The Battlers of Alderson Broaddus University finished in third place in the team standings at Saturday's Washington & Jefferson Invitational on the strength of six place winners and a significant amount of bonus points. AB won matches at every weight they competed in, and scored a tournament high 13 pins, to finish with 103 team points, contributing to the team's highest finish at this event since they began attending it on an annual basis.
Dwayne "The Roc" Johnson powered his way to the finals at 197 lbs., scoring a decision, a fall, and a major decision in his first three bouts. In the final he lost a heartbreaker to Lycoming All-American Gable Crebs on a last second reversal.
Richard Davis (141), Greg Griffith (174), and Kourdell Todd (285) each finished in third-place at their respective weight classes. Richard made the semi-finals on the strength of a pin and a come from behind victory. After falling in the semifinals he rebounded with a strong performance for third place, earning another decision to take the bronze. Greg Griffith took the long way to his medal with three first period falls and a major decision, winning four of the five bouts he competed in. A much slimmed down version of Kourdell Todd earned himself a bronze medal by scoring four pins during the day. His final two falls were scored in dramatic fashion, as Todd was behind in both matches but utilized a strong ride and strong conditioning to force his much larger opponents to their backs.
Noah Hodges moved to 3 and 1 on the young season with a pair of wins to earn a spot in the semi-finals. Noah came in nursing an injury and was pulled from the semi-final out of an abundance of caution after he was forced to take an injury time. Hodges finished fourth on the day.
Teammate Jamal Everett made his first collegiate semi-final with a first round pin, a major decision, and a technical fall. Jamal fell to fourth place, but showed great improvements over last season.
Jacob Rallo had a pair of falls at 165 before injury withdrawing as a preventative measure. Freshman Tommy Fierro had his first collegiate pin, and Chad Miller scored his first collegiate victory as well.
Coach Gardner's thoughts: "We wrestled much better than we did against Fairmont a little more than a week ago. The Roc [Dwayne Johnson] showed glimpses of how good he could really be. He came up short in the final, but he made a tactical error that can be fixed. He showed he can compete with the nation's best. Kourdell told me he was going 'get that one back', referring to his season opening loss to Fairmont State's heavyweight. He certainly did. He wrestled lights out today, and I was delighted to see his development in the top position. That he was able to keep his word and 'get it back' for the team in his final bout of the day fired me up. Richard Davis is a tough kid. He's developing new skills every week. Jamal had a great day and is coming along well. Greg Griffith is showing me what I thought he was capable of when we recruited him. He presents a real problem because he's ridiculously tall, and knows how to use that length. We were, as a whole, much better than we were a week ago, The bonus points our guys earn is really impressive. I'm not sure why we are good at pinning, as I personally couldn't pin a tail on a donkey if given the chance, let alone another human being. But for whatever reason it is something our teams at AB are proficient at. We'll assess the weekend in detail Monday and work to get better."
Original source can be found here.
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