The dominance by the nation’s No.1 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys is evident.
Looking for their first Southern Scuffle title, the Cowboys of coach John Smith have a wrestler in each of the 10 weight class semifinals (semis start today at noon) and lead second place Missouri by 45.5 points (116-70.5).
Missouri, Minnesota and Northern Iowa are next each with four wrestlers in the semis.
Top Five Teams: Oklahoma State leads the way in the 14th annual event sponsored by Compound Clothing with 116 points, followed by No. 6 Missouri (70.5), No. 9 Lehigh (69.5), No. 18 Northern Iowa (68.5) and No. 10 Minnesota (68). UTC is knotted with fellow Southern Conference foes Appalachian State and Gardner-Webb with 24.5 points.
Today’s Schedule - McKenzie Arena
10 a.m. – fifth round of consolation matches … Noon – championship semifinals
7 p.m. – Championship Finals and medal matches for 3rd, 5th and 7th.
Tickets: Tickets are available at the gate or online on GoMocs.com. Don't forget that you can also watch all of the action through Flowrestling links links on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.
Freshman From Penn State: At 174, Mark Hall - a true freshman and wresting unattached - is unseeded - but no ordinary unseeded wrestler
The six-time Minnesota high school state champ is also the defending world junior champion and beat the Scuffle's top seed Casey Kent (Penn) 9-4 in the quarters. Hall faces Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) in today's semis (noon) .' Preisch is ranked No.14 in the nation and undefeated.
The winner faces the winner of the other semi - Ethan Ramos (North Carolina) vs No.2 Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma State) in tonight's finals
UTC Has Four in Consolations:
Senior Jared Johnson and junior Bryce Carr both advanced to the quarterfinals in the main draw. Carr lost to Northern Iowa's No. 14 Drew Foster in overtime, but he still advances to tomorrow's action 184 pounds.
Johnson also lost a tight one in the quarters, falling to Stanford's No. 8 Nathan Butler 3-2. He too is still alive in Monday's consolation brackets.
Mocs Alonzo Allen (125) and Sean Mappes (174) are also in the consolations.
Championship Semis:
125 Gabe Townsell (Stanford) vs Jack Mueller (Virginia)
125 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State) vs Ethan Lizak (Minnesota)
133 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) vs Mitchell Mckee (Minnesota)
133 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) vs Scott Parker (Lehigh)
141 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) vs George DiCamillo (Virginia)
141 Joey Ward (North Carolina) vs Joey McKenna (Stanford)
149 Lavion Mayes (Missouri) vs Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa)
149 Patricio Lugo (Edinboro) vs Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State)
157 Joe Smith (Oklahoma State) vs Andrew Atkinson (Virginia)
157 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) vs Joey Lavallee (Missouri)
165 Daniel Lewis (Missouri) vs Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa)
165 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State) vs Keilan Torres (Northern Colorado)
174 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)
174 Ethan Ramos (North Carolina) vs Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma State)
184 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs Hunter Gamble (Gardner Webb)
184 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa) vs Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State)
197 J'den Cox (Missouri) vs Frank Mattiace (Penn)
197 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota) vs Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State)
285 Austin Schafer (Oklahoma State) vs Jacob Kasper (Duke)
285 Nathan Butler (Stanford) vs Michael Kroells (Minnesota)
TEAM SCORES
1. Oklahoma State - 116
2. Missouri - 70.5
3. Lehigh - 69.5
4. Northern Iowa - 68.5
5. Minnesota - 68
6. Virginia - 46.5
7. Stanford - 44.5
8. North Carolina - 43.5
9. Cornell - 36.5
10. Edinboro - 33
11. Northern Colorado - 26
12. Appalachian State - 24.5
Chattanooga - 24.5
Gardner Webb - 24.5
15. Campbell - 22.5
Drexel - 22.5
17. Utah Valley - 21
18. Duke - 20.5
19. Navy - 18.5
20. Penn - 17
21. Air Force - 13.5
22. Cleveland State - 12
23. The Citadel - 5.5
Quotes by UTC Coach Heath Eslinger
"Bryce and Jared both had tough opponents," said head coach Heath Eslinger. "But the reason we wrestle in this tournament is to get battle-tested. Sometimes it doesn't workout in your favor and you hav to wake up the next day and do it again. We will get in here tomorrow morning and figure it out."
Senior Sean Mappes lost in the second round to Northern Iowa's 10th-ranked Taylor Lujan (8-1), but had two big wins to move into Day 2. His last victory came against Appalachian State's Nick Kee, the preseason pick in the SoCon at 174 pounds.
Kee had beaten Mappes twice last season, including in the finals at the SoCon Tournament. He looked like he was going to win again with a takedown in the final 20 seconds for a 4-2 lead today. However, Mappes pulled off the reversal going out of bounds with 11 seconds left to tie the match. Mappes held Kee down for the final moments of the third, and won it with a takedown in overtime.
"Huge for Mappes," stated Eslinger. "Any time you can beat a guy you haven't beaten before is always good. It was a good momentum builder for him."
Another bright spot for the Mocs was Sophomore Alonzo Allen's performance at 125. He came into the tournament with just one win in his last five outings, and was quickly knocked to the backdraw in a 5-1 loss to Duke's Trey Andrews. Allen recovered quickly and won his next two matches by major decisions.
That put him up against Utah Valley's Taylor Lamont. Allen was up 4-2, but gave up the lead late. With three seconds left in the match, he pulled off a slick reversal as both competitors went out of bounds. Allen stayed on top for the last three ticks of the clock and advanced to tomorrow's action with the 6-5 win.
"It was a big win for Alonzo," added Eslinger. "He showed some resilency and it is what we have been looking for with him. He found a way to win the match. Sometimes there is not a formula, you just have to find a way to win it."
Senior D.J. Franklin-Smith posted two wins at 197, along with freshman Dylanger Potter at 149.
"I thought Day 1 went well," continue Eslinger. "I am glad the quarterfinals are out of the way. I think tomorrow will be pretty neat down to four mats with the semis and finals highlighting everything."
UTC Wrestlers
125
Alonzo Allen
Trey Andrews (Duke) – L-D, 1-5
Josh Copeland (Duke) – W-MD, 14-2
Noah Baughman (Cornell) – W-MD, 15-4
Taylor Lamont (UVU) – W-D, 6-5
133
Chris Debien
No. 15 Mark Grey (Cornell) – L-MD, 5-13
Peter Russo (Stanford) – W-D, 9-2
Dylan Hyder (AFA) – L-D, 5-9
Jake Huffine
Krobin Meyers (Edinboro) – L-Tech Fall, 0-15
Marshall Brown (N.C. State) – W-D, 9-3
Nathan Boston (Campbell) – L-Fall (0:17)
141
Roman Boylen
Jared Price (Navy) – L-D, 3-9
Will Clark (N.C. State) – L-D, 4-6
149
Dylanger Potter
Michael Monica (Duke) – L-D, 2-3
Freddy Stroker (Minnesota) – W-Fall (0:44)
Miller Clark (App. St.) – W-MD, 8-1
Carson Brolsma (Minn.) – L-D, 6-12
Zach Shareef
Gerald McGinty (AFA) – L-D, 1-8
Ben Barton (Campbell) – L-Inj. Def.
165
Justin Lampe
Koy Wilkinson (UVU) – W-MD, 16-5
Cameron Harrell (UVA) – L-D, 3-9
John Vaughn (CSU) – L-D, 5-7
174
Sean Mappes
Lee Davis (N.C. State) – W-D, 3-2
No. 10 Taylor Lujan (UNI) – L-D, 1-8
Ebed Harrell (Drexel) – W-Tech. Fall, 18-3
Nick Kee (App. St.) – W-D, 6-4 (SV1)
184
Bryce Carr
Ville Heino (Campbell) – W-D, 12-5
No. 14 Drew Foster (UNI) – L-D, 4-6 (SV1)
Barrett Walthall
Dakota Geer (Edinboro) – L-D, 5-9
Alec Schenk (Duke) – L-D, 6-12
197
D.J. Franklin-Smith
No. 20 Ben Haas (Lehigh) – L-Tech. Fall, 1-16
Collin Kelly (CSU) – W-D, 9-3
Randall Diabe (App. St.) – W-D, 3-1
Tanner Orndorff (UVU) – L-D, 1-8
285
Jared Johnson
Thomas Ott (Navy) – W-Tech. Fall, 15-0
Ryan Streifel (Minn.) – W-D, 4-0
Craig Scott (Cornell) – W-Inj. Def.
No. 8 Nathan Butler (Stanford) – L-D, 2-3
Connor Tolley
Kerry Powers (Air Force) – L-D, 0-4
Chuck Boddy (UVA) – W-D, 4-2
Rylee Streifel (Minn.) – L-D, 2-10
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net