Two Wrestlers Earn All-America Honors at FILA Junior Nationals

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. Virginia’s Chris Henrich (Fr., Lansdale, Pa.) and Shawn Harris (Fr., Cleveland, Ohio) each earned All-America honors at the FILA Junior National Championships, held last weekend in Las Vegas. Henrich placed third in the 79 KG/174-pound weight class, while Harris took fourth at 66 KG/145.5 pounds.

By placing in the top 6, Henrich and Harris will have the opportunity to compete in the 2008 FILA Junior World Team Trials May 23-24 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Virginia wrestlers have now earned eight All-America awards during the freestyle season after six took home All-America honors at the University Nationals two weeks ago.

Henrich earned his second national tournament placement in the last three weeks, as he also nabbed runner-up honors at University Nationals. Henrich posted a 5-1 record and defeated Josh Miller (6-0, 7-0), Mathew Riley (6-0, 7-0) and Nick Purdue (8-0, 0-1, 4-0) before losing to Penn’s Scott Giffin (0-1, 1-0, 3-5) in the semifinals. He then rebounded by winning his next two over Brandon Sitch (Minnesota) and Justin Zeerip (Michigan) to place third.

Harris went 5-2 on his way to placing fourth at a very tough weight class. Harris defeated Kody Pudil (Coe WC), John Cardenas, Brooks Kopsa (Iowa) and Brian Spangler (Penn) before losing in the semifinals to NCAA semifinalist and eventual champion Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska. Harris rebounded to defeat Elijah Nacita before losing to Mario Mason for third place. This weight class included multiple NCAA All-Americans and many future and current stars including Tyler Nauman, Jamal Parks, Zack Kemmerer, Luke Ashmore, Eric Medina, Corey Manson, Vincente Varela, Kevin Levalley, Mario Mason, Matt Kyler, and Kellen Russell.

Danny Gonsor (Fr., Cleveland, Ohio) also competed and advanced to the round of 12 at 70KG/154.25 lbs. He posted at 4-2 record and defeated Stephen Thain and Ashten Johnson before losing to Bryce Saddoris (Navy) in the quarterfinals. Gonsor came back to defeat Jarred Trulson and Shane Nay (Oregon State) before losing to fourth-place finisher Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh). Gonsor was one of the six UVa wrestlers to earn All-America honors two weeks ago at University Nationals.