BLUEFIELD, W.Va.— The Montreat men's wrestling team faced a pair of Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) foes in West Virginia Friday night as the Cavaliers competed against the Bluefield University Rams and the West Virginia University Institute of Technology Golden Bears. With a lopsided 46-4 triumph over the Rams and a 54-6 result against the Golden Bears, the Cavs secured their first victories of the season and moved to 2-7 (2-4 AAC) on the year.
Patrick Wlodyga earned six points with a pin at 125 before
Zeke Grabowski notched a 12-4 major decision at 133 and
Coy Reid grabbed a quick fall in just 29 seconds to hand the Cavaliers a 16-0 advantage through three bouts against the Rams.
Bluefield (2-10, 2-1 AAC) answered with a major decision to get on the board; however, a pair of forfeits in Montreat's favor brought the score to 28-4.
Dalton Towe flipped the script in his 174-lb matchup to register a pin before another forfeit and a 27-second fall by
Grant Trotter in the heavyweight battle sealed the team's 42-point win.
The Cavs then improved on the scoreline in their second dual of the night. Against the Golden Bears, Montreat captured nine of the 10 bouts and WVU Tech (2-6, 1-2 AAC) avoided pins or forfeits on a single occasion as the Cavaliers collected bonus points in all nine victories to register their win.
The pair of wins marked the initial coaching victories of head coach Jim Connaghan's career.
"Today was a great step in the right direction- the guys looked great," said Connaghan. "They came out to compete and the energy was right where it needed to be. We had a couple guys wrestle up a weight class to secure the wins. Back to work tomorrow!"
Men's wrestling now travels to St. Andrews for another conference tri-dual against SAU and Pikeville next Friday.
Montreat College 46, Bluefield University 4
125:
Patrick Wlodyga (Montreat) over Michael Wilkinson (Bluefield) (Fall 5:00)
133:
Zeke Grabowski (Montreat) over Ethyn Kimberlin (Bluefield) (MD 12-4)
141:
Coy Reid (Montreat) over Ajay Pai (Bluefield) (Fall 0:29)
149: Kenaz Davis (Bluefield) over
Alex Chester (Montreat) (MD 14-4)
157:
Braden Wharton (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
165:
Branson Bennett (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
174:
Dalton Towe (Montreat) over Augustus Wilson (Bluefield) (Fall 3:37)
184: Unknown vs. Unknown
197:
Seth Williamson (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
285:
Grant Trotter (Montreat) over Parker Cottreal (Bluefield) (Fall 0:27)
Montreat College 54, West Virginia University Institute of Technology 6
125:
Patrick Wlodyga (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
133:
Zeke Grabowski (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
141:
Coy Reid (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
149:
Alex Chester (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
157:
Braden Wharton (Montreat) over Andrew Dado (WVU Tech) (Fall 0:00)
165:
Branson Bennett (Montreat) over Unknown (For.)
174:
Dalton Towe (Montreat) over Ryan Turney (WVU Tech) (Fall 0:00)
184: Maxwell Underwood (WVU Tech) over Unknown (For.)
197:
Seth Williamson (Montreat) over John Parks (WVU Tech) (Fall 0:00)
285:
Grant Trotter (Montreat) over Jeffrey Bowles (WVU Tech) (Fall 0:00)
