Dustin Porter Takes Fourth, Bulldogs Take 20th at the 2009 Southern Scuffle
December 31, 2009 | Wrestling
Greensboro, N.C. - Gardner-Webb redshirt-senior Dustin Porter took fourth-place in the heavyweight division, while the Bulldog grapplers finished 20th overall as a team with 29.5 points.
Gardner-Webb's 20th-place finish was ahead of schools such as Lock
Haven, UNC Greensboro, Appalachian State, Duke, The Citadel,
Virginia Tech and Campbell.
Porter had two strong days at the scuffle, as the three-time NCAA
East Regional Champion posted a 3-1 record on day one, recording a
5-3 win over Eddie Phillips of Michigan, a 3-0 win over Jack
Burbank of Old Dominion and a pin fall win at 4:12 against Robert
Grogan of Princeton to stay alive in the consolation round and
advance to day two.
On day two, Porter picked up four straight wins including a pin
fall victory over North Carolina's Ziad Haddad at 2:09 to advance
into the third-place match. In the third-place match, Porter was
held off late by Christopher Birchier of Edinboro to fall 3-2,
giving the Bulldog grappler a 7-2 record and a fourth-place overall
finish in the heavyweight class.
Junior newcomer Michael Slaughter bounced back from a first round
loss to pick up three straight wins on day one at 125. After his
first round loss, Slaughter picked up a 9-1 major decision win over
Mitchell Johnson of UNC Greensboro and then took care of business
quickly in his next bout, pinning Ryan Renkey of Army in just 22
seconds into the match. Slaughter then defeated Justin Branham of
Liberty with a 12-2 major decision, pushing him into day two of the
event on Wednesday.
However, on Wednesday morning Slaughter was ousted early, as the
junior suffered a 16-1 tech fall loss to Frank Lomas of Cal-State
Bakersfield, who eventually took fourth-place overall.
At 144, redshirt-freshman Richie Spicel posted a 2-2 record,
picking up a pin fall win over Dale Shull of North Carolina State
at 6:14, while freshman Morgan McDaniel dropped both of his matches
for the event.
At 197, Gardner-Webb redshirt-freshman Travis Porter picked up a
pin fall win at 4:45 over Charles Fox of Princeton in the first
round, yet fell in his next two bouts to finish the scuffle at
1-2.
Redshirt-freshman Alex Medved went 1-2 at 157, picking up a win
over Seth Creasy of Lock Haven 7-5, while at 184, both Jason
Porter, who wrestled unattached, and Jonathan Velazquez posted 1-2
records at the scuffle.
At 149, redshirt-freshman Ryan Medved dropped both of his matches
on day one, falling to Shawn Harris of Virginia 3-2 and then to
Frank Hickman of Bloomsburg 7-3 in the consolation bracket.
GWU's David Pelsang and Justin Guthrie, who also wrestled
unattached, both fell in their first two matches at 165, while
Blake Salyer also went 0-2 in the 174-pound class.
The Bulldogs will next be in action on January 16, as Gardner-Webb
will take on both Davidson and Franklin Marshall at Davidson
College.
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| Team Scores |
| Complete 2009 Southern Scuffle Brackets |
