Chattanooga 46, Davidson 0; Chattanooga 24, Newberry 16
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team opened it season Saturday with a doubleheader win over Davidson and Newberry. The Mocs, 2-0, blanked Davidson 46-0 in a Southern Conference match and had a tougher time with Newberry, 24-16.
The Mocs used four pins, a technical fall and two major decisions to shut out Davidson in the first match. Three of the five freshmen Head Coach Chris Bono had in his lineup registered the falls, including true freshman Paul Garza and redshirts Kelly Felix and Ethan Winel. Garza pinned Ben Altman at 125 pounds, Felix won by fall over Carl Sandercock, and Winel pinned Davidson’s 197-pounder, Jorge Estrada, in 11 seconds.
Junior Joey Knox recorded two pins on the evening at 157 pounds.
Two other redshirt freshmen also winning in their varsity debut against the Wildcats were Jason McCroskey at 174 pounds and Tyler Roberson at 184.
“The effort is there,” Bono said. “I am proud of that. The young guys have a lot of fight in them. But we made some freshman mistakes. The older guys performed as I expect them to.”
Newberry, 1-1, entered the tri-match ranked No. 6 nationally among NCAA Division II teams. It opened the day with a 39-4 win over Davidson, now 0-2.
Newberry grabbed a quick 3-0 lead on the Mocs after Matt Oliver defeated Paul Garza, 8-4 at 125. Chattanooga rolled off six straight victories for an insurmountable 24-3 lead after the 174 match.
Posting wins for the Mocs were senior Steve Hromada at 133, junior Cody Cleveland at 141, Felix, Knox, senior Seth Garvin at 165 and McCroskey.
Newberry won the last three matches against Chattanooga for the final margin.
The Mocs will compete at the Boilermaker Duals next Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.
CHATTANOOGA 46, DAVIDSON 0
125 ? Paul Garza (UTC) pinned Ben Altman (DAV), 3:44, 6-0
133 ? Steve Hromada (UTC) maj. dec. Alex Radsky (DAV), 13-5, 10-0
141 ? No. 4 Cody Cleveland (UTC) tech fall Vitaly Radsky (DAV), 17-2, 15-0
149 ? Kelly Felix (UTC) pinned Carl Sandercock (DAV), 1:24, 21-0
157 ? Joey Knox (UTC) pinned Joe McGinley (DAV), 4:24, 27-0
165 ? No. 19 Seth Garvin (UTC) maj. dec. Tyler Mullen (DAV), 16-6, 31-0
174 ? Jason McCroskey (UTC) dec. Kevin Cook (DAV), 9-3, 34-0
184 ? Tyler Roberson (UTC) dec. Sam O’Hair (DAV), 6-3, 37-0
197 ? Ethan Winel (UTC) pinned Jorge Estrada (DAV), :11, 43-0
285 ? Matt Lettner (UTC) dec. Charlie Wolff (DAV), 3-1, 46-0
CHATTANOOGA 24, NEWBERRY 16
125 ? Matt Oliver (NEW) dec. Paul Garza (UTC), 8-4, 0-3
133 ? Steve Hromada (UTC) dec. Aldon Isenberg (NEW), 13-7, 3-3
141 ? No. 4 Cody Cleveland (UTC) dec. Tony Washington (NEW), 3-2, 6-3
149 ? Kelly Felix (UTC) dec. Sean Byrnes (NEW), 5-4 rt, 9-3
157 ? Joey Knox (UTC) pinned Latra Salek (NEW), 1:45, 15-3
165 ? No. 19 Seth Garvin (UTC) dec. Vin Salek (NEW), 9-6, 18-3
174 ? Jason McCroskey (UTC) pinned Brandon Kelly (NEW), 4:04, 24-3
184 ? Jake Elkins (NEW) pinned Tyler Roberson (UTC), 6:39, 24-9
197 ? Keeno Griffin (NEW) dec. Ethan Winel (UTC), 9-6, 24-12
285 ? Cy Wainwright (NEW) maj. dec. Matt Lettner (UTC), 20-7, 24-16
The Citadel 28, Belmont Abbey 6
Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel grapplers took home their first team victory of the 2008-09 season. The Citadel wrestling team tallied an impressive 28-6 victory over the Crusaders from Belmont Abbey.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 15-0 lead as J.C. Oddo, Kelby Smith, Odie Delaney and Aaron Brown each came away victorious against the Crusaders. Brown won by fall in 2:05 in the first round against Belmont Abbey’s Alex Dinelli in his first victory of the 2008-09 season.
Decision wins by Oddo, Smith, and Delaney earned three points each, adding to the Bulldog’s team score.
“For a young team, in the first meet of the year, our guys wrestled really well tonight,” stated head coach Rob Hjerling. “The guys showed great effort and tonight’s match-ups gave us some good opportunities to see what we did well on as well as the areas where we need to work, technique wise.”
Six of The Citadel's grapplers earned their first collegiate career victories as Bulldogs. 133-pound freshmen, Pierre Frazile had his first career win, with a 6-4 decision over Belmont Abbey’s Colby Yates, adding three points to the Bulldog's team score. The Citadel’s 141-pound grappler Derek Royster notched a bonus point on the scoreboard for the Bulldogs, with his 9-1 major decision win over the Crusader's Jake Calvin.
The final points for the Bulldogs were earned by freshmen David Ivanschenko, with a 7-0 decision over Ross Patterson, followed by teammate Justin Sparrow with his first career win as a Bulldog, in a 9-3 decision over the Crusader's Chris Maclafferty.
Wrestling action will continue throughout the weekend as the Bulldogs host the annual Citadel Open. The tournament will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. in McAlister Field House located on The Citadel’s campus. The finals are projected to begin around 4:30 p.m. The Citadel Open allows freshmen and sophomores from all over to compete and gain valuable experience before the 2008-09 season gets underway.
Bulldogs hosted The Citadel Open Tournament
Charleston, S.C. ? The Bulldogs hosted another successful Citadel Open Tournament as 150 competitors took part in the wrestling action today in McAlister Field House. Sophomores and freshmen from all over traveled to the lowcountry to gain valuable experience.
Bulldog heavyweight Ivan Muller was 3-2 in the tournament. Muller’s teammate 165 pounder Casey Underwood also had a 3-2 record. Other Bulldogs to finish with a 3-2 record on the day were 184-pound Brian Hurley and Alex Croasmun in the 157 weight class.
“I’m very pleased with today’s results and effort,” head coach Rob Hjerling stated. “Today and yesterday’s matches were two great days to see where we need to improve. We have come a long way since preseason but still have a ways to go.”
141-pound unattached wrestler David Ivanschenko took home first place with a 4-0 record on the day. Ivanschenko had one fall, two decisions and finished out his day with a major decision over Darton College’s Nathan Allen. Also taking the championship, while competing unattached, was 165-pound Keith Koziel, finishing 4-0 with two falls and two decisions on the day.
Unattached grappler Odie Delaney took home the gold in the 197 weight class with a 4-0 record. Delany won by fall in the semi-finals followed by another fall over Limestone’s Josh Mummert in the championship in 4:21. Another grappler to come away with the gold was unattached 174 pounder J.C. Oddo, who finishing strong with back to back falls in the semi-finals and finals over Central Florida’s CJ Hauser and Devon Jackson respectively.
Also placing in the tournament was 125-pound unattached wrestler Richard Alarcon finishing third with a 7-1 record. After a 6-5 decision victory and a 5-1 loss to Limestone’s Matt Hall, Alarcon fought back and reeled off four straight pins and two decisions to capture the bronze. Finishing third in the 174-pound weight class was unattached Derek Sickel with a fall in 2:41 to secure his medal finishing with a 3-1 record.
157-pound unattached redshirt freshman Justin Sparrow had two pins and one decision on the day before dropping an 8-6 decision to Duke’s Jared Sernoffsky, placing him second overall. Also placing second was 184-pound unattached Kelby Smith finishing with a 3-1 record in the tournament.
The Bulldogs will be back in action as they host the Liberty Flames in McAlister Field House Nov. 15. The match will begin at 11 a.m. before the homecoming football game.
VMI Competes at King College Open
BRISTOL, Tenn. - The VMI wrestling team had place winners in nine of the ten weight classes on Sunday, competing at the season-opening King College Open. Leading the way were sophomore Ronnie Ellsworth (197) and freshman David Yost (141), who each placed second in their respective weight classes.
"Overall, we got exactly the kind of start to the season that we envisioned," said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. "We took everyone that we had healthy, which ended up being 25 guys, including 16 rats. Like any tournament, there were highs and lows. We went down there to get experience and to have success, and we did both of those. The competition was pretty good, we had a few guys that got in six matches, and a few more that got in five. It was nice to see some of the freshman that we'll depend on have success, and our returning third classmen wrestled some good matches. Now, we're looking forward to a big week of practice and we'll get ready to head down to Virginia Tech on Sunday."
Ellsworth (Newport News, Va./Menchville) won two matches before dropping his finals match at 197. The lanky sophomore pinned his first opponent, Kyle Studer of Cumberland, in only 1:19, before knocking off Cumberlands' Rob Nusekabel 6-4, ranked fifth nationally at 184 in the NAIA. Ellsworth then dropped a 7-1 decision to Campbellsville's Glen Jackson, ranked third nationally in the NAIA at 197.
Yost (Broad Run, Va./Fauquier) ran off three consecutive decision at 141 to reach the finals. Yost defeated Campbellsville's Matt David 5-3 before taking out Kent Person of Carson-Newman 4-3. He then scored a 9-7 decision against Cumberland's Neil Birt before losing an 8-3 decision to Cumberland's Mikey Davis.
Gordon (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) picked up where he left off last season, posting a 42-second pin of Cumberland's Bryan DeCormier in his first match before dropping a 6-4 match to top-seeded Campbellsville's George Sheppard. Gordon, whose six pins in 2007-08 were the most of any VMI returner this season, picked up two more pins on his way to a third-place finish, pinning both Carson-Newman's Greg Hopkins and King's Shayne Funk.
Moore (Stafford, Va./Gar-Field) began his run by dispatching of Carson-Newman's Marcus Lopez 5-1 and King's David Johnson 5-0 before dropping a 9-5 decision to Cumberlands' Damien Stephenson in the Championship Semifinals. The sophomore then rebounded to post his first major decision of the season in a 12-0 win against King's Brandon Tressler, before knocking off Johnson once again, this time by a 5-3 margin.
Pope (Hoover, Ala./Hoover) won four of his six matches on the afternoon at 125, collecting a pin of Cumberland's Jason Hunlock in 4:23 and three tight decisions. Munno (Glen Allen, Va./St. Christopher's) did the same at 149, winning four matches while dropping two in his first collegiate competition.
The VMI wrestling team will host an intra-squad scrimmage at The Thunderdome, on post at VMI, on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. The team then returns to action on Sunday, competing at the Hokie Open, hosted by Virginia Tech in Salem, Va.