Individual Titles, Emotional Triumphs Highlight Mountaineer Invitational

BOONE, N.C. — Led by individual titles from Will Miller and Kaden Keiser, along with a memorable return to action from runner-up Sean Carter, App State Wrestling had representation in five of the 10 finals contested Saturday during the Mountaineer Invitational held in Varsity Gym.
 
Miller, who is ranked 11th nationally by FloWrestling, used a first-period takedown and a bonus point for riding time to claim a 4-1 win against Minnesota's Andrew Sparks, who is ranked 11th by Intermat, in the 165-pound final. Keiser also went 3-0, scoring six points in the closing seconds of a 14-8 semifinal win against Davidson's Anderson Heap via a near fall that followed a reversal. He then recorded a tiebreaking takedown with 24 seconds left in a 4-1 victory against Davidson's Tyler-Xavier McKnight in the 149 final.
 
With lots of ranked wrestlers from No. 8 Virginia Tech and No. 13 Minnesota in Boone, the other finalists for App State were Carter (141), Anthony Conetta (157) and Tomas Brooker (184).
 
Carter hadn't competed attached in an App State singlet since Jan. 13, 2023, when he suffered a serious knee injury in overtime of a Varsity Gym dual matchup against Virginia Tech's Sam Latona. A win in Carter's first match Saturday set up a semifinal showdown with the 16th-ranked Latona, now a two-time All-American.
 
A third-period takedown helped Carter force another overtime, and he secured an 8-5 decision with a Sudden Victory takedown, prompting a rare display of emotion from the sixth-year senior who redshirted last season and was officially back in action for the first time in approximately 22 months.
 
"I've been looking forward to it all week — pretty much all year," said Carter, who lost by major decision against fifth-ranked Vance VomBaur of Minnesota, a 2024 All-American, in the 141 final. "It was really emotional putting on the singlet. It had been two years since I've competed with that singlet on. I just try, every single time I put it on, it could be my last time again, so I give all I can for this university, for my team, for the guys in my corner, my coaches and my family that supports me."
 
App State had 20 wrestlers compete in the Invitational bracket and 10 more in the Open bracket, with 3-0 runs to first-place finishes there by Nick Grizales (157 pounds) and true freshman Jarvis Little (133).
 
Little won by scores of 19-1 and 11-0 before posting a 7-2 decision against Campbell's Logan Heil in the final. Nick Grizales had two tech falls, then a first-minute pin of Virginia Tech's Frank DiBella.
 
Carter, Conetta and Brooker all went 2-1 in their brackets to reach final matches, with Conetta overcoming a 6-1 deficit in a 12-7 win against Virginia Tech's Matt Henrich and producing a tiebreaking takedown with 20 seconds left in a 4-1 semifinal win against two-time SoCon finalist Tanner Peake from Davidson. Conetta went to overtime against eighth-ranked Tommy Askey, who transferred from App State to Minnesota following the 2023-24 season, before dropping a 4-1 decision capped by a Sudden Victory takedown.
 
App State's third-place finishes in the Invitational division came from Jeremiah Price (157), Logan Eller (184) and Carson Floyd, who needed just 50 seconds to win the third-place match at 197 by fall.
 
Price followed a 9-8 quarterfinal loss to North Carolina's Laird Root by going 3-1 and securing third with a 5-4 victory to end the day against Root. Price recorded a go-ahead takedown with 27 seconds left and stayed on top to prevent a tying escape.
 
Impressively, Eller bounced back from a quarterfinal loss by tech fall against UNC's Jack Dailey and took third by going 3-0 the rest of the way, capping his day with a 10-8 win against Dailey. Eller led 7-0 in the early going, and a third-period escape tied the match before Eller reclaimed the lead on a takedown with 1:41 remaining.
 
In the Open division, the Mountaineers got third-place finishes from Charleston Baglio (133), Brayden Fahrbach (141), Jayden Dobeck (165) and Joe Zovistoski (174).
 
The 2024-25 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station. App State returns to action Friday at 7 p.m. with its first dual of the season at No. 7 NC State.
 

Noah Luna — 125 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (4th place)
	Brandon Morvai, Minnesota	W, Dec	1-0
	#17 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech	L, Dec	9-2
	Colby McBride, App State	W, Dec	5-1
	Brandon Morvai, Minnesota	L, Fall	3:08
Colby McBride — 125 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	#8 Cooper Flynn, Minnesota	L, TF	18-1
	Brayden Adams, Presbyterian	W, Dec	4-1
	Cameron Stinson, North Carolina	W, Dec	4-3
	Noah Luna, App State	L, Dec	5-1
Bryson Terrell — 125 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	Cameron Stinson, North Carolina	W, Fall	4:20
	#8 Cooper Flynn, Minnesota	L, Dec	8-3
	Brandon Morvai, Minnesota	L, Dec	9-7
Chad Bellis — 133 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	#10 Tyler Wells, Minnesota	L, Dec	7-6
	Derek Guanajuato, North Carolina	L, Dec	7-2
Sean Carter — 141 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (2nd place)
	Trent Donahue, Presbyterian	W, Dec	3-1
	#16 Sam Latona, Virginia Tech	W, Dec	8-5 (SV)
	#5 Vance VomBaur, Minnesota	L, MD	14-2
Riley Edwards — 141 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (4th place)
	Hunter Mason, Virginia Tech	W, Dec	13-9
	#5 Vance Vombaur, Minnesota	L, MD	22-8
	DJ Chavis, Virginia Tech	W, Dec	8-7
	#16 Sam Latona, Virginia Tech	L, TF	17-2
Kaden Keiser — 149 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (1st place)
	Anderson Heap, Davidson	W, Dec	14-8
	Tyler-Xavier McKnight, Davidson	W, Dec	4-2
Kai O'Dell — 149 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	Tyler Xavier-McKnight, Davidson	L, Dec	11-9
	Theo Cha, Minnesota	L, Dec	8-5
Anthony Conetta — 157 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (2nd place)
	Matt Henrich, Virginia Tech	W, Dec	12-7
	#32 Tanner Peake, Davidson	W, Dec	4-1
	#8 Tommy Askey, Minnesota	L, Dec	4-1 (SV)
Jeremiah Price — 157 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (3rd place)
	Laird Root, North Carolina	L, Dec	9-8
	Luke Robie, Virginia Tech	W, Dec	6-1
	#32 Tanner Peake, Davidson	W, Dec	6-5
	Laird Root, North Carolina	W, Dec	5-4
Oren Bost — 165 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	#11 Andrew Sparks, Minnesota	L, MD	16-3
	Collin Carrigan, North Carolina	L, Dec	8-5
Will Miller — 165 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (1st place)
	Collin Carrigan, North Carolina	W, MD	14-4
	Blaine Brenner, Minnesota	W, Dec	2-0
	#11 Andrew Sparks, Minnesota	W, Dec	4-3
Luke Uliano — 174 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (4th place)
	#13 Clayton Whiting, Minnesota	L, Dec	10-7
	Harry Smith, Virginia Tech	W, MD	13-2
	Ethan Riddle, Minnesota	L, Dec	13-7
Dalton Battle — 184 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	#10 Max McEnelly, Minnesota	L, TF	19-4
	Logan Eller, App State	L, Dec	9-6
Tomas Brooker — 184 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	Savoy New, Davidson	W, MD	14-2
	Carson Tenold, North Carolina	W, Dec	9-4
	#10 Max McEnelly, Minnesota	L, TF	20-5
Logan Eller — 184 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (3rd place)
	Jake Dailey, North Carolina	L, TF	22-4
	Dalton Battle, App State	W, Dec	9-6
	Carson Tenold, North Carolina	W, Fall	5:11
	Jake Dailey, North Carolina	W, Dec	10-8
Carson Floyd — 197 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (3rd place)
	Toler Hornick, Presbyterian	W, TF	15-0
	Gabe Nagel, Minnesota	L, Dec	13-8
	Gunnar Pool, App State	W, MD	8-0
	Robert Platt, North Carolina	W, Fall	0:50
Gunnar Pool — 197 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	#7 Isaiah Salazar, Minnesota	L, TF	16-0
	Pierce White, App State	W, Fall	4:38
	Carson Floyd, App State	L, MD	8-0
Pierce White — 197 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational
	Gabe Nagel, Minnesota	L, Fall	1:14
	George Hopkins, Presbyterian	W, Fall	2:26
	Gunnar Pool, App State	L, Fall	4:38
Levi Andrews — Heavyweight
Mountaineer Invitational
	Jimmy Mullen, Virginia Tech	L, TF	19-2
	Nolan Neves, North Carolina	L, Fall	1:12
OPEN DIVISION
Charleston Baglio — 133 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open, 3rd place)
	Logan Heil, Campbell	L, MD	11-2
	Kale Stephenson, N/A	W, Fall	1:56
	Tyler Rodier, Presbyterian	W, TF	15-0
Jarvis Little — 133 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open, 1st place)
	Kale Stephenson, N/A	W, TF	19-1
	Hudson Waldrop, Campbell	W, MD	11-0
	Logan Heil, Campbell	W, Dec	7-2
Brayden Fahrbach — 141 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open, 3rd place)
	Elias Navida, North Carolina	L, Dec	3-2
	Marley Washington, Davidson	W, Dec	10-3
	Rey Ortiz, Presbyterian	W, Fall	2:41
	Max Brady, N/A	W, Fall	4:09
Aldo Hernandez — 141 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open)
	Jack Bastarrika, Virginia Tech	L, Dec	13-12
	Grant Reece, App State	W, TF	16-0
	Max Brady, N/A	L, MD	22-9
Grant Reece — 141 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open)
	Rey Ortiz, Presbyterian	L, Fall	3:32
	Aldo Hernandez, App State	L, TF	16-0
Nick Grizales — 157 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open, 1st place)
	Logan Fite, Duke	W, TF	17-2
	Matt McLaughlin, Davidson	W, TF	15-0
	Frank DiBella, Virginia Tech	W, Fall	0:51
Jayden Dobeck — 165 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open, 3rd place)
	Joshua Roe, Presbyterian	W, MD	14-1
	Gunnar Garelli, Virginia Tech	L, Dec	7-1
	Joshua Roe, Presbyterian	W, Dec	12-5
Alex Hopper — 174 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open)
	Nolan O'Boyle, North Carolina	L, MD	16-4
	Logan Heckert, Campbell	W, Dec	13-10
	Joe Zovistoski, App State	L, Dec	7-4
Joe Zovistoski — 174 pounds
Mountaineer Invitational (Open, 3rd place)
	Logan Heckert, Campbell	W, MD	11-3
	Reed Douglass, Presbyterian	L, Dec	15-10
	Brett Sanderlin, Davidson	W, Dec	5-0
	Alex Hopper, App State	W, Dec	7-4
Stephan Monchery — Heavyweight
Mountaineer Invitational (Open)
	Morvens Saint-Jean, Presbyterian	L, Dec	7-3
	Orrin King, King	W, Fall	0:37
	Michael Calcagno, N/A	L, Dec	12-8