BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University wrestling welcomed Ohio and Belmont Abbey to the a Varsity Gym on Friday night. The  Mountaineers (2-5) spilt results in the two matches, falling to Ohio (26-15) and then dominating Belmont Abbey (42-4).

Appalachian started the meet against Ohio at the 174 weight class. The Apps fell behind early when Forrest Przybysz fell via technical fall against No. 11 Cody Walters. Marcus Johnson and Tyler Radford then dropped back-to-back decisions at 184 and 197, respectively to give Ohio an 11 point advantage. 

SoCon wrestling athlete of the month, Denzel Dejournette continued to tear through his opponents and won by fall against Zach Parker 2:33 into the match. At 125, Dominic Parisi made it back-to-back pins and pushed the Mountaineers into the lead, 12-11.

Ohio started would gain the momentum back after Kagan Squire defeated Vito Pasone by 9-7 decision. The Bobcats started to pull away after a 13-8 win by Noah Forrider over Michael Longo, followed by No. 8 Tywan Claxton pin of Javon Johnson made gave Ohio a 23-12 lead. 

Zack Strickland dropped an overtime decision at 157 to No. 17 Spartak Chino. Nick Kee got the only victory over a nationally ranked opponent when he defeated No. 18 Harrison Hightower at 165.

After a tough loss, the Mountaineers responded and won big against Belmont Abbey. Appalachian started with two-straight pins from Przybysz at 174 and Marcus Johnson at 184 to jump out to a 12-0 lead.

At 197, Radford earned a 3-0 decision against Mathew Perez. Dejournette improved to a perfect 17-0 on the year after a major decision victory over Chaas Delgado.

Parisi recorded his second pin of the night against Patrick Mestrez 4:42 into the bout. Jacob Grigg then made it two pins in a row when he pinned William Rees just :36 into the match to give Appalachian a commanding 31-0 advantage. Then Longo defeated Clemente Narviaz by technical fall at 141.

The Knights got their lone victory at 149 when Scott Bosak defeated Javon Johnson by major decision. The Mountaineers ended the night with two decision wins from Strickland at 157 and Colton Jackson at 165.