UTC 21, OHIO UNIVERSITY 12
125--Nick Soto (UTC) won by forfeit; 133--Marvin Lopez (UTC) dec. Thomas McLaughlin, 7-1; 141--Dean Pavlou (UTC) dec. Kagan Squire, 6-1; 149--Andrew Romanchik (O) dec. Alex Hudson, 8-3; 157--Trey Stavrum (UTC) dec. Zach Rohr, 3-1; 165--Harrison Hightower (O) dec. John Lampe, 5-4; 174--Cody Walters (O) dec. Jake Young, 2-1, OT; 184--Robert Prigmore (UTC) dec. Ryan Garringer, 3-0; 197--Niko Brown (UTC) dec. Phillip Wellington, 2-1; 285--Jeremy Johnson (O) dec. Kevin Malone, 3-1.
UTC 37, ANDERSON UNIVERSITY 6
125--No. 14 Nick Soto (UTC) pinned Keenan Simmons, 0:43; 133--Zachary Hale (A) dec. Alex Ward, 4-3; 141--Austin Sams (UTC) major dec. Brandon Benitez, 15-5; 149--Dan Telhada (A) dec. Jared Presley, 6-1; 157--Trey Stavrum (UTC) major dec. Kevin Johnson, 18-5; 165--Sean Mappes (UTC) dec. Nicholas Giulliette, 4-0; 174--Jake Young (UTC) major dec. Jacob Allen, 10-0; 184--John Shrader (UTC) major dec. Zackery Farmer, 12-4; 197--Niko Brown (UTC) pinned Spencer Foucher, 3:54; 285--Caleb Denny (UTC) pinned Zachary Newton, 2:10.
VIRGINIA 26, UTC 9
125--Matthew Snyder (V) dec. Nick Soto, 6-1; 133--Joseph Spisak (V) dec. Marvin Lopez, 6-2; 141--Dean Pavlou (UTC) dec. David Wesley, 6-2; 149--Derek Valenti (V) dec. Alex Hudson, 7-3; 157--Jedd Moore (V) tech. fall over Trey Stavrum, 6:32; 165--Nicholas Sulzer (V) major dec. John Lampe, 24-10; 174--Jonathan Fausey (V) major dec. Jake Young, 12-4; 184--Stephen Doty (V) major dec. Robert Prigmore, 9-1; 197--Niko Brown (UTC) dec. Michael Salopek, 2-1, OT; 285--Kevin Malone (UTC) dec. Derek Papagianopoulos, 3-1.
Records: Virginia 3-0; UTC 2-1.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga came out of its first day of 2012-13 wrestling competition with a 2-1 record.
Competing at Charlottesville, Va., the Mocs defeated Ohio University 21-12 and beat Anderson University 37-6 before losing 26-9 to the host Virginia Cavaliers.
Senior Niko Brown was the only three-match winner for UTC and also got the Mocs' first pin of the season. Senior Dean Pavlou, who has dropped a weight class to 141 pounds, Nick Soto (125) and Trey Stavrum (157) each picked up two victories. But in the match Soto really wanted -- against Virginia's ninth-ranked Matthew Snyder -- the 14th-ranked Moc fell 6-1.
Brown might have had the best individual performance with a win over Virginia's Michael Salopek.
"It was in overtime and Salopek is a tough kid," Mocs coach Heath Eslinger said. "Soto had a good match against Snyder. ... If that's who we wrestle in the round of 12 [at the NCAA tournament] for All-America, I'll take it."
The Mocs, who'll probably have 25 wrestlers in today's Hokie Open at Virginia Tech, wrestled a lot of those guys Saturday.
"It was educational in that we figured out some things we need to do and work on," Eslinger said.
Freshman 133-pounder Marvin Lopez began his Mocs career with a win, "and he had an opportunity to win his match against Virginia," Eslinger said.
Kevin Malone (285) had a big pin against Virginia and wrestled Ohio All-American Jeremy Johnson close, losing to the ninth-ranked heavyweight 3-1.
The toughest day for a Moc probably belonged to 174-pound Jake Young, who lost two of his three matches -- one of those to Virginia's eighth-ranked Jonathan Fausey.
"You hate it for Jake because he's so used to winning, but he hasn't wrestled in almost two and a half years," Eslinger said.
Ward Gossett is an assistant sports editor and writer for the Times Free Press. Ward has a long history in Chattanooga journalism. He actually wrote a bylined story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press as a third-grader. He Began working part-time there in 1968 and was hired full time in 1970. Ward now covers high school athletics, primarily football, wrestling and baseball and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Over a 40-year career, he has covered ...
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