Former Minnesota All-American wrestler Gerald Carr has stood on the podium
His son, UTC junior Bryce Carr has a goal of standing on that same podium.
“Bryce can be an All-American this year and stand on that podium,” said Gerald who was sixth in 1996 for the Golden Gophers. “He just needs to maintain that killer instinct and continue to dictate the pace of the matches.”
Yet before the younger Carr can match his dad’s NCAA D-I medal at the NCAA tournament in St. Louis (top eight finishers in each weight class are All-Americans), he needs to showcase his talents during the Southern Scuffle January 1-2 in McKenzie Arena against some of the best 184 pounders in the nation.
And before that …
Today’s Match: No.24 UTC host UVa at Maclellan Gym at 2 p.m. and Carr will face a formidable opponent in sophomore Will Schany. UVa has the advantage in the first five weights while the Mocs will be favored in the final five and the Blue and Gold need another win or two and bonus points to register the victory. Mocs heavyweight Jared Johnson (7-1 this season) clinched the 19-18 win with a fall in the final match of the day in last year’s meeting in Charlottesville.
“I am self-motivated and see my technique, speed and quickness as my strengths,” said Carr who is 6-1 on the season and carries a 3.0 grade point average in the classroom..
"I am glad a chose to attend UTC atter junior college. I felt like I was at home here on my recruiting visit."
In contrast, his dad relied on his physical strength to win matches in high school and the technique came later.
“I grew up on a farm in Georgia so hard work was a given for members of my family,” the older Carr stated who won three state high school championships at West Laurens High School, including 101 straight wins and was a two-time all-state linebacker in football.
Gerald’s next step was UTC and he quickly knew he had to learn technique in the practice room to complement his physical strength.
He won a Southern Conference title as a freshman in 1993, earned SoCon freshman of the year honors, then was an NCAA junior college national champ followed by his All-American honors at Minnesota.
“The year I was a national juco champ we tied Garden City (Okla.) for the team title and their coach was Mark Leen who late became the UTC coach,” Gerald stated.
The elder Carr is not the only family member with wrestling medals as Bryce was a state champ also at West Laurens and a juco national champ at Darton JC (Ga.) last year.
Thanks to his mother pushing him to get involved in the sport, the younger Carr was a kids state champ in the fourth grade and won a couple of youth national title before high school.
UTC coach Heath Eslinger knows that the Mocs need to have wrestlers earn that All-American level and bring home medals (stand on the podium) to have the program improve on the national level.
“We have a few guys on this year’s team who can stand on that podium in St. Louis in March and Bryce is one of them.
“The formula for success is a math equation – focus + energy over time equals results and Bryce has all three components to make that formula work. He continues to get better each day. Consistency is the key.”
CHATTANOOGA MOCS PROBABLE LINEUP
125: Alonzo Allen (So. – 2-5)
133: Chris Debien (So. – 5-2)
141: Roman Boylen (So. – 4-2)
149: Dylanger Potter (Fr. – 5-2)
157: Trey Watson (So. – 3-5)/Brandon Filosi (Fr. – 0-0)
165: Justin Lampe (Jr. – 5-2)
174: Sean Mappes (Sr. – 6-3)
184: Bryce Carr (Jr. – 6-1)
197: Clay Dent (Sr. – 2-3)
285: Jared Johnson (Sr. – 7-1)
Virginia Cavaliers Probable Lineup
125: No. 15 Jack Mueller (Sr. – 8-0)
133: Will Mason (Sr. – 4-3)
141: No. 10 George DiCamillo (Sr. – 5-0)
149: Sam Krivus (Fr. – 5-3)
157: No. 17 Andrew Atkinson (Jr. – 7-2)
165: Cam Arrell (Fr. – 1-1)
174: Ray Bethea (Sr. – 11-5)
184: Will Schany (So. – 4-5)
197: Chance McClure (So. – 3-4)
285: Chuck Boddy (Fr. – 7-5) or Tyler Love (Fr. - 5-2)
UTC Wrestling Accomplishments - The Heath Eslinger Era
GPA
Fall 2009: 2.417
Spring 2010: 2.671
Fall 2010: 2.809
Spring 2011: 2.695
Fall 2011: 2.766
Spring 2012: 2.700
Fall 2012: 2.900
Spring 2013: 2.975
Fall 2013: 2.840
Spring 2014: 2.897
Fall 2014: 2.962
Spring 2015: 2.895
Fall 2015: 3.041
Spring 2016: 3.154
APR
2009-2010: 949
2010-2011: 946
2011-2012: 946
2012-2013: 960
2013-2014: 955
2014-2015: 964
NWCA Academic All-Americans:
NWCA Academic Top finishes: 4x UTC has finished in the top 15 of all Division I schools
Athletic Accomplishments in Southern Conference: 57-2 Conference Record/13 regular season and tournament championships
7-0 Against Gardner Webb
5-2 Against App State
7-0 Against the Citadel
5-0 Against Campbell
4-0 Against SIUE
7-0 Against VMI
3 Regular Season Top 25 Finishes
Wins over Ranked Opponents
#12 Stanford
#25 Kent State
#15 Stanford
#19 Virginia
#20 Oklahoma
Notable Wins over Power 5
1-0 Against Northern Iowa
3-1 Against Ohio University
2-1 Against Arizona State
1-0 Against Michigan State
Behind the Scenes
· 2 former athletes currently on Staff
· 2 former assistant coaches are now college Head Coaches
· Increased Salary for every position
· Incredible Camp System
· Acquired the Southern Scuffle
· Leader amongst all Division I coaches and looked up to by peers
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net