BOONE, N.C. — App State Wrestling closed the 2024-25 regular season as a SoCon co-champion, as Campbell used a late rally to pull out a 21-15 victory against the Mountaineers on Sunday in a packed Varsity Gym.
Both App State and Campbell finished 7-1 in the league, with the Camels' loss occurring the previous weekend against The Citadel, a third-place finisher that lost to the Mountaineers on Jan. 12. Under the direction of head coach
JohnMark Bentley, App State (8-4 overall) earned at least a share of a SoCon regular season title for the third time in the last four seasons and the seventh time in the last 10 seasons.
Not bad for a group that starts freshmen at five of 10 weights after losing two top-16 NCAA finishers to P4 programs via the transfer portal and having two other SoCon champions with NCAA experience suffer season-ending injuries in the first dual on Nov. 15. With a large crowd of almost 1,000 in attendance on Sunday, it was quite a scene given that the team was displaced from its flooded locker room leading up to the season because of damage from Hurricane Helene.
Jeremiah Price, No. 7
Will Miller, No. 29
Luke Uliano and
Stephan Monchery were victorious Sunday for the Mountaineers, but Campbell (11-9 overall) won the final three matches after Monchery's 11-2 major decision at heavyweight against Landon Sargent had produced four team points that gave App State a 15-12 lead.
The Mountaineers recorded the first takedown in each of the next two matches, but Campbell won 9-6 on an overtime takedown at 125 pounds and recorded a takedown in the closing seconds to seal an 11-7 win at 133 pounds. Because the Camels had the only pin of the day, App State needed a bonus-point win in the last match to erase an 18-15 deficit and avoid a tiebreaker that would have favored Campbell if the dual ended in an 18-all tie, but 23rd-ranked graduate student Shanna Hanna won an 8-3 decision against redshirt freshman
Aldo Hernandez.
With wrestling starting at 149 pounds, Campbell took a 3-0 lead on a 12-8 decision before the Mountaineers used three straight wins from Price (5-3 decision at 157 over Chris Earnest, with a winning takedown from Campbell in the final seconds overturned following a replay review), Miller (4-0 decision at 165 thanks to a third-period takedown of 32nd-ranked Dom Baker) and Uliano (15-0 tech fall at 174 over Kendrick Hodge).
Campbell didn't wrestle redshirt senior Riley Augustine in his normal starting spot at 174 against the ranked Uliano and instead bumped him up a weight class to the 184 spot, where he replaced an underclassman and won by fall against a redshirt freshman to produce six team points. The Camels then moved ahead 12-11 when they took a ranked showdown at 197, as No. 25 Levi Hopkins built an 8-1 lead in a 10-7 decision against No. 29
Carson Floyd.
Miller (19-1 overall this season) and Uliano (21-7 overall) both went 8-0 in SoCon duals. Price, Monchery and Floyd finished with one loss apiece in SoCon duals, while
Kaden Keiser went 6-2.
The 2024-25 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station. The postseason begins with the SoCon Championship tournament, which will be held on a Friday and Saturday from March 7-8 at UNC Asheville. The NCAA Championships will be held in Philadelphia from March 20-22.
Campbell 21, App State 15
149: Wynton Denkins (CU) def.
Kaden Keiser (APP), 12-8 dec.
157:
Jeremiah Price (APP) def. Chris Earnest (CU), 5-3 dec.
165: #7
Will Miller (APP) def. #32 Dom Baker (CU), 4-0 dec.
174: #29
Luke Uliano (APP) def. Kendrick Hodge (CU), 15-0 tech fall
184: Riley Augustine (CU) def.
Logan Eller (APP), fall (4:50)
197: #25 Levi Hopkins (CU) def. #29
Carson Floyd (APP), 10-7 dec.
Hwt:
Stephan Monchery (APP) def. Landon Sargent (CU), 11-2 maj. dec.
125: Cooper Shore (CU) def.
Bryson Terrell (APP), 9-6 dec. (SV)
133: Logan Heil (CU) def.
Chad Bellis (APP), 11-7 dec.
141: #23 Shannon Hanna (CU) def.
Aldo Hernandez (APP), 8-3 dec.
Attendance: 920
