App wraps stay at NCAA Championships
ST. LOUIS – Appalachian State closed out its season on Friday as Denzel Dejournette and Michael Longo were both eliminated from their wrestleback brackets during the morning session at the Scottrade Center.
After being eliminated from the championship bracket in the second round on Thursday night by All-American Connor Medbery, Dejournette was matched up with Collin Jenson of Nebraska in the second consolation round.
Dejournette hung close with Jenson throughout the match but was unable to secure a third-round takedown that would have evened the match. Jenson advanced with a 3-1 victory over the 12th-seeded Mountaineer. Dejournette finished the year with 33-6 record.
Longo fought off elimination in Thursday’s night session with a pin over Mattew Kaus of Arizona State during the first round of consolation matches for his first career NCAA Championship victory. The California native drew No. 8 seed Geo Martinez of Boise State.
Martinez was too much for the true freshman to overcome and was pinned in the first round. Longo shined in his first season with the Mountaineers, posting a 22-16 overall record and capturing the 141-pound SoCon title.
Senior Dominic Parisi recorded a win over Paul Petrov of Bucknell in the consolation play-in match but was eliminated in his next match versus Brandon Jeske of Old Dominion on Thursday night.
The losses brought a successful 2014-15 Moutaineer season, which included a second-place regular-season finish and a SoCon Championship runner-up trophy, to a close. Appalachian will return eight of its 10 starters from to regular season.
Citadel wrestlers bow out at NCAA Championships
ST. LOUIS – The Citadel wrestling team completed its 2014-15 season on Friday evening at the NCAA Championships. The Bulldogs were represented by Matt Frisch (149), Aaron Walker (157) and Joaquin Marquez (125).
Frisch, who entered his final weekend with a 25-13 mark, fell in the opening round to Ohio's Tywan Claxton by an 8-5 decision. The win moved Claxton to 28-5 on the campaign. In the wrestlebacks, The Citadel's two-time SoCon champion suffered a 7-2 setback to Alec Pantaleo (Michigan), drawing his season to a close.
Walker, the 16th seed in the 157-pound classification, took to the mat against Ohio's Spartak Chino (19-11) in the first round. Chino came away with a 6-4 win over Walker, who squared off with Russell Parsons (Army) in the wrestleback bracket.
Walker came away with an 8-4 sudden-victory-one win in his meeting with Parsons, advancing to a meeting with Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State. The Cowboy grappler posted an 8-4 win, ending Walker's season at 28-10.
Marquez's first appearance at the NCAA Championships began with a 12-7 loss to 11th-seeded Jordan Conaway from Penn State. From there, he faced Evan Silver (Stanford) in the wrestlebacks, posting his first win in the nationals by a 10-3 margin.
Marquez concluded his season in the following round with a 10-3 loss to Sean Boyle from Chattanooga. Marquez's season ended at 24-15.
Davidson’s Patrick sees NCAA run come to end
ST. LOUIS – Scott Patrick became the first wrestler in Davidson history to win two matches at an NCAA Championship, posting an 8-3 decision over Iowa State's Lelund Weatherspoon. The senior then dropped a 12-9 decision to Arizona State's Blake Stauffer to end his historic run Friday afternoon.
Patrick finished the 2015 NCAA Championship with a 2-2 overall record. He opened the tournament with an upset victory over 11th-seed Brett Pfarr of Minnesota to become the first Davidson wrestler to earn a victory at the national tournament since Keith Kerry did so in 1968.
The Ellicott City, Md., native concludes his career as a Davidson wrestler with two Southern Conference titles, two all-conference selections, two NCAA appearances and a 78-34 career record.
Patrick and Weatherspoon battled it out for the first half of the opening frame before Patrick registered the first takedown to take a 2-0 lead heading into the second.
Patrick made it 3-0 with an escape to start the second period and padded his lead with his second takedown of the match with 1:04 to go. Weatherspoon got on the board with an escape to finish out the second period.
Starting on bottom in the third, Patrick registered an escape before he scored another takedown to push his lead to 7-2 with 1:28 to go. With 1:46 of riding time built up, Patrick secured an 8-2 victory.
In the second match, Patrick and Stauffer battled back and forth.
With just under two minutes to go in the first, Patrick registered a takedown before Stauffer was able to cut his deficit with an escape and a quick takedown to take a 3-2 lead.
Patrick again took the lead with an escape and a takedown with just under 20 seconds to go in the opening frame. Stauffer responded with an escape to end the period.
Starting on the bottom in the second, Patrick registered an escape but Stauffer evened the score again with a takedown of his own with 1:31 to go to take an 8-7 lead after two.
Stauffer struck first in the third with an escape to make it 9-7 before Patrick answered with a takedown, but Stauffer escaped and tacked on a late takedown to put the match out of reach, 12-9.
SIUE’s NCAA Championship run ends
ST. LOUIS – Another season is now complete for the SIUE wrestling team.
Jake Tindle, who won his opening match at the NCAA Championships on Thursday against Northwestern's Alex Polizzi, was defeated by two more Big Ten wrestlers, including Wisconsin's Timothy McCall 6-1 to close out his season Friday afternoon.
Tindle finished the season with an 18-19 record. He joined Connor McMahon, who was eliminated Thursday, and David Devine from the 2013-14 season as NCAA Division I Championships qualifiers since the Cougars made the transition to Division I.
SIUE loses just two seniors from the 2014-15 squad and expects a solid group to perform next season.
UTC’s Boyle just misses All-America status
ST. LOUIS – The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team wrapped up its participation in the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Friday evening. Senior Sean Bole was one win away from All-American honors before being pinned the first period in the wrestlebacks.
Boyle, the fifth seed at 125, was trying to become the Mocs’ first All-American since 2008. He was pitted against No. 7 Eddie Klimara of Oklahoma State, an opponent he defeated earlier in the year at the Southern Scuffle.
Things went bad for Boyle quickly as he gave up a takedown early in the first. While trying to escape, Boyle got caught on his back and pinned, just 27 seconds into the match.
Boyle advanced with two wins in the backdraw Friday. He opened with a 5-1 decision over The Citadel’s Joaquin Marquez and followed that with a 5-4 decision over North Dakota State’s Joshua Rodriguez. He finished the tournament with a 3-2 mark.
The 2015 Southern Conference Wrestler of the Year posted a 32-7 overall record in his one year at UTC after transferring from Michigan. He made his mark as a ranked competitor throughout the season, leading the Mocs to the SoCon regular-season and tournament titles and winning an individual league championship.
Senior Nick Soto and sophomore Scottie Boykin also competed Friday. Soto, the 15th seed at 133, lost to No. 16 Mackenzie McGuire (KSU) in an 8-4 decision. Boykin was pinned by Nebraska’s Aaron Studebaker at 197.
The Mocs are currently in 44th place with 3.5 points. That would be the best finish in the coach Heath Eslinger era, but the final tally won’t be in until after Saturday’s championships. That would also be UTC’s best showing since placing 37th in 2008.