Gardner-Webb Wrestling Coaches Have Great Showing At Regional Championships
March 26, 2007 | Wrestling
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - Assistant wrestling coaches Scott Shipman and Daniel Elliott hit the mats against the best in the nation last weekend and showed everyone what Gardner-Webb wrestling is all about.
At the USA Wrestling Northeast Regional, which was held in Brockport, N.Y., Shipman won the 84 kg weight class (185 lbs.) by decision over Penn State's Mike Ward in the finals by a 1-0, 1-0 score. In freestyle wrestling, grapplers have to win two out of three periods in order to win the match.
The decision qualified Shipman for the final world team trials, which will be held in early June. At the world team trials, eight-15 of the top senior level wrestlers in the nation will compete for a spot on this year's world championship team.
To reach the finals, Shipman opened the competition with a 6-0, 4-0 decision over Chris Haines. In the quarterfinals, he downed Anthony Esposito 6-0, 6-3, earning a spot in the semifinals. There, he knocked off Brett Giehl by a 4-1, 8-4 count to garner a place in the finals, where he ousted Ward for the title.
Fellow GWU grappler and NCAA qualifier Daniel Elliott finished third, marking the first time that he has placed at a senior level event.
Elliott opened the competition with an 0-4, 4-0, 6-2 decision over Mike Cubillos. He went on to win the second match via decision over Reece Mariacher. Scores from the match were 1-4, 5-0, 3-0. Elliott lost in the quarterfinals, 4-1, 3-2 to Jason Borrelli before rebounding to pin Kellon Balum 1:48 into the second round.
He then pinned Nate Spangler 45 seconds into the match, advancing to the consolation semifinals. There, he won by technical fall over Jason Gribschaw by scores of 5-5, 7-0, 6-0 to advance to the third-place match.
In the match, Elliott downed Jason Borrelli 0-7, 5-4, 4-1 to capture third place.
Elliott will attempt to qualify for the world team trials at the U.S. National Championships, which will be held Apr. 7-8 in Las Vegas, Nev. He will also wrestle in the USA Wrestling University National Championships (athletes 24 years old and younger) in late April. The top seven finishers at the U.S. Nationals and the champion from the University Nationals will qualify for the final world team trials.
For full results of the competition, you can visit:
http://www.themat.com/results.php?page=display_results_style&ResultID=100793
