Chattanooga 27, UNC Greensboro 9
Missouri 37, Chattanooga 6
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The wrestling team claimed its second straight Southern Conference regular-season championship Saturday with a 27-9 victory over UNC Greensboro.
In earlier matches, No. 7 Missouri defeated the Mocs 37-6 and beat UNCG 30-12.
UTC and UNCG entered the contest with identical 4-0 conference records. The Mocs captured seven of the 10 matches against the Spartans, including back-to-back pins from Javier Maldonado and Matt Keller, to earn the victory.
“This means everything,” Head Coach Joe Seay said. “Our goal is to win the Southern Conference championship and the tournament and to qualify as many wrestlers as we can for the Nationals. We had a slow start today, but we came back strong tonight. I am happy with the performance. We gave it everything we had.”
UTC, now 16-8-1 and 5-0 in the SoCon, took an early 6-0 lead against the Spartans after decisions by Jake Yost at 157 pounds and Daniel Peterson at 165. The Spartans, 10-6 and 4-1, cut the lead in half after Joe Lowe’s 9-3 win over T.J. Sayers at 174.
John Davis’ 9-4 victory over Kane Smith at 184 pushed the lead to 9-3, but 16th-ranked Daren Burns scored a 7-4 win over Lloyd Rogers at 197 to trim the team margin to 9-6.
Israel Silva clinched the match for the Mocs when his third-period takedown in the heavyweight match led to a 6-3 win over 16th-ranked Tyler Shovlin and a 12-6 Mocs’ lead. Maldonado pinned Justin Walp at 125, and Keller pinned Chris Bencivenga at 133 as the Mocs’ lead swelled to 24-6.
Twentieth-ranked Kevin Artis added UNCG’s final points with his 7-5 win over 19th-ranked Michael Keefe. UTC’s Aaron Martin closed out the match with a 5-3 decision over Cody Harrington.
In the first dual of the tri-match, Missouri rolled off five straight victories to snap UTC’s five-match win streak. The run, which ballooned the Tigers’ lead to 22-0, included consecutive pins by No. 5-ranked Matt Pell at 165 and No. 1-ranked Ben Askren at 174. Pell’s pin of Justin Otis came in the second period, and Askren’s fall improved his nation’s-best win streak to 37 consecutive matches.
The Mocs avoided a shutout against the Tigers on a pin by Silva at heavyweight. Silva’s pin over Sean Connole came at 1:51 to trim the team score to 22-6.
Missouri, 13-5, took the final four matches. Austin DeVoe, ranked 17th, earned a 7-3 decision over Maldonado at 125, and No. 16 Tyler McCormick’s takedown of Keller with three seconds left broke a 2-2 tie at 133. McCormick’s 4-2 win halted Keller’s 14-match win streak.
Chris McCormick got past Keefe, 4-1 at 141, and Josh Wagner pinned Aaron Martin at 1:11 in the 149-pound match to round out the scoring.
The Mocs and the Spartans will compete at the Southern Conference Championships March 4 in Lexington, Va.
No. 7 Missouri 37, Chattanooga 6
157 ? Michael Chandler (MU) dec. Jake Yost (UTC), 15-11 rt 3-0
165 ? No. 5 Matt Pell (MU) pinned Justin Otis (UTC), 4:57 9-0
174 ? No. 1 Ben Askren (MU) pinned Kyle McKee (UTC), 3:39 15-0
184 ? No. 12 Raymond Jordan (MU) dec. John Davis (UTC), 3-1 ot 18-0
197 ? No. 17 Jeff Foust (MU) maj. dec. Lloyd Rogers (UTC), 15-3 rt 22-0
285 ? Israel Silva (UTC) pinned Sean Connole (MU), 1:51 22-6
125 ? No. 17 Austin DeVoe (MU) dec. Javier Maldonado (UTC), 7-3 rt 25-6
133 ? No. 16 Tyler McCormick (MU) No. 7 Matt Keller (UTC), 4-2 28-6
141 ? Chris McCormick (MU) dec. No. 19 Michael Keefe (UTC), 4-1 rt 31-6
149 ? Josh Wagner (MU) pinned Aaron Martin (UTC), 1:11 37-6
Team records: Missouri (12-5); Chattanooga (15-8-1)
No. 7 Missouri 30, UNC Greensboro 12
157 ? Michael Chandler (MU) pinned Nathan Berryman (UNCG), 6:13 6-0
165 ? No. 5 Matt Pell (MU) maj. dec. Mark Ring (UNCG), 12-4 10-0
174 ? No. 1 Ben Askren (MU) tech. fall Craig McIntosh (UNCG), 21-3 15-0
184 ? Joey Garrity (MU) dec. Kane Smith (UNCG), 8-1 rt 18-0
197 ? No. 17 Jeff Foust (MU) dec. No. 16 Daren Burns (UNCG), 4-2 ot 21-0
285 ? No. 16 Tyler Shovlin (UNCG) pinned Sean Connole (MU), 4:04 21-6
125 ? No. 17 Austin DeVoe (MU) pinned Justin Walp (UNCG), 1:19 27-6
133 ? No. 16 Tyler McCormick (MU) dec. Chris Bencivenga (UNCG), 8-4 rt 30-6
141 ? No. 20 Kevin Artis (UNCG) dec. Ammond Prater (MU), 6-1 30-9
149 ? Cody Harrington (UNCG) dec. Marcus Hoehn (MU), 3-1 30-12
Team Records: Missouri (13-5); UNCG (10-5)
Chattanooga 27, UNC Greensboro 9
157 ? Jake Yost (UTC) dec. Nathan Berryman (UNCG), 5-3 3-0
165 ? Daniel Peterson (UTC) dec. Mark Ring (UNCG), 8-5 6-0
174 ? Joe Lowe (UNCG) dec. T.J. Sayers (UTC), 9-3 6-3
184 ? John Davis (UTC) dec. Kane Smith (UNCG), 9-4 9-3
197 ? No. 16 Daren Burns (UNCG) dec. Lloyd Rogers (UTC), 7-4 9-6
285 ? Israel Silva (UTC) dec. No. 16 Tyler Shovlin (UNCG), 6-3 12-6
125 ? Javier Maldonado (UTC) pinned Justin Walp (UNCG), 3:33 18-6
133 ? No. 7 Matt Keller (UTC) pinned Chris Bencivenga (UNCG), 4:33 24-6
141 ? No. 20 Kevin Artis (UNCG) dec. No. 19 Michael Keefe (UTC), 7-5 24-9
149 ? Aaron Martin (UTC) Cody Harrington (UNCG), 5-3 27-9
Team Records: Chattanooga (16-8-1, 5-0); UNCG (10-6, 4-1)