Nov. 8, 2009

Tar Heels Post 10 Placewinners at Hokie Open
Highlighted by junior Thomas Scotton's first-place finish at 157 pounds, North Carolina placed 10 wrestlers in the top six of their respective weight classes at the Hokie Open Sunday at Salem Civic Center. Scotton, who was 5-0 on the day, was one of five Tar Heels to post a top-three finish in the first action of the season.

In addition to Scotton's 157-pound title, Carolina also got runner-up finishes from junior Nick Stabile at 149 pounds and freshman Zac Bennett at 197. Junior Mike Rappo took third at 141, as did senior Dennis Drury at 197. At 133 pounds, redshirt freshman Ky Corley was fourth, and senior Jeremy Shaw was sixth. Junior Danny Lopes was fourth at 141, and sophomores Kyle Kiss and Nick Tenpenny took fifth at 165 and 184, respectively.

Coming off a solid run at nationals a year ago, Scotton cruised to the final Sunday with four decisive victories, including a 10-2 major decision William Powell of Appalachian State in the final. Scotton scored a 4-2 overtime decision over ACC rival Jesse Dong of Virginia Tech, who had posted four straight pins, to take the title.

Three Hokies earn runner-up honors at Hokie Open
Three Virginia Tech wrestlers took second place in their respective weight classes at the second Hokie Open, held Sunday at the Salem Civic Center. The event had nearly 400 wrestlers competing on 10 mats throughout the day, including most of the Hokies’ roster.

At 157 pounds, Jesse Dong breezed through his bracket before falling in overtime to UNC’s Thomas Scotton, 4-2 in sudden victory. At 165 pounds, Matt Epperly fell in the finals to Old Dominion’s Chris Brown. And at heavyweight, David Marone dropped a 4-1 decision to defending national runner-up Konrad Dudziak of Duke.

All of the Tech wrestlers competed unattached, meaning none of the results count toward their season record. 

Dudziak, Tejada Place at Hokie Open
The Duke University wrestling team completed its opening weekend of competition today at the Hokie Open at the Salem Civic Center. The Blue Devils came away with one championship and a third-place finish.

Seniors Konrad Dudziak and Voris Tejada both placed among the top three, with Dudziak coming away with top honors at heavyweight and Tejada taking third in the 174-pound division.

Ranked second nationally in the preseason polls, Dudziak battled his way to four victories to bring home his first tournament title of the season. He registered three victories by decision, getting past ACC foe David Marone, 4-2, in the title match. 

Nov. 7, 2009

No. 10 Maryland Wrestling Dominates Tri-Meet
The 10th-ranked University of Maryland wrestling team opened the 2009-10 season in dominant fashion, winning a pair of duals against Drexel and York in a tri-meet Saturday at Comcast Pavilion.

The Terrapins (2-0) opened the day with a 35-6 victory against Drexel (1-1) and returned shortly after with a 57-0 shutout of York (0-2) that lasted less than 45 minutes and featured eight pins.

Maryland opened its match with Drexel with three straight major decisions to open an early 12-0 lead. James Knox won 9-1 at 125 pounds, No. 8 Steven Bell took over late to defeat Steve Mytych, 12-3, at 133 pounds and No. 4 Alex Krom also used a late flurry to knock off Matt Dugan at 141 pounds, 13-5.

No. 17 Virginia Cruises to Two Wins to Start Season
The No. 17 Virginia wrestling team opened its 2009-10 season with a pair of wins Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium, downing Anderson (S.C.), 37-9, and Campbell, 36-6. The Cavaliers won 16 of their 20 individual matches in the two victories.

Third-ranked Chris Henrich (Jr., Lansdale, Pa.) had a strong start to his season. The reigning All-American recorded a technical fall and pin at 174 pounds and needed less than a period in both.

Matt Snyder (R-Fr., Lewistown, Pa.) and Derek Valenti (So., Newton, N.J.) each recorded a pin and tech fall at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Snyder was making his first appearance as a Cavalier after transferring from Bloomsburg University.

Tech splits a pair of dual matches to open the season
The Virginia Tech wrestling team split a pair of dual matches Saturday in Cassell Coliseum to open the season. The Hokies lost a heartbreaker in the first match, 20-18 to Kent State, but rebounded to beat Chattanooga 21-18 in their second match of the day. Kent State beat Chattanooga, 22-15, in the other match of the day.

Things got started quickly as 12th-ranked Jarrod Garnett of Tech had to overcome a near fall situation and an injured arm to come back and beat Troy Opfer 8-6 in sudden victory. Opfer nearly picked up the pin in the second period, but Garnett wiggled out of it. Trailing late, Garnett got a takedown with less than 10 seconds left in regulation, and then ended it with a takedown in sudden victory. Seventh-ranked Chris Diaz and 15th-ranked Pete Yates won their matches, but didn’t get any bonus points, which would be huge in the end.

With the Hokies leading 9-7, Matt Epperly picked up a big pin for the Hokies at the 6:20 mark and then Anthony Trongone defeated Chris Estep 3-1 to make it 18-7. But ninth-ranked Dustin Kilgore came back to beat 17th-ranked Tommy Spellman of Tech 9-6 and Adam Cogar picked up a major decision over Tech freshman Chris Penny to close the gap. With regular heavyweight D.J. Bruce sick, Tech bumped up Tim Miller to heavyweight in order to not forfeit. But it didn’t matter as Brendan Barlow picked up a third-period pin to lift the Golden Flashes to victory. 

NC State Escape The Citadel In Opener
NC State dropped the first bout of the evening, then won six in a row and cruised to a 21-18 victory over The Citadel in the college wrestling season opener for both teams.

Odie Delaney, the defending SoCon champion and NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds, started off the dual with a quick two-point takedown of the Wolfpack’s Christian McClean and led 2-0 after one period. Delaney started down in the second period, but quickly escaped, reversed McClean, then pinned him at the 3:44 mark to put The Citadel up 6-0.

Wolfpack heavyweight Bobby Isola led Ivan Muller 2-1 after one period. Isola escaped to earn the only point of the second period, going up 3-1. In the third, Muller earned an escape point, but could not down Isola as NC State won at heavyweight to cut into the team lead to 6-3.