CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- The VMI wrestling team kicked off their 2007-08 season by going 2-1 at a Quad Meet hosted by Virginia on Saturday afternoon.  At the event, the Keydets defeated Anderson 16-13, and Wagner by a 28-18 score, then fell to Virginia 42-3.

 

Senior Tommy Cunningham (Columbus, Ohio) went 3-0 on the day with a pair of wins at 165 pounds and a win over Virginia’s Kyle Artusio at 157, the Keydets’ lone win against the Cavaliers.  Senior David Metzler (Dayton, Va.) was one of four Keydets to post two wins and a loss on the day, dropping his lone match by a score 4-3 to UVA’s Pat Riley at 149 lbs.  Other Keydets with only one loss on the day included seniors Tyler Anthony (Canton, Ohio), Dustin McCabe (Gloucester, Va.) and freshman Sharif Gray (Fairfax, Va.).

 

The Keydets began the day against Anderson, splitting the first four matches for a 6-6 score.  Metzler and Cunningham then won back-to-back matches at 157 and 165 before a major decision delivered by McCabe at 184 gave the Keydets a 16-9 victory with two matches remaining.  Following a major decision by AU’s Luis Audelo at 197 to cut the margin to three points, neither team fielded a heavyweight to end the match as a 16-13 VMI winner.

 

In the next match taking on Wagner, the Keydets got a pin at 133 lbs. from Gray to grab a 6-3 lead, followed by a major decision from Anthony to grab a 10-3 advantage through three matches.  Wagner fought back as Patrick Larkin scored a 10-8 decision at 149 lbs. to cut the VMI advantage to 10-6.  However, the Keydets saw Metzler pin Larry Peotter before Cunningham scored a 5-1 decsion to advance the lead to 19-6 with four matches remaining.  But VMI held off the Seahawks by splitting the final four matches, with the teams trading forfeits at 197 and 285. 

 

Against the Cavaliers, the Keydets posted their only win at 157, with Cunningham scoring a 5-3 decision.  The Keydets forfeited matches at 184 and heavyweight against the Cavs and suffered pins at 165 and 197.

 

“I think that we did about as well as we could have done today,” said VMI head coach John Trudgeon.  “In that last match (against Virginia), we lost three tight matches with Tyler Anthony (4-3), David Metzler (4-3) and Dustin McCabe (6-4).  I was disappointed that we didn’t get one of those.  But in the other matches, we did what we had to do and won a pair of matches that we should have.  We put a lot of guys out there, and had solid performances from them.  Sharif Gray had a good day at 133, and Lance Long lost two close matches to get us started.  But Tyler had a real good day, Tommy won all three of his matches, Dustin did well and it’s great to get David Metzler back with us.  We’ve got to get some guys healthy and we’ll get our heavyweights back with us once football wraps up.  But we’ll go to tournaments the next two weekends, so we’ll take a lot of guys and wrestle a lot of matches.  All in all, I’m not overjoyed with our performance, but I’m not displeased either.  It’s good to get the season started and good to get two out of three on opening weekend. 

 

The Keydets return to action next weekend, competing at the Pembroke Open hosted by UNC Pembroke next Saturday.

 

VMI 16, Anderson 13   VMI      AU

125      Nick Moreira (AU) dec. Lance Long (VMI),                  12-9     0          3

133      Sharif Gray (VMI) dec. Brad Benton (AU),                  5-0       3          3

141      Tyler Anthony (VMI) dec. Anthony DiCarlo (AU),        6-0       6          3

149      Nick DiCarlo (AU) dec. Gene Allgood (VMI),   5-1       6          6

157      David Metzler (VMI) dec. TJ Selke (AU),                     6-2       9          6

165      Tommy Cunningham (VMI) dec. Trevor Sanford (AU), 8-4    12        6

174      Zach Anderson (AU) dec. Jon Horne (VMI),                5-0       12        9

184      Dustin McCabe (VMI) major dec. John Hamrick (AU), 12-4   16        9

197      Luis Audelo (AU) major dec. Ronnie Ellsworth (VMI), 14-5    16        13

HWT    Both teams forfeit

 

VMI 28, Wagner 18     VMI      WC

125      Richard Englehardt (WC) dec. Lance Long (VMI), 12-10      0          3

133      Sharif Gray (VMI) fall Nick Boghos (WC), 4:50                       6          3

141      Tyler Anthony (VMI) major dec. Mike Tutunjian (WC), 8-0     10        3

149      Patrick Larkin (WC) dec. Gene Allgood (VMI),           10-8     10        6

157      David Metzler (VMI) fall Larry Peotter (WC), 4:49                  16        6

165      Tommy Cunningham (VMI) dec. Sean Quinn (WC), 5-1       19        6

174      Sam Hoerdemann (WC) fall Jon Horne (VMI), 2:05               19        12

184      Dustin McCabe (VMI) dec. Eddie Broderick (WC), 7-2          22        12

197      Ronnie Ellsworth (VMI) by forfeit                                             28        12

HWT    John Graeffe (WC) by forfeit                                                   28        18

 

Virginia 42, VMI 3         UVa     VMI

125      Ross Gitomer (UVa) tech. fall Ross Harris (VMI), 26-11        5          0

133      Anthony Burke (UVa) major dec. Sharif Gray (VMI), 16-6      9          0

141      Kellon Balum (UVa) dec. Tyler Anthony (VMI),           4-3      12        0

149      Pat Riley (UVa) dec. David Metzler (VMI),                  4-3       15        0

157      Tommy Cunningham (VMI) dec. Kyle Artusio (UVa), 5-3       15        3

165      Michael Chaires (UVa) fall Jon Horne (VMI),   1:30     21        3

174      Mike Grogan (UVa) dec. Dustin McCabe (VMI),         6-4      24        3

184      Rocco Caponi by forfeit          30        3

197      Brent Jones (UVa) fall Ronnie Ellsworth (VMI),          2:42     36        3

HWT    Calvin Cardillo (UVa) by forfeit                                                42        3