The Citadel finishes third at All-Academy Championships

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Top-seeded Odie Delaney and Ugi Khishignyam plowed through their respective competition on Saturday, collecting three victories apiece en route to first-place finishes at the 19th-annual All-Academy Championships inside Army's Gillis Field House.

Delaney's three wins on Saturday moved him into sole possession of third place in Citadel history with 113 wins. The Bulldog heavyweight needs just five more victories to move past Travis Piccard for second place all-time.

Delaney, who entered the contest with a conference-leading 11 pins, collected two falls in the first 45 seconds of each of his first two bouts to earn him a spot in the final against Navy's Dan Miller.

The redshirt senior handled Miller with ease, 10-6, to notch his second consecutive title at the event and improve his record to 30-7 on the season.

In the 141-pound division, eighth-ranked Khishignyam recorded a major decision and two decisions en route to posting his third individual title of the season. The Mongolia native improved his record to 32-3 and extended his winning streak to eight matches.

A pair of Bulldogs earned third-place finishes as 125-pounder Joaquin Marquez posted an opening-round pin before falling to Coast Guard's Nate Giorgio. Marquez bounced back in consolations, taking down Merchant Marine Costas Rerras by an 11-2 major decision before downing Navy's Jerico Urmenita in a 6-2 decision.

Josh Tuck battled it out in perhaps his best outing of the season as the 184-pounder opened the contest by dominating Coast Guard's Mark Wagner in an 11-0 major decision. After a loss in the semifinals, Tuck bounced back in the consolation bracket with a pin at 1:10 over Chris Schenk of Norwich. The senior grappler handled Army's Austin Wilding by 10-2 major decision in the third place bout to close out the day.

Matt Frisch wrestled in two overtime battles, losing one by sudden victory and one in a tiebreaker to take fourth place, while Jordan Dix closed out his day with a 2-2 record and a fourth-place finish, as well.

Aaron Hansen wrestled to an opening-round 15-0 technical fall to notch his third shutout in four bouts and earn a spot in the semifinals. After falling into the consolation bracket following a loss to Navy's Colton Rasche, the Summerville, S.C., native topped Merchant Marine Tom Healy, 16-1, to net his second technical fall of the day and a spot in the third-place bout against Air Force's Dylan Hyder.

The two met earlier in the season in a match that Hansen won by a 4-1 decision, but Hyder had his revenge on the Bulldog grappler, taking the 6-5 decision.

The Bulldogs collected 72 team points to edge out Army by one and take third place in the team standings. Navy earned its fifth consecutive All-Academy Championships title with 128.5 points.

The Citadel (4-5, 3-2 SoCon) will close out its Southern Conference home slate on Sunday, Feb. 10, against Gardner-Webb in McAlister Field House. The Bulldogs will honor the 1967 SoCon Championship team at the event.

 

VMI finishes sixth at All-Academy Championships

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Despite a depleted lineup, the Virginia Military Institute wrestling team wrapped up a sixth-place finish at the 19th annual All-Academy Championships, hosted at the United States Military Academy on Saturday afternoon.

With the Institute putting its first-year students through the Breakout process, VMI’s lineup was without several of its freshman against the other military colleges and academies at Army’s Gillis Field House.

The Keydets, wrestling for the second time this week, saw their 197-pound grappler, Urayoan Garcia, finish in fourth place during the individual tournament, helping VMI collect its 15.5 team points.

For a second year in a row, the Naval Academy took home the top spot, finishing with 128.5 points. The Air Force Academy, last year’s host school, finished second with 92.5 points while VMI’s Southern Conference rival The Citadel rounded out the top three with 72.0 points, edging out Army’s 71.0 points.

Garcia’s day began with a faceoff against the tournament’s second seed, Joshua Mohr of Air Force, who bested Garcia 14-4. But Garcia took it to his next opponent, sticking Norwich’s Sam Kent in just 4:22. In the consolation semifinals, Garcia collected his second victory of the afternoon with a 5-3 decision over Merchant Marine’s Tyler Russell.

It was a Groundhogs Day kind of afternoon for Garcia, who drew Mohr once again in the third-place bout. Once again, the Falcon grabbed the win 9-1 and Garcia took his second place finish of the year.

At 149 pounds, Zeb Stewart reached the consolation semifinals after falling to second-seeded Raymond Borja of Navy by fall in 4:14. In the consolation first round however, the Keydet bested Merchant Marine’s Bernard Watson with an 11-0 major decision.

The consolation semifinals proved to be a thriller as Army’s John Belanger, the fourth seed, got all he could handle from Stewart. The match needed overtime to decide a winner after finishing 5-5 through the first three rounds. Belanger, the tournament’s eventual third-place finisher, got the win in the end, getting a takedown in extra time.

In the 141-pound weight class, Ryan Goodsell fell by a narrow 3-2 margin against the tournament’s four seed, Carter McElhany of Air Force. Goodsell bounced back in the consolations with a 10-2 major decision over Matt Watson of Merchant Marine. In the consolation semifinals, Goodsell fell 5-3 to No. 3 seed Joe Locksmith of Navy.

John Dommert represented the Keydets at 174 pounds, drawing the weight class’ top seed, Matthew Miller of Navy. Miller took the win 15-0. In the consolation first round, Dommert’s opponent, No. 4 seed Luke Taylor of Coast Guard, took a medical forfeit, advancing Dommert to the semifinals. Dommert squared off with the weight’s No. 2 seed, Coleman Gracey of Army, but fell by a 7-2 decision.

After falling 8-5 in the first round of the heavyweight division, VMI’s Michael LaPrade bounced back and collected a win by fall against Merchant Marine’s Mason Reed. LaPrade fell in the consolation semifinals, however, as No. 3 seed Bently Alsup of Air Force won by fall in 4:57.

VMI returns to action Friday as it heads to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face its second Atlantic Coast Conference foe of the season. The Keydets square off with University of North Carolina at 7 p.m. at Carmichael Auditorium.

 

Five GWU Grapplers Place at 2013 Newberry Open on Saturday

NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Gardner-Webb wrestling team had five grapplers place on Saturday at the 2013 Newberry Open, as freshmen Kyle Ash, Ryan Mosley, Boyce Cornwell, Austin Trott and Tyler Ziegler all finished fourth place or higher in their respective weight classes.

Ash headlined the group of GWU grapplers at the Newberry Open, as the freshman was a perfect 4-0 on the day at 165 pounds to take first place overall.

Ash started the day off with an 18-2 technical fall win over Tevin Cheatham of Limestone and then posted a fall at 1:52 over Dilan Ashley of Brewton-Parker of Georgia to move into the semifinals of the championship bracket.

The GWU freshman then recorded a 16-4 major decision win over TJ Duncan of Shorter College and then registered a pin at 1:45 over Michael Gonzalez of Cumberland in the championship match to earn the first-place finish.

Mosley (4-1) earned a second-place finish at 149 pounds, as the freshman posted three straight falls over Daniel Hayes of UNC Pembroke (3:00), Andrew Lanman of Limestone (2:22) and Johnny Cronin (2:08) to advance into the semifinals of the championship bracket.

After a 9-2 win over Austin Woods of Chattanooga put Mosley into the finals, the newcomer was edged by Jake Smith of Appalachian State 3-2 to settle for second place overall.

Like Mosley, Cornwell (3-1) also took a second-place finish on Saturday, as the freshman earned a 10-4 win over Roy Daniels of King College, an 11-2 decision over Aric Fernandez of Cumberland and a 6-2 victory against Scott Richardson of Anderson to reach the championship bout at 197 pounds.

In the championship match, Cornwell suffered a 9-7 loss to Jared Johnson of Chattanooga to earn second place.

Fellow freshman Trott (4-1) posted a third-place finish at 165 pounds, as he recorded a fall over Tyler Williams of Brewton-Parker at 1:00 in his first match and a 20-4 major decision win against Charles Johnson of The Citadel to find himself in the semifinals of the championship bracket.

Trott then suffered a 5-2 loss to Kenneth Radford of The Citadel, who went on to take first place overall at 165 pounds, to fall into the consolation bracket, where he went on to defeat Tyler Johnson of Newberry by fall at 2:01 and then Charles Johnson once more, this time by way of a 16-0 technical fall victory at 1:09 in the match, to take third place overall.

At 133 pounds, Ziegler (2-2), who took fourth place overall, opened his day up with a 4-1 win over Travis Laxton of Newberry to advance to the semifinals of the championship bracket, where he suffered a 4-3 loss to Nicholas Lankford of Newberry.

Ziegler rebounded in earn a 4-2 decision over Michael Nelems of The Citadel in the semifinals of the consolation bracket to move into the third place match, where he was shut out 3-0 by Alex Ward of Chattanooga.

Six other GWU wrestlers in redshirt freshman Matt Kowalski (2-2), freshman Joseph Evans (1-2), sophomore Zach Bennett (1-2), junior Miguel Gordon (1-2), sophomore Justin Kozera (1-2) and freshman Alex White (0-2) also wrestled on Saturday at the open.

Gardner-Webb (4-8, 2-4 SoCon) will host its final home match of the season on Tuesday as the Runnin’ Bulldogs welcome the Duke Blue Devils to Paul Porter Arena for a 7 p.m. showdown.

 

Davidson snaps 22-match SoCon losing streak, falls to Duke; SIUE falls twice

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Led by a pin by freshman Nathaniel Powers, Davidson wrestling ended a 22-match Southern Conference losing streak by defeating SIUE, 25-24. Duke earned a 38-6 victory over the Wildcats and a 38-9 win over SIUE to complete a tri-meet Saturday in Belk Arena.

Davidson led 10-6 after the first four matches before Powers pinned SIUE’s Kyle Lowman just before the buzzer sounded at the first period. Then, the Cougars forfeited at 165 pounds to give the Wildcats a commanding 22-6 lead.

Jake Residori (174 pounds) and Derek Nagel (184) answered for SIUE (2-14, 1-3 SoCon) with back-to-back pins in 4:37 and 1:19, respectively, to close the gap to 22-18. However, freshman Carson Stack sealed the victory for Davidson (6-8, 1-3 SoCon) with a 10-4 decision over Chris Johnson at 197 pounds.

Every Davidson point was needed as SIUE’s David Devine won by fall at heavyweight in 4:52. Sophomore Kevin Birmingham had a crucial 15-4 major decision for the ‘Cats at 149 pounds to break an early 6-6 tie. SIUE forfeited at 125 pounds to start the match, but claimed decisions at 133 and 141.

The Wildcats’ last Southern Conference victory was Jan. 25, 2009, over VMI, 23-12. Davidson dropped the final three SoCon matches that season, went winless in league dual meets the past three seasons, and had started this season 0-3.

Davidson also snapped a seven-match overall losing streak with the victory.

Duke (5-5, 0-2 ACC) wrestled SIUE immediately after and claimed a 38-9 victory, with Nagel and Devine taking decisions for the Cougars.

The Blue Devils then claimed the final eight bouts against Davidson for a 38-6 victory.

Davidson forfeited at 125 pounds to start the match, but Davidson’s Anthony Elias scored six points after Brandon Gambucci suffered an injury 24 seconds in.

Duke claimed the eight remaining bouts, including two forfeits, but the ‘Cats only yielded bonus points in two of the six contested defeats, as Tanner Hough (141 pounds) and Brian Self (285) both earned major decisions.

Davidson’s Birmingham (149) and Scott Patrick (184) both had hotly contested matches. Birmingham nearly rallied in the final period but ended up coming short, 9-6, to Marcus Cain. Patrick and Diego Bencomo tied at 1-1 late into the third period, but Bencomo scored a takedown with less than six seconds remaining for the win.

Davidson will compete at Chattanooga on Feb. 10 in its final road match of the season and will conclude the regular season with four consecutive home meets, starting Valentine’s Day at 7 p.m. against Campbell.

Davidson 25, SIUE 24
125: Scott Cunningham (D) won by forfeit
133: Patrick Myers (S) dec. Anthony Elias (D) 5-1
141: Brandon Brindley (S) dec. Matt Zarth (D) 6-5
149: Kevin Birmingham (D) maj. dec. Logan Taylor (S) 15-4
157: Nathaniel Powers (D) pinned Kyle Lowman (S) 3:00
165: Christopher Cirenza (D) won by forfeit
174: Jake Residori (S) pinned Ian Solcz (D) 4:37
184: Derek Nagel (S) pinned Scott Patrick (D) 1:19
197: Carson Stack (D) dec. Chris Johnson (S) 10-4
285: David Devine (S) pinned Eddie Isola (D) 4:52

Duke 38, SIUE 9
125: Peter Terrezza (D) won by forfeit
133: Brandon Gambucci (D) maj. dec. Patrick Myers (S), 20-7
141: Tanner Hough (D) pinned Brandon Brindley (S), 1:29
149: Marcus Cain (D) pinned Logan Taylor (S), 4:31
157: Immanuel Kerr-Brown (D) maj. dec. Kyle Lowman (S), 11-3
165: Randy Roden (D) won by forfeit
174: Trey Adamson (D) pinned Jake Residori (S), 1:53
184: Derek Nagel (S) dec. Diego Bencomo, 10-4
197: Chris Johnson (S) dec. Michael Chapman, 6-3
285: David Devine (S) dec. Brian Self (D), 5–1

Duke 38, Davidson 6
125: Peter Terrezza (Duke) won by forfeit
133: Anthony Elias (Davidson) inj. def. Brandon Gambucci (Duke), 0:24
141: Tanner Hough (Duke) maj. dec. Matt Zarth (Davidson), 9-1
149: Marcus Cain (Duke) dec. Kevin Birmingham (Davidson), 9-6
157: Immanuel Kerr-Brown (Duke) dec. Nathaniel Powers (Davidson), 16-9
165: Randy Roden (Duke) dec. Christopher Cirenza (Davidson), 10-3
174: Trey Adamson (Duke) won by forfeit
184: Diego Bencomo (Duke) dec. Scott Patrick (Davidson), 3-1
197: Michael Chapman (Duke) won by forfeit
285: Brian Self (Duke) maj. dec. Eddie Isola (Davidson), 13-2

 

Campbell 41, SIUE 8

LENIOR, N.C. – Extending its winning streak to three matches, Campbell used eight individual victories to defeat SIUE 41-8 Saturday. The Fighting Camels (5-6, 4-1 SoCon) posted three pins and two major decisions on the day.

The 4-1 start is the best record the Camels have had starting league action in the 12 years they have been a part of an incorporated conference.

The three pins came at the 149, 184 and 285 slots. Redshirt junior 149-pounder Brent Jorge stuck Logan Taylor in 2:15 to remain undefeated in SoCon action at 5-0.

At 184, freshman Taylor McGiffen took down Derek Nagel in 4:26 to record his first pin of the year. The win moves him to 2-0 in the league.

In the heavyweight bout, sophomore Joe Nolan also grabbed his first fall of the year over David Devine in 2:25, moving to 3-2 in the SoCon.

Freshman Michael Dahlstrom and redshirt junior Nick Rex earned the two major decisions for the Camels. Dahlstrom blanked Brandon Brindley 8-0 at 141 pounds to post his first major-decision victory of the year as he moved to 3-2 in the league.

Rex earned his third conference win at 157 pounds over Kyle Lowman 11-4. He moves to 4-1 overall in the conference with wins at the 157 and 165 slots.

Senior John Merickel posted the lone Camel decision on the day. He took down DeShoun White 2-1 at 197 pounds. The reigning SoCon wrestler of the week now stands at 4-1 in the league after earning his 12th overall win of the season.

The final six Campbell team points came from SIUE forfeits at the 125 and 165 pound spots.  At 125, No. 28 Eric Montoya, a freshman, moves to 5-0 in the conference, picking up his 28th season win. Sophomore Paul Duggan stands at 3-1 at 165 pounds in the league and has 16 total wins this year.

SIUE (2-15, 1-4 SoCon) picked up wins at 133 and 174 pounds. At 133, Patrick Meyers posted a technical fall over CU freshman Trent Little 18-3 in Little’s first appearance as a Camel. Cougar Jake Reisidori edged redshirt freshman Cody Ryba 7-4 at the 174-pound slot. He is now even in the SoCon at 2-2.

Campbell will have a week off before returning home for its final home meet of the season. The Camels will face Virginia Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Gore Arena.

Campbell 41, SIUE 8
125: Eric Montoya (CU) won by forfeit
133: Patrick Myers (SIUE) TF over Trent Little, 18-3
141: Michael Dahlstrom (CU) MD Brandon Brindley, 8-0
149: Brent Jorge (CU) WBF Logan Taylor, 2:15
157: Nick Rex (CU) MD Kyle Lowman, 11-1
165: Paul Duggan (CU) won by forfeit
174: Jake Reisidori (SIUE) dec. Cody Ryba, 7-4
184: Taylor McGiffen (CU) WBF Derek Nagel, 4:26
197: John Merickel (CU) dec. DeShoun White, 2-1
285: Joe Nolan (CU) WBF David Devine, 2:25