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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The No. 24 Virginia wrestling team finished in seventh place Tuesday at the UNCG Southern Scuffle, hosted by UNC Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Despite competing without four starters because of injury or illness and losing starting 125-pounder Ross Gitomer (Jr., Flemington, N.J.) to an injury in the semifinals, Virginia scored 88 points with five Cavaliers placing.
“We did some great things today,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “Nick Nelson beat the 11th-ranked wrestler in the nation, Jedd Moore placed fourth as a true freshman, Brent Jones pinned a returning All-American and obviously Chris Henrich had a great performance. Considering we came to a tournament of this level with four starters out of the lineup, I am very pleased. It just shows the fight that this team has.”
Chris Henrich (So., Lansdale, Pa.), ranked 11th nationally and seeded third at 174 pounds in the tournament, took runner-up honors to Cornell’s Steve Anceravage in the title match. Both wrestlers came into the bout undefeated, and the match lived up to the billing, as it went to a sudden victory period before Anceravage, ranked fifth nationally and the top seed, pinned Henrich at the 7:30 mark. The loss to the reigning All-American dropped Henrich to 20-1 this season.
Henrich started the day with a win by injury default over No. 19 Jacob Ison of Ohio in the quarterfinals, then held a 3-0 lead over Hofstra’s Alton Lucas, ranked No. 7 nationally and the tournament’s No. 2 seed, in the semifinals when Lucas took an injury default.
Jedd Moore (Fr., Mount Vernon, Ohio), ranked 20th nationally, earned fourth place at 157 pounds. His lost in the semifinals to ninth-ranked Matt Moley of Bloomsburg. Moley was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, while Moore was the No. 3 seed.
Nick Nelson (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) took fourth place at 141 pounds. In the consolation semifinals, he posted a 5-2 win over 11th-ranked Chris Diaz of Virginia Tech, who was the tournament’s No. 1 seed at 141.
Brent Jones (Jr., Burke, Va.), ranked 15th nationally, took fifth place at 197 pounds. Seeded sixth, Jones pinned 2007 All-American Josh Arnone of Cornell, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, in the quarterfinals before getting knocked out of the championship bracket by 16th-ranked Brandon Halsey of Cal State Bakersfield in the semifinals. Jones earned an 8-4 win over No. 14 Joe Fagiano of Hofstra, the fourth seed, in the fifth-place match.
Gitomer took sixth place at 125 pounds. He won his quarterfinal match by injury default over Boston University’s Fred Santaite and held a late lead in the semifinals against Edinboro’s Kyle Fluke before suffering an injury and having to take a injury default in the match, as well as in his final two bouts.
No. 3 Cornell won the team title with 139 points, slipping past No. 17 Edinboro by five points on Anceravage’s win in the 174-pound championship.
The Cavaliers competed 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.
Virginia is off this weekend and returns to action Jan. 9-10 at the Virginia Duals in Hampton. Brackets for the event will be announced next week.
Final Standings (Top 10)
1. Cornell, 139
2. Edinboro, 134
3. Kent State, 126
4. Virginia Tech, 107.5
5. North Carolina, 104
6. Navy, 98
7. Virginia, 88
8. Hofstra, 80
9. Cal State Bakersfield, 79.5
10. NC State, 73.5
Virginia Placewinners
2. Chris Henrich, 174 pounds
4. Jedd Moore, 157 pounds
4. Nick Nelson, 141 pounds
5. Brent Jones, 197 pounds
6. Ross Gitomer, 125 pounds