GWU Wrestling Posts Four NCAA East Regional Champions on Sunday
March 07, 2011 | Wrestling
Lynchburg, Va. - The Gardner-Webb wrestling team had four individuals crowned East Regional Champions on Sunday afternoon, as Ryan Medved, Alex Medved, Jonathan Velazquez and Travis Porter all posted first-place finishes in their respective weight classes to earn a trip to the 2011 NCAA National Championships hosted by Rider University in the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa. on March 17-19th.
The Medved's both were perfect on the day, as at 149, Ryan Medved picked up back-to-back 16-0 technical fall wins over Joseph Evangelista of Sacred Heart and Peter Crawford of Liberty to take first-place overall, while his brother Alex Medved posted a 14-6 major decision win over Jake Fose of Campbell and a 6-1 decision against Anthony Priore in the championship bout to tally a first-place finish at 157.
At 184, Velazquez went 2-0 on the day, earning a 5-2 win over John Merickel of Campbell and a 3-1 decision over Aaron Kelley of Liberty to take first-place overall and be crowed as an East Regional Champion.
Following up Velazquez was Porter, who posted a 13-1 major decision win over John Nichols of Campbell to advance to the championship match where he then defeated Aaron Thompson of Liberty by way of a pin fall at 4:56 in the match to take first-place overall at the 197-pound weight class.
At 125, sophomore Brett Kostern picked up a 7-6 win over Tanner Bidelspach of Campbell in the championship semifinals to move on to the finals. In the finals, Kostern suffered a 14-3 major decision loss to Robert Jillard of Liberty to take second-place overall at 125.
Taking third-place overall was redshirt-sophomores Richie Spicel and Justin Guthrie. Spicel bounced back from a 5-3 loss in the championship semifinals to Justin Belanger of Sacred Heart at 141, to defeat Seth Hicks of Liberty 17-11 to earn a third-place finish at the 141-pound weight class.
Guthrie defeated Joel Caudill of Campbell 4-2 in the championship preliminaries to advance to the semifinals where he fell to Chad Porter of Liberty by way of a pin fall. Guthrie then bounced back to earn a 10-3 win over Brandon Vernalli of Millersville to finish third-place overall at 165.
Freshman grappler Alex Hamm went 1-2 on the day, bouncing back from an opening loss to defeat Daniel Calzarettte of Millersville 4-3 in the consolation round and advance to the third-place bout. In the match, Hamm struggled to find his offense and fell to Anthony Ricco of Sacred Heart 8-0.
Gardner-Webb's Erin O'Dell went 0-2 on the day at 174, while junior Blake Salyer also posted a 0-2 mark for the day at the heavyweight class.
In the team standings, the Runnin' Bulldogs finished in second-place overall with 74.5 points, finishing behind the eventual team champions in Liberty who totaled 88 points.
Velazquez was tagged the Most Outstanding Wrestler, while Liberty's Jesse Castro was named Coach of the Year.
The four East Regional Champions and NCAA National qualifiers is the most that the Runnin' Bulldogs have had in a single season since sending four back in 2006.
The four GWU grapplers will next be in action on March 17-19th, as the wrestlers will compete at the 2011 NCAA National Championships in Philadelphia, Pa.
###
| Final Brackets - 2011 NCAA East Regional Championships |
