Keystone Classic
Appalachian State
PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- For the second consecutive season, Appalachian State’s senior grappler Scott Ervin claimed gold at the Keystone Classic in the historic Palestra. As a team, Appalachian’s 18 wrestlers combined for 80.5 team points and placing eight wrestlers in their respective weight classes.
Ervin, ranked fifth nationally, earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament cruised into the finals with a pin and two decision victories. In the final, Ervin defeated No. 2 seed Don Fisch of Rider on a tech. fall. 18-2 with the near fall coming at 6:55. Ervin claims his second consecutive Keystone Classic victory at 149-pounds.
Senior Terreyl Williams finished fourth in 133-pounds with three wins in the wrestleback following a quarterfinal loss. The top-seeded Mountaineer was pinned for the first time this season, but battled back with a win over the sixth seed.
The Mountaineers claimed two fifth place finishes with performances from senior Tommy Hutchinson, sophomore Frank Celorrio and freshman Austin Trotman. Hutchinson, seeded fourth in 165-pounds, was defeated in the semifinal, then went 2-1 in the wretleback to reach the fifth-place match. Hutchinson won the match on a 4-1 decision to take the honors.
Celorrio came back from an early loss to earn a 10-1 majority decision to take fifth place in 125-pounds. Trotman, in his first collegiate tournament action, rebounded from a semifinal loss to earn fifth place as the fifth seed in 184-pounds. In the fifth place match, Trotman defeated fellow Mountaineer freshman Dylan Temple, 5-2.
Temple, along with senior Neal Martin and junior Jared Campbell earned sixth place finishes in the season’s first tournament. Martin reached the 174-pound semifinal, but an injury forced the Mountaineer to forfeit the wrestleback semifinal and fifth place matches. Campbell won his first two matches in the championship bracket, but dropped his next three to finish in sixth place in 285-pounds.
Appalachian will continue the 2007-08 campaign on the road at the Brute Northeast Duals on Saturday, November 24. The all-day event will bring together some of the nation’s best teams for dual meet competition.
Chattanooga
PHILADELPHIA --- The 13th-ranked Chattanooga wrestling team earned five weight class titles Sunday and claimed the team championship at the Keystone Classic hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.
Led by the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, Seth Garvin, the Mocs wrestled to titles at 133 pounds, 141, 157, 174 and 197.
Garvin recorded three major decisions in four matches, including a 13-3 victory over Rider’s Rob Morrison in the 157-pound finals.
UTC edged host team the University of Pennsylvania, 140.5 team points to 125.5. Southern Conference member Appalachian State finished third with 80.5 points.
UTC’s Steve Hromada pulled off perhaps the surprise of the tournament. Hromada entered the event as the seventh seed, rolled through his bracket, then defeated Penn’s Rick Rappo in the finals, 7-5 in overtime.
Cody Cleveland scored a 21-10 major over Arizona State’s Chris Drouin in the 141 title match, Lloyd Rogers defeated Penn’s Jeff Zannetti, 7-4 for the title at 174 and Matt Koz dispatched Arizona State’s Jason Trulson, 3-2 to win the 197 weight class.
Also helping the Mocs’ team finish were third-place finishes from Javier Maldonado (125) and Matt Lettner (185), fourth-place finishes from Nick Davis (165) and Josh Edmondson (184) and a fifth-place finish by Joey Knox (149).
The Mocs return to action this Saturday hosting Campbellsville, Cumberland College and Newberry at 1 p.m. at Maclellan Gym.
UTC INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
125 ? No. 1 Javier Maldonado (UTC) maj dec. Angel Alegre (ASU), 14-1; Maldonado maj dec. Payne Lint (Mercyhurst), 10-1; Anthony Robles (ASU) dec. Maldonado, 18-14
Consolations: Maldonado dec. Frank Celorrio (AppState), 6-1; Maldonado dec. Marty Borowski (Penn), 6-1 (Third Place)
133 ? No. 7 Steve Hromada (UTC) maj dec. Nick Kilstein (American), 18-4; Hromada dec. Eli Harris (Brown), 5-3; Hromada dec. Zac Cunliffe (Rider), 4-1; Hromada dec. Bryan Ortenzio (Penn), 9-6; Hromada dec. Rick Rappo (Penn), 7-5 sudden victory (First Place)
141 ? No. 3 Cody Cleveland (UTC) tech fall Ryan Scott (AppState), 16-0, 5:19; Cleveland dec. Fred Rodgers (Rider), 6-3; Cleveland dec. Kyle Borshoff (American), 13-10; Cleveland maj dec. Chris Drouin (ASU), 21-10 (First Place)
149 ? No. 3 Joey Knox maj dec. Preston Pruett (ASU), 12-3; Don Cummings (Mercyhurst) maj dec. Knox, 12-3
Consolations: Knox dec. Mark Brown (Brown), 8-3; Knox dec. David Metzler (VMI), 9-3; Cesar Grajales (Penn) dec. Knox, 3-2; Knox dec. Cummings, 5-1 (Fifth Place)
157 ? No. 1 Seth Garvin maj dec. Anthony Ng (Boston), 11-1; Garvin maj dec. Lenny Marandino (Brown), 11-2; Garvin dec. Chris Stout (American), 11-8; Garvin maj dec. Rob Morrison (Rider), 13-3 (First Place)
165 ? No. 3 Nick Davis (UTC) maj dec. Jonathan Powell (American), 11-3; Davis dec. C.J. Inglin (Boston), 10-4; A.J. Detwiler (Boston) dec. Davis, 10-5
Consolations: Davis dec. Tommy Hutchinson (AppState), 6-2; Hudson Harrison (Mercyhurst) pinned Davis, 1:17 (Davis Fourth Place)
174 ? No. 1 Lloyd Rogers (UTC) maj dec. Antoine Jones (AppState), 23-10; Rogers pinned Andrew Jimenez (Brown), 1:35; Rogers pinned Colin Hitschler (Penn), 2:56; Rogers dec. Jeff Zannetti (Penn), 7-4 (First Place)
184 ? No. 3 Josh Edmondson (UTC) maj dec. Curtis Moore (VMI), 11-0; Edmondson dec. Dylan Temple (AppState), 8-3; Lior Zamir (Penn) pinned Edmondson, 1:56
Consolations: Edmondson dec. Austin Trotman (AppState), 9-6; Doug Umbehauer (Rider) dec. Edmondson, 3-2 (Edmondson Fourth Place)
197 ? No. 1 Matt Koz (UTC) pinned Brooks Keefer (American), 1:31; Koz tech fall Brandon Brothers (AppState), 20-4 (3:31); Koz maj dec. John Hall (Boston), 18-6; Koz dec. Jason Trulson (ASU), 3-2 (First Place)
285 ? Matt Lettner (UTC) dec. Kenny Lester (ASU), 2-0; Lettner dec. Nathan Sharp (Mercyhurst), 5-2; Levon Mock (Brown) dec. Lettner, 5-2
Consolations: Lettner dec. Quinton Pruett (ASU), 3-0; Lettner dec. Zach Zdrada (Brown), 8-4 (Third Place)
TEAM RESULTS
Chattanooga, 140.5
University of Pennsylvania, 125.5
Appalachian State, 80.5
Rider, 68.0
Arizona State, 66.5
Brown, 61.5
Mercyhurst College, 57.5
Boston University, 50.0
VMI, 33.0
VMI
PHILADELPHIA- Senior Tommy Cunningham placed fifth in the 157-pound weight class as the VMI wrestling team competed at the Keystone Classic on Sunday afternoon at The Palestra.
Cunningham (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison), who entered the bracket as the third seed, led the tournament with three falls, including a pin of Arizona State’s Alex Pavlenko 20 seconds into overtime in the fifth-place match. The result marked Cunningham’s first time placing in the Keystone Classic, as he went 4-2 on the day to improve to 7-2 on the year. Cunningham began his day with a pin in 3:23 of Mercyhurst’s Trevor Delahoy, before dropping his first match of the season, a 6-1 decision to sixth-seeded Tom Fazio of Brown. In the wrestlebacks, Cunningham pinned Penn’s Andrew Coles in 3:30 before posting a 12-1 major decision over seventh-seeded Thomas Timothy of Penn. American’s Chris Stout then knocked Cunningham into the fifth-place match with a 14-5 major decision victory, setting the stage for Cunningham’s third win by fall of the day.
The Keydets saw three other wrestlers fall just one match short of placing, with senior David Metzler (Dayton, Va./Turner-Ashby) doing so at 149, freshman Jayme Gordon (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) doing the same at 165, and senior Dustin McCabe (Gloucester Point, Va./Gloucester) coming up just short at 174.
Metzler lost 9-3 to Chattanooga’s Joey Knox to end his day after coming in as the sixth seed at 149. Metzler was upset in the first round by Mercyhurst’s Don Cummings 6-2 before running off three wins before bowing out to Knox, the bracket’s third seed.
Gordon began his day by upsetting the seventh-seeded Cory Nelson of Arizona State with an 11-4 decision, before Boston’s A.J. Detwiler pinned Gordon in the Championship Second Round. Gordon next knocked off Rider’s Mike Darling by a 12-7 margin, before Boston’s C.J. Inglin ended Gordon’s day with a 17-5 major decision.
McCabe, the sixth seed at 174, alternated wins and losses on the day, posting an 8-0 major decision over Brown’s Brandon Schull before dropping an 11-3 major decision to Penn’s Jeff Zannetti. In the Consolation bracket, McCabe advanced with a medical forfeit against Brown’s Bran Crudden, while a 5-2 loss to Mercyhurst’s Josh Shields ended McCabe’s run.
“We lost a lot more close matches than I wanted to today,” said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. “We had six seniors, seven freshmen and one sophomore competing today, and it seemed like we couldn’t wrestle the entire match with the kind of intensity and technique that we needed to. It was a bit of a humbling experience today. This is the best that the tournament has been since we’ve been coming up here, especially with the additions of Chattanooga, Arizona State and a complement of other teams. But we got more videotape of the guys to study, but we’ve got to get back and work hard, get better technically, and get to the point where we can wrestle with some confidence.”
VMI accrued 33 points in the team competition, placing 10th of the ten competing teams. Chattanooga (140.5 points) had five champions and nine placewinners in all to edge out Penn (125.5 points). Chattanooga's Seth Garvin was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler, winning three of his four matches via major decision on his way to the 157-pound crown.
The Keydets return to action in two weeks, competing at the Nittany Lion Open in State College, Pa. on Sunday, Dec. 2.