SIUE crowns two champions at Grand View Open
DES MOINES, Iowa – SIUE newcomer Matt Lester and senior David Devine won their respective weight classes at Saturday's Grand View Open.
Lester, a transfer from Oklahoma, was the champion at 165 pounds. He easily defeated Missouri's Jordan Gagliano 11-2 in the championship match.
Devine began the day with a 49-second pin over South Dakota State's Alex Macki and then earned first-place honors in the 285-pound weight class with a 5-2 decision over Northern Iowa's Cody Krumweide.
Five SIUE wrestlers finished among the top six overall. Dakota Leach took sixth at 125 pounds. He was edged by South Dakota State's Paul Mascarenas in the fifth-place match, 7-5. Karsten Van Velsor took fourth overall after dropping an 18-3 technical fall in the third-place match. Jake Residori placed fifth by blanking Missouri's Parker VonEdgidy 6-0 in the fifth-place match.
SIUE returns to dual meet action with a host of home action Feb. 9 against Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and Grand Canyon at the Vadalabene Center.
Appalachian State competes at Appalachian Open
BOONE, N.C. – Redshirt-freshman Vito Pasone, senior Aaron Scott and redshirt Nick Kee all secured second-place finishes at the Appalachian Open on Saturday in Varsity Gymnasium. In total, six Mountaineers secured spots as place winners, having finished in the top four of their respective weights.
At the end of regulation in the semifinals, Kee was tied 1-1 with second-seeded Hunter Gamble of Gardner-Webb. After the second overtime period, things were still tied 1-1. Kee was able to gain dominant position and earned a two-point reversal for the 3-1 upset.
Kee then faced off against top-seeded Zach Epperly of Virginia Tech in the finals. Again, the match was tied 3-3 but Epperly was able to gain the one-point escape. With 15 seconds left in the match, Kee tried hard to gain an escape but was unsuccessful and took home second place in the 174-pound weight class.
Scott faced the hardest competition of the day as the 149-pound weight class had the most registered wrestlers. Scott had to win four matches before reaching the finals, taking out wrestlers from The Citadel, Duke and UNC Pembroke. Scott lost the championship match to top-seeded TJ Miller from Virginia 7-1 and took second place overall.
Pasone, who started the day as the second seed, finished in second place. With the match tied at 4-4 at the end of regulation, top-seeded Joe DeAngelo from NC State had earned the one-minute riding time to gain the extra point and win with a 5-4 decision.
Appalachian added a third-place finish by redshirt Forrest Przybysz. After dropping his first match of the evening, Przbysz soared through the consolations, beating SoCon opponents and teammates. Przbysz picked up a 12-6 decision in the consolation finals to win third place in the 184-pound weight class.
Sophomore Tyler Radford and redshirt PJ Shuler both got to the consolation finals but lost and earned fourth-placed finishes In the 197 and 285-pound weight classes.
As a team, Appalachian earned three tech-falls, three major decisions and two pins on the night. Redshirt Collin Johnson pinned his opponent in consolations in 52 seconds and redshirt Aaron Dickson earned a first-period technical fall (15-0).
Appalachian State returns to action on Feb. 2 when the team heads to Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on the Chattanooga Mocs. The match will begin at 2 p.m.