District Championships while Hugh Nawn 125lb., Ray Martinez 165lb., and Brian Lussier 197lb. were runners-up in their weight classes. Chalie Huff 141lb., John Chillem 149lb., Anthony Dawson 174lb., Josh Ploof 184lb., and Alex Green 285lb. all did tremendous work in the wrestleback matches to earn team points and qualify themselves for the National Tournament.

While there were great moments throughout the day the standout moment came when Shearer turned a precarious position into a pinfall victory in his championship match over Nassau CC which gave GCC a strong hold on the lead in the tournament. Minutes later Pencook ground to a patient and technical win in his championship round match over Spartanburg Methodist to seal the win for GCC.

The Roadrunner wrestlers now have nearly two weeks to prepare themselves for the toughest test of the season at the NJCAA Nationals. The tournament will be hosted in Rochester, MN from February 23-25. The tournament website is: http://www.rochsports.org/2012njcaawrestling.php