Wrestling Southern Conference

Seven VMI Wrestlers Place at Keydet Invitational

Lexington, Va. -- The VMI wrestling team boasted two first place finishers at the Keydet Invitational, held at Cocke Hall on Saturday. The season-opening tournament also saw two Keydet wrestlers place second and three come in third. The Keydets wrestled just freshmen and sophomores in the tournament. No team scores were kept.

Freshman David Federico (Willoughby, Ohio/ South) took first in the 125 lb. bracket. He defeated Daniel Ruiz of The Citadel, 13-6 in the quarterfinals and Jim Avola of Davidson, 8-6 in the semifinals before besting Christian Smith of Duke, 5-1 in the championship match.

Freshman Sam Alvarenga (Springfield, Va./ Edison) won the 141 lb. bracket. In the first round, he defeated Joshua Puryear of Old Dominion, 9-3. He then beat Carson-Newman's Alex Piper, 5-2 and Old Dominion's Jason Earnheardt, 7-3 before defeating Dan Shvartsman of Duke, 6-4 in the championship match.

Sophomore Jeff Sale (Alexandria, Va./ Edsion) placed second in the 165 lb. bracket. Sale defeated Duke's Steve Smith, 8-6 in the quarterfinals and Anderson's Hunter Ganrner, 7-5 in the semifinals. He was defeated in the championship match by American's Dwane Hash, 10-0.

Freshman Aaron Kerkhof (Muncie, Ind./ Delta) placed second in the 174 lb. bracket. He defeated Nate Hazzard of Anderson in the first round, then pinned Washington and Lee's Moses Laffite in 3:51 of the quarterfinal round. Kerkhof defeated James Madison's Jason Chalfant, 5-2 in the semifinals and lost to Careef Robertson of Anderson, 4-3 in the championship match.

Sophomore Jochen Granja (Lorton, Va./ Hayfield) took third place in the 133 lb. bracket. He pinned Southern Virginia's Jared Anderson in 5:31 of his quarterfinal match before losing to Jake Brumbelow of Carson-Newman, 6-3 in the semifinials. In the consolation bracket, Granja defeated American's Matt Pelligrino, 7-3 and Anderson's Jeremiah Wilson, 8-6 to take the consolation crown.

Freshman David Metzler (Dayton, Va./ Turner Ashby) placed third in the 141 lb. bracket. He pinned Donald Motley of Old Dominion in 3:30 of his opening round match. Metzler was then defeated by Duke's Dan Shvartsman, 3-1 in the quarterfinals. He then came back in the consolation bracket and beat Marc LaRochella of Davidson, 15-4, pinned The Citadel's Kenny Foster in 4:30, and defeated Old Dominion's Jason Earnheardt, 9-1 before earning a forfeit win over Anderson's Gerry Braun in the third place match.

Redshirt freshman Chris Smith (Rocky Mount, Va./ Franklin County) took third place in the 149 lb. bracket. Smith pinned Duke's Jason Matthews in the first round and then lost to American's Daniel Lobsenz, 3-2 in the quarterfinals. In the consolation bracket, Smith defeated VMI teammates Stephen Partin, 5-0 and Jesse Hills, 19-4, before coming back to defeat Lobsenz, 8-6 in the consolation final.

The Keydets will wrestle at the West Virginia Open in Morgantown, W.Va. next Saturday.