Story Links
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The No. 24 Virginia wrestling team holds ninth place after the first day of competition Monday at the UNCG Southern Scuffle, hosted by UNC Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center.
UVa currently stands ninth with 28.5 points. Cal State Bakersfield leads the field with 44.5 points, while Virginia Tech is second with 44 points. No. 3 Cornell (43.5), Kent State (41.5) and No. 17 Edinboro (40.5) are third through fifth, respectively. The tournament concludes Tuesday, with the quarterfinal and wrestleback matches beginning at 9 a.m.
UVa, without four starters because of injury or illness, advanced five of its 11 competing wrestlers to the quarterfinals. Ross Gitomer (Jr, Flemington, N.J.), Nick Nelson (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.), 20th-ranked Jedd Moore (Fr., Mount Vernon, Ohio), 11th-ranked Chris Henrich (So., Lansdale, Pa.) and 15th-ranked Brent Jones (Jr., Burke, Va.) all advanced to the final eight at 125, 141, 157, 174 and 197 pounds, respectively.
Gitomer, seeded seventh at 125, earned decisions over Kent State’s Troy Opfer and Navy’s Allan Stein, to reach the quarterfinals. He will match up with Boston University’s Fred Santaite Tuesday morning.
Nelson knocked off seventh-seeded Tim Harner of Liberty, 5-0, in the second round. He is slated to face second-seeded Drew Lashaway of Kent State in the quarterfinals. Moore, seeded third at 157, posted two easy wins Monday and will wrestle Frankie McGlaughlin of George Mason in the quarterfinals.
Henrich, seeded third in the tournament, ran his record to 18-0 this season with two major decisions. He will face Ohio’s Jacob Ison, seeded seventh in the tournament and ranked 19th nationally, in the quarterfinals.
Jones, seeded sixth, earned an 8-4 decision over Gardner-Webb’s Travis Porter in the first round, then needed just 1:16 to pin Old Dominion’s Jake Kahnke in the second round. The pin was Jones’ 29th career fall, giving him sole possession of second place in UVa history. He needs five more falls to tie former Cavalier and current UVa assistant coach Scott Moore for the top spot. Jones faces third-seeded John Arnone of Cornell in the quarters.
The Cavaliers are competing without four starters because of injury or illness Matt Bonson (Fr., Lewistown, Ohio) at 133 pounds, Mike Sewell (Sr., Bothell, Wash.) at 165, eighth-ranked Rocco Caponi (Sr., Uniontown, Ohio) at 184 and Jack Danilkowicz (Jr., Green Oaks, Ill.) at heavyweight.