GWU's Travis Porter Scores OT Win, as the Bulldogs Compete at the ACC Challenge On Sunday Afternoon
November 15, 2009 | Wrestling
Chapel Hill, N.C. - The tough weekend of action continued for the Gardner-Webb wrestling team on Sunday afternoon, as the Bulldogs took on not only one, not two, but three Atlantic Coast Conference schools in North Carolina, No. 20 Virginia and Virginia Tech at the 2009 ACC Challenge in Chapel Hill, N.C.
In the first session, the Bulldogs fell to North Carolina 43-0, as GWU suffered three pin falls, a tech fall and two major decision losses in the bout.
Yet the Bulldogs had some promising moments during the first round, as redshirt-freshman Ryan Medved loss to Daniel Helena of UNC only 3-0 at 149, while redshirt-sophomore Kurt Wentick battled his opponent Danny Lopes of UNC hard at 141, suffering a 7-3 loss.
GWU's Alex Medved and Jonathon Velazquez both had tough challenges on their hands, as Medved fell to UNC's Thomas Scotton 11-2 at 157, while North Carolina's Dennis Drury pinned Velazquez in a time of 1:52 at 197. Both Scotton and Drury are ranked in the top-25 nationally for their weight classes, with Scotton No. 18 and Drury No. 16, respectively.
In the Bulldogs second bout of the day things did not get much better, as Gardner-Webb fell to the No. 20 nationally ranked Virginia Cavilers 50-0.
GWU, who had to take a forfeit at the heavyweight position, were just overpowered by the Cavilers, as Virginia picked up five pin falls over the Bulldogs.
Freshmen Marc Rocha and Brett Kostern both suffered losses at 125 and 133, respectively, while both Ryan and Alex Medved fell at 149 and 157, 8-1 and 8-0, respectively.
GWU redshirt-freshman Travis Porter, who wrestled at the heavyweight slot early in the day against North Carolina, faced probably his toughest opponent to date during his short time at Gardner-Webb, as he fell to No. 9 Brent Jones by way of a pin fall at 6:56.
GWU finally broke through with a win in the third round, as Porter picked up a 3-1 overtime win over Tim Miller of Virginia Tech at 197, giving the Bulldogs three points. Yet it would not be enough, as Virginia Tech went on to win the nine other bouts and take a 46-3 win.
The Bulldogs challenged in all bouts, as Virginia Tech had four grapplers ranked in the top-25 in their respective weight classes. However, it was Porter's two point takedown in overtime of Miller that was the highlight of the bout, as it was the Bulldog's lone win of the day.
The Bulldogs will return to the mats on Thursday, November 19th, as GWU will travel to Greensboro, N.C. to take on Utah Valley State.
###
| Complete 2009 ACC Challenge Results |
