Mocs Win SoCon Title With a 31-6 Victory Over VMI
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team won its seventh consecutive Southern Conference regular season title with a dominating 31-6 win over VMI today. It is the 35th SoCon win in a row for the Mocs who improved to 11-9 overall and finished a perfect 5-0 in league action.
Chattanooga won eight of the 10 matches, scoring bonus points in four of the wins. Sophomore Josh Condon (Powder Springs, Ga.) started off the day with his 8-5 decision over Mike Burnett at 157. Condon improves to 21-6 overall and 4-0 in SoCon action.
Junior Dan Waddell (Chattanooga, Tenn.) upped the team score to 8-0 with his technical fall against Tedd Gottwald. Waddell scored a takedown with five seconds left to end the match at 19-3. Waddell is 14-10 on the year and 3-2 in league matches.
Brandon Wright (Germantown, Tenn.) closed out a perfect conference season with his 3-1 decision over Matt Brock at 174. He finished on a five-match winning streak, improving to 5-4 overall at 174.
Fourth-year junior Jason McCroskey (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) won his final match at Maclellan Gym today. He posted a 7-1 decision at 184 to improve to 22-8 on the year and 4-1 in the SoCon. McCroskey, a two-time Academic All-NWCA, plans to graduate in May with a degree in Engineering and will forego his final year of eligibility.
Sophomore Niko Brown (Kissimmee, Fla.) pushed the team score to 17-0 with a 7-2 decision at 197. He improves to 18-8 overall and 4-1 in the SoCon. VMI took the next two matches with decisions at heavyweight and 125.
The Mocs got back on track at 125 with junior Demetrius Johnson scoring a technical fall over Luke Todd. Johnson has missed most of the season recovering from a knee injury, but is getting healthy at the right time. He is 3-1 in limited action this season.
Senior Cody Cleveland (Tullahoma, Tenn.) was impressive in his final match. He posted a technical fall at 141 and remains perfect at 11-0 this season. That includes a clean slate in SoCon action at 5-0. Cleveland has won 19 consecutive matches against league opponents.
Sophomore Dean Pavlou (Cleveland, Tenn.) ended the match with an 18-6 major decision over Ryan Goodsell at 149. Pavlou improves to 13-10 on the year and is also undefeated in league action at 3-0.
The Mocs now have 13 days to prepare for the 2011 Southern Conference Tournament. Chattanooga has won five of the last six SoCon Tournaments, but UNC Greensboro took the trophy last season. The event will take place in Boone, N.C. on Saturday, March 5.
Chattanooga 31 - VMI 6
Maclellan Gym - Chattanooga, Tenn. - Sunday - Feb. 20, 2011
157: Josh Condon (UTC) - Dec. 8-5 - Michael Burnett (VMI) - UTC 3-0
165: Daniel Waddell (UTC) - TF 19-3 (6:55) - Edward Gottwald (VMI) - UTC 8-0
174: Brandon Wright (UTC) - Dec. 3-1 - Matthew Brock (VMI) - UTC 11-0
184: Jason McCroskey (UTC) - Dec. 7-1 - John Dommert (VMI) - UTC 14-0
197: Nikolas Brown (UTC) - Dec. 7-2 - Ronald Ellsworth (VMI) - UTC 17-0
285: Joshua Wine (VMI) - Dec. 4-0 - Matt Lettner (UTC) - UTC 17-3
125: Johnathan Pope (VMI) - DEC 10-8 - Prescott Garner (UTC) - UTC 17-6
133: Demetrius Johnson (UTC) - TF 19-3 (5:45) - Luke Todd (VMI) - UTC 22-6
141: Cody Cleveland (UTC) - TF 21-4 (6:55) - David Yost (VMI) - UTC 27-6
149: Dean Pavlou (UTC) - MD 18-6 - Ryan Goodsell (VMI) - UTC 31-6
Appalachian State 36, Davidson 9
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Seniors Alex Radsky, Vitaly Radsky and Charlie Wolff all concluded their wrestling careers in Belk Arena with victories, but Appalachian State spoiled Senior Day and Davidson's regular season finale with a 36-9 victory in Southern Conference wrestling action Sunday afternoon.
The Radsky twins and Wolff all won by decision for the lone Davidson (5-13, 0-5 SoCon) victories of the meet. Appalachian State (8-10-1, 2-3 SoCon) won the other four contested bouts, as the injury-depleted Wildcats forfeited the 157-, 165- and 184-pound bouts.
"Congratulations to the seniors," said Davidson head coach Bob Patnesky. "They went out the way they were supposed to go out - as winners, which they certainly are."
Tony Gravely gave the Mountaineers a 5-0 lead with a technical fall at 125 pounds in the first match of the day, but Alex Radsky cut into the deficit with a 10-3 decision over Brett Boston at 133 pounds. Radsky scored big in the last two periods to improve his career-best season record to 25-8 and win his eighthmatch in his last nine tries.
Vitaly Radsky put the Wildcats ahead 6-5 with a dominant 6-1 decision over Mike Kessler. Radsky tallied an escape, takedown and the riding time point in the final frame to put it out of reach and improve his career-best record to 19-4. He has now won nine of his last 11 matches.
Savva Kostis turned the momentum back in App. State's favor at 149 pounds though with a first-period win by fall, and a pair of Davidson forfeits quickly gave the Mountaineers a 25-6 lead. A major decision (174 pounds), forfeit (184) and decision (197) put App. State up 36-6.
Wolff outlasted Brock Durfee in the heavyweight bout for the final 36-9 margin. Wolff was down 1-0 after yielding a penalty point at the start of the second period, but he rallied with an escape and built enough riding time to force Durfee to take a desperation shot near the end of the third period, which resulted in Wolff taking him down and earning a 4-1 decision.
"Now our focus turns to SoCon Championships," said Patnesky. "Everything leading up to this point was practice for our goal, which is to win SoCons and go to the national tournament.
"We can't dwell on the past and think about the things that didn't work leading up to this point. It's time to move forward and wrestle hard because we have the potential to take more than one to the NCAA Tournament. I believe in the bottom of my heart that if we wrestle the best that we can on March 5th, that good things will be in store for the Davidson wrestling program."
Alex Radsky will seek to defend his Southern Conference title at 133 pounds, while the rest of the Wildcats will look to join him at the top of the podium, as Davidson will compete in the Southern Conference Wrestling Championships Saturday, Mar. 5 in Boone, N.C.
Davidson - 9
Appalachian State - 36
125: Tony Gravely (A) TF5 Matt Zarth (D), 21 - 5 (7:00)
133: Alex Radsky (D) DEC Brett Boston (A), 10 - 3
141: Vitaly Radsky (D) DEC Mike Kessler (A), 6 - 1
149: Savva Kostis (A) FALL William Ray (D), 2:04
157: John Blakely (A) Wins by Forfeit (D)
165: No. 18 Kyle Blevins (A) Wins by Forfeit (D)
174: Andrew Downs (A) MD Christopher Cirenza (D), 11 - 1
184: No. 19 Austin Trotman (A) Wins by Forfeit
197: Jon Hartley (A) DEC Ike Crews (D), 7 - 1
285: Charlie Wolff (D) DEC Brock Durfee (A), 4 - 1