SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Appalachian State heavyweight Denzel Dejournette has been named the Southern Conference wrestler of the week for all competition from Nov. 12-18. The selection is made by the league office.

Dejournette went 7-0 last week, picking up a pair of dual wins and taking first place in the heavyweight bracket at the Roadrunner Open in California. Dejournette picked up three wins against wrestlers from No. 11 Illinois.

The Mountaineers opened their week with a tri-dual in Gilroy, Calif., on Friday, falling to CSU Bakersfield and the 11th-ranked Illini. Dejournette earned wins in both duals, topping Bakersfield’s Alex Encarnacion-Strand by an 11-5 count and downing Illinois’ Chris Lopez, 5-2.

Two days later, Dejournette cruised to a 5-0 mark at Bakersfield’s Roadrunner Open in Fresno, picking up bonus points in three of his matches. He opened with a 19-4 technical fall over Bakersfield’s Steven Wood and followed that up with another win over Lopez, this time by a 5-4 count.

Dejournette then notched his first pin of the weekend, sticking San Francisco State’s Sam Alnassiri in 6:05. After a 5-3 (TB-1) win over Stanford’s Nathan Butler, Dejournette pinned Illinois’ Brooks Black, who entered the bout ranked 18th nationally by Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine (WIN), in 5:48.

With his big week, Dejournette jumped into the Open Mat national heavyweight rankings at No. 16 and the WIN national rankings at No. 17.

Appalachian State (1-3) returns to action at the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sunday, Nov. 23.

Also nominated: Ville Heino (Campbell), Aaron Walker (The Citadel), Ian Solcz (Davidson), Austin Trott (Gardner-Webb), Derek Nagel (SIUE), Michael Pongracz (Chattanooga) and Dalton Henderson (VMI).

2014-15 SoCon Wrestlers of the Week
Nov. 5    Kevin Birmingham, Davidson
Nov. 12    Dalton Henderson, VMI
Nov. 19    Denzel Dejournette, Appalachian State

Arby’s Southern Conference Wrestling Championship
Kimmel Arena, Asheville, N.C.
March 7, 2015

-www.SoConSports.com-