When he and his team left for Davidson College and the Southern Conference wrestling championships, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Heath Eslinger could have been depressed. He wasn’t despite having suspended three starters just two days before.
While those suspensions may cost the team in some ways, Eslinger remained optimistic on the eve of the one-day event.
“It’s a little bit tougher,” he said after Friday’s seeding meeting. “We have to live up to our seeds. If we can exceed our seeds in one or two spots, we’ll be OK.”
Eslinger suspended Brandon Wright (165 pounds), Jake Young (174) and Ben Johnson (141) on Wednesday for violating team rules, although he said they had only “minor infractions.” Wright was a sure No. 1 seed and Young a solid No. 2.
Eslinger replaced the three with Jeremy Sandoval (141), Bond Davis (165) and Alex Hudson (174), and each was accorded a No. 6 seed in the six-team tournament.
“We’re OK. Those are not bad spots to be because it puts us on the side with the No. 2 seed rather than the No. 1,” Eslinger said.
The Mocs’ No. 1 seeds are Bucky Johnson (125), Josh Statum (133), Josh Condon (157) and Niko Brown (197), and No. 2 seeds are Dean Pavlou (149) and Tom Minwell (285). Their lone No. 3 seed is Jason McCroskey (184).
Davis and Hudson have wrestled with the team perviously, but today’s tournament represents the first varsity outing for Sandoval, a true freshman who had been destined for a redshirt season. However, Eslinger said he had not seen any “deer in the headlight looks” from his youngster.
“Our expectation is for him to win,” Eslinger said. “He’s in a weight class where there is a lot of parity. Although this is his first varsity appearance, he has wrestled a lot of matches.”
Eslinger has drilled it into the Mocs’ heads that the conference tournament is a steppingstone toward bigger and better things (the NCAA tournament) and that if they want to get into that tournament they need to win today at Davidson. However, he still wants that tournament championship.
“If we’re in a tournament, we want to win it, and we’re putting our singlets on to do just that,” he said.
The Mocs’ openers
125 — Bucky Johnson vs. winner of John Pope (VMI)-Eric Chandler (UNC Greensboro)
133 — Josh Statum vs. winner of Luke Todd (VMI)-Jordan Dix (Citadel)
141 — Jeremy Sandoval vs. Nick LaFebre (Citadel)
149 — Dean Pavlou vs. winner of Carl Sandercock (Davidson)-Derek Royster (Citadel)
157 — Josh Condon vs. winner of Joe Munno (VMI)-Chip Powell (Appalachian)
165 — Bond Davis vs. Victor Hojilla (UNC Greensboro)
174 — Alex Hudson vs. Carter Downs (Appalachian)
184 — Jason McCroskey vs. Ike Crews (Davidson)
197 — Niko Brown vs. winner of Justin Sparrow (Citadel)-John Dommert (VMI)
285 — Tom Minwell vs. winner of Odie Delaney (Citadel)-Charlie Wolff (Davidson)