Chattanooga tied for 10th at Southern Scuffle
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – With 10 wrestlers in the quarterfinals, No. 4 Penn State leads the 2015 Defense Soap & Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Nitnany Lions (52.0) have a four-point advantage over second-place Nebraska (48.0) and a 4.5-point lead Missouri (47.5).
Oklahoma State (47.0) and Pittsburgh (34.0) round out the top five, while the host Chattanooga Mocs are tied for 10th with 25.5 points. Michigan (32.0), Cornell (30.0), Lehigh (29.5) and Army (25.5) are the bottom half of the top 10 after the first day of competition.
Each year, there is always at least one big upset on Day 1 of the Scuffle. That trend held true Thursday when Nebraska’s Spencer Johnson pulled off a 5-3 decision over Iowa State’s No. 1-ranked Kyven Gadsen at 197.
The only other top-2 seeds who did not advanced were due to medical forfeits. Kent State’s Ian Miller, the second seed at 157, and Penn State’s second-seeded heavyweight Jimmy Lawson both withdrew.
The Mocs had a solid showing with two advancing to the championship quarterfinals on Friday. Senior Sean Boyle is still alive at 125, while sophomore Jared Johnson is competing in the main draw at heavyweight.
Boyle, currently ranked No. 20 at 125, scored two wins to advance to the Friday’s Round of Eight. He opened with an 18-2 technical fall against Army’s Sean Badua. He followed that with a 7-3 decision against Virginia’s Will Mason.
Boyle faces second-seeded and third ranked Alan Waters of Missouri at 9 a.m. Boyle lost to Waters in a 4-2 decision at the 2013 NCAAs when he was still at Michigan.
Johnson continues his impressive run of late. He came into the meet on a three-match winning streak and won three more Thursday to improve to 16-4 overall. He opened with a pin (2:25) against North Carolina’s Cory Gillilland-Daniel and followed that with a 6-2 decision over Northern Colorado’s Brian Macchione.
Johnson then rode out Virginia’s Collin Campbell in the third period for a 2-0 win in the Round of 16. He faces Missouri’s two-time NCAA qualifier Devin Mellon in the quarters.
Other Mocs still alive in the backdraws are Jared Browning (133), Nick Soto (133), Shawn Greevy (149), Austin Sams (157), McCoy Newberg (174), Levi Clemons (174) and John Lampe (184).
Thursday’s attendance was 2,805, the second-highest opening number since the tournament moved to Chattanooga in 2012.
Doors open Friday at 8 a.m. with the quarterfinals beginning at 9 a.m. The championship semifinals are 1:30 p.m. and the medal matches are 7 p.m. Olympic Bronze Medalist Coleman Scott, along with Defense Soap and Flips Wrestling, are hosting a clinic in Maclellan Gym at 5 p.m.
Appalachian State 20th at Southern Scuffle
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Appalachian State finished day one of the 2015 Southern scuffle in 20th place out of out the strong 32 team field, hosted by Chattanooga at McKenzie Arena on New Year’s Day.
The Mountaineers faced a highly competitive field that featured 14 top-25 ranked schools, including six of the top 10. Six Mountaineers are still alive in consolation brackets after the first day of action.
After receiving a first-round bye, Dominic Parisi was defeated by Michigan’s Conor Youtse in a 3-1 decision. After another bye, Parisi then won a decision 9-8 against Sean Fausz of NC State in the third round of the consolation bracket.
Vito Pasone received a first-round bye and then pinned North Colorado’s Michael Espinoza 2:55 into the match. Then Pasone suffered a major decision loss to No. 6 Mason Beckman of Lehigh.
Michael Longo earned a second-round decision win over Kade Moss of Penn State before dropping his next match to Lavion Mayes of Missouri in a 9-6 decision.
After dropping an 11-3 decision to No. 10 Joseph LaVallee, Zack Strickland bounced back with a pair of major-decision victories over Rodney Shepard of NC State and No. 17 Immanuel Kerr-Brown of Duke.
Denzel Dejournette defeated Frank Abbondanza of North Carolina via an 11-3 major decision. Dejournette then pinned Navy’s Brendan Kahle 4:57 into the match. In the third round, Dejournette fell to Nick Nevills of Penn State in 7-6 decision.
Nick Vetell is still alive in 184 consolation bracket after winning by medical forfeit over Cory Campbell of Kent State.
The Mountaineers return to the mats Friday to conclude the two-day tournament.