Chattanooga Mocs junior Brayden Palmer had a January to remember on the mat. His efforts leading the wrestling program earned Southern Conference Wrestler of the Month honors.
Palmer went 7-1 taking the mat eight times in 21 days. A large part of that was five exceptional efforts over the opening two days of the year at the Southern Scuffle.
He roared through the 133 bracket dispatching foes from Maryland and North Dakota State before ranked wins over Iowa State and Minnesota.
The latter was a first period pin over No. 21 Aaron Nagao (top 15 now in the NCAA Coaches Rankings) sending him to the championships match. That one ended his 11-match win streak in the Scuffle losing a hard-fought 7-3 decision then second-ranked (now No. 1) Daton Fix of Oklahoma State.
Palmer followed that with three straight dual wins before getting a well-earned rest last weekend during the Mocs wins at Presbyterian and The Citadel.
"Brayden took advantage of his opportunities and beat some really good guys (in January)," Coach Kyle Ruschell shared. "He continues to build his resume for March. We've learned a couple things, even just after the Scuffle. Guys are kind of slowing matches down, keeping them close. So, we got to find different ways to score and find ways to get on top.
"Because when Brayden's on top, he's deadly. We're working on that stuff to open up matches, so he just can continue to get more and more dangerous as we go."
Brayden and the Mocs are back in action Sunday at No. 19 Appalachian State. It’s a battle with first-place on the line with the UTC, the Mountaineers and Campbell all tied at 4-0.