Appalachian State’s Dejournette wins Keystone Classic, Mountaineers sixth
PHILADELPHIA – The reigning Southern Confernence wrestler of the week, Denzel Dejournette, continued an excellent start to his season at the Keystone Classic on Sunday. Dejournette claimed first place in the heavyweight division and helped Appalachian State place sixth.
The Mountaineers had four wrestlers place on the day, with Dejournette finishing first, Dylan Cottrell coming in second place at 149, Dominic Parisi claiming third at 125 and Michael Longo placing fifth at 141.
Dejournette started his tournament with a 6-1 decision victory over Rider’s Andrew Marr. In the second round, Dejournette earned another decision over Gage Hutchison (Eastern Michigan), 9-4. Dejournette pinned Alex Macki (South Dakota State) 2:10 into the quarterfinal. In the semifinal, Dejournette defeated Nathan Butler (Stanford) by 2-0 decision. Dejournette capped off his tournament with 6-3 decision against Havard’s David Ng in the final.
Cottrell pinned Frederick Dunau (Penn) at the 3:15 mark in the opening round, followed by a 5-1 decision victory over Andrew Kaluzny (Pitt). Cottrell then won by major decision 14-6 in the quarterfinal over Josh Lauderdale (Stanford). In the semifinal, Cottrell defeated No. 13 (Intermat) Mike Racciato by decision 8-2. No. 1-ranked (Intermat) Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern) defeated Cottrell in a close 5-4 decision in the final.
In the 125 weight class, Parisi had an opening-round pin of David Conte (Indiana) 53 seconds into the match. Parisi then defeated Isaac Andrade (South Dakota State) 5-2 in the quarterfinal. Eastern Michigan’s Shayne Wireman defeated Parisi by decision 9-5. Parisi earned a decision in his first consolation match over Jake Gromacki (Pitt), 7-3. In the third-place match, Parisi defeated Gerald Wert (Rider) in a 10-8 decision.
Longo pinned Paul Kirchner (Rider) 1:16 into the match after receiving a first-round bye. In the quarterfinal, Longo defeated Travis Shaffer (Pitt) by decision 12-8. Longo then fell to No. 9 (Intermat) Todd Preston (Harvard) by major decision 11-3. Longo then dropped the consolation semifinal to Lucus Zilverberg (South Dakota State), 12-7. Longo defeated Tanner Cahill (Bloomsburg) by a 5-1 decision to take fifth place.
Also receiving victories on the day was Zack Strickland at 157, earning two pins in the consolation bracket over Colton Peppelman (Harvard) and Max Hvolbek (Stanford) after falling to Peter Galli (Stanford) by major decision 15-3 in the opening round.
Nick Kee had three wins on the day, including a 15-4 major decision over Kannon Dean (Harvard). Marcus Johnson lost in the opening round but then won three consolation matches, including a pin of Jake Masengale (Indiana). Kacee Hutchinson also had three consolation victories, including a technical fall over Yousif Malik (VMI).
Three matches featured two Mountaineers facing off against each other. Javon Johnson defeated Alex Lewis by a 7-2 decision. Marcus Johnson earned of 5-0 decision over Aaron Mattioni. Tyler Radford defeated Elijah Farmer by a 4-2 decision.
The Mountaineers are back in action in Boone, N.C., on Nov. 30 to take on North Carolina in the Varsity Gym.
Campbell sends five to Keystone Classic
PHILADELPHIA – Campbell sent five wrestlers to compete in the Keystone Classic on Sunday afternoon, completing its last meet of November. Seniors Daniel Luty and Garrison Matthews, sophomores Ville Heino and Ned Batts and freshman Monte Britton took the mat for the Camels.
Heino and Matthews picked up wins in their first-round consolation matches for the Camels. Heino defeated VMI's Hardy Hendrenby 22-8 (maj.) in the 184-pound weight class and Matthews downed Alexander Kail of Pittsburgh by a 3-1 count in the 165-pound bracket.
Britton competed in his first meet this season, while Luty, Batts, Garrison and Heino participated in their third.
The Camels will be back in action Dec. 13 as they travel to participate in the Cleveland State Open in Cleveland, Ohio.
VMI places two at Keystone Classic
PHILADELPHIA – For a third straight week, the Virginia Military Institute had at least two wrestlers place at an individual tournament, as Shabaka Johns and Juan Adams took fourth place at 165 pounds and 285 pounds, respectively, during the 2014 Keystone Classic, hosted Sunday by the University of Pennsylvania.
The event, hosted at the historic Palestra in downtown Philadelphia, saw Johns and Adams finish with 3-2 records. This marks the third straight tournament in which Adams placed after taking sixth the last two weekends at the Hokie Open and the Wolfpack Open. This is Johns’ second time placing at a tournament this year, following a fifth-place finish at the Hokie Open.
VMI sent a lighter squad to the City of Brotherly Love as the team’s juniors remained in Lexington, Va., for Ring Figure events over the weekend. The Keydets had just nine entrants in the annual event. As a team, VMI amassed 22.0 points, finishing 12th out of 14 teams. Northwestern won the event with 98.0, followed by Rider’s 92.5 and an 89.0 from Eastern Michigan.
Johns enjoyed a first-round bye at 165 pounds before topping Southern Conference foe Nick Kee of Appalachian State, 5-1. In the second round, Johns edged Eastern Michigan’s Devan Marry 7-5 to advance to the semifinals.
In the penultimate round, Johns fell by major decision to Northwestern’s Pierce Harger, the eventual runner-up. But Johns rebounded in the consolation semifinals with a blanking of Eastern Michigan’s Austin Geerlings, 3-0. The Keydet sophomore fell in the third-place bout 4-0 against Stanford’s Jim Wilson for his best finish at a tournament this season.
At heavyweight, Adams also enjoyed a bye before taking down John Rizzo of Pittsburgh 5-0 in the second round. Adams continued to roll with a 4-1 win over Stanford’s Josh Marchok before falling to Harvard’s David Ng 4-2 in the semifinals.
Adams, who has lost back-to-back matches just once this season, bounced back in the consolation semifinals with a dominant 8-0 major decision over Eastern Michigan’s Gage Hutchison. In the third-place bout, Adams was topped by an 8-3 decision against Stanford’s Nathan Butler.
Davidson falls to Ohio Northern
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Davidson wrestling team welcomed Ohio Northern to Belk Arena on Sunday morning and fell to the Polar Bears, 21-13.
Davidson (4-2) earned four wins on the day, including a major decision from Ian Solcz at 197 pounds. Ohio Northern (4-0) remains undefeated on the season.
Ohio Northern opened the bout with a win at 125 pounds before Davidson went on to win the next three matchups. Anthony Elias was up first, taking a 12-8 decision over Cole Cochran at 133 pounds, thanks to two takedowns in the third period. James McCord earned an 8-3 victory versus Dylan Dolph, scoring a takedown in each of the three frames.
Kevin Birmingham's 10-7 win over Evan Morgan at 149 pounds extended Davidson lead 9-3. Birmingham registered two takedowns in the second period and got an escape late in the third to earn the final margin and picked up a point for riding time.
The Polar Bears rattled off four straight wins at the middle weights with Steven Feucht registering an 8-4 decision at 157 pounds. A 5-0 decision in favor of Colt Lovejoy at 165 pounds evened the score at 9 before decisions at 174 and 184 gave Ohio Northern a 15-9 advantage.
Ian Solcz's major decision at 197 pounds pulled Davidson within 15-13 in the team score. Solcz led 4-2 after the first period and rode ONU's Evan Hickey for the entire second period. The senior captain tacked on four takedowns in the third and gained the ride point advantage to secure the win.
Ohio Northern earned the final victory of the day at heavyweight, with No. 7 Cody Lovejoy earning a fall over Ed Isola at the 2:15 mark to secure the match, 21-13.
Davidson will travel to Chicago, Ill., for the Windy City Duals at Northwestern on Dec. 6. The Wildcats will take to the mat against Princeton, Northwestern and Drexel.
Davidson 13, Ohio Northern, 21
125: Brad Taton (ONU) dec. over Philip Elias (DC) (6-4) 3-0
133: Anthony Elias (DC) dec. over Cole Cochran (ONU) (12-8) 3-3
141: James McCord (DC) dec. over Dylan Dolph (ONU) (8-3) 6-3
149: Kevin Birmingham (DC) dec. over Evan Morgan (ONU) (10-7) 9-3
157: Steven Feucht (ONU) dec. over Alex Palinsky (DC) (8-4) 9-6
165: Colt Lovejoy (ONU) dec. over Patrick Devlin (DC) (5-0) 9-9
174: Tyler Gargano (ONU) dec. over Nathaniel Powers (DC) (3-2) 9-12
184: Aaron Adkins (ONU) dec. over Ryan Devlin (DC) (13-6) 9-15
197: Ian Solcz (DC) major dec. over Evan Hickey (ONU) (14-5) 13-15
285: Cody Lovejoy (ONU) fall over Ed Isola (DC) (2:15) 13-21