The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team grabbed a share of the Southern Conference Regular Season Title with a big win at The Citadel tonight. The Mocs posted a dominant 34-3 victory over the Bulldogs in the league finale for both teams.
UTC finishes its SoCon slate with a 6-1 mark, tied with both Gardner-Webb and Appalachian State. Chattanooga improves to 11-4 overall while The Citadel drops to 5-9 and 2-5 in league action.
UTC opened in a big way on a first-period pin by senior John Lampe at 184.
The Mocs kept the pressure on with wins in the next six matches.
Junior Scottie Boykin finished another perfect regular season in SoCon matches with a 9-4 decision over Marshall Haas. Haas also came into the match with an unblemished league record.
Junior Jared Johnson scored a major at heavyweight while freshman Alonzo Allen also had a major decision at 125. Freshman Cody Hill won at 133, followed by junior Michael Pongracz at 141. Sophomore Chase Zemenak had a big overtime decision against Matt Fresch at 149
The match of the night came at 157 between Kamaal Shakur and Aaron Walker. Both were unbeaten in SoCon matches. Neither scored a takedown in regulation, but Walker took the win with one in overtime.
"It was a great match," stated head coach Heath Eslinger. "I thought Kamaal wrestled as well as anyone. He lost the match but he was in on his legs and did a lot of good things tonight. It is definitely something we can build on heading into the conference tournament."
Freshman Dominic Lampe and junior Sean Mappes closed out the night with majors at 165 and 174.
This is the 16th time the Mocs have won or shared the SoCon regular season title since the league began recognizing a season winner in 1992.
"We have a little bit of momentum now, so we need to wrestle well on Sunday," added Eslinger.
Chattanooga is back in action on Sunday when they take on No. 19 Virginia. Match time is set for 2:00 p.m. in Charlottesville. A link for live scoring is available on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.
Chattanooga 34 – The Citadel 3
184: John Lampe (Chattanooga) – Fall 2:16 - Sawyer Root (The Citadel) – UTC 6-0
197: Scottie Boykin (Chattanooga) – Dec. 9-4 - Marshall Haas (The Citadel) – UTC 9-0
285: Jared Johnson (Chattanooga) – MD 10-2 - Joseph Bexley (The Citadel) – UTC 13-0
125: Alonzo Allen (Chattanooga) – MD 16-5 - Charles Kearney (The Citadel) – UTC 17-0
133: Cody Hill (Chattanooga) – Dec. 8-2 - Caleb Smith (The Citadel) – UTC 20-0
141: Mike Pongracz (Chattanooga) – Dec. 3-2 - Tyler Buckiso (The Citadel) – UTC 23-0
149: Chase Zemenak (Chattanooga) – Dec. 3-1 (SV1) - Matthew Frisch (The Citadel) – UTC 26-0
157: Aaron Walker (The Citadel) – Dec. 3-1 (SV1) - Kamaal Shakur (Chattanooga) – UTC 26-3
165: Dominic Lampe (Chattanooga) – MD 16-6 - Jason Carr (The Citadel) – UTC 30-3
174: Sean Mappes (Chattanooga) – MD 16-3 - Timothy Knipl (The Citadel) – UTC 34-3