LAURINBURG, N.C. – The battle for first-place in the NAIA East Region quickly became a two-team race Saturday and went down to the final few weights, as No. 5 Campbellsville University and No. 4 Lindsey Wilson College swapped leads before the Blue Raiders pulled out a nine-point team victory in the NAIA East Region Qualifier.
CU had 10-of-12 wrestlers advance to the quarterfinals to start the day. All 10 went on to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament, while senior Jarvis Elam (125 pounds) and freshman Michael Johnson (174 pounds) fell short.
RESULTS
With new qualifying rules this season, wrestlers had to finish in the Top 4 or receive a wild card, voted on by the region coaches. Elam and Johnson were two of four CU wildcard hopefuls, but the two bids for Campbellsville went to Robert Boston, who finished sixth at 125 pounds, and DeCoreus Leavell, who was fifth at 133 pounds.
The remaining eight Tigers placed in the Top 4 for their respective weights.
"I feel good about the 10 we have going to nationals. We will have two good weeks of training, and be ready to have a great national tournament in Iowa," said CU head coach Franky James.
Of the eight that placed in the Top 4 for their weights, three are first-time NAIA qualifiers.
At 141 pounds, Brandon Westerman won the weight by injury default after he and 2012 NAIA runner-up Chris Teague both advanced to weight's final. Teague avenged a major decision loss from the regular season to LWC's Wismit Moinius, by recording a 3-1 decision to advance to the final. The move, gave CU a one-point edge of Lindsey Wilson, 94.5 to 93.5. The Tigers' lead grew as CU placed two freshmen (Kyle Terry and Shawn McGhee) in the top two spots at 149 pounds. Terry led CU with 20.5 team points, scoring with a pin and tech fall in the tournament.
Conor Young (157 pounds) qualified for his fourth consecutive national tournament with a first-place win over Michael Gonzalez of Cumberland University. Young started the day with an 18-5 major decision over West Virginia Tech's Chance Smith. The win tied Young with Tommy Pretty for the most CU career wins by major decision (18).
At 184 pounds, third-ranked Josh Ashbrook posted a 3-2 day, getting beat in the quarterfinal and third place match by Lindsey Wilson's Jameel Bryant.
Allen Scruggs is the only other four-time qualifier for the Tigers as collected 15 team points before losing the first place match at 197 pounds to Jacob Bradford of Lindsey Wilson. Scruggs managed to gain a reversal of Bradford as time expired, but it was waved off in a 2-1 win for Bradford.
Tyler Alsip also qualified for the Tigers after placing third at 133 pounds. He had a pair of pins on the day and collected 15.5 team points for CU. Like Ashbrook, it will be his fourth national tournament to attend, but third as a competitor. Ashbrook and Alsip both traveled to the 2010 NAIA Tournament as spectators.
Campbellsville will depart for the NAIA National Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 27. In addition to coverage of the tournament, there will be a daily diary kept while on the road to Des Moines, Iowa.
