Reflecting on the Bulldogs' Season
March 21, 2007 | Wrestling
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - The 2006-2007 Gardner-Webb wrestling
team might be remembered as a team that was supposed to be
extremely young due to the departure of four seniors from the
previous year, all of whom made the NCAA Championships. On closer
inspection, fans will realize that the squad, despite its youth,
accomplished more than what outsiders first expected.
A pair of redshirt-freshmen,
Dustin Porter and
Rob
Tate, each won their respected weight class at the NCAA East
Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Tate, grappling at 133, did something that nobody from the
previous year had done - he won a match at the NCAA Championships.
After dropping his first match at the competition, he bounced back
for a 19-7 major decision victory in the first round of the
consolation bracket. His season came to an end in the next match,
finishing at 27-12. Tate posted a team-best five technical falls on
the season.
Porter, on the other hand, posted a team-high 28 wins against
just nine defeats. He also led the team with six pins and tied for
the team lead with three major decision victories.
Chaz Franz, Chad Davis and
Brandon Beach each had over
20 wins on the season, as the squad combined to win 173 matches for
the year. Franz, who piled up 24 wins, tallied the second-most
falls on the team behind Porter. His quickest, which occurred in a
mere 43 seconds, was the fastest by any team member during the
season.
With some of the student-athletes going down due to injury, the
Bulldogs struggled in couple of weight classes, which hurt their
dual match record. GWU garnered a record of 9-16-1 on the season
and suffered through a nine-match winless drought that included one
tie and eight losses.
After snapping the streak with a 31-12 win over Spartanburg
Methodist, the Bulldogs dropped their next three before securing a
come-from-behind victory over previously ranked Cal-Poly at the
Central Michigan Invitational.
The win over Cal-Poly ignited a three-match winning streak and
saw GWU take five of the next seven dual matches. One of the
victories came against Davidson on Senior Night. Against the
Wildcats, the Bulldogs won by a score of 35-12, but the top
performance of the night came via Beach, who earned a victory in
the final home match of his career.
GWU wound up finishing second in the East Region after it was
picked to finish last. Five grapplers advanced to the finals in
their respected weight classes and, although only two moved on to
nationals, all return next season.
With all but three student-athletes returning for the 2007-2008
season, including nine starters and a multitude of incoming talent,
the Bulldogs will look to not only win the region, but also send
more grapplers to the biggest stage in the sport - the NCAA
Championships. After Porter and Tate reached the stage this season,
the duo can lead the way for a young pack of Bulldogs who are
sprinting toward the same goal, which is to earn a berth at the
NCAA Championships and vie for a national championship.
