BLACKSBURG, Va. – Tyler Ziegler, Chris Vassar and Austin Trott each placed in the top-6 in their respective weight class Sunday at the 2014 Hokie Open against a challenging field.
Ziegler (Cincinnati, Ohio / Moeller HS) finished fifth in the 133-pound open tournament, Vassar (New Cumberland, Pa. / Cedar Cliff HS) took sixth at 141 pounds and Trott (Kingsland, Ga. / Camden County HS) won the third-place match at 165 pounds.
Ziegler dropped his opening bout to Virginia's George DiCamillo, but rallied to win four consecutive matches – topping Appalachian State's Vito Pasone by a 9-6 margin in the fifth-place battle. He took a major decision over Campbell's Trent Campbell (9-1) to start that rally.
Vassar – a highly-regarded redshirt freshman – pinned Appalachian State's Javon Johnson in just 1:32 to get off to a strong start, before falling at the hands of North Carolina's Joey Ward in 3:59. He rebounded with wins over VMI's Emmitt Kelly (6-4, OT) and The Citadel's Aaron Hansen (15-0, tech fall) before falling by a 5-2 score to Duke's Grant Leeth in the fifth-place match.
Trott pinned VMI's Shabaka Johns (4:27) in his first bout before Virginia Tech's Chad Strube pinned Trott in 5:07. Trott rebounded to post a 16-2 major decision over Virginia's Garrett Peppelman in the third-place match. Peppelman, a freshman, was the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 160 pounds last year at Central Dauphin (Pa.) High.
Ryan Mosley (Stone Mountain, Ga. / Shiloh HS) posted a 4-2 mark at 149 pounds Sunday and Brett Stein (Woodbridge, Va. / Forest Park HS) did the same at 174 pounds.
Gardner-Webb returns to Virginia next week for three matches against top-25 teams – taking on Virginia (Nov. 15) and both Virginia Tech and North Dakota State (Nov. 16) in dual matches.
2014 Hokie Open Individual Results (Gardner-Webb)
125 Open: Cortez Starkes (1-2)
def. Ryan Elliott (WVU), 11-3
lost to Sean Boyle (UTC), 12-0 (major dec.)
lost to Cody Karns (UNC), 11-6
133 Open: Tyler Ziegler (4-1) – 5th Place
lost to George DiCamillo (UVA), 13-6
def. Trent Little (CAM), 9-1 (major dec.)
def. Tyler Walker (CAM), 8-6
def. Drew Walker (CAM), 4-2 (ot)
def. Vito Pasone (APP), 9-6 – 5th Place Match
141 Open: Chris Vassar (3-2) – 6th Place
pinned Javon Johnson (APP), 1:32
pinned by Joey Ward (UNC), 3:59
def. Emmitt Kelly (VMI), 6-4 (ot)
def. Aaron Hansen (CIT), 15-0 (tech fall)
lost to Grant Leeth (DUKE), 5-2 – 5th Place Match
149 Open: Ryan Mosley (4-2)
def. Jack Clark (UNC), 5-3
lost to T.J. Miller (UVA), 4-3
def. William Jenkins (WVU), forfeit
def. Mickey Bennett (WVU), 16-2 (major dec.)
def. Matt Frisch (CIT), 3-1
lost to Joey Moon, 6-0
157 Open: Kyle Ash (0-2)
lost to Austin Sims (UTC), 11-7
lost to David Wesley (NRV Club), 9-8
157 Open: Joseph Evans (0-2)
lost to Grant Blumenthal (CAM), 4-2
pinned by Chris Mears (UNC), 2:15
165 Open: Austin Trott (2-1) – 3rd Place
pinned Shabaka Johns (VMI), 4:27
pinned by Chad Strube (VT), 5:07
def. Garrett Peppelman (UVA), 16-2 (major dec.) – 3rd Place Match
174 Open: Hunter Gamble (2-2)
lost to McCoy Newberg (UTC), 8-6
def. Alex Belaia-Martiniouk (Duke), 17-1 (tech fall)
def. Kaleab Fetahi, 15-0 (tech fall), 6:15
lost to Dominic Scalise (UVA), default
174 Open: Brett Stein (4-2)
def. Derek Thurman (VMI), 14-3 (major dec.)
lost to John-Michael Staudenmayer (UNC), 5-3
def. Francisco Mora (UNC), 20-3 (4:12), tech fall
pinned Taylor Fournier, 6:10
def. Kenneth Radford (CIT), default
pinned by Dominic Scalise (UVA), 1:03
174 Open: Aaron Rabin (2-2) – Unattached
def. Alex Belaia-Martiniouk (Duke), 7-5
lost to Sean Mappes (UTC), 12-6
def. Trevor Wentt (King), 7-5
lost to Mark Darr, 17-9 (major dec.)
184 Open: Gray Jones (2-2)
def. Marcus Johnson (APP), 6-2
lost to John Lampe (UTC), 3-2
def. Jared Holliday (NEW), 9-4
lost to Jacob Kasper (DUKE), 11-3 (major dec.)
197 Open: Zach Bennett (0-2)
lost to Josh Lehner (UNC), 4-2
lost to Scott Marmoll (UNC), 6-0
285 Open: Justin Kozera (1-2)
lost to Collin Campbell (UVA), 3-1
pinned Matt Colter (NEW), 0:52
lost to Juan Adams (VMI), 5-2
