After the second day, head coach Jim Andrassy was pleased with how well the team fought the whole tournament. "We wrestled pretty well the second day. We still need to work on certain positions that we are not doing the best with. They did a good job and took third behind the third-ranked team in the country with Cornell and a top-20 team in Edinboro."
Kilgore won his second tournament of the season with a 6-0 record at 184. During the tournament run, he recorded a tech fall, two pins in under a minute and three decisions. On Tuesday, he wrestled to a 17-2 tech fall win over Joe Budi of Old Dominion and pinned Shawn Fendone of Edinboro in 49 seconds to reach the finals. In the championship match, Kilgore defeated third-seed Josh Patterson of Binghamton 10-4.
Notching his 100th win of the season Monday, Porter was not done making Golden Flashes history Tuesday. In the quarters, Porter defeated Tyler Moyer of Navy 7-1 and overpowered 11th-ranked Konrad Dudziak of Duke 8-4 in the semifinals. In the finals, Porter won by medical forfeit to claim his second consecutive tournament title.
"Both of them pretty much dominated the tournament. They are both ranked in the top-10 and didn't have a close match all tournament. They are both doing the right things. Jermail is getting better and better. The additions on our coaching staff of bringing in Andrew Wolf has helped Kilgore out a lot," said Andrassy.
Fifth-year senior Drew Lashaway finished second at 141. In the quarters, he claimed a 4-2 victory over Nick Nelson of Virginia. In the semis, Lashaway won a thriller over Vincent Ramirez of North Carolina 3-1 in sudden victory before dropping a 4-1 decision to Joe Caramanica of NC State in the finals.
Sophomore Nic Bedelyon took third in the 125-pound weight class with a 6-1 record. His only loss came in the semifinals against Paul Donahoe by a final 9-3, the only win by the former national champion not by fall in the tournament.
"Bedelyon is wrestling as good as he has ever wrestled. He had a rough start and we had to work through some things. He is wrestling very good and that was a pretty loaded weight class. He has beaten Kyle Fluke of Edinboro (4-3 at the Oklahoma Gold) who took second. He gave the returning national champion at 125 the best match of the tournament. The match was a lot closer than the score shows. He is on the right track and I am excited for him," said Andrassy.
After starting the tournament 3-0, redshirt junior Danny Mitcheff finished 1-2 to claim fourth place at 133. He lost in the semis in a close bout with 10th-ranked Lou Ruggirello 3-2 before rebounding with a 3-2 win in the consolation semis. In the third-place match, Mitcheff lost another heartbreaker 7-6 to Mike Grey from Cornell.
Redshirt junior Obie Simpson finished sixth at 165 pounds, also losing a one-point match in the quarterfinals. Simpson fell to Keegan Mueller of North Carolina 6-5. However, he fought to a sixth-place finish with a pair of thrilling one-point victories, the last being 1-0 over Willy Mello of Duke.
After a tough loss yesterday, redshirt freshman Brendan Barlow rebounded to place seventh. He defeated Tyler Moyer of Navy 6-1 before falling to David Marone of Virginia Tech 3-1. In the seventh-place match, he defeated Zach Hammond of Cornell 3-1 in sudden victory.
"Barlow beat the tenth-ranked wrestler in the country (Zach Hammond of Cornell) at this tournament and had the 7th-ranked wrestler (Mitch Monteiro) on the ropes," said Andrassy. "He gets better every time he wrestles. We are not going to miss a beat with him after Jermail Porter graduates."
Kent State returns to the mats Sunday when it travels to Ohio State for their annual battle with the Buckeyes. Catch all the action on KentStateSports.com beginning at 5 p.m. with Ty Linder calling the action from Columbus.
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