Mountaineers Prepped for Navy Classic
November 22, 2014
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (November 21, 2014) – The West Virginia University wrestling team heads to Annapolis, Maryland, on Saturday to compete at the Navy Classic, hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy at Wesley Brown Field House.
The preliminary rounds will start at 10 a.m., with the semifinals projected to start at 2:30 p.m. The final rounds are slated for a 5 p.m. start time. Due to IT security, there will not be live stats or live video.
Admission for the event is $10 for adults and $5 for students. Please note that fans may not drive onto the grounds without a valid Department of Defense ID card. Attendees can park at the football stadium for $5 with a free shuttle service to Wesley Brown Field House.
The 2014 season marks the seventh time since 2007 the Mountaineers have competed in the event, including a ninth-place showing in 2013. A total of 23 ranked grapplers are slated to participate in this season’s event, while three ranked teams will expected to compete. No. 19 Wisconsin, No. 23 Chattanooga and #24 Ohio highlight the list, while other teams include Brown, Bucknell, The Citadel, Kent State, Cleveland State, George Mason, Navy, North Carolina and Princeton.
“It’s going to be a tough tournament. You have Navy, Wisconsin, Kent State and several other solid schools and we look forward to the performance of our guys,” said WVU coach Sammie Henson. “We’re going to continue on with what we’ve been doing and just working on the little things. I think this team has showed a lot of resilience and fight as far as in the training room.”
Bubba Scheffel will look to improve upon his runner-up finish at 174 pounds last season. Scheffel won four consecutive bouts before dropping his final match, a 5-2 decision to No. 17 Turtogtokh Luvsandorj of The Citadel. With back-to-back pins to open the tournament, Scheffel tied the school’s single-season pin mark with 11.
Heavyweight A.J. Vizcarrondo took sixth at last season’s event, while Cory Stainbrook made the quarterfinals at 125 pounds.
The Mountaineers are coming off of a 19-13 loss to Arizona State in their first home dual of the season. Despite the outcome, the match offered several thrilling moments with a pair of upperclassmen earning overtime victories and a pair of newcomers notching wins. Vizcarrondo used the riding time point as the tiebreaker in a 5-4 decision over Chace Eskam, while senior Michael Morales used a takedown to earn a 3-1 sudden victory over Mech Spraggins. Sophomore Jake A. Smith, who transferred to WVU after competing at Cleveland State, earned his first win as a Mountaineer with a 6-1 decision over Wesley Moore.
However the story of the day was freshman Zeke Moisey’s debut at 125 pounds. The highly-touted recruit was slated to redshirt the season and took third at the Michigan State Open while competing unattached to start the year. Henson decided to pull Moisey’s redshirt, and the Fairmont, W.Va., proceeded to dominate, earning a 12-2 major decision over Judson Preskitt in his official debut.
Next up for the Mountaineers is a trip to Tory, New York, where they will compete in the Journeyman/Northeast Duals on Saturday, November 29 at Hudson Community College. West Virginia is expected to square off with Cornell, Northern Illinois and Rutgers in a trio of duals a the event.
Follow @WVUSports and @WVUWrestling on Twitter
Return to the WV-Mat front page