The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga finished third in the Southern Conference wrestling tournament Sunday in Boone, North Carolina, well behind champion Campbell and runner-up Appalachian State.
Junior Chris Debien was the Mocs’ lone individual champion, taking home the title at 133 pounds. UTC had three runners-up: senior Alonzo Allen at 125, freshman Tanner Smith at 149 and junior Rodney Jones at 197.
Debien, Smith and Jones qualified for the NCAA tournament. The league had two allocations at 149, which allowed Smith to advance beyond SoCon competition, while Jones won a match for true second place, and with two bids allocated at his weight class, he also made it.
Jake Huffine (133), Ryan Resnick (157) and Dominic Lame (184) earned third-place finishes for UTC, which finished with 62 team points. Campbell scored 95 and Appalachian State 92.5, with the Mocs followed by The Citadel (42.5), Gardner-Webb (23.5), Davidson (22.5) and Virginia Military Institute (17).
Debien, the top seed at 141, had a first-round bye before edging past Gardner-Webb’s Blake Mulkey, 3-2. In the finals, Appalachian State’s Irvin Enriquez led 2-0 early, but an escape, a takedown and two backpoints gave Debien a lead he never relinquished. It is his second career SoCon title.