Wrestling Southern Conference

SoCon Wrestling Capsules for November 18

VMI Wrestling Places Second at Bloomsburg Invitational
DiSalvo, Britt and Erwin Take First Place Individually

BLOOMSBURG, PA -- The VMI wrestling team placed second of six teams at the Bloomsburg Invitational on Saturday. The Keydets' 135.5 points finished just four points behind tournament champion Buffalo and 49 points ahead of third place and tournament host Bloomsburg.

Ten Keydets placed in the top four of their eight brackets. Three placed first, one came in second, two in third and four in fourth.

Freshman Mark DiSalvo (Dayton, Ohio/ Dayton Carroll) took first place in the 141 lb. bracket. He defeated Millersville's Shaun Blanchard, 18-3 (technical fall); Duke's Russel Jarvis, 15-5; Duke's Harry Clarke, 3-2; and Ryan Bentley of Buffalo, 5-3 to win the championship.

Junior Adam Britt (Mechanicsville, Va./ Atlee) won the 157 lb. tournament.

Britt pinned Kyle Green of Lycoming in 2:32; scored a 23-5 technical fall over Princeton's Charlie Wiggens; and beat Millersville's Jesse Reed, 9-4 before defeating Buffalo's Gary Cooper in the championship match by a score of 9-4.

Junior Matt Erwin (South Vienna, Ohio/ St. Paris Graham) rounded out the VMI champions by winning the 174 lb. bracket. He defeated Buffalo's William Prince, 9-3 and pinned Curtis Yeager of Millersville in 4:36 before defeating Ben Cooper of Buffalo, 10-3 in the championship.

VMI's sole second place finisher was senior Oliver Ruiz (Fairview, N.J./ Cliffside Park), who did so the 133 lb. weight bracket. Sophomore Juan Sanchez (Alexandria, Va./ Hayfield) placed third in the 125 lb. bracket, while freshman Mike Parsons (Lakeville, Ohio/ Loudonville) followed suit in the 149 lb. class. The Keydet quartet of fourth place finishers included freshman Donnie Barbaree (Chesapeake, Va./ Great Bridge) at 141 lbs., freshman Jason Kontopedes (Beaverdam, Va./ Boys Ranch (Texas)) at 157 lbs., senior Brian Toney (Boones Mill, Va./ Franklin County) at 197 lbs., and sophomore David Walker (Chesapeake, Va./ Great Bridge) at the 285 lb. class.

The Keydets will wrestle at the University of Pittsburgh on Monday evening in their first dual meet of the season. Action begins at 7:30.

BLOOMSBURG INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES
1. Buffalo 139.5
2. VMI 135.5
3. Bloomsburg 86.5
4. Millersville 74.5
5. Lycoming 47.5
Duke 47.5
6. Princeton 20.5


Chattanooga Shut Out at No. 2 Oklahoma State

STILLWATER, OK---The Chattanooga wrestling team took on No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State Saturday and was shut out 49-0.

Eight of Oklahoma State's 10 wrestlers in the lineup are ranked in the national top-20 in their respective divisions. The Cowboys notched five pins in the match, including four straight at the heavyweight division, 125 pounds, 133 and 141.

Competing for the Mocs (1-1) were Matt Pitts (125), Ben Smith (133), Jared Sullivan (141), Patrick Carr (149), Quentin Bell (157), Craig Johnson (165) and Quantel Langford (174).

UTC was scheduled to wrestle Embry-Riddle later that day, but the match was cancelled and will not be made up. The Mocs travel to Charleston, SC, Nov. 30 to face Kent State and Gardner Webb.