UTC Mocs logoNavy Classic finals involving UTCChampionship finals125 -- Paul Petrov (Bucknell) dec. Sean Boyle, 11-8; 149 -- Tywan Claxton (Ohio) major dec. Shawn Greevy, 12-4.Consolation finalsFor third133 -- Nick Soto tech. fall over Colton Rasche (Navy), 5;23; 141 -- Mike Pongracz dec. Noah Forrider (Ohio), 1-0; 174 -- Sean Mappes won by forfeit over McCoy Newberg.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team won the Navy Classic on Saturday in Annapolis, Md., and the Mocs did it without an individual champion.
"If there is a trophy, we left it. It's like raising your kids: The trophy is the process with all sorts of milestones," coach Heath Eslinger said. "It was a great day with a great, great team effort."
The winning celebration was tempered by the absence of Cory Mock, the team's nationally ranked 165-pounder who is serving an athletic department suspension.
UTC scored 108.5 points to beat runner-up Princeton by 2.5 points. Ohio was third with 105.5, Wisconsin fourth and West Virginia fifth with 84.5. The rest of the field was Kent State (80), Bucknell (61.5), Navy (59.5), Cleveland State (58), Brown (52), George Mason (40.5), The Citadel (35) and North Carolina (18).
The Mocs' two finalists were Sean Boyle at 125 and Shawn Greevy at 149. They had three third-place finishers in Nick Soto (133), Mike Pongracz (141) and Sean Mappes (174). John Lampe (184) added a fifth-place showing.
Mappes won his third-place match by forfeit over teammate McCoy Newberg, but the Mocs didn't get points for Newberg's fourth place.
"I really personally challenged Shawn in some areas, and he absolutely stepped up to the plate and hit a home run," Eslinger said. "I knew he was good enough to win the tournament. We all have barriers and I challenged him to push through those."
Heavyweight Jared Johnson didn't place, but he had a takedown at the buzzer in overtime that he didn't get.
"I'm excited to watch him grow," Eslinger said. "Sean Boyle looked good even though he lost in the finals. It was the best match I've seen in a while and certainly the most exciting match I've seen this year -- a lot of points scored and a lot of points prevented."
John Shrader (184) tweaked a hamstring in his second match and coaches decided to pull him.
The Mocs will be off until Dec. 12, when they'll host Purdue, and Eslinger plans to let the team go home for Thanksgiving but does have Sunday afternoon workouts on everybody's schedule.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.