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CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Chattanooga notched an impressive 104 points and won six individual titles en route to its fifth-straight Southern Conference Wrestling Championship. UNC Greensboro claimed the second place spot on the podium with 73 points, while Appalachian State took third with 63 points. The teams from The Citadel, VMI and Davidson earned fourth, fifth and sixth place finishes respectively.
Bonus points were being earned in almost every weight class of the 2009 SoCon Tournament. Fifteen falls, one technical fall and 14 major decisions sprinkled throughout the event’s 81 matches made for an exciting day of wrestling. The extra effort was seen from all of the athletes that took that mat, including the 2009 Freshman of the Year Jason McCroskey who recorded a fall in the third period of his semifinals match. Chattanooga's Cody Cleveland was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
Receiving 2009 Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors was Chattanooga head coach Chris Bono. He helped the Mocs to an impressive regular season finish and a fifth Southern Conference Championship. Bono will be coaching six athletes at the NCAA Tournament at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
“I’m really proud of our guys, they have come a long way since November and I think this was our best performance yet,” said Chattanooga head coach Chris Bono. “I give credit to my staff and the athletes for all of the work they put in. We are just now beginning to peak which is the perfect time.”
Eleven wrestlers earned bids to the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis, Mo. with their outstanding performances at the championship. All ten individual weight class champions, 125-pound Demetrius Johnson, 133-pound Frank Celorrio, 141-pound Cleveland, 149-pound Dan Waddell, 157-pound Joseph Knox, 165-pound Seth Garvin, 174-pound McCroskey, 184-pound Mikal McKee, 197-pound Odie Delaney and heavyweight Josh Wine received automatic bids with Bencivenga, the victor of the true second bout at 141 pounds, claiming the conference’s only at-large spot.
In the 125-pound weight class, Chattanooga’s Demetrius Johnson started the tournament off with a dominating performance, recording the first fall of the championships as he faced off against Appalachian State’s Austin Annas. The Moc freshman later advanced with a marathon 14-12 win over No. 2 seeded Mitchell Johnson of UNC Greensboro. This set up a finals bout against The Citadel’s No. 1 seeded Tyler Sim, and marked the first of only two non-number one seeds to be crowned Southern Conference. Johnson took the title and bid to nationals with a 7-3 decision over the Bulldog grappler.
Appalachian State secured their lone national qualifier at the 133-pound weight class. Seeded in the No. 1 position entering the tournament the Mountaineers’ Frank Celorrio amassed 15 points to his opponents’ two in just two matches of competition. Celorrio defeated VMI’s Tyler Hutchens 8-1 in their semifinals dual and No. 3 seed Josh Statum from Chattanooga 7-1 to claim the title.
Returning Southern Conference Champion, Chattanooga’s Cleveland and standout Spartan veteran Bencivenga put on a show at the 141-pound weight class. Both athletes received byes in the first round of competition, advancing them directly into the semi-finals where Cleveland faced Appalachian State’s Michael Kessler and Bencivenga took on The Citadel’s Derek Royster. The Moc junior bested his opponent by 10 while the UNCG grappler blanked his No. 3 seeded foe, 8-0. The nationally ranked wrestlers met in the finals where Cleveland notched his sixth fall of the season in 2:19. Because Bencivenga and third-place finisher Kessler had not yet met, a “true second” bout was in order to determine who would receive the bid to nationals. Bencivenga came out on top to earn a spot at the national championships.
The fastest fall of the championships came in the first round of competition as 149-pound Citadel grappler Justin Sparrow stuck Davidson’s David DeCamp in 28 seconds. The young Bulldog was then outmaneuvered by the No. 2 seeded Ben Wilmore of UNGG, 8-3.
On the opposite side of the bracket, No. 1 seeded Daniel Waddell of Chattanooga inched passed the Mountaineer’s Savva Kostis 5-4 after Kostis dominated his first round bout 15-3 against Joseph Munno of VMI. Waddell and Wilmore, both All-Conference honor recipients, faced off in the finals with the Moc grappler claiming the title with a fall in 5:54.
The 157-pound weight class action got underway with an impressive 12-0 shutout by Appalachian State’s William Powell as he took on Davidson’s Carl Sandercock. After being defeated in his semifinal matchup by a 7-6 decision to Joseph Knox, Powell nearly repeated his first round efforts with a 13-3 victory over Mike Long of VMI in the consolation semifinals. He then followed this with a fall in 4:40 in the third-place matchup, which slated the Mountaineer against Sandercock once again. UNCG’s No. 1 seed, Andrew Saunders, met Chattanooga’s No. 2 seed Knox in the championship round. The Moc wrestler claimed the second individual championship by a non-No. 1 seeded athlete with his 7-1 triumph over Saunders.
Returning Southern Conference Champion and No. 1 seed, Chattanooga’s Seth Garvin rolled through the rounds of the 165-pound weight class, which accounted for three of the day’s falls and two major decisions. Garvin recorded a 15-6 major decision over The Citadel’s Derek Sickel in their semifinal action and was on the winning side of a defensive fall in the finals against the Spartan’s Edwin Hojilla.
The 174-pound grapplers went on a scoring frenzy with only one of the weight’s matches not ending in a shutout or fall. The Citadel’s No. 3 seeded J.C. Oddo notched the events one and only technical fall, blanking Logan Parce of Appalachian State 15-0 in just 1:52. The Bulldog freshman followed his first round showing with a second shutout against the No. 2 seeded Byron Sigmon of UNCG with an 8-0 major decision. Sigmon avenged his loss with an 8-0 major decision of his own against Kevin Cook of Davidson in the consolation semi-finals and took the third-place spot on the podium pinning Szymborski in 5:17. Newly crowned Freshman of the Year, Chattanooga’s McCroskey added to the opponent domination with a semi-final fall in 5:30 against Andrew Szymborski of VMI. McCroskey then shut down Oddo’s offense claiming the title with a 6-0 decision.
UNCG secured a second athlete for the trip to St. Louis for the NCAA tournament in the 184-pound weight class. No. 1 seeded Mikal McKee defeated the third place finisher, Davidson’s Sam O’Hair 11-4 in their semifinal bout before entering into the finals with the No. 3 seed, Dylan Temple of Appalachian State. McKee maintained an early lead and secured the title with a 6-2 decision over the Mountaineer wrestler.
The Citadel fans got behind their first national qualifier in three years when true freshman Odie Delaney took the mat at 197-pounds. The Bulldog grappler entered the event undefeated in the Southern Conference and finished the day maintaining a zero in the conference loss column. Delaney took the title after a 4-2 match with the Mountaineers’ David Pritz. The battle for third was one of high scores and a second round fall as Ethan Winel of Chattanooga took the third-place spot of the awards stand.
The heavyweight athletes brought the third repeat champion of the competition with the athletes placing just how they were seeded the evening prior. The number one, two, three and four seeds finished first, second, third and fourth respectively. VMI’s Josh Wine claimed the top spot and a bid to nationals by defeating UNCG’s Joe Sheffield 4-2 in the final regulation bout of the night.
The Southern Conference came away from the tournament with eleven athletes to represent the conference and its member institutions on the national stage March 19-21, six from Chattanooga, two hailing from UNCG and one each from Appalachian State, The Citadel and VMI. All 10 weight class champions will be representing the conference as well as Bencivenga, who won an at-large bid out of the 141-lb. weight class.
Team Score Finals
- Chattanooga 104
- UNC Greensboro 73
- Appalachian State 63
- The Citadel 55.5
- VMI 27
- Davidson 20.5
Individual Champions
125 ? Demetrius Johnson, Chattanooga
133 ? Frank Celorrio, Appalachian State
141 ? Cody Cleveland, Chattanooga
149 ? Daniel Waddell, Chattanooga
157 ? Joey Knox, Chattanooga
165 ? Seth Garvin, Chattanooga
174 ? Jason McCroskey, Chattanooga
184 ? Mikal McKee, UNC Greensboro
197 ? Andrew Delaney, The Citadel
Hwt ? Josh Wine, VMI
Individual Awards
Coach of the Year
Chris Bono, Chattanooga
Tournament Outstanding Wrestler
Cody Cleveland, Chattanooga
Freshman of the Year
Jason McCroskey, Chattanooga