PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- Appalachian State University wrestling (3-0) placed three wrestlers in the top five at the annual Keystone Classic held in the historical Palestra on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, Pa.
Redshirt junior Austin Trotman had the best day on the mat for the Mountaineers in the 184-pound weight class. Trotman earned a number-two seed entering the competition. The reigning-SoCon Wrestler of the Year tallied a technical fall against Edinboro's Kenneth Massey in his opening round and then earned two straight major decisions against Harrison Cook of Penn, 10-2 and Northwestern's Aaron Jones, 11-3 to set up a final with the number one-seed Scott Giffin of Penn.
Trotman was down 3-0 entering the final set and got on the board with an escape, but was taken down. He then responded with an escape and takedown of his own to tighten the gap to 5-4. Trotman allowed Giffin to escape again and Giffin claimed the decision over Trotman, 6-4 to give him the 184 title.
Junior Kyle Blevins also had a good day as he earned decisions in two close matches. In Blevins' first outing, he defeated Frank Miele of Rider, 4-1 and earned a decision over Boston's Kyle Czarnecki, 3-0. After rattling off back-to-back decisions, Blevins' was stopped by Rider's Jim Resnick, 7-5, sending him into the consolation round. In his first match of the consolation round, Blevins took care of Edinboro's Matthew Liard, earning a 3-1 decision. Blevins then moved on to American's Bubby Graham, where he was defeated 6-1, notching him fourth place in 165.
Sophomore Tony Gravely also placed for the Mountaineers in the competition. Gravely earned a first-round bye, which set up a second-round bout with Billy Watterson of Brown. Gravely scored back-to-back major decisions against Watterson, 14-4 and then took care of Liberty's Joel Stafford, 12-2. In his third match, Gravely ran into Princeton's Garrett Frey, who defeated him 11-4, sending Gravely to the consolation round. In the consolation round, Gravely lost his match to Thomas Williams of American, 3-0, but was awarded another match with Rider's Chuck Zeisloft. In the close match, Gravely earned the decision over Zeisloft, 4-3, to record fifth place.
Sophomore Brett Boston won two matches before falling to Northwestern's Brandon Precin in 5:43. Boston moved on the consolation round, where he lost to Ray De La Nuez of Rider, 5-1.
The Mountaineers are back in action again on Nov. 27 as they take part in the Northern Quad in Rochester, Minn., competing against Minnesota, North Dakota State and Central Michigan.
