There are now three straight Southern Conference wrestling championships for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Mocs saw to that Sunday, winning 31-6 over host Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Although the result improved Heath Eslinger’s SoCon record to 36-1 as UTC’s coach, he saw it as little more than another steppingstone for the program.
“It’s good. We want to win the conference every year. I don’t think it’s the ultimate, but it’s one of the goals that we want to accomplish every year,” Eslinger said.
He now is within three wins of tying Andy Nardo (1953-68) for second on the UTC coaches’ all-time wins list, and he tied Jim Morgan for most SoCon titles with six. Eslinger has an overall record of 74-43 as the Mocs’ boss.
UTC has won 10 of the last 11 regular-season league championships and now will turn to its attention to preparations for the Southern Conference tournament on March 7 in Asheville, N.C. That is yet another steppingstone toward the ultimate goals of NCAA qualifiers and one of the few rungs that have eluded the coach — an All-American.
“I think now our attention turns from team to individuals. Really now is the team to dial in individually to win matches at the NCAA tournament,” Eslinger said.
UTC split two Sunday matches that were key for SoCon tournament seeding purposes with Mike Pongracz getting a 5-4 decision over Angelo Silvestro at 141 pounds and Sean Mappes dropping a 6-4 decision to the Cougars’ Jake Residori at 174.
“That was a huge win for Residori because he’s 6-1 in the SoCon and has a good shot of being a No. 1 seed at the conference tournament,” said SIUE coach Jeremy Spates.
Of Pongracz’s win, Eslinger said, “Great job by him — probably gave him the conference No. 1 seed.”
While it hadn’t been considered a pivotal match, UTC heavyweight Jared Johnson suffered only his seventh loss of the season, 4-2 in overtime to SIUE’s Chris Johnson, who entered the meet with a 17-16 record.
“Tough loss. Again my quote last week was about games of inches, and Jared was a little short,” Eslinger said. “As a coach you evaluate total bodies of work, and I think we need to make sure he’s fresh. He’ll be ready.”
On the positive side, Sean Boyle (125) improved his win streak to 10 with a second-period technical fall, Shawn Greevy (149) recorded an early-third-period pin and Austin Sams and John Shrader won by major decisions. Shrader, who has been in and out of the lineup while sharing time with McCoy Newberg, posted his fifth straight win.
Nick Soto, rebounding from a loss at No. 1 Iowa, moved within a win of UTC’s top five all-time winners. Soto, now 111-36, needs one win to tie Charlie Buckshaw (1986-89).
* At the NWCA national duals, Missouri improved to 24-0 with an 18-12 finals victory over top-ranked and previously undefeated Iowa.
* Former Moc Javier Maldonado (2004-08) has been hired to start a wrestling program at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla. He has most recently been at Osceola High in Kissimmee, Fla., serving as an assistant coach. Maldonado was a three-time NCAA qualifier for the Mocs and earned NWCA Academic All-America honors three times.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.
UTC 31, SIUE 6
125–Sean Boyle (UTC) tech. fall over Nathan Day, 4:57; 133–Nick Soto (UTC) dec. Dakota Leach, 9-4; 141–Mike Pongracz (UTC) dec. Angelo Silvestro, 5-4; 149–Shawn Greevy (UTC) pinned Karsten Van Velsor, 5:38; 157–Austin Sams (UTC) major dec. Clayton Bass, 14-3; 165–Justin Lampe (UTC) dec. Connor McMahon, 13-10; 174–Jake Residori (SIUE) dec. Sean Mappes, 6-4; 184–John Shrader (UTC) major dec. Derek Nagel, 12-4; 197–Scottie Boykin (UTC) dec. Jake Tindle, 10-5; Hwt–Chris Johnson (SIUE) dec. Jared Johnson 4-2, SV2.
Records: Chattanooga 13-6, 7-0 SoCon; SIUE 5-18, 2-5.