Celorrio wins SoCon title
From staff reports
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Frank Celorrio stayed undefeated against Southern Conference opponents this season, defeating Chattanooga's Josh Statum 7-1 to win the Southern Conference Championship and the automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.
With Celorrio’s championship, it is the third-straight year ASU has a conference champion (Scott Ervin 2007,2008) and the 16th time this decade Appalachian has a conference champion. Celorrio, the top seed in the 133-pound bracket, received a bye in the first round and beat VMI’s Tyler Hutchens by a 9-4 decision to reach the finals before beating Statum. Celorrio finishes the year 7-0 against SoCon opponents and will compete in the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo. March 19-21.
All together, ASU had seven wrestlers take third place or better. Dylan Temple and David Pritz both took second place in their brackets. Temple, wrestling at 184, pinned VMI’s Vincent Gallo in the first period to advance to the semifinals. He dropped No. 2 seed Tyler Roberson of Chattanooga in a 4-3 decision. Temple fell to UNC Greensboro’s Mikal McKee 6-2. Temple finishes the regular season with a 23-15 record and will have to wait to see if he receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. McKee is the only Southern Conference wrestler to beat Temple this season.
Pritz, like Temple was a No. 3 seed, defeated Davidson’s Jorge Estrada by a 10-1 major decision in the first round. In the semifinals he beat Chattanooga's Ethan Winel 4-3 to advance to the finals. Pritz has beaten Winel twice this season, both by one point. In the finals, Pritz fell to top seed Odie Delaney 4-2.
Mike Kessler, Savva Kostis, Chip Powell and Kyle Blevins all finished in third place. Kessler, the No. 4 seed at 141, defeated Davidson's Vitaly Radsky by a 12-4 major decision to take home third, while Kostis, also the No. 4 seed at 149, beat VMI's Joe Munno 11-5 to win third. Before beating Munno, Kostis defeated the No. 3 seed David DeCamp 5-3.
Powell pinned Carl Sandercock with 20 seconds left in the third period to wrap up third while Blevins beat The Citadel’s Derek Sickel 5-1 to take third.
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