MTSU Qualifies 11 for Nationals in Allen, TX

[coachknepper]

from BLUERAIDERWRESTLING . com

 

by Bryan Knepper

 

 

Records are meant to be broken. This year, the MTSU Wrestling team set a record once again for NCWA National Qualifiers by qualifying 11 from the Mid-Atlantic Conference tournament held at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA on March 2nd. Last year’s squad qualified 9 individuals. The Blue Raiders will only take 10 guys on the trip despite the qualifications.

 

The 125-lb weight class was dominated by The Apprentice School as both Junior Anthony Patnode and Sophomore Shane Shaffner made the semifinals against rival Apprentice. Patnode faced Jacob Michael losing 6-4 while Shaffner wrestled #1 seed Tyare Ford losing 16-6. Patnode had defeated AJ Dobzienicki of Bridgewater by technical fall 19-2 to get there while Shaffner scored a major decision 11-3 against Liberty’s Jeremy Beale. Both guys would win their consolation semifinals to reach the 3rd place match with Shane winning by fall in 4:14 over Cameron Banks, Apprentice and Anthony winning a 9-2 decision over Beale.

 

Teammates battle for 3rd place in the MAC

 

The 3rd place matchup went to Shaffner by a decision over Patnode 12-7. Shane and Anthony will both have great shots at becoming All-Americans with 20-10 and 25-7 records, respectively heading to Nationals.

 

Eric Feuerbacher got the #1 seed at 133-lbs and did quite well making it the finals with wins over Charles Gray of Virginia Military Institute by fall in 4:33 followed by a 6-2 decision over the #4 seed Shane Smith of Apprentice in the semifinals.

 

 

Feuerbacher ties up with Apprentice's Dwayne Roes in the 133-lb Finals

 

Unfortunately Eric’s run at MTSU’s first conference title since 2009 fell short as he fell to another Apprentice wrestler, Dwayne Roes by a score of 4-2 in the finals. Eric heads to Nationals with a 22-7 record as a Sophomore. Last season he finished 5th in the MAC and 9th overall in the country.

 

The 141-lb and 157-lb weight classes were both contested for MTSU by Freshman: Edward Davila and Nathan Williams. These guys competed hard but ultimately went 0-2 in the tournament and will try next year to become National Qualifiers. Davila lost to Josh Sanders of Liberty by fall in 4:55 and then lost to Derek Burhenn of Apprentice by a last second throw and pin at 6:59 after being up 13-10 in the match. Williams lost matches by fall to #5 seed Michael Custer of VMI in 3:57 and Matt Lamb of William & Mary in 1:41.

 

Junior Everett Colbert always seems to get the toughest weight class in any given tournament and this was the case once again as 4 former All-Americans would be in his bracket (Clymer-Liberty, 2nd at 165, 2012; Busse-Liberty, 8th at 165, 2012; Ahearn-South Carolina, 5th at 157, 2011; Brower-William & Mary, 7th at 157, 2011). Earning the #7 seed, Colbert would have work to do in order to assure qualification into the NCWA tournament. That task became much more difficult as he lost his opening round match to VMI’s Spencer Buettner, a former NCAA wrestler, by the score of 5-4 on 1:07 riding time. Colbert then beat Gavin Oplinger of William & Mary by fall in 0:34 (fastest pin on the team this season) to keep his hopes alive in the tournament. He would win 9-3 against Darrick Gore of Bridgewater before losing to #5 seed Phillip Porto of Apprentice 5-3 in the consolation quaterfinals. This put Everett in the 7th place match versus Buettner once again. However, Buettner medically defaulted giving Colbert the 7th place finish. He ended up qualifying for Nationals due to an injury to a higher placer meaning he will take his 24-12 Junior record to Allen, TX.

 

174-lb Freshman Khris Sawyer battled in his weight class finishing with a 3-2 record on the day and qualified for the National Tournament placing 7th. His opening round win came against Maxwell Cromier of VMI by major decision 8-0. He then faced #1 seed Keyshaun Ward of Liberty losing by fall in 2:40 to the eventual Conference Champion. Dropping down the the consolations, Sawyer would face another VMI opponent in Skyler Kepley winning that match by a 12-7 score. In the consolation quarterfinals he got a rematch of his National Duals overtime loss with Kenneth Lowry of Apprentice. Unfortunately he lost this match as well by a score of 5-1. Khris then beat Steven Fowler of South Carolina by a 3-2 score to secure his spot on the trip to Nationals. His record heading in is 15-13.

 

Sophomore Jonathan Roberts earned the #3 seed at 184 based on his stellar record on the season of 22-5 with no losses in Conference. He was seeded behind 2 All-Americans in Ben Brummel (3x AA from South Carolina) and Royal Brettrager (National Finalist in 2012 from Liberty). Roberts’ first match would also be a rematch from National Duals…the first match against #6 Josh Rodriguez of Apprentice ended in a 12-9 victory for Jonathan. This time Roberts distanced himself with an 18-6 win. His semifinals match would end in a 3-0 loss to #2 seed Brummel. The scoring came on a reversal in the 2nd and riding time. In the consolation semfinals, Roberts quickly vacated Josh Sturgill of Liberty from the tournament with a pin in 1:43.

 

 

 

Roberts defeats Haas of James Madison by a score of 8-3 for 3rd place

 

The consolation finals pitted Roberts against Stefan Haas of James Madison. He won this match 8-3 to secure 3rd place for the team and upping his record to 24-6 for the year. Freshman Tim Vara would go 1-2 on the day technically qualifying for Nationals but will not travel with the team. His matches were a loss to #1 seed Brettrager by fall in 2:14, a loss to Sturgill of Liberty 14-2 and a win by medical default over Caleb Jackson of Liberty for 7th place. He ends the season with a 4-3 record but will cut to 165-lbs next season.

 

 

Anderson readies himself for his 5th place match vs Liberty

 

Robert Anderson had a tough week of weight-cuts but made weight at 197 and made it to Nationals with a 5th place finish in Conference. He lost in the opening round to Luke Hanson of Apprentice by fall in 1:31 and then lost to the #2 seed Ryan Rowe of Bridgewater in the consolation semifinals in 1:18. However in the 5th place match, he showed his strength by literally bench-pressing Jacob Hood of Liberty off of him and turning his opponent over winning by fall in 2:28. Robert heads to Nationals with a 6-9 overall record as a Sophomore, many of those matches coming at 235.

 

Adam Wells became a 2x National Qualifier by placing 6th at 235, an improvement over the 7th place finish the year prior. He would have the unenviable task of facing the #1 seed and finalist at 285 in 2012 Andrew Wilson of Liberty. Wilson pinned Adam in 2:32 sending Wells to the consolations. There he received a medical default over Zach Cox of Liberty (knee) followed by a big win over #5 seed Craig Carter of ETSU 3-2. This marked the first win over his in-state rival in his career and sent the Senior Buc home without a Nationals trip.

 

 

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Wells takes on Siler of Bridgewater for 5th place

 

In the consolation semifinals he would face rival and #2 seed Kevin Gray, which ended in a pinfall victory for the Apprentice standout in 3:28. Wells would then face Daniel Siler of Bridgewater for 5th place losing 5-2. Adam’s record heading to Nationals is 10-12 as a Sophomore.

 

The 285-lb weight class would see 2 more Blue Raiders qualify for Nationals by a pair of Sophomores, Tyler Bond and Rashied Rayford. Tyler would make the NCWA Nationals with a 5th place finish.

 

 

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Bond defeats Liberty for a 5th place MAC finish

 

He got there with a loss to #4 seed Raul Leyva of ETSU by a decision 4-1. He then lost to #2 seed Ike Okoli (2012 All-American) by a 4-0 score. Tyler then defeated Josh Travers of Liberty in the 5th place match 3-1 and will take his 11-6 record to Nationals. Rashied Rayford got the #3 seed due to the guys in front of him being returning All-Americans. Receiving a bye to the semifinals he faced #2 seed Okoli of South Carolina and won by a score of 3-1 to advance to the finals, joining teammate Eric Feuerbacher. The 3-1 score was due to a last-second takedown to win the match.

 

 

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Rayford faces the #1 wrestler in the NCWA in the MAC Finals.

 

In the finals, Rashied would get his rematch from National Duals in which he lost 3-2 to #1 seed Ian Jones of Apprentice (Jones is the top-rated wrestler in the country this season). The match was neutral for all but 30 seconds in the contest, but was ultimately won by a stalling call in favor of Jones ending the match with a 2-1 victory over Rayford. The 2 will undoubtedly be top-5 seeds in the NCWA National tournament. Rashied heads to Allen, TX with a record of 23-6.

 

The Blue Raiders finished 4th as a team behind MAC Champions Liberty University, Apprentice School, and James Madison (won 3rd by 1/2 point over MTSU). The team is set up for a top-10 finish in the NCWA-Division 1 this year with 8 weight classes represented in the tournament from March 14-16th in Allen, Texas.

 

Final Team Scores:

Top 5 Schools

School Points

1. Liberty 201

2. Apprentice School 172.5

3. James Madison 94

4. Middle Tenn. State 93.5

5. Bridgewater 76.5

Edited March 10, 2013 by coachknepper

[BoroRef]

Congrats Coach Knepper.....Good luck in Allen this weekend