DAVIDSON, N.C. - Tony Gravely, Austin Trotman and Dylan Temple won Southern Conference Championships Saturday night at Davidson College, punching tickets for each member of the trio to the NCAA Championships starting March 18 in Omaha, Neb.
ASU had six wrestlers finish first or second while Carter Downs took fourth at 174.
Gravely took Chandler down 30 seconds into the match and quickly went to work on getting back points. He got a three-point near fall and kept getting Chandler to his back before getting the pin at the 2:26 mark.
The Martinsville, Va. native becomes the first ASU 125 pounder to win a conference championship since two-time champion Rich Caisse won in 2003.
Gravely becomes the first No. 4 seed to ever win the 125 pound Southern Conference Championship.
With three wins on the day, Gravely moves on to Omaha, Neb. with an 11-9 record.
Savva Kostis, Chip Powell and Kyle Blevins all finished second at the SoCon Championships.
Kostis fell 14-9 in the final to Dean Pavlou. Kostis fell behind early, and was able to get a late takedown but it was not enough.
Powell, a No. 5 seed at 157, fell in the finals 14-6 to The Citadel's Turtogtokh Luvsandorj.
Blevins got behind 9-1 after three periods to UNCG's Victor Hojilla but was able to get riding time in the third and a three-point near fall, bu that was all as he dropped a 10-5 decision to Hojilla.
Jason McCroskey scored the first points with an escape to open the second period but Trotman earned three-straight takedowns to take control and garner a 7-2 decision over McCroskey. Trotman took advantage of his quickness to pull off all three takedowns, especially in the third when he took McCroskey down after a restart at the 1:02 mark of the third period. Trotman becomes the first ever Mountaineer to win a Southern Conference Championship ay 184 pounds.
Temple jumped on The Citadel's Justin Sparrow early with a takedown just 45 seconds into the match and kept the pressure on. After Sparrow escaped, Temple got a takedown with 14 seconds left in the first period to take a 4-1 lead. Temple earned two more takedowns in the second period and got the riding time point for an 8-2 decision.
The three champions are the most wrestlers ASU is taking to the NCAA Championships since taking five in 2003.
The Mountaineers finished in third place overall in the SoCon Tournament, just 2.5 points behind The Citadel and 10 points behind winner, UNC Greensboro.
ASU tied the Spartans with three conference champs while The Citadel had two and led the conference with three second place finishers.
