Three App State Wrestlers Win SoCon Titles

BOONE, N.C. — Three Appalachian State wrestlers earned automatic berths into the NCAA Championships as first-time Southern Conference champions, and the Mountaineers finished second in the team standings during a back-and-forth event at the Holmes Convocation Center on Sunday.
 
App State senior Randall Diabe won a 5-4 decision in the final at 197 pounds, junior Cary Miller claimed an 8-1 decision in the heavyweight final and sophomore Codi Russell posted a 9-4 decision against top-seeded Noah Gonser of Campbell in the final at 133 pounds. Their victories helped the Mountaineers amass 92.5 points, or 2.5 fewer than the total accumulated by first-place Campbell.
 
Appalachian State, Campbell and Chattanooga shared the regular season title.

App State senior Randall Diabe reflects on his first SoCon title, which came from a 5-4 decision in the 197 final: pic.twitter.com/PSxrtDj33W

— AppState Wrestling (@AppWrestling) March 11, 2019

 
The Mountaineers had six finalists in the 10 weight classes, as senior Irvin Enriquez (141 pounds) reached a final for the third straight year, senior Michael Elliott advanced to the final at 165 pounds and sophomore Alan Clothier reached the final at 184 pounds. Matt Zovistoski (149 pounds) and De'Andre Swinson-Barr (125 pounds) were third-place finishers.
 
With Diabe making the field for the second straight year and App State's two other SoCon champs qualifying for the first time, Appalachian will have at least three wrestlers at the NCAA Championships that begin in Pittsburgh on March 21. There are also at-large possibilities for wrestlers such as Zovistoski, who is ranked 28th in his weight class by the NCAA Coaches' Panel.
 
Russell will be joining his older brother, Sean, a Minnesota senior who wrestles at 125 pounds, in Pittsburgh thanks to Sean's third-place finish in the Big Ten tournament.
 

Codi Russell talks about winning the 133 title, joining his brother Sean (Minnesota) as an NCAA qualifier and avenging a dual loss to Gonser pic.twitter.com/0e9rTXLus3

— AppState Wrestling (@AppWrestling) March 11, 2019

Russell, ranked 31st, had beaten the 17th-ranked Gonser at the Hokie Open but lost to him in a dual matchup in mid-January. Sunday, Russell tied the match at 3-all on a takedown with 47 seconds left in the second period and moved ahead on a takedown eight seconds into the third period. After an escape by Gonser, Russell seized control on a takedown with 1:12 left and a two-point near fall with 1:02 remaining.
 
In a matchup of two top-25 wrestlers, the 18th-ranked Diabe edged 23rd-ranked Sawyer Root of The Citadel after winning a 9-0 major decision against Chattanooga's Rod Jones. A first-period takedown of Root helped Diabe lead 3-1 entering the third period, but an escape by Root with 1:48 left and hands-to-the-face penalty on Diabe with 1:40 remaining tied the match.
 
Diabe executed a tiebreaking takedown with 1:21 left and held on after Root managed an escape with 1:01 remaining.
 
In the last championship matchup of the night, Miller led 3-0 after one period against Campbell's Odgerel Batkhishig and took a 5-0 lead into the final period. In his six SoCon duals and two SoCon Championship bouts, Miller went 8-0 with three pins, one technical fall and two major decisions.

Junior heavyweight Cary Miller qualifies for the NCAAs with his first SoCon title: pic.twitter.com/DsHYvUIBld

— AppState Wrestling (@AppWrestling) March 11, 2019

 
A year after winning the SoCon title as a No. 4 seed, the third-seeded Enriquez reached the 141 final with a 7-4 semifinal decision against Campbell's Nathan Boston, who had pinned Enriquez in their regular season meeting. Top-seeded Chris Debien won 12-7 in Sunday's final.
 
Elliott reached his final with a 16-0 technical fall in the first round and a semifinal pin of Davidson's Hunter Costa. Top-seeded Tyler Marinelli of Gardner-Webb had an 8-0 major decision in the final.
 
Clothier won his semifinal match by a technical fall before suffering a 4-3 defeat against Campbell's Chris Kober in the next-to-last final.
 
Zovistoski endured a 3-2 semifinal loss but went 3-1 in the tournament, and a 1-1 showing allowed Swinson-Barr to take third. Thomas Flitz went 2-2 at 174 pounds, and Angel Najar won his first match at 157 pounds.
 
Team scores
1. Campbell, 95.0
2. App State, 92.5
3. Chattanooga, 62.0
4. The Citadel, 42.5
5. Gardner-Webb, 23.5
6. Davidson, 22.5
7. VMI, 17.0
 
App State Results
 
125: (3) De'Andre Swinson-Barr (Third place)
First-round bye
L, 9-3 dec. vs. Korbin Meink, Campbell
W, 6-4 dec. vs. Derek Shockey, VMI
 
133: (2) Codi Russell (First place)
W, 19-4 tech. fall vs. Cliff Conway, VMI
W, 10-1 maj. dec. vs. Kyle Gorant, Davidson
W, 9-4 dec. vs. Noah Gonser, Campbell
 
141: (3) Irvin Enriquez (Second place)
W, fall in 1:41 vs. Caleb Ziebell, Davidson
W, 7-4 dec. vs. Nathan Boston, Campbell
L, 12-7 dec. vs. Chris Debien, Chattanooga
 
149: (2) Matt Zovistoski (Third place)
W, 12-1 maj. dec. vs. Zach Schmitt, VMI
L, 3-2 dec. vs. Tanner Smith, Chattanooga
W, 14-4 maj. dec. vs. Will Baldwin, Davidson
W, 10-0 maj. dec. vs. Selwyn Porter, The Citadel
 
157: (4) Angel Najar
W, 6-0 dec. vs. Evan Schenk, Gardner-Webb
L, 8-2 dec. vs. Benjamin Barton, Campbell
L, fall in 5:23 vs. Ryan Resnick, Chattanooga
 
165: (2) Michael Elliott (Second place)
W, 16-0 tech. fall vs. Luke Niksic, VMI 
W, fall in 4:37 vs. Hunter Costa, Davidson
L, 8-0 maj. dec. vs. Tyler Marinelli, Gardner-Webb
 
174: (3) Thomas Flitz
W, 16-4 maj. dec. vs. Noah Satterfield, Davidson
L, 8-3 dec. vs. Andrew Morgan, Campbell
W, 3-1 dec. vs. Hunter Fortner, Chattanooga
L, 6-4 dec. (SV-1) vs. Kyle Homet, Gardner-Webb
 
184: (1) Alan Clothier (Second place)
First-round bye
W, 19-2 tech. fall vs. Conor Fenn, Davidson
L, 4-3 dec. vs. Chris Kober, Campbell
 
197: (1) Randall Diabe (First place)
First-round bye
W, 9-0 maj. dec. vs. Rod Jones, Chattanooga
W, 5-4 dec. vs. Sawyer Root, The Citadel
 
285: (1) Cary Miller (First place)
First-round bye
W, fall in 1:45 vs. Michael McAleavey, The Citadel
W, 8-1 dec. vs. Odgerel Batkhishig, Campbell

Individual champion
125 – Korbin Meink, Campbell
133 – Codi Russell, Appalachian State
141 – Chris Debien, Chattanooga
149 – Joshua Heil, Campbell 
157 – Benjamin Barton, Campbell 
165 – Tyler Marinelli, Gardner-Webb 
174 – Neal Richards, VMI 
184 – Chris Kober, Campbell
197 – Randall Diabe, Appalachian State
HWT – Cary Miller, Appalachian State

Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler
Neal Richards, 174, VMI