Southern Scuffle Round up

Gophers Lead After Day One at Southern Scuffle

Greensboro, N.C. - The University of Minnesota wrestling team returned to action at the Southern Scuffle today (Dec. 29), hosted by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In the first day of the two day event, the Gophers had six wrestlers make it through unscathed and advance to the quarterfinals.

In the team standings, Minnesota holds a narrow one-point lead in first place over second place Cornell. The Gophers have 50 points, while the Big Red have 49. In third place is Indiana with 42, just ahead of fourth place Edinboro with 41.5 and fifth place Virginia with 41.

Brackets here

Earl at DI College Wrestling Live Blog Coverage

In the lower weights the Gophers dominated. Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) at 125, Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) at 133, and Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) at 141 all went 2-0 with two falls on the day.
At 125, Sanders extends his season record to 10-0, charting his third and fourth falls of the season. Of Sanders 10 wins this season, seven have come by major decision or better. In his first match of the day, Sanders beat Gabriel Gomez of Virginia with a first period pin, and in the second round he beat Brett Boston of Appalachian State with a fall in the third period.

Likewise, at 141 Thorn began with first period fall. Just 1:10 into the match, he pinned Dustin Haislip of the Naval Academy, marking his quickest fall of the season. In his next match, Thorn worked a little longer but still earned the same result. With a second left in the second period Thorn notched his second straight fall, this time over Nicholas Bundy of Army. Thorn improves to 9-1 on the season, and now has four falls.

The big name when it comes to falls, however, is Ness. Ness improves his team leading record to 13-0, and has won his last four by fall. Ness met Tyler Untrauer of the Air Force in his first match, and was forced to wrestle past the first period for just the third time all season, earning the fall at the 3:13 mark. He then closed his day with yet another first period fall, winning in just 2:25. The two wins extend his team-long winning streak to 15 straight.

Also showing his dominance was Dustin Schlatter (Massillon, Ohio). Schlatter tallied two major decisions in winning his third and fourth straight matches of the season. His first win was a 9-1 victory over Kyle Czarnecki of Boston and his second was a 13-4 drubbing of Robby Neill from the Naval Academy. Schlatter now has three major decisions on the season.

With two falls, and a major decision, David Zilverberg (Wayzata, Minn.) also reached the quarterfinals. At 149, Zilverberg, scored his first fall of the season, and didn’t have to work long to get it. Just 58 seconds into the match, it was over with a pin of Nick Rex of Campbell. Zilverberg followed it with another fall, this time over Pierre Frazile of the Citadel at the 4:03 mark. For his final win, Zilverberg posted an 8-0 shutout of Cesar Grajales of Penn.

The final Gopher to end the day unbeaten was Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.), who did so wrestling a class up, at 197. Yohn tallied a fall at 4:36 over Tim Murphy of Edinboro for his first win, and a 2-0 decision over Neil Delany of the Air Force for his second. Yohn improved to 12-1 on the season, and 6-0 at 197.

The Gophers return to action tomorrow as they look to claim six individual titles and with their second Southern Scuffle.

Courtesy of Minnesota Sports Information

Six Hoosiers Advance to Quarterfinals at Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Six Hoosiers advanced to the quarterfinals during day one of the 2009 Southern Scuffle. Angel Escobedo and Nate Everhart each remain undefeated on the season following Tuesday’s action at 16-0 and 18-0, respectively.

Kurt Kinser, Paul Young, Trevor Perry and Eric Cameron are also quarterfinalists in their respective weight classes. As a team, Indiana is slotted 3rd out of 33 teams competing, including seven squads ranked in the national top-25.

Each team was allowed to enter 15 wrestlers into the competition, receiving team points from the top performer in each of the 10 weight classes.

For the Hoosiers, Escobedo tallied a pair of easy victories to place himself in the quarterfinals. The second-ranked 125-pound wrestler in the country began his day with a first-period pin of Andrew Zwirlein of Air Force. He followed that up with a 9-1 major decision in the round of 16.

The Bloomington High School South duo of Kinser (157 lbs.) and Young (165 lbs.) each picked up a two wins as well en route to their quarterfinals appearances. Kinser posted back-to-back major decisions while Young pinned both of his opponents, running his season total to a team-high nine falls.

Perry (174 lbs.) also made quick work of his foes, sticking them both for his fifth and sixth pins of the year. Meanwhile, Cameron (184 lbs.) had to get by three adversaries to reach the quarterfinals as he had a pigtail match. The Cincinnati, Ohio native just got past that pigtail match with a 3-1 decision in sudden victory. He then completed his day with two more decisions, 6-0 and 9-6.

Everhart rounds out the IU quarterfinalists by adding bonus points to the IU team total in both of his bouts, majoring his opponents in consecutive matches. Everhart is the top-seeded wrestler in the heavyweight bracket.

Geno Capezio (133 lbs.), Matt Coughlin (149 lbs.) and Matt Powless (197 lbs.) also garnered multiple wins on Tuesday. Capezio and Coughlin each went 2-2 on the day and are done while Powless split his two matches and is still in contention for third place. Check out the attachment for complete results of how all the Hoosiers fared.

Wrestling is slated to get back going at 9 a.m. on Wednesday with the championship finals tentatively scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start. www.d1collegewrestling.net is covering the event with a live blog, while www.uncspartans.com provides live results.

Courtesy of Indiana Sports Information

Five Spartans alive after day one of Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, NC – After 608 bouts in just under 10 hours, the UNC Greensboro wrestling team advanced five grapplers into day two of the 2009 UNCG Southern Scuffle held at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. As a team, the Spartans are currently in 24th-place with 14 points.

Eric Chandler, Ivan Lopouchanski, Ryan Sughrue, Caylor Williams and Peter Sturgeon all will wrestle in the fourth round of wrestlebacks to begin the second day at 9 a.m. Chandler, Sughrue, Williams and Sturgeon all advanced into the round of 16 before dropping their first match. They all rebounded though to win at least one match in the consolation bracket to stay alive.

No. 5 Minnesota holds a narrow lead after the first day with 50 points. No. 8 Cornell is right behind them in second place with 49 points and No. 13 sits in third place with 42 team points. No. 20 Edinboro and No. 18 Virginia round out the top five with 41.5 and 41 points, respectively.

Tickets are still available for the event. Adult tickets are $15, tickets for students in grades K-12 are $5 and children under age 5 are free. Fans can purchase tickets from the Greensboro Coliseum by visiting the box office Monday though Saturday, 11am-6pm or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Fans can also purchase live video streaming through Spartan All Access. Single day packages are priced at $9.95 and a package of just the championship matches is available for $7.95. Coverage will begin at 9 am ET on Wednesday from the Greensboro Coliseum’s Special Events Center. Feature matches will be scheduled on a specific mat for video coverage. Click the Spartan All-Access logo to the top right to sign up.

SouthernScuffle.com is also your home for live stats updated throughout the two-day tournament. Follow the links above for access to either team scoring or individual results.

For more news on UNCG wrestling, ticket prices, a complete season schedule, and all other Spartan athletic information log onto www.UNCGSpartans.com.

Courtesy of UNCG Sports Information.

THREE MOVE ONTO QUARTERFINALS AT SOUTHERN SCUFFLE

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Three wrestlers moved onto the quarterfinals and two are alive in the consolation brackets as Army concluded competition at the 32-team Southern Scuffle, Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center.

Matt Kyler and brothers Jordan and Casey Thome all advanced through the winners’s bracket and will compete Wednesday morning as the two-day event concludes.

Nicholas Bundy (141) and Jimmy Rafferty (149) both stayed alive in the consolation bracket and will continue their quest for a medal tomorrow morning.

“We started off strong, which is always a question mark after exams and the holiday break,” said Army head coach Chuck Barbee. “We had a good start. Some of our top guys came through and I am proud of the way they wrestled.”

Army is in 12th place following the first day of action with 31 points. Minnesota leads the event with 50 points, just ahead of Cornell (49), Indiana (42), Edinboro (41.5) and Virginia (41).

“This is a great event,” said Barbee. “This is like the NCAA’s and EIWA’s. You can’t just put together one or two good matches. You have to keep it together for multiple days and multiple matches. It really is a battle and concentration and intensity is critical. Our guys on Wednesday will have to turn it up a notch.”

The Scuffle, one of the largest tournaments in the country, featured 52 nationally ranked wrestlers, a pair of defending national champions and seven nationally ranked teams on 10 mats.

Kyler, a senior ranked 10th at 149 pounds in the latest InterMat poll, earned the top-seed and posted a pair of bonus point wins to move to the round of eight. Kyler opened the tournament with a 10-2 major decision against Bobby Ward of North Carolina State and then pinned Savva Kostis of Appalachian State in 4:44. He will wrestle John Nicholas of Old Dominion Wednesday morning.

At 141 pounds, junior Casey Thome needed to post three wins to stay in the winner’s bracket and did so with a fall and a pair of decisions. Thome decked Dan Shull of North Carolina State in 1:45 and then worked a 5-1 decision against Ivan Lopouchanski of UNC-Greensboro before dispatching Navy’s Matt Pagan, 3-2. He will face Germane Lindsey of Ohio in the quarterfinals.

Jordan Thome, a freshman wrestling at 133 pounds, collected a pin and technical fall to advance in his bracket. Thome turned Navy’s Ben Levin in 1:47 and then posted 17 points in a 3:24 technical fall against Erik Martinez of Cal State Bakersfield. Thome will compete against Zac Stevens of Michigan State in the quarterfinals.

Bundy had an eventful day at 141 pounds. He registered a 10-1 major decision against Mike Bell of Duke and then defeated Ky Corley of North Carolina, 6-2. He was pinned by Michael Thorn of Minnesota but Bundy advanced in the consolation bracket with a pin of Chris Collura of Appalachian State in 3:47. Bundy will wrestle Lopouchanski of UNC Greensboro in the consolations Wednesday morning.

Rafferty wrestled the most matches of any Army wrestler, posting a 4-1 mark on day one. Rafferty beat Brandon Pfhaler of Lock Haven 9-4 but was edged by Seth Morton of Ohio, 3-2. He responded by beating Alex Williams of Air Force (7-5), Christopher Smith of Bloomsburg (10-3) and Matt Rosen of Virginia Tech (8-6) to set up a match against Kostis of Appalachian State.

Lance Penhale (125), Travis Coffey (133) and Eric Gobin (165) all won a pair of matches but were eliminated. Penhale opened with a 9-3 decision over Giazzi Segarra of The Citadel, lost to Eric Morrill of Edinboro, 12-5 but rebounded with a fall against Kyle Ciccarrelli of Ohio in 4:26. Tyler Iwamura of Cal State Bakersfield ended Penhale’s tournament with an 8-4 win.

Coffey was pinned in his first match but won his first two consolation bouts. He edged Jacob Earp of Appalachian State, 3-2, and posted a major decision against Jeremiah Biddle of Bloomsburg, 16-8. Navy’s Patrick McCaffrey ended his run though with a 14-5 decision.

Gobin had a busy day with four matches. The freshman beat Beau Fisher of Virginia 7-3, fell to defending national champion Jarrod King of Edinboro and then pinned David Pelsang of Gardner-Webb in 4:50. Mike Alvarez of Princeton secured a 7-4 decision, ending Gobin’s tournament.

The tournament will conclude with a full day of wrestling on Wednesday. The quarterfinals are scheduled for 9 a.m. with the semifinals at 11:30 a.m. and the championship finals at 5:30 p.m.

Tournament Notes: Matt Kyler and Jordan Thome both earned pre-seeds. Kyler was ranked #1 at 149 pounds while Thome was ranked #4 at 133 pounds … Wrestle-backs get underway at 9 a.m. Wednesday … Bracket updates are available at uncgspartans.com … Rudy Chelednik (157), Daniel Young (157), Patrick Smith (184) and Ryan Cook (285) all registered one win … Army went a combined 25-24 on the day with 12 bonus point wins, including seven pins, four major decisions and one technical fall … Army went 3-3 vs. Service Academy rivals with a 2-2 mark against Navy and a 1-1 record opposite Air Force … Richard Starks (197), Ryan Mergen (174) and Jacob Vetter (174) were expected to compete but did not weigh-in … Orion Ross, making his first appearance of the season, medically defaulted his first match in 19 seconds

Courtesy of Army Sports.

Nacita and Orozco Advance to Quarterfinals at Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. -– Juniors Elijah Nacita and Riley Orozco were each a perfect 2-0 during the opening day of competition at the 2009 Southern Scuffle, advancing to the quarterfinal round of the tournament hosted by UNC Greensboro. Five additional Roadrunner wrestlers remain alive in the consolation bracket and will be in the hunt for third through eighth place finishes when they resume action Wednesday morning. As a team, CSUB is currently 11th out of 33 teams with 33.5 points.

Nacita earned the No. 3 seed in the 141-pound bracket, due in part to his impressive run through the consolation bracket of the Reno Tournament of Champions nearly two weeks ago. Ranked No. 12 in the most recent InterMat poll, Natica opened this year’s Southern Scuffle competition with a 9-3 decision over Hofstra’s Luke Vaith and a 15-2 major decision over Ohio’s Darrin Boing. He faces Virginia’s Derek Valenti in tomorrow morning’s quarterfinals match.
At 197 lbs., Orozco was unseeded, but came from behind for a 5-4 decision against No. 4 seed Jesse Strawn from Old Dominion in the opening round. Orozco followed that with a 9-0 major decision against George Mason’s William Widener and now faces No. 5 seed Dennis Drury of North Carolina in the quarterfinals.

Also still in competition in the consolation bracket are both Frank Lomas and Tyler Iwamura at 125 lbs. Lomas went 1-1 Tuesday and faces Michael Slaughter of Gardner-Webb next. Iwamura went 3-1 and will face Kent Stat’s Troy Opfer Thursday morning. Both wrestlers need two consecutive wins to ensure placewinner status.

At 165 lbs., Joey Granata won big in his first two matches — a 12-0 major decision over Cornell’s Cody Hutcheson and a 14-8 decision over Gardner-Webb’s Justin Guthrie — then fell 17-1 to top seed Jarrod King of Edinboro. He bounced back with a fall victory over NC State’s Ray Ward and faces Kent Stat’s Obie Simpson Wednesday morning.

At 174 lbs., Trevor Hall went 2-1 and will face Navy’s Matt Demichiel in the consolation bracket and at heavyweight, David Morgan will face Cornell’s Taylor Moore after going 1-1 Tuesday.

Like Lomas and Iwamura, Granata and Hall each need two consecutive wins to reach placewinner status while Morgan will need three.

Southern Scuffle action continues at 9 a.m. Eastern Wednesday with quarterfinals and fourth-round wrestlebacks. Third through eighth place medal rounds are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. with the championship finals set for 5:30 p.m.

Courtesy of CSUB Sports Information.

Four Tar Heels Reach Quarters At Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Four University of North Carolina wrestlers remain in the hunt for individual titles at the conclusion of day one of the 2009 Southern Scuffle Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. As a team, Carolina stands in a tie for 16th place with 24 points. No. 5-ranked Minnesota leads the event with 50 points.

No. 7 Thomas Scotton (157 pounds), No. 14 Dennis Drury (197), Zac Bennett (197) and Ziad Haddad (heavyweight) each won twice Tuesday to reach the quarterfinal round. Action resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Three Tar Heels – 133-pounder Jeremy Shaw, Kyle Kiss at 165 and Nick Tenpenny at 184 – remain alive in the consolation bracket and also will be in action tomorrow.

Carolina’s top-ranked wrestler, Scotton topped Bryce Busler of Bloomsburg with a 3-1 decision before scoring a 5-0 decision against Shaun Smith of Liberty to run his season mark to 18-2. He will face Penn’s Matt Dragon when action resumes Wednesday.

A pair of Tar Heels reached the quarters at 197, as Drury and the unattached Bennett both went unbeaten. Drury opened with an 8-0 major decision against NC State’s Andrew Tumlin and followed with an 8-3 decision against UNC Greensboro’s Caylor Williams. Drury, now 14-4 on the season, meets Riley Orozco of Cal State Bakersfield to open Wednesday.

Bennett began his day with an upset of No. 10 Brent Jones of Virginia, 12-7, and followed with an 8-7 decision against Adam Cogar of Kent State. He will square off against Eric Schuth of Ohio in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Haddad also won twice at heavyweight to advance to the quarters. He bested Cal State Bakersfield’s David Morgan with a 9-4 decision and followed with a 4-3 victory over Gardner-Webb’s Dustin Porter in his second bout of the day. Haddad will open with NC State’s Eloheim Palma tomorrow.

Courtesy of UNC Sports Information

Gayeski Leads Quartet at Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Frankie Gayeski continued his recent winning ways during the first day of the Southern Scuffle, Tuesday inside the Special Events Center at the Greensboro Coliseum. The grappler’s success spotlighted the day, as four Liberty wrestlers remain active in the two-day event.

Gayeski won all three of his bouts on the day, earning his way into the quarterfinals of the championship bracket, where he will face Virginia Tech’s Peter Yates, tomorrow morning. The winner advances to the 149-pound semifinals.

Gayeski will be joined in action on Wednesday by three other Flames, who successfully staved off elimination earlier today in the wrestleback bracket. Joe Pantaleo is still alive at 133 pounds, Shaun Smith is still active at 157 pounds and heavyweight Josh Pelletier still remain in the active after a successful first day run.

As a team, Liberty stands in a tie with North Carolina for 16th place in the 31-team field, as both programs amassed 24 points on Tuesday.

No. 5 Minnesota had a strong close to the first day’s action to push the Gophers into first place with 50 points, thanks to six wrestlers remaining in the championship draw. However, No. 8 Cornell is just one point behind Minnesota in second place, with nine grapplers remaining in the championship bracket.

The 31-team field includes seven Top 25 programs and 53 grapplers who are nationally ranked coming into the week. Rounding out the team standings are No. 13 Indiana, in third place with 42 points, No. 20 Edinboro, in fourth place with 41.5 points, and No. 23 Virginia, in fifth place with 41 points.

Gayeski left no doubt during his three bouts, winning each of the trio by major decision to push his personal winning streak to 14-straight matches.

The senior captain opened with a 10-1 win over hometown favorite Alejando Soto of UNC Greensboro, followed by a 17-4 major decision over The Citadel’s Kirby Thompson.

Gayeski closed out his action late in the day, with a 14-3 major decision over Virginia’s Kellon Balum to advance to tomorrow’s quarterfinal bout. The senior used a pair of two-point takedowns, each coming with three near-fall points, to best the Cavalier grappler and remain in the top draw at the event.

Smith and Pelletier each joined Gayeski in the Championship Round of 16, but did not find enough success to advance in the championship bracket.

Smith opened the day with a 5-2 decision victory over Ryan Konz of Indiana, followed by a 9-2 decision victory over N.C. State’s Colton Palmer to advance to the Round of 16 at 157 pounds.

However, the senior was unable to overcome a takedown each of the second and third periods and Thomas Scotton’s riding time advantage, falling into the wrestleback bracket after a 5-0 loss to the Tar Heel wrestler.

During the final session of the event, Smith managed to capture a 4-1 decision victory over UNC Greensboro’s Ty Knepp to remain alive in the consolation draw, where he will open with Michigan’s David Johnson tomorrow morning.

Pelletier used two strong defensive performances to secure his place in the Championship Round of 16 at heavyweight.
The junior opened with back-to-back shutouts, beginning with a 2-0 decision over UNC Greensboro’s Michael Gregory, where he used a third-period escape and riding time advantage to secure the victory.

After besting Appalachian State’s Kenneth Altarac in a 3-0 decision, Pelletier saw Cornell’s Joshua Arnone use the same method he used to beat Gregory to drop Liberty’s junior in the consolation round. Arnone controlled the entire second period to build up a significant riding time edge, then quickly scored an early third-period escape to net the 2-0 decision win.

However, in one of the final bouts of the first day, Pelletier pushed his way into action on the second day with a 4-1 decision victory over Bloomsburg’s Zachary Walsh.

Tomorrow morning, Pelletier will square off against Kent State’s Joe Tymoszuzuk for the right to remain active in the wrestleback heavyweight bracket.

The final Flame to push his way into the second day of action was Pantaleo, who did so with three-straight consolation round wins at 133 pounds.

After dropping an opening bout 8-5 decision to Edinboro’s Ashton Osterberg, Pantaleo began his march toward the second day’s action with narrow 1-0 decision over Indiana’s Matt Ortega.

Pantaleo followed with an 8-1 decision over N.C. State’s Scott Norris and a high-scoring 17-9 major decision win over Ohio’s Michael Fennell. Tomorrow morning, Pantaleo will look to remain alive in the wrestleback bracket, when he takes to the mats with Navy’s Ben Levin.

Six other Flames posted multiple victories on the day, before bowing out of this year’s Southern Scuffle. Spotlighting the group is Chad Porter, who dropped a tough 5-3 opening round decision at 165 pounds, before picking up two wins in the wreslteback bracket. The pair of wins gave the junior 80 career victories in a Liberty singlet.

Joining Porter with multiple wins on the day were Scott Clymer (141 pounds), Seth Hicks (141 pounds), Joseph Bayer (157 pounds) and Julian Colon (165 pounds).

Of the remaining 10 Liberty wrestlers who saw action on day one of the Southern Scuffle, Justin Braham had the most notable matchup.

After the freshman won his opening bout at 125 pounds with a 7-5 decision over Princeton’s Andrew Hirai, the rookie quickly got a taste of top collegiate wrestling, losing by fall (1:46) to defending national champion Troy Nickerson of Cornell.

Liberty’s four remaining grapplers will look to help the Flames continue to advance in the seventh-annual Southern Scuffle, with the hopes of besting last year’s 16th place with 32 team points (out of 31 teams).

As the web site did during Tuesday’s action, LibertyFlames.com will once again be blogging live from mat side inside the Special Events Center at the Greensboro Coliseum. The blog is slated to go live as action opens at 9 a.m., and will continue to cover the Flames as long as Liberty has active wrestlers in the draw.

Courtesy of Liberty Sports Information.

Cary’s Palma leads NC State at Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Freshman heavyweight Eloheim Palma and junior 149-pounder Bobby Ward both survived the first day of the 2009 Southern Scuffle and will advance to the tournament’s second day on Wednesday.

Palma, from Cary High School and the 2009 high school national champion at heavyweight, won all three of his bouts on the first day and will wrestle Ziad Haddad of North Carolina in the quarterfinals. Palma made a major statement with a second-round thrashing of 11th-ranked Ben Berhow of Minnesota. Palma dominated Berhow and came away with an easy 10-3 decision. Palma pinned Army’s Alan Lutterman at 1:56 in the first round, and took a 4-1 decision from Edinboro’s Michael Horton in the third round on Tuesday evening. Palma improved to 14-3 with the three victories.

Ward split his first two matches to fall into the wrestle-backs, but won twice after that and will face Seth Morton of Ohio University in his first match on Wednesday. Ward won a 14-6 major decision over The Citadel’s Derek Royster in the opening round, but dropped a 10-2 major to 10th-ranked Matt Kyler of Army in the second round. Ward then handed Minnesota’s Luke Mellmer a 16-1 technical fall and won an 8-7 decision over Virginia’s Kellon Balum.

Courtesy of NC State Sports Information.

Four Flashes Unbeaten after Day One of Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Kent State currently sits in 10th place among 31 teams following day one of the Southern Scuffle Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum. Four Golden Flashes Danny Mitcheff (133), Dustin Kilgore (184), Mallie Shuster (157) and Brendan Barlow (285) advanced to the quarterfinals, while five KSU wrestlers are still alive in the consolation bracket.

“Those four have been great,” Head Coach Jim Andrassy said of Kilgore, Shuster, Barlow and Mitcheff. “Kilgore has two pins, Mitcheff hasn’t been taken down and this is as well as Shuster and Barlow have wrestled all season.”

Mitcheff, the fifth year senior, earned a pair of major decisions to make his way into the quarterfinals. He claimed 13-5 victory in the opening round over Gene Capezio (Indiana), followed by a 12-3 downing of Ohio’s Michael Fennell.

Kilgore, tallied his team-leading eighth and ninth pins of the year, both in the opening round. Kilgore planted Cornell’s Nate Holley in 1:38 and Appalachian State’s Andrew Downs in 59 seconds.

Shuster, a redshirt freshman needed only 1:25 to pin Zaquerray Berridge of Air Force during his opening round bout. Shuster then eased his way into the quarterfinals with a 15-2 thrashing of Andrew Balch from Cal State Bakersfield.

Barlow, a redshirt sophomore, was dominant in his opening bout, topping Appalachian State’s Brock Durfee 15-4. Barlow then made his way into the quarters with a convincing 11-3 win over Cornell’s Taylor Moore.

Courtesy of Kent State Sports Information.

Tovuujav Remains Alive in the Championship Bracket Following the First Day at the Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. (December 29, 2009) – After a full first day of action at the 2009 Southern Scuffle, George Mason sophomore Mendbagana Tovuujav is still standing in the championship bracket at 174 pounds. Tovuujav won his first two matches by fall to advance to the quarterfinal round.

In his opening match of the tournament, Tovuujav pinned Gardner-Webb University’s Vincent Salyer in 2:33 to advance to the next round. In his second match of the day, Tovuujav pinned J.C. Oddo of The Citadel in 31 seconds. Tovuujav takes on Justin Zeerip of the University of Michigan when the second day of action gets underway tomorrow in Greensboro, N.C.

Zach Huxford (133), Jaaziah Bethea (141) and Bill Widener (197) all remain alive in the consolation brackets of their respective weight classes.

The 2009 Southern Scuffle concludes with the second and final day of action tomorrow at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Matches are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Courtesy of GMU Sports Information.