LEXINGTON, Va.- Appalachian State University wrestling (7-9-1, 1-3 SoCon) won its first Southern Conference dual of the season and secured a victory in its first leg of their Virginia-dual swing against Virginia Military Institute, 26-11, Friday night at Cocke Hall.
The Mountaineers were not able to get any points during the 125 and 133 bouts to start the dual as sophomore Tony Gravely and sophomore Brett Boston surrenders the matches by a 13-6 and 10-8 decision, respectively.
Appalachian bounced back and got on the board in the 141 match as junior Mike Kessler scored a major decision over Ryan Goodsell, 12-3, cutting VMI's advantage to 6-4.
At 149, junior Savva Kostis went ahead early 5-0 less than 90 seconds into the match as Kostis combined a takedown at the 1:17 mark and a three-point near fall at the 1:26 portion of the period. Kostis went on to take the 13-3 win, giving the Mountaineers consecutive major decisions as the squad took an 8-6 lead, its first of the match.
Sophomore John Blakely took a 2-0 lead at the 55 second mark in the 157 bout, earning a pair of back points. With 54 seconds left in the first period, Michael Burnett recorded an escape, bringing the score to 2-1 heading into the second frame. Just over a minute into period two, Blakely earned trio of near-fall points to build his lead to 5-1 as the match carried into the third period. However, Blakely would take the match 8-2 to continue the Appalachian State streak and run the team tall to 11-6.
Junior Kyle Blevins had no problem taking care of Edward Gottwald as he earned a 19-4 techinical fall to increase ASU's lead over the Keydets. It was a match that Blevins controlled from start to finish and the closest that Gottwald would get was in the first period when the match was at 4-1. With the win, the Mountaineers went ahead 16-6.
The Apps stumbled in the 174 matchup as Matthew Brock tallied a 5-0 decision over junior Carter Downs, giving the VMI its first team points in four bouts.
Redshirt junior Austin Trotman also had no problem in the 184 match, as he got the Black and Gold back on track by taking down John Dommert, 16-7. Trotman jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first minute of the match, and carried an 8-4 lead into second frame. However, Trotman built a 15-7 lead at the end of regulation, adding a riding point to take the major decision win and carry the team score to 20-9.
ASU hiccupped again in the 197 bout as sophomore Jon Hartley fell to Evan Dill, 13-7. Hartley battled back in the match to take a 4-3 lead with four back points seconds into the second frame, but fell in the final period after the match got tied up at 7-7.
In the final match of the evening, the Mountaineers had a commanding lead, but needed to seal the deal in the heavyweight category. Freshman Marc Tyson took on a heavily-favored #15 Josh Wine. Wine took a 2-0 lead following the first period, but Tyson earned an escape point 39 seconds into the second period. With the score 2-1 heading into the third, Wine picked up a quick escape point to bring the score to 3-1 with 1:57 left in the bout. However a flagrant misconduct penalty against Wine resulted in a win for Tyson to bring the final score to 26-9, Appalachian State.
The Mountaineers are back in action tomorrow as they take on Virginia at 2 p.m. in a non-conference dual.
VMI 11, Appalachian State 26
Non Match Team Points (Deductions/Criteria)
VMI -3 Flagrant Misconduct 285
125: Johnathan Pope (VMI) DEC Tony Gravely (Appalachian State) 13 - 6
133: Luke Todd (VMI) DEC Brett Boston (Appalachian State) 10 - 8
141: Mike Kessler (Appalachian State) MD Ryan Goodsell (VMI) 12 - 3
149: Savva Kostis (Appalachian State) MD Mike Long (VMI) 13 - 3
157: John Blakely (Appalachian State) DEC Michael Burnett (VMI) 8 - 2
165: Kyle Blevins (Appalachian State) TF5 Edward Gottwald (VMI) 19 - 4 (6:41)
174: Matthew Brock (VMI) DEC Carter Downs (Appalachian State) 5 - 0
184: Austin Trotman (Appalachian State) MD John Dommert (VMI) 16 - 7
197: Evan Dill (VMI) DEC Jon Hartley (Appalachian State) 13 - 7
285: Marc Tyson (Appalachian State) DQ Joshua Wine (VMI)
