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    Bono wins U.S. Nationals title

    CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Head Wrestling Coach Chris Bono claimed his third consecutive U.S. Freestyle National Championship Saturday night at the 2007 U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Bono, who entered the tournament seeded fourth in the 145.5 pound division, has now won four overall U.S. Freestyle titles. He receives an automatic bid to the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 9 and 10 in Las Vegas.

    As a seeded wrestler, Bono did not have to go through the preliminary qualifying matches. He defeated Joe Johnston, 3-0, 1-1 and Zack Esposito, 1-1, 0-1, 3-1 to get to the semifinals. In the semis, Bono got past top-seeded Jared Lawrence, 3-0, 0-3, 1-0 before beating second-seeded Jared Frayer, 2-6, 3-1, 1-0 for the title.

    The championship match came down to the third period which Bono won 1-0 after Frayer stepped out of bounds.

    "Jared is a tough and dangerous wrestler," Bono said. "This is the first time I have ever beaten him. This is exciting because I'm out of the mini-tournament. I only have to wrestle two matches to be on the World Team. I'll let those other guys beat each other up before they get to me."

    Six UTC wrestlers also competed at the Nationals with each of them providing good showings.

    Two-time All-America Matt Keller won four matches at 132.25 pounds to advance to the championship round before an injury ended his run. Josh Keefe went 1-2 in the same bracket.

    All-America Michael Keefe and Joey Knox wrestled in the same bracket as Bono. Both wrestlers compiled impressive 3-2 marks.

    Seth Garvin went 2-2 at 163 pounds, and former wrestler and current UTC assistant coach Israel Silva won three matches after losing his initial match and ended up 3-2.

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