The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wresting team scored two wins on Day 1 of the NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., Friday. Junior Bryce Carr posted an opening round victory at 184 pounds, while sophomore Chris Debien (133) won in preliminary consolation action. Senior Jared Johnson (285) also competed at heavyweight Thursday.
Carr just missed a second round upset of Oklahoma State's No. 4 seed Nolan Boyd, falling 3-2 in overtime. He is the lone Moc still alive in the consolation bracket.
"We believed Bryce was capable of knocking off the best guys and we were close to making it happen," stated UTC head coach Heath Eslinger. "In this tournament, you have to earn every single victory and no one is going to give you anything. He has a chance ot come back tomorrow and accomplish what he came here to do."
NCAA Championships – Thursday, March 16 – Scottrade Center – St. Louis, Mo.
133
First Round - No. 5 Stevan Micic (Michigan) def. Chris Debien (UTC) – 9-3 Dec.
Preliminary Consolation - Chris Debien (UTC) def. Anthony Tutolo (Kent State) - 3-2 Dec. (TB2)
184
First Round – No. 13 Bryce Carr (UTC) def. Samson Imonode (Army) – 4-3 Dec.
Second Round - No. 4 Nolan Boyd (OKST) def. No. 13 Bryce Carr (UTC) - 3-2 Dec. (TB2)
285
Conan Jennings (NW) def. No. 11 Jared Johnson (UTC) – Dec. 4-0
Jere Heino (Campbell) def. No. 11 Jared Johnson (UTC) - Dec. 5-2
Session I
Debien opened with a tough draw against Michigan's fifth seeded Stevan Micic. These two met once during their prep careers, with Micic earning a tech fall. Micic jumped ahead with a quick takedown, but Debien escaped before riding time built up.
They entered the second period with the same 2-1 score as Micic chose down. He escaped and scored another takedown late in the period. Sophomore Chris Debien.
Trailing 5-1 heading into the third, Debien chose down and tried to mount a comeback. He quickly escaped, but gave up another takedown and two back points before escaping as time expired.
Up next for Debien is Kent State's Anthony Tutolo in the preliminary consolation round this evening. These two met in the dual on Dec. 18 with Tutolo winning 6-3.
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Carr, the 13th seed at 184 pounds, took on Samson Imonode from Army in his first match. He posted a takedown in the first period, the only one of the match for either competitor.
Imonode chose bottom to start the second. Carr built up 47 seconds of riding time before Imonode escaped to tie the score at 2-2.
Carr chose down to start the third, but quickly escaped. There were a series of stalling calls in the closing minutes of the match, resulting in penalty points for both competitors. Carr eventually won 4-3.
Up next for Carr is Oklahoma State's No. 4 seed Nolan Boyd. Boyd finished second at the Southern Scuffle in January. Carr was third, but these two did not face each other.
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Johnson, the No. 11 seed at heavyweight, took on Northwestern's Conan Jennings in his first match.
After no score in the first period, Johnson chose down. He rode Jennings for just over a minute before getting reversed. Johnson fought off back points at the buzzer to give himself a chance in the third.
Senior Jared Johnson.Trailing 2-0, Johnson chose neutral and quickly got in on a shot. He could not finish it, but draw a stalling call on Jennings with another shot. Unfortunately, Jennings turned the table on Johnson's next shot and finished off a 4-0 win.
He will face a familiar foe this evening in Campbell's Jere Heino. Heino won both meetings between the two this season.
Session II
Debien started off in a pig-tail match in the consolation round. He faced Kent State's Anthony Tutolo who beat him 6-3 in the dual on Dec. 18.
There was a lot of action, but very little scoring early in this one. At the end of regulation, both had an escape and the score was locked at 1-1. The first overtime was much like the first three periods, so it went to tiebreakers.
Tutolo chose down and quickly escaped. Debien went on bottom in the second tiebreaker and slipped underneath for a nice reversal. He rode out Tutolo for the final 24 seconds for the win.
Unfortunately for Debien, his tournament ended in the next match when he was pinned in the first period by Michigan State's Austin Eicher.
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Carr had a tall order in Oklahoma State's No. 4 Nolan Boyd in the second round. He looked up to the task throughout the match, scoring an early takedown. He fought off two from Boyd in the first period and took a 2-1 lead after the first three minutes.
Boyd chose down in the second and Carr rode him for 1:06 before he escaped. Carr went down in the third and looked like he had an escape on a scramble out of bounds that wasn't called. The Mocs used their only challenge of the tournament on the close action, but the review showed that Boyd kept control.
Boyd rode Carr out the rest of the period, sending it to overtime tied at 2-2. There was no score in the first OT and Boyd again rode Carr out in the first tiebreaker.
Boyd quickly escaped in the second tiebreaker for a 3-2 lead, but Carr looked like he scored the winning takedown at the buzzer. However, the Mocs could not contest the result because they were out of challenges.
Carr moves to 26-5 on the year and faces Rutgers Nicholas Gravina in tomorrow's consolation action. All five of Carr's losses this season have been in overtime or by a single point.
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Johnson took on a familiar foe in the consos in Campbell's Jere Heino. Johnson won last year's meeting between the two, but Hieno won twice this year. That included a major decision in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.
After a scoreless first Heino chose down in the second. He quickly escaped and went up 3-0 with a takedown on a scramble. Johnson escaped, but Heino scored another takedown before the end of the period and led 5-2 heading into the third.
Johnson managed to escape, but Heino held him off for the 5-2 win.
Johnson ends his career as a three-time NCAA qualifier and already has a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He went 26-9 in 2016-17 while working on his M.B.A. Johnson finished with an 83-31 career record, just four wins shy of the top-10 all-time at UTC.