Wrestling Southern Conference

VMI Wrestling Defeats James Madison, 28-7

Keydets win Eight of 10 Matches

LEXINGTON, VA -- The VMI wrestling team (6-3) won the eight of 10 matches, including the first seven in defeating James Madison (5-5) by a score of 28-7 on Tuesday night at Cocke Hall. A crowd of 517 witnessed the match.

Senior Brian Toney (Boones Mill, Va./ Franklin County) got the Keydets out to an early 3-0 lead with a 9-4 win over JMU's Justin Gronlie in the 197 lb. bout. The lead was stretched to six, when sophomore David Walker (Chesapeake, Va./ Great Bridge) defeated Chris Miller, 8-2 in the 285 lb. class.

Freshman Juan Sanchez (Alexandria, Va./ Hayfield), sophomore Oliver Ruiz (Fairview, N.J./ Cliffside Park) and Mark DiSalvo (Dayton, Ohio/ Dayton Carroll) each followed suit with three-point wins for the Keydets in the 125, 133 and 141 lb. weight classes, respectively. The wins brought the lead to 15-0.

The lone pin of the night came when VMI freshman 149-pounder Mike Parsons (Lakeville, Ohio/ Loudonville) took down Jim Berringer of the Dukes in 6:36, giving the Keydets a 21-0 lead. The match was clinched in the following bout, when Keydet junior 157-pounder Adam Britt (Mechanicsville, Va./ Atlee) defended his No. 16 national ranking (Intermat) with an 18-7 major decision over Brian Lambert, brining the lead to 25-0.

The Dukes got on the board in the 165 lb. class, when Seth Cameron scored a 16-7 major decision over Keydet Jason Kontopedes (Beaverdam, Va./ Boys Ranch (Texas)), cutting the lead to 21. It went back up to 24 when VMI's 18th-ranked junior Matt Erwin (South Vienna, Ohio/ St. Paris Graham) defeated JMU's Jeremy Rankin, 10-8 at the 174 lb. class. JMU wrapped up the meet with a win as Dave Colabella defeated sophomore Jason Cox (Amherst, Va./ Amherst County) by a score of 5-0, as the Keydets won by 21.

"I fully expected to have a chance to win each match tonight," said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. "Our guys did enough to come through with some nice, tough wins."

VMI will compete at the All-Academy Championships in Charleston, S.C. on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. JMU will wrestle N.C. State and Campbell on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.