BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State's wrestlers have participated in an intrasquad exhibition and competed individually at an out-of-state tournament.
On Saturday, the Mountaineers will make their dual meet debut, and the schedule features their first Southern Conference match of the 2017-18 season.
The Mountaineer Duals at Varsity Gym will have three matches, including an App State-Bloomsburg matchup at noon and an App State-Davidson matchup at 2 p.m. Bloomsburg and Davidson will face off at 10 a.m.
Forrest Przybysz,
Gavin Londoff,
Randall Diabe and
Irvin Enriquez are the returning starters from a 2016-17 team that set program records by going 13-3 overall and 7-0 en route to a SoCon championship.
JohnMark Bentley has a 79-55-1 record heading into his ninth year as App State's head coach.
"We're going to keep developing, and hopefully the young guys start coming into their own," Bentley said. "I think they've got to rise to the expectations. We're always expected to compete for championships, and that just comes with the territory."
Wrestling tickets can be purchased by calling the Appalachian State ticket office at
828-262-2079 or by going online to the
App State Ticket Central link. Davidson's visit is one of three SoCon matches at Varsity Gym, and the home schedule includes nonconference matches against No. 8 N.C. State (Dec. 10) and Duke (Feb. 8).
"We're trying to raise the level and accomplish that much more," Przybysz said. "This individual team we have right now hasn't accomplished anything yet because it's an all-new team. It's not the same team as last year. … We're trying to hold ourself to that same standard, and we're trying to continually raise the bar."
Przybysz's 22-12 record at 165 pounds last year included victories against Oregon State, North Carolina and Duke as well as a 5-2 record in SoCon dual meets. He has moved up to the 174-pound class this season.
Przybysz and
Taylor Jackson, who began his college career at Rutgers, are the only seniors on the roster.
"I'm trying to be a leader and lead by example and show these guys they just have to buy in and we'll be successful," Przybysz said.
Matt Zovistoski's 28-10 sophomore season at 149 pounds included a SoCon championship and two victories at the NCAA Championships, but Bentley plans to redshirt him this year with an eye on his development and a goal of putting him in position to have an even stronger final two years.
While Zovistoski will compete at tournaments as an unattached wrestler, the Mountaineers' starter at 149 pounds will be Londoff, who finished second at last weekend's Hokie Open in Roanoke, Va., by starting 4-0 before falling in the second tiebreak period of the championship match. An 11-win season at 157 pounds in 2016-17 was highlighted by victories in close team wins against North Carolina and Chattanooga.
Diabe, a junior at 197 pounds, is coming off an 18-win season that included a 7-2 finish with victories against Duke and Indiana before a third-place showing at the SoCon Championships. Enriquez's 15-win season at 141 pounds included two victories that led to a second-place finish at the SoCon Championships.
There's an opening at heavyweight, where 2016-17 senior
Denzel Dejournette received All-America recognition at the end of a 113-36 career, and sophomore
Cary Miller steps in after posting a 12-8 record last year. Eighteen of those matches were spread across four tournaments, and his 2-0 mark in dual meets included a SoCon victory against Davidson.
"Wrestling an All-American every day, you can only get better," Miller said. "I feel like I've improved leaps and bounds."
The other probable starters in App State's first dual meet of the 2017-18 season are freshman De'Andre Swinson-Barr (125 pounds), redshirt freshman Codi Russell (133), sophomore
Laken Cook (157), redshirt freshman
Thomas Flitz (165) and redshirt freshman
Alan Clothier (184).
Flitz placed fourth in his weight class at the Hokie Open, and the Mountaineers got a fifth-place result in the same division thanks to a 4-0 finishing run from junior
Angel Najar, who won five times and competed in three dual meets last season at 157 pounds. Clothier also placed fifth in his weight class at the Hokie Open, Cook won three matches in his class and Russell finished fourth in the freshman/sophomore division of his class.
Another newcomer, Central Missouri transfer Bradley Irwin, placed fourth at 141 pounds in Roanoke. The addition of Irwin and arrival of nine freshmen give the reigning SoCon champs a new look.
"We had a mini-camp over fall break, and our guys really responded well," Bentley said. "We got a lot better in those three days. Honestly, maybe a little bit better than I expected.
"We're still a young team, and we have a lot of new faces, but the training has been good so far. We just have to make sure we're consistent with our training, and it's all going to boil down to how we compete."
