University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Midlands Championships
Minwell Still Alive in Midlands Wrestlebacks
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team sits in 15th place after the first day of the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill., today. Junior Tom Minwell is the lone Moc still alive and is set to compete in the heavyweight wrestleback tomorrow.
Minwell defeated Triton's John Burke 12-0 in the opening round of the championship bracket. He was pinned by Missouri's Mark Ellis, the No. 6 seed in the tournament, in the second round. He posted two more wins in the wrestleback bracket and is set to take on top-seeded Aaron Anspach on Wednesday.
Senior Josh Statum collected a win in the 133 wrestleback, pinning Clarion's Jay Ivanco at 2:41. Freshman Dean Pavlou posted three wins before falling out of the 149 wrestleback. Freshman Jake Young, seeded No. 9 at 174, won his first match against St. Cloud State's Shamus O'Grady 6-5. He went on to drop his next two matches. '
Sophomore Jason McCroskey also had a solid showing, defeating Iowa's Vinnie Wagner 8-3 in the second round of the championship bracket at 184. He fell to top-seeded Max Askren from Missouri 7-5 but won another match in the wrestleback before being eliminated. He second win of the day was a pin at 1:33 over Northern Iowa's Scott Hazen.
The Mocs will be back in action on Jan. 16 when they host Missouri at Maclellan Gym on Jan. 16. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) against the top-25 Tigers.
