Penn State leads Southern Scuffle; two Mocs in quarters

Navy assistant wrestling coach Cody Cleveland, center, instructs 184-pound wrestler Robert Mannier under the watchful eye of head coach Joel Sharratt, right, Friday during the Southern Scuffle wrestling tournament at McKenzie Arena. Cleveland is a former McCallie wrestler.
Navy assistant wrestling coach Cody Cleveland, center, instructs 184-pound wrestler Robert Mannier under the watchful eye of head coach Joel Sharratt, right, Friday during the Southern Scuffle wrestling tournament at McKenzie Arena. Cleveland is a former McCallie wrestler.

MOCS IN THE SCUFFLE

Championship RoundsRound 1125 – Jacob Fontanez (Army) dec. Alonzo Allen, 9-5; 141 – Mike Pongracz dec. Jon Meele (Lehigh), 6-2; 149 – Gary Dinmore (Penn State) major dec. Roman Boylen, 10-1; Timmy Box (N. Colorado) dec. Jacob Murphy, 9-3; 165 – Connor Flynn (West Va.) dec. Dominic Lampe, 9-7; 174 – Justin Lampe dec. Nicholas Elmer (Drexel), 9-5; 184 – McCoy Newbery major dec. Broc Berge (Minn.), 11-0; 197 – D.J. Smith dec. Nate Shaw (Wyoming), 3-2.Round 2125 – Cody Minnick dec. Tanner Shoap (Drexel), 2-0; 133 – Franco Ferraina (Drexel) dec. Cody Hill, 7-3; 141 – Mike Pongracz dec. Kyle Noonan (Central Michigan, 4-2); 149 – T.J. Miller (Virginia) dec. Zach Shareef, 8-3 SV1; 157 – Kamaal Shakur dec. Drew Daniels (Navy), 11-5; 174 – Casey Kent (Penn) dec. Barrett Walthall, 10-4; Bryce Carr dec. Brian Dorsey (Duke), 4-3; Fox Baldwin (Va.) pinned Sean Mappes, 1:56; 184 – John Lampe dec. Samson Imonode (Army), 7-5; Mathew miller (Navy) pinned McCoy Newberg, 1:33; 197 – Scottie Boykin dec. Scott Marmoll (North Carolina), 6-3; Vincent pickett (Edinboro) major dec. D.J. Smith, 12-0; 285 – Jared Johnson dec. Marcus Malecek, 4-1.Round of 16125 – Ethan Lizak (Minn.) pinned Cody Minnick, 0:44; 141 – Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) dec. Mike Pongracz, 6-5; 157 – Kamaal Shakur dec. Andrew Atkinson (Virginia), 3-2 SV1; 174 – Ethan Ramos (North Carolina) major dec. Bryce Carr, 10-2; 184 – Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State) dec. John Lampe, 5-2; 197 – Parker Hines (Air Force) dec. Scottie Boykin, 10-8 SV1; 285 – Jared Johnson pinned Joseph Bexley (Citadel), 1:35.Consolation RoundsRound 2125 – Connor Schram (Stanford) dec. Alonzo Allen, 8-5; 149 – Cole Mendenhall (Wyoming) major dec. Zach Shareef, 18-7; Andrew Webb dec. Jensen Lorea (Edinboro), 10-4; Roman Boylen tech. fall over Benjamin Polkowske (Northern Colorado), 16-0; Chandler Pyke (N.C. State) won by injury default over Jacob Murphy; 165 – Travis Berridge (Cal Poly) pinned Dominic Lampe, 4:30; 285 – Marcus Malecek (Air Force) dec. Connor Tolley, 10-4.Round 3133 – Jason Delacruz (Cal Poly) pinned Cody Hill, 2:17; 149 – Roman Boylen dec. Andrew Webb, 12-10; 174 – Barrett Walthall dec. Nicholas Elmer (Drexel), 5-4; Sean Mappes tech. fall over Sohrab Movahedi (Cal Poly), 19-0; Alec Schenk (Duke) pinned Justin Lampe, 3:34; 184 – Zach Nevills (Stanford) pinned McCoy Newberg, 3:28.

TEAM SCORES

1. Penn State 47.5; 2. Oklahoma State 44.5; 3. Cornell 39;, 4. Lehigh 36.5; 5. North Carolina 31.5; T6. Minnesota, West Virginia 30.5; T8. Edinboro, Virginia, Wyoming 27; T11. Penn, Stanford 25.5; 13. Central Michigan 25; 14. Appalachian State 22.5; 15. Air Force 20; T16. UTC, Drexel 19.5; T18. Army, Duke 19; 20. Navy 18.5; 21. Gardner-Webb 16.5; 22. Michigan State 16; 23. Northern Colorado 14; 24. Cal Poly 13.5; 25. The Citadel 13; 26. Campbell 12; 27. Cleveland State 11; 28. Michigan 8.

There were no major surprises Friday as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Southern Scuffle got underway.

After the first day and three rounds in both championship and consolation competition at McKenzie Arena, five-time defending champion Penn State was atop the field of college wrestling powers with 47.5 points.

But the Nittany Lions, No. 1 in the latest NWCA poll, were just three points ahead of perennial threat Oklahoma State, currently the nation's seventh-ranked team. Cornell is in third place with 39 points, Lehigh fourth with 36.5 and North Carolina fifth with 31.5.

Minnesota and West Virginia were tied for sixth with 30.5 points, and Edinboro, Virginia and Wyoming were knotted for eighth with 27.

The Southern Conference's Appalachian State had 22.5 points, and the host Mocs, another SoCon program, had 19.5. The Mountaineers were 14th and the Mocs tied with Drexel for 16th among 28 teams at the tournament.

"It was just some great wrestling today," UTC coach Heath Eslinger said in a release. "From the first whistle, there was a lot of great wrestling. It's a game of inches when the competition is at this level. You've got to win those close matches. We won some in some places and we lost some in some places, but we need to make sure that we're winning more than losing."

The host Mocs will have two wrestlers in competition early this morning. When the tournament resumes at 9 a.m. with quarterfinal matches, UTC's Kamaal Shakur (157 pounds) and Jared Johnson (285) will be competing for berths in the championship semifinals.

After a first-round bye Friday, Shakur posted an 11-5 decision over Navy's Drew Daniels and a sudden-victory decision, 3-2, over Virginia's Andrew Atkinson to improve to 15-2 this season. He has won 13 in a row.

Johnson also received a first-round bye before scoring a 4-1 decision over Air Force's Marcus Malecek and a pin in 1:35 of The Citadel's Joseph Bexley.

"Kamaal Shakur looked really good," Eslinger said. "He's learning his wrestling, and we have a good opportunity in front of us tomorrow wrestling a really good guy. Jared Johnson looked really good, too."

Johnson, now 12-1 for the season, was seeded sixth entering the tournament, while Shakur was not seeded. They're among nine UTC wrestlers not eliminated on the opening day who are still in contention for place finishes.

The tournament will continue throughout today, culminating in medal round matches that commence at 7 p.m.

More than 2,600 fans attended the first day of competition.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter.com @wardgossett.

Upcoming Events