Porter And McCray Earn Spots At NCAA Championship
March 09, 2008 | Wrestling
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Gardner-Webb wrestling team competed well enough to finish second in the tough East Region Championships Sunday afternoon, earning 67.5 points.
Head coach Scott Shipman's squad posted a second-place finish in the region out of six teams, finishing behind only Liberty, who won with 108.5 points. After not winning a dual match at the East Regional Duals earlier in the year, the Bulldogs were picked to finish near the bottom of the region. However, Shipman's team picked up multiple bonus points along the way while getting a total team effort en route to having two student-athletes – Dustin Porter and Edward McCray - earn spots at the NCAA Championship.
"The team wrestled extremely well," Shipman said. "Some on the team lost some tight matches throughout, but the team was able to pick up a lot of bonus points by major decisions and pins.
"We have finished second in the region before, but this has a different feel to it. Everyone contributed to our second-place finish and I couldn't be prouder of the team.
"Chad Davis lost a heartbreaker and Brandon Couture lost a tough match in the semifinals, but each wrestled extremely well. Tommy Bennett looked as good as he had all year long, knocking off Sean Katz by a major decision and reaching the finals."
Porter, a redshirt-sophomore, won the 197 lb. division for the second consecutive season, earning the region's automatic berth to the NCAA Championship in the weight class.
Porter started out the defense of his title rather well, shutting out Delaware State's Shawn Nowrey by a 4-0 score. He continued his hot start in the second round, downing Nick Knowles of Liberty 8-0 to earn the major decision victory. He squared off against Millersville's Raymond Bennet in the finals and was able to out-duel him by a 10-7 count to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
The Bulldogs' second student-athlete to make his way to St. Louis, Mo., for the championships was McCray, who had to wait it out to see if he would get the nod.
Unseeded, McCray pulled off an upset in the first round at 149. McCray pinned Liberty's Colon Lewis, the No. 4 seed, in 60 seconds. However, he lost a 16-6 major decision to Matt Cathell, the No. 1 seed, in the semifinals. McCray was able to work his magic in the consolation bracket, picking up a win over Patrick Larkin of Wagner, 9-1. He squared off with Lewis in the finals and ended with the same result – a pin in 5:45 to capture third.
By putting on such a solid performance, the coaches gave the one wild card berth from the region to McCray.
At 125, Tommy Bennett earned the No. 2 seed. He opened the tournament by shutting out Sean Katz of Liberty, 8-0, in the semifinals as there were only five competitors in the weight class. However, he fell to Duquesne's Jonathan Bittinger by way of a fall at the 2:09 mark in the championship and earning second place.
Chas Franz took fourth in the 141 lb. weight class. Franz opened the regional by dropping his first match to Tim Harner, the No. 1 seed, via a pin at 2:25. Franz bounced back in the consolation bracket to take down Michael Tutunijan of Wagner just 1:31 into the contest, setting himself up for the third-place match. However, Jayk Cobbs pinned Franz in 47 seconds, sending Franz to fourth place.
At 157, Austin Reece dropped his first match before fighting his way back to the third-place match. In the consolation semifinals, Reece took down Sean uinn of Wagner, 7-6. Reece was unable to upend the No. 2 seed in the consolation finals, losing 2-0 to Cody Midlam.
Brendan Couture had a
strong performance in the 165 lb. division. Couture, the No. 4
seed, pinned Duquesne's Matt Gregg in just 3:51 in the first-round
match. However, he fell to Liberty's Chad Porter, 13-5, in the
semifinals. Couture regrouped to knock off Laurence Peotter of
Wagner in the consolation bracket. He disposed of Peotter in 2:33,
earning a spot in the third-place bout. There, he upended the No. 3
seed, Dave Morey, of Millersville in a 5-1 contest.
Chad Davis earned the No. 2 seed at 174. He looked solid in his first-round match, pinning Kyle Skinner of Delaware State in 4:52. However, Jeremy Brooks of Millersville was able to pull off the 4-3 victory over Davis in the semifinals. Sent to the consolation bracket, Davis regained his winning form, disposing of Peter Morano of Wagner in 3:34. In the third-place contest, he again defeated Skinner, this time by a 2-0 score, to earn the bronze.
Matthias Piasecki lost his opening round match to the No. 1 seed in the 184 lb. division, sending him to the consolation round. Piasecki had a spot in the third-place match, but had to forfeit due to medical reasons, rendering him a fourth-place nod for the competition.
Evan Rhodes took fourth in the heavyweight division. Rhodes lost a 7-4 decision to No. 2 seed Joseph D'orsie in the first round. In the consolation bracket, he pinned No. 4 seed John Graeffe of Wagner to set up a rematch with D'orsie, who was knocked off in the semifinals. However, D'orsie was able to limit Rhodes to just four points again, winning a 10-4 decision over the GWU student-athlete.
Porter will attempt to better his performance from a season ago at the NCAA Championship while McCray will be competing there for the first time.
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