ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Gardner-Webb finished third Saturday at the 2016 SoCon Wrestling Championships, its highest since joining the league, and will send two wrestlers to the NCAA Championships later this month with automatic bids.
Gardner-Webb scored 61.5 points to take third, 10 points in front of SIU Edwardsville. Appalachian State won the team title, nipping Chattanooga by a half point with a decision in the night's final bout.
Gardner-Webb's Austin Trott (Kingsland, Ga. / Camden County HS) won the 165-pound SoCon title Saturday night, outlasting Appalachian State's Forrest Prybysz in a 5-4 decision. Prybysz scored a very late takedown to tie the match in the third period, but Trott took the decision via a healthy riding time advantage.
It marks the second trip in three seasons to the NCAA Championships for Trott, who also qualified as a redshirt freshman in 2014. The top seed at 165 pounds coming in, Trott improved to 15-5 on the season and won for the seventh time in a row. He remained undefeated against SoCon competition in 2015-2016 with his three-match sweep Saturday.
Trott opened up in dominant fashion, whipping Daniel Smith of The Citadel with a 16-0 tech. fall (5:24) and followed with an 11-4 decision over SIU Edwardsville grappler Nate Higgins. His win over Prybysz was his second this season.
The NCAA Championships will be held at Madison Square Garden from March 17-19. Gardner-Webb has seen at least one wrestler qualify for nationals in each of the last four seasons.
Trott will have company in the Big Apple, as classmate Boyce Cornwell (Conyers, Ga. / Heritage HS) punched his ticket to the Garden with a third-place finish at 285 pounds.
The redshirt junior topped Campbell's Jere Heino for the second time Saturday and the third time this season – this time by a 4-3 decision in the consolation final – to take the third and final allocation for the weight class.
Cornwell won his opening match of the day over Heino by a 3-1 score, but fell to No. 2 seed Jared Johnson by tech. fall (15-0, 7:00). He rebounded with a 4-0 win over The Citadel's Joe Bexley, then topped Heino for the bid.
Gardner-Webb had two other wrestlers advance to the finals – No. 2 seed Tyler Ziegler (Cincinnati, Ohio / Moeller HS) at 133 pounds and top-seed Chris Vassar (New Cumberland, Pa. / Cedar Cliff HS) at 149 pounds.
Ziegler dropped a 10-0 major decision to Campbell's Nathan Kraisser and finished second. The veteran posted consecutive 4-3 decisions over Davidson's Dustin Runzo and Appalachian State's Irvin Enriquez to make the championship final.
Vassar was upset in the final by SIU Edwardsville's John Fahy, who slipped past the talented sophomore by a 3-1 decision. He opened with a 15-0 tech. fall win over Davidson's Aidan Conroy and held off The Citadel's Matthew Frisch with a 3-1 decision to make the final.
Vassar, ranked No. 29 in the final NCAA Coaches' Panel Rankings at 149 pounds, will await word of a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Championships – which will be announced next week.
Second-seeded Hunter Gamble (McDonough, Ga. / Union Grove HS) overcame a first-round upset at 184 pounds and rallied for a third-place finish. The redshirt junior dropped a surprising, 4-2 decision to The Citadel's Sawyer Root in the opening bout – but buckled down from there.
Gamble came back through the consolation bracket to take third, scoring bonus points in each of his matches. He took an 18-4 major decision over VMI's Derek Thurman, a 15-0 tech. fall over SIU Edwardsville's Derek Nagel and a major decision over Appalachian State's Taylor Jackson in the third-place bout.
Team Scores
1. Appalachian State – 83.5
2. Chattanooga – 83.0
3. Gardner-Webb – 61.5
4. SIU Edwardsville – 51.5
5. Campbell – 47.5
6. The Citadel – 34.5
7. VMI – 27.0
8. Davidson – 5.5
Individual Results
125: Cortez Starkes (0-2)
Alfredo Rodriguez (SIUE) dec. Cortez Starkes (GWU) – 7-5
Patrick Kearney (CIT) fall Cortez Starkes (GWU) – (6:32)
133: Tyler Ziegler (2-1) – Second Place
Tyler Ziegler (GWU) dec. Dustin Runzo (DAV) – 4-3
Tyler Ziegler (GWU) dec. Irvin Enriquez (APP) – 4-3
(Championship Match) Nathan Kraisser (CAM) major dec. Tyler Ziegler (GWU) – 10-0
141: Ryan Hull (2-2) – Fourth Place
Ty Buckiso (CIT) dec. Ryan Hull (GWU), 15-8
Ryan Hull (GWU) dec. Hunter Starner (VMI), 7-5 (SV-1)
Ryan Hull (GWU) win via medical forfeit John Muldoon (SIUE)
(Third Place Match) Ty Buckiso (CIT) dec. Ryan Hull (GWU), 10-3)
149: Chris Vassar (2-1) – Second Place
Chris Vassar (GWU) tech. fall Aidan Conroy (DAV) – 15-0 (7:00)
Chris Vassar (GWU) dec. Matthew Frisch (CIT) – 3-1
(Championship Match) John Fahy (SIUE) dec. Chris Vassar (GWU) – 3-1
157: Ryan Mosley (2-2) – Fourth Place
Ryan Mosley (GWU) dec. David Peters-Logue (APP) – 8-2
Aaron Walker (CIT) dec. Ryan Mosley (GWU) – 12-5
Ryan Mosley (GWU) dec. Tony Palumbo (DAV) – 6-2
(Third Place Match) Neal Richards (VMI) dec. Ryan Mosley (GWU) – 13-6
165: Austin Trott (3-0) – SoCon Champion | NCAA Berth
Austin Trott (GWU) tech. fall Daniel Smith (CIT) – 16-0 (5:24)
Austin Trott (GWU) dec. Nate Higgins (SIUE) – 11-4
(Championship Match) Austin Trott (GWU) dec. Forrest Prybysz (APP) – 5-4
174: Brett Stein (2-2) – Fourth Place
Brett Stein (GWU) major dec. Timothy Knipl (CIT) – 13-4
Sean Mappes (UTC) dec. Brett Stein (GWU) – 8-2
Brett Stein (GWU) dec. Mark Darr (VMI) – 9-4
(Third Place Match) Connor McMahon (SIUE) dec. Brett Stein (GWU) – 6-4
184: Hunter Gamble (3-1) – Third Place
Sawyer Root (CIT) dec. Hunter Gamble (GWU) – 4-2
Hunter Gamble (GWU) major dec. Derek Thurman (VMI) – 18-4
Hunter Gamble (GWU) tech. fall Derek Nagel (SIUE) – 15-0 (6:34)
(Third Place Match) Hunter Gamble (GWU) major dec. Taylor Jackson (APP) – 11-2
197: Gray Jones (1-2)
Randall Diabe (APP) dec. Gray Jones – 2-0
Gray Jones (GWU) major dec. Ryan Devlin (DAV) – 10-0
Jake Tindle (SIUE) major dec. Gray Jones (GWU) – 10-1
285: Boyce Cornwell (3-1) – Third Place | NCAA Berth
Boyce Cornwell (GWU) dec. Jere Heino (CAM) – 3-1
Jared Johnson (UTC) pin fall Boyce Cornwell (GWU) – (2:23)
Boyce Cornwell (GWU) dec. Joe Bexley (CIT) – 4-0
Boyce Cornwell (GWU) dec. Jere Heino (CAM) – 4-3
