Bleaken, Borneman region champs

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Cumberland freshman Corey Bleaken and sophomore Luke Borneman won East Region championships at Lindenwood University last Friday.
Bleaken, the fourth seed at 149 pounds, won his first-round match over McKendree's Dominic Angelo by an 11-3 major decision. He won his quarterfinal match over All-American Dustin Center 12-8 and his semifinal match over defending national champion Mark Dickman 13-10.
He received a medical forfeit in the finals over Campbellsville All-American Chris Seta to improve his overall record to 34-8.
Borneman, the third seed at 184, won his first-round match over Rob Nusekabel of the University of the Cumberlands and semifinal set over No. 2 seed Tanner Wolk of McKendree by identical 5-3 scores.
He shut out McKendree's Earl Waller 2-0 in the finals to bring his season record to 22-6.
CU's 125-pound sophomore Desean Willis, 184-pound senior Eric McCray and 197-pound freshman Kyle Studer place in the top six.
McCray finished fourth, defeating Missouri Baptist All-American Nigel Kinworthy 8-2 in the consolation quarterfinals and Wolk in the semifinals by a 17-6 major decision.
Willis finished fifth by defeating King's P.J. Puriefoy 9-3 in the consolation quarterfinals and pinning Missouri Baptist's Mike Aitch in the fifth-place match.
Studer received a medical forfeit from teamamte Ben Briscoe in the first round of consolation, then defeated King's Alex Driggers 7-5 in the consolation quarterfinals. He fell just short of qualifying for the nationals in the semifinals when he lost 4-3 to Jason Flynn of Notre Dame College.
The top four in the region qualified for the national tournament.
Cumberland qualified 10 wrestlers for the nationals at Sioux City, Iowa. They are Willis, 133-pound sophomore Eric Rogers, Bleaken, 149-pound sophomore Theo Dotson, 165-pound sophomore Trey Myers, 174-pound sophomore Jordan Powers, Borneman, McCray, Briscoe and 285-pound freshman Xavier Taylor.
This is the largest number of qualifiers for the program since Coach Jarad Swint came to Cumberland three years ago.
"We are a very young team," Swint said. "I am looking forward to the future of this program."