The Citadel in 12^th at Southern Scuffle

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Citadel’s Ugi Khishignyam continued his domination on Tuesday as the redshirt freshman collected four tough wins to move into the semifinals of the 141-pound bracket at the Southern Scuffle wrestling tournament held on the campus of Chattanooga.

Khishignyam will take on Old Dominion's Chris Mecate on Wednesday for a chance to compete in the finals against either No. 11 Nick Dardanes from Minnesota or No. 12 Mike Nevinger from Cornell.

The Mongolia native, who holds a record of 23-2 on the season, closed out his impressive day by topping Old Dominion's 14th-ranked Justin LaValle in exciting fashion as Khishignyam managed a late takedown to earn the 5-3 sudden victory. Before that win, he collected three decisions over Zachary Beitz (Penn State), Joey Moon (North Carolina) and Dan King (Cleveland State).

Odie Delaney (285), Marshall Haas (197), Matt Frisch (157) and Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (174) will compete Wednesday in the consolation bracket with the hopes of nabbing third-place finishes.

Delaney had another strong showing in the always-tough heavyweight division as the redshirt senior earned a first-round win over Duke's Andrew Fulk to place him in a bout against rival Jeremy Johnson from Ohio.

Delaney dominated 17th-ranked Johnson for the third time this season as he recorded his 52nd career pin and 98th win 2:43 into the bout.

The match marked the sixth time that the two met in competition, with each grappler posting three wins.

A season ago at the NCAA Championships, Johnson ended Delaney's season by taking a victory in the consolation bout, leaving the Bulldog grappler one win shy of earning All-American status.

The win moved Delaney in a quarterfinal bout against top-ranked Tony Nelson from Minnesota. Delaney battled it out with Nelson in the first period to keep the match scoreless. An escape by Nelson to open the second period opened the scoring for the bout as the Gopher grappler earned the 4-2 decision over Delaney to move him into the consolation bracket.

Delaney will take on Northern Colorado's Henry Chirino on Wednesday.

In the 157-pound bracket, Frisch earned a second-round win over Navy's 15th-ranked Bobby Barnhisel before falling to Penn State's James Vollrath. Frisch will take on Pat Smith from Minnesota in the consolation bout Wednesday.

Haas dropped his opening bout against Navy's Paul Rand by fall to move him into the consolation bracket, where he turned it on to collect three consecutive victories, including a 12-2 major decision over teammate Nick Grossi, to earn him a chance at placing in the 197-pound bracket Wednesday when he takes on 25th-ranked Connor Hartmann from Duke.

Luvsandorj, who is using his redshirt during the 2012-13 season, wrestled unattached on Tuesday. The Mongolia native earned two victories before being tripped up by third-ranked Zach Beitz from Penn State. Luvsandorj will take on Virginia's 13th-ranked Jon Fausey on Wednesday in the consolation bracket.

The Bulldogs currently sit in 12th place of 24 teams with 22.5 points. Two-time defending national champion Penn State leads the competition with 102 points.

 

Chattanooga 13^th at Southern Scuffle

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Chattanooga seniors Dean Pavlou and Niko Brown led the Mocs on Day 1 of the 2013 Southern Scuffle, presented by Defense Soap. Both wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective weight classes in the much-anticipated tournament in McKenzie Arena.

Top-ranked Penn State leads the team scores with 102.0 points and has six wrestlers in the main draw semifinals. No. 3 Minnesota is in second with 94 points, followed by No. 2 Oklahoma State (89.5), No. 8 Cornell (4) and No. 6 Missouri (75.0). The Mocs have four wrestlers still alive and sit in 13th place overall with 25 points.

Pavlou opened with an 11-3 major decision over Ohio's Kagan Squire. He followed that with a 6-3 decision against American's Tom Page who was competing unattached. In the quarterfinals, he went up against Penn State's Bryan Pearsall and came away with an impressive 7-1 win.

In the quarterfinals, Pavlou found himself matched up with No. 1 seed and 11^th-ranked Mike Nevinger. After a scoreless first period, Nevinger went up 1-0 with an escape in the second. Pavlou was unable to counter in the third, and gave up eight back points before losing 10-0. He will face unattached Zachary Beitz in the consolations Wednesday.

Brown ran his personal win streak to 13 matches before losing to Arizona State's ninth-ranked Jake Meredith 7-5. His wins came against Duke's Michael Chapman (10-2) and Cornell's William George (3-1 OT). Brown will take on Cornell's Jace Bennett in the backdraw.

Sophomore Nick Soto came into the tournament ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation and looking to improve on his second-place showing at last year's Scuffle. He opened with an overtime win over Virginia's Nick Hermann (8-5) but lost in overtime to Old Dominion's Rob Deutsch (3-1). He is still alive in the consolations after two wins in the backdraw.

Sophomore Kevin Malone is the other Moc still alive for Wednesday’s action. He fell to Penn State's 15th-ranked Jimmy Lawson (5-1) in the round of 16 but bounced back in the consolations. He defeated Air Force's Bentley Alsup (3-2) and scored a 5-3 win over North Carolina’s Mike Kosoy.

Doors open Wednesday at McKenzie Arena at 8 a.m. with action beginning at 9 a.m. All of the top wrestlers are still alive and have set up and exciting semifinal round at 11 a.m. The finals and medal matches will all take place at 6 p.m.

Tuesday's attendance of 2,543 was a 15 percent increase over last year's opening-day crowd of 2,210. With a number of marquee matches on the horizon for Day 2, UTC should top last year's two-day total of 4,373.

 

Campbell 19^th at Southern Scuffle

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Campbell sits in 19th place after one day of competition at the Southern Scuffle with 14 points. Freshman Eric Montoya finished the day with three wins to advance to the final day of wrestling Wednesday.

No. 1 Penn State leads the field with 102 points, followed by No. 3 Minnesota (94) and No. 2 Oklahoma State (89.5).

At the 125-pound spot, Montoya fell to Old Dominion's Jerome Robinson but excelled in the wrestleback bracket, earning a technical fall (16-0) over Northern Colorado's Jesse Meis, as well as two decisions. The Albuquerque, N.M., native is the sole Camel continuing to the second day of competition, taking on Minnesota's David Thorn in the fifth round of the wrestleback bracket.

Another Camel having success on the day was redshirt junior Brent Jorge, who posted three wins. He recorded a 1:05 pin over Cleveland State's Nick Flannery, a 13-2 major decision over North Carolina's Mike Avelar and a decision over Tom Page, wrestling unattached for American. Jorge fell to Connor Hanafee of Army in the fifth round of the wrestleback.

 

Appalachian in 22^nd at Southern Scuffle

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Appalachian State’s wrestling team closed the opening day of the two-day 2013 Southern Scuffle in 22nd place of the strong 24-team field, hosted by Chattanooga at McKenzie Arena on Tuesday.

Redshirt freshman Zack Strickland (165 pounds) is the lone Mountaineer that remains from the opening rounds and will compete for a podium position on Wednesday, as Appalachian State compiled a day one-total of 11.5 points.

After dropping his opening match of the day against fourth-seeded Nick Sulzer of Virginia, Strickland earned three straight victories to remain in the wrestleback bracket. Strickland nabbed a sudden-victory win over Chattanooga’s John Lampe, followed by a 9-1 major decision over Lampe’s teammate, seventh-seeded Josh Condon. Strickland paved his way into Wednesday’s final rounds with a 12-0 major decision over Arizona State’s Parker Madl.

In his path is ninth-seeded Nijel Jones of NC State, who fell to top-seeded Kyle Dake of Cornell is his quarterfinal bout.

Redshirt sophomore Dominic Parisi (125 pounds), senior Brett Boston (133 pounds) and freshman Dylan Cottrell (157 pounds) tried to fight back in their respective consolation brackets, but both were eliminated in Round 5, falling just short of securing podium spots.

Action continues at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, with live results and stream at TrackWrestling.com.