CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Cortez Starkes, Tyler Ziegler, Ryan Mosley, Austin Trott and Justin Kozera each posted a pair of wins to kick off the new year at the prestigious 2015 Defensive Soap & Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle.
Starkes (Greenville, S.C. / Greenville HS) rebounded from a loss to Nebraska's Tim Lambert – ranked No. 17 nationally by InterMat – to win a pair of decisions in the consolation bracket at 125. He fell, 6-5, in a tight loss to Lehigh's Scotty Parker.
Ziegler (Cincinnati, Ohio / Moeller HS) also bounced back from a first-round loss at 133, shutting out unattached wrestler Demetreu Kostis (5-0) and taking a 3-1 decision over Boise State's Michael Cook – before a major decision loss to Pittsburgh's Nick Zanetta (15-3) ended his run.
Mosley (Stone Mountain, Ga. / Shiloh HS) had four tight matches at 149 pounds, falling 3-2 to North Carolina's Joey Moon – but bouncing back with a 4-3 win over Cornell's Taylor Simaz and a 3-1 win over Citadel's Matthew Frisch. He dropped a 2-1 decision to Nebraska unattached grappler Tyler Berger in his final bout.
Trott (Kingsland, Ga. / Camden County HS) picked up a first-round win over Iowa State's Logan Molina with a 6-0 shutout, but was pinned by Duke's Brian Dorsey in a surprise result. Trott responded with a pin of Kent's Tyler Buckwalter in just 1:28, but saw his day end on a pin by Army's Coleman Gracey.
Kozera (Taneytown, Md. / Winters Mill HS) picked up two more pins himself during the Scuffle and sits tied with Trott for the team lead now with six on the season.
Kozera came back from an opening round loss to Central Michigan's Austin Robinson at 285 to pin Army's Mason Kumashiro (4:21) and Iowa State's Jon Scanlan (4:12). He dropped a close, 3-1, decision to Kent's Mimmo Lytle to end the run.
Gardner-Webb picked up 20.5 team points over the two-day event, good for 24th spot when the Runnin' Bulldogs left the mats.
Gardner-Webb returns home for its next bout, hosting Binghamton on Friday, January 9 at 7:00 pm in Paul Porter Arena. The match will air live on The Big South Network (bigsouthsports.com).
2015 Defense Soap & Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle
Individual Results (Gardner-Webb)
125: Landon LoAlbo (0-2) – Unattached
pinned by Eddie Klimara (Oklahoma State), 3:52
lost to J. Marquez (Citadel), 4-0
125: Cortez Starkes (2-2)
lost to #17 Tim Lambert (Nebraska), 8-0 (Major Dec.)
def. C. Lester (Michigan), 7-2
def. S. Badua (Army), 9-3
lost to S. Parker (Lehigh), 6-5
133: Tyler Ziegler (2-2)
lost to Gary Way Harding (Oklahoma State), 4-0
def. D. Kostis (Unattached), 5-0
def. M. Cook (Boise State), 3-1 (SV-1)
lost to N. Zanetta (Pitt), 15-3 (Major Dec.)
141: Ryan Hull (0-2)
pinned by Ben Polkowske (Northern Colorado), 2:36
lost to J. Murphy (Chattanooga), 9-7
149: Tyler Marinelli (0-2) – Unattached
lost to Garrett Schaner (Stanford), 10-5
lost to C. Barber (North Carolina), 6-1
149: Ryan Mosley (2-2)
lost to Joseph Moon (North Carolina), 3-2
def. T. Simaz (Cornell), 4-3
def. M. Frisch (Citadel), 3-1
lost to T. Berger (Unattached), 2-1 (TB-1)
149: Cole Graves (0-2) – Unattached
pinned by Luke Frey (Penn State), 3:56
lost to K. Koroma (George Mason)
165: Austin Trott (2-2)
def. Logan Molina (Iowa State), 6-0
pinned by B. Dorsey (Duke), 1:04
pinned T. Buckwalter (Kent), 1:28
pinned by C. Gracey (Army), 3:28
174: Brett Stein (1-2)
pinned by Tyler Wilps (Pitt), 5:45
def. T. Walter (Unattached), 9-5
lost to K. Subjeck (Stanford), 7-3
174: Payton Mills (0-2) – Unattached
pinned by Robert Kokesh (Nebraska), 4:03
lost to J. Weldholm (Army), 15-1 (Major Dec.)
174: Hunter Gamble (1-2)
lost to Keaton Subjeck (Stanford), 9-5
pinned J. Taylor (Cornell), 0:56
lost to R. Roden (Duke), 3-1 (SV-1)
184: Gray Jones (1-2)
lost to Austin Severn (Central Michigan), 2-1 (TB-1)
def. B. Perry (Buffalo), 2-0
lost to R. Davies (Stanford), 14-0 (Major Dec.)
197: Boyce Cornwell (1-2)
pinned by Kyle Gadson (Iowa State), 2:19
pinned T. Noon (Northern Colorado), 2:06
lost to C. Baxter (Kent), 9-2
285: Justin Kozera (2-2)
lost to Austin Robinson (Central Michigan), 4-1
pinned M. Kumashiro (Army), 4:21
pinned J. Scanlan (Iowa State), 4:12
lost to M. Lytle (Kent), 3-1
