BOONE, N.C. — In a rare display of emotion, App State's
Cary Miller raised his arms triumphantly and screamed in the direction of his supportive teammates seated nearby in the Holmes Center stands.
After fellow senior
Demazio Samuel finished an improbable road to an NCAA Championships berth, he flexed toward the same group and jogged toward assistant coach
Randall Diabe, who lifted the 197-pound champion off his feet with a bear hug.
With at least five Mountaineers making the trip to Minneapolis later this month, there was plenty of reason to celebrate Sunday at the Southern Conference Championship wrestling tournament.
Miller (heavyweight), Samuel (197 pounds), senior
Matt Zovistoski (157) and sophomore
Jonathan Millner (149) won SoCon titles to clinch spots in the NCAA field. By finishing second at 174 pounds, App State junior
Thomas Flitz also secured an automatic spot, and four of the five automatic qualifiers are North Carolina natives.
The Mountaineers produced four champions (their highest total since 2003), three runners-up and two third-place finishes while totaling 102 points as the second-place team behind Campbell, meaning nine of 10 starters from the 27th-ranked Mountaineers placed in the top three of their weight classes. The 20th-ranked Camels finished with five champions and 117 points.
No team had scored more than 100 points without winning the SoCon tournament title since 1975.
App State's other runners-up were
Codi Russell (133) and
Will Formato (165). True freshman
Sean Carter (125) and senior
Bradley Irwin (141) reached the semifinal round and claimed third place with two consolation bracket wins apiece.
In addition to Carter, another true freshman for App State made his postseason debut.
Julian Gorring went 1-2 at 184 pounds with a 17-0 tech fall in his consolation quarterfinal.
Russell and Carter are both in the top 33 of the NCAA Coaches Panel rankings, but their weight classes were allocated just one automatic qualifier, so App State will be in the running for a few at-large NCAA berths.
After starting the event with a pair of first-period pins, Miller captured his second SoCon title, just like Zovistoski, who posted career win No. 100 with his 12-5 decision against Campbell's Matthew Dallara in Sunday's final. Miller's overtime takedown with 37 seconds left in the one-minute Sudden Victory-1 period against 13th-ranked Jere Heino of Campbell brought the large crowd of App State fans, alums and team members to their feet.
Miller took a 3-2 lead into the third period thanks to a second-period takedown, with Heino's points coming on a stalling penalty and an escape. Heino opened the third period with an escape, and the match went to overtime tied at 3-all. Miller delivered a takedown 23 seconds into the first OT period, as both wrestlers moved out of bounds, and Campbell challenged the call. A replay review confirmed the takedown for Miller.
Millner opened the finals with a 6-2 decision against Chattanooga's Tanner Smith in a third 2020 matchup of the top-25 wrestlers, seizing control with a pair of first-period takedowns and improving to 31-4 this season.
In a wide-open 197-pound bracket, which didn't have a nationally ranked entry vying for the automatic berth to Minneapolis, the third-seeded Samuel won a 6-1 decision against top-seeded Rodney Jones of Chattanooga in the final. A senior with just a 2-2 career dual record but an Appalachian Open win against Jones to help facilitate a Feb. 8 move into the starting lineup, Samuel recorded a takedown in each of the first two periods Sunday before riding out the third.
Samuel claimed a 3-0 decision against Gardner-Webb's Roderick Davis in the quarterfinal round and then won 10-3 in an emotionally charged semifinal against Campbell's Chris Kober, who had used a last-second takedown to edge Samuel during the regular season.
The 28th-ranked Flitz lost a 12-5 finals decision to 16th-ranked Neal Richards of VMI, the other Co-Most Outstanding Wrestler, to set up a true place match for the second automatic berth at 174 — a showdown that was needed because Flitz hadn't faced third-place finisher Austin Kraisser of Campbell at any point Sunday. Flitz bounced back quickly from his result against Richards to win by an 8-5 decision against Kraisser.
Flitz reached the final 174 final thanks to a first-round bye and a 4-1 semifinal decision against Chattanooga's Hunter Fortner. That match was tied until the final 10 seconds, when Flitz received a point because of a second stalling penalty on Fortner and then responded with a victory-clinching takedown.
Russell, the 2019 SoCon champion, clinched a finals rematch with seventh-ranked Noah Gonser of Campbell before dropping a 4-1 decision against the league's wrestler of the year for 2020. Russell trailed 2-1 as he looked for a tying escape in the third period, but Gonser rode out the period and benefited from two near fall points in the closing seconds.
Russell advanced to the final thanks to an 18-1 tech fall against Presbyterian's Khalid Brinkley in the quarterfinals and a 4-3 decision against Chattanooga's Wade Cummings in the semifinals. Russell broke a 1-1 tie on a takedown with 1:18 left, and Cummings conceded a tiebreaking escape following his reversal with 29 seconds remaining.
Formato reached the championship round as a No. 3 seed thanks to a 15-0 tech fall in the quarterfinal round against Davidson's Noah Satterfield, who had beaten Formato during the regular season, and a 3-2 semifinal decision against second-seeded Roderick Mosley of Gardner-Webb. Quentin Perez of Campbell won the final by a 12-4 major decision.
Formato, who trailed 1-0 entering the third against Mosley but had a 1:41 advantage while beginning the period on bottom, quickly executed a two-point reversal to swing the match. Mosley's escape tied the match on the scoreboard, but the riding time determined the outcome.
Carter's 3-1 tournament included a quarterfinal pin, a 5-3 loss to Campbell's Korbin Meink in a matchup of nationally ranked wrestlers, a 10-5 decision in the consolation semifinals and an 11-3 major decision against Davidson's Cian Fischer in the third-place match.
Irwin, a first-year starter in his final college season, embraced Bentley following his 4-2 decision against Gardner-Webb's Brandon Bright in the third-place match. Irwin's 3-1 day began with a 10-3 decision, continued with a 9-3 semifinal loss and resumed with a major decision in the consolation semis.
In winning his second SoCon title, Zovistoski set up his championship round appearance with a quarterfinal bye and a 10-0 major decision against The Citadel's Douglas Gudenburr.
Millner's 3-0 day began with a pair of major decisions: 14-3 against Gardner-Webb's Anthony Schiess in the quarterfinals and 9-1 against VMI's Job Chishko in the semifinals.
Final team scores
1. Campbell, 117
2. App State, 102
3. Chattanooga, 75
4. The Citadel 30
5. Davidson 29
6. VMI 28
7. Gardner-Webb 16.5
8. Presbyterian 1
App State Results
125: (2) Sean Carter
Quarterfinal: W, Fall (1:41) vs. (7) John McGarry, VMI
Semifinal: L, Dec (5-3) vs. (3) Korbin Meink, Campbell
Consolation Semis: W, Dec (10-5) vs. (5) Jacob Brasseur, Presbyterian
Third-Place Match: W, MD (11-3) vs. (4) Cian Fischer, Davidson
133: (2) Codi Russell
Quarterfinal: W, TF (18-1) vs. (7) Khalid Brinkley, Presbyterian
Semifinal: W, Dec (4-3) vs. (3) Wade Cummings, Chattanooga
Final: L, Dec (4-1) vs. (1) Noah Gonser, Campbell
141: (2) Bradley Irwin
Quarterfinal: W, Dec (10-3) vs. (7) Noah Roulo, VMI
Semifinal: L, Dec (9-3) vs. (3) Mason Wallace, Chattanooga
Consolation Semis: W, MD (10-2) vs. (5) Reid Stewart, Presbyterian
Third-place Match: W, Dec (4-2) vs. (6) Brandon Bright, Gardner-Webb
149: (1) Jonathan Millner
Quarterfinal: W, MD (14-3) vs. (8) Anthony Schiess, Gardner-Webb
Semifinal: W, MD (9-1) vs. (5) Job Chishko, VMI
Final: W, Dec (6-2) vs. (2) Tanner Smith, Chattanooga
157: (1) Matt Zovistoski
Quarterfinal: Bye
Semifinal: W, MD (10-0) vs. (4) Douglas Gudenburr, The Citadel
Final: W, Dec (12-5) vs. (2) Matthew Dallara, Campbell
165: (3) Will Formato
Quarterfinal: W, TF (15-0) vs. (6) Noah Satterfield, Davidson
Semifinal: W, Dec (3-2) vs. (2) Roderick Mosley, Gardner-Webb
Final: L, MD (12-4) vs. (1) Quentin Perez, Campbell
174: (1) Thomas Flitz
Quarterfinal: Bye
Semifinal: W, Dec (4-1) vs. Hunter Fortner, Chattanooga
Final: L, Dec (12-5) vs. (2) Neal Richards, VMI
True Second-Place Match (NCAA bid): W, Dec (8-5) vs. (3) Austin Kraisser, Campbell
184: (3) Julian Gorring
Quarterfinal: L, Dec (8-4) vs. (6) Gavin Henry, Davidson
Consolation Quarters: W, TF (17-0) vs. (7) Max Gallahan, VMI
Consolation Semis: L, Dec (6-4) vs. (5) Samuel Mora, Gardner-Webb
197: (3) Demazio Samuel
Quarterfinal: W, Dec (3-0) vs. (6) Roderick Davis, Gardner-Webb
Semifinal: W, Dec (10-3) vs. (2) Chris Kober, Campbell
Final: W, Dec (6-1) vs. (1) Rodney Jones, Chattanooga
285: (2) Cary Miller
Quarterfinal: W, Fall (2:04) vs. (7) Imani Heslop, Presbyterian
Semifinal: W, Fall (1:52) vs. (3) Michael McAleavey, The Citadel
Final: W, Dec (5-3, SV-1) vs. (1) Jere Heino, Campbell
Individual champions/NCAA qualifiers
125 – Korbin Meink, Campbell
133 – Noah Gonser, Campbell
141 – Joshua Heil, Campbell
149 – Jonathan Millner, App State
157 – Matt Zovistoski, App State
165 – Quentin Perez, Campbell
174 – Neal Richards, VMI
184 – Andrew Morgan, Campbell
197 – Demazio Samuel, App State
285 – Cary Miller, App State
Additional NCAA allocations
149 – Selwyn Porter, The Citadel
174 – Thomas Flitz, App State
HWT – Jere Heino, Campbell
Tournament Co-Most Outstanding Wrestler
Neal Richards, 174, VMI
Cary Miller, HWT, App State
