Newberry wins two championships among 10 placers at UNC Pembroke Wrestling Classic

PEMBROKE, N.C. - The Newberry College wrestling team kept up its winning ways on Saturday, placing 10 wrestlers at this weekend’s 29th Annual UNC Pembroke Wrestling Classic and winning two championships.

Returning All-Americans Matt Oliver (Toms River, N.J.) at 125 lbs. and Bryant Blanton (Summerville, S.C.) at 184 lbs. each earned individual championships on the day. Sheridan Moran (Layfayette, La.) at 133 lbs. and Curtis Chenoweth (Clearwater, Kan.) at 174 lbs. each nabbed second place finishes. Latra Collick (Berlin, Md.) won third place at 157 lbs. while Deral Brown (Elgin, S.C.) at 141 lbs., Josh Whitelock (Rhodesdale, Md.) at 165 lbs. and Steven Butler (Cuddebackville, N.Y.) at the heavyweight level each earned fourth place finishes. Dale DeBacco Jr. (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) took fifth place at 141 lbs. and Karl Reed (Mount Laurel, N.J.) took sixth place at 184 lbs.

The 10 placers put Newberry behind only UNC Greensboro at the Classic.

At 125 lbs., Matt Oliver faced Brian Butler of Darton in his first match of the day and cruised to a victory, winning with a 19-0 technical fall 5:24 into the match. After that, Oliver knocked off Shane Summerlin of Belmont Abbey with a major decision, 11-3, which put Oliver in the semifinals. Oliver booked a trip to the final match with another technical fall, this time with a 15-0 win over C.J. Gittens of Campbell 6:45 into the match. In the final match, Oliver downed Russell Weakley of UNC Pembroke by a 4-2 decision for an individual championship.

Sheridan Moran began his run to the final match with a pinfall over Kekura Musa of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 2:43 into the match. Moran then scored a technical fall victory over Scott Ray of Davidson, 17-2, 6:42 into the match. Moran edged Mitchell Johnson of UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinal match, 4-3, to advance to the semifinal match against Angel Garcia of UNC Greensboro. Moran topped Garcia, 6-4, to face Kyle Hutter of Old Dominion in the finals. Moran kept it close but fell, 4-2, to place second overall at 133 lbs.

At the 141 lbs. level, Deral Brown moved to the consolation bracket after his first match loss to Vitaly Radsky of Davidson, 6-2. In the consolation bracket, Brown advanced over Kris Dutt of Maryland-Baltimore County with a pinfall 2:29 into the match. Brown then scored another pinfall over Brian Samuels of Maryland-Baltimore County, 1:41 into the match. In the next round, Brown topped Matt Barbo of UNC Greensboro, 9-3 before dispatching Michael Crowley of UNC Greensboro, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Brown cruised in his next two matches, blowing by Eric Luke, 17-4, and Riley Adamson of Duke, 17-3. Brown then narrowly lost in the third place match to Ivan Lopouchanski of UNC Greensboro, 6-4, to earn fourth place.

Also at 141 lbs., Dale DeBacco Jr. scored a technical fall against his first opponent, Nathan Murphy of Maryland-Baltimore County, 18-2, 5:08 into the match. He then lost to Michael Crowley of UNC Greensboro, 7-5. DeBacco stormed through the consolation bracket, knocking off Chris Mullen of Duke with a 9-6 decision before scoring a major decision over Billy Heemer of Campbell, 15-4. DeBacco then pinned Kelin Bidelspach of Campbell 2:30 into the match before topping Mike Bell of Duke, 8-5. Unfortunately for the scarlet and gray, DeBacco lost to Ivan Lopouchanski of UNC Greensboro but recovered in a big way, topping Riley Adamson of Duke with an 11-2 major decision to secure fifth place.

At 157 lbs., Latra Collick began his quest for a spot in the championship with a first match victory over Greg Todd of St. Andrews, winning with a 6-1 decision. Collick pinned Jake Fose of Campbell 5:59 into his next match but lost to Travis Sheeky of UNC Greensboro, 7-3. In the consolation bracket, Collick advanced past Chris Canty of UNC Greensboro with a medical forfeit to face Fose in the third place match. This time, Collick would come up with the win and third place, topping Fose with an 8-6 decision.

At 165 lbs., Josh Whitelock got off to a fast start with a 15-6 major decision over Colin Genthert of NC State followed by a win by fall over Kafuba Donzon of Darton, 1:41 into the match. Whitelock dropped his next match, falling to Victor Hojilla UNC Greensboro 4:10 into the match. Whitelock then began his dominance through the consolation bracket, topping Nick Christian of Central Florida with a 7-0 decision. He followed that win up with another, a 17-4 major decision over Robbie Wannenburg of Appalachian State. He booked a ticket to the third place match by pinning Peter Comis of Campbell 1:15 into the match but then lost in a close one to Victor Hojilla of UNC Greensboro, 7-6, to secure fourth place.

At 174 lbs., Curtis Chenoweth continued the strong start to his Newberry career with a 17-0 technical fall over Will Maegerle of Maryland Baltimore County 6:30 into the match. He then pinned Shiheem Bryant of UNC Pembroke 47 seconds into the match, followed by an 8-5 decision against Ben Wales of Duke in the quarterfinals. Chenoweth kept rolling in the semifinals, edging Casey Bradley of Limestone, 3-2. Chenoweth lost to Byron Sigmon of North Carolina Greensboro, 4-2, but earned second place at 174 lbs. on the day.

At 184 lbs., Bryant Blanton picked up from his fourth-place finish last week at the Hokie Open with an opening-match 13-0 major decision over Andrew Phillips of North Carolina. He then topped Melvin Jones of UNC Pembroke with a pinfall 2:14 into the match. Blanton picked up another pinfall over Andrew Lloyd of Limestone 3:41 into his quarterfinal match and continued to win, topping Diego Bencomo of Duke with a 5-4 decision. In the finals, Blanton won his first championship of the season, getting a 6-4 decision over Andrew Saunders of UNC Greensboro.

Also at 184 lbs., Karl Reed began his day with an 8-5 decision over C.J. Hauser of Central Florida. Reed then lost to Diego Bencomo of Duke in a close 6-5 decision but rebounded in the consolation bracket, topping fellow Newberry teammate Brian Newman (Toms River, N.J.), 3-1. Reed advanced to the consolation semifinals with a fall against Andrew Lloyd of Limestone 2:02 into the match but dropped the semifinal match against Landon Hall of Limestone, 5-2. The loss put Reed into the fifth place match but was pinned 2:52 into the match by Ryan Sughrue of UNC Greensboro, giving Reed sixth place.

Newberry earned its final placer in the heavyweight division with Steven Butler (Cuddebackville, N.Y.). Butler began with a pinfall over Micheal Gregory of UNC Greensboro 1:40 into the match. He advanced to the semifinals with a win over Newberry teammate Jake Elkins (Trussville, Ala.), earning a 5-3 decision. Butler lost in the semifinals to Eloheim Palma of NC State by a 10-2 major decision but roared back in the consolation semifinals, winning an 11-3 major decision over Andrew Fulk of Duke. He lost 10-7 to Peter Sturgeon of UNC Greensboro but the match gave him fourth place on the day.

At 125 lbs., Steven McLeod (Gilbert, S.C.) narrowly lost in his first match, 4-3, to Josh Craig of UNC Greensboro. In the consolation bracket, McLeod recovered with a 6-2 decision over Hampton Montley of The Citadel before losing to Matthew Hall of Limestone, 9-1 in a major decision.

At 133 lbs., Rob Day Jr. (Lexington, S.C.) dropped his first round match against Brian Beatson of St. Andrews, 12-4. He then lost his consolation match against Bryan Asker of Central Florida, 15-5.

Ernie Young (Baker County, Fla.) lost to Casey Boyle of UNC Greensboro, 3-2 before dispatching Welsey Whitman of UNC Pembroke in the consolation round with a major decision, 12-3. Young then dropped his next match to Steve DeAugustino of Central Florida, 13-9 to bring his record to 1-2 on the day.
 
At 157 lbs., Bill Glace (Abbeville, S.C.) lost to Zach McKeone of Limestone in his first match by fall, 2:23 into the match. Glace then lost by technical fall in the consolation bracket to Terry Long of Auburn, 17-2, 5:28 into the match.

At 165 lbs, Dustin Harvey (Marietta, Ga.) dropped his first match to Peter Comis of Campbell, falling 4:32 into the match. He rebounded in the consolation round, knocking off Jake Ferguson of UNC Pembroke with an 8-2 decision and toppling Dustin Brunner of Darton with a major decision, 8-0. Harvey’s day would end at the hands of Ray Ward of NC State, falling 2:30 into the match.

Channon Clamp (Gilbert, S.C.) got the nod at 197 lbs. but lost his first match, 10-2 to Shane Nolan of UNC Pembroke.  He dropped his following consolation match, 4-0, to Richard Rippy of Central Florida.

At the heavyweight level, Jake Elkins took his first match of the day, 3-0, against Andrew Fulk of Duke. Elkins then lost to fellow Newberry wrestler Steven Butler, 5-3. Elkins would recover quickly in the consolation bracket, pinning Charles Weber of Limestone 1:07 into the match but his day ended after a 12-5 loss to Peter Sturgeon of UNC Greensboro.

Several other Newberry wrestlers wrestled at the UNCP Classic unattached. To view their results, click here: http://www.newberry.athleticsite.net/09wrestling/UNCPUnattachedResults.pdf

Newberry travels to Raleigh, N.C. next week to compete in the Wolfpack Open on Saturday, November 21.