No. 11 David Terao, a 125-pound sophomore, and No. 9 Danny Mitchell, a senior weighing 196 pounds, helped AU split a two mat-triangular matchup, winning 28-11 over Gardner-Webb and losing 20-13 to Columbia on Jan. 19.
Columbia took the team title with victories over AU and a 32-6 over Gardner-Webb.
“We have to go out to win matches,” head coach Teague Moore said. “If we expect matches to come to us, it’s not going to happen at this level. We have to be willing to go out and find ways to win.”
This was a unique dual meet because it featured three teams competing simultaneously on two mats over three periods. Each weight class wrestled twice, once against each opposing team.
In his second match of the afternoon against Gardner-Webb’s Boyce Cornwell, Mitchell picked up a career fast 48-second fall, for his second victory of the afternoon.
Mitchell opened the afternoon against Columbia’s Matt Idelson. After Mitchell took the first period 2-1, Idelson bounced back in the second to tie the match at four. The score would remain tied after the third, but due to the riding time advantage, Mitchell would be given an extra point for the 5-4 victory.
Terao began his afternoon with the first of two major decisions. Despite holding just a 2-1 lead over Gardner Webb’s Phillip Anderson after the first period, Terao came out strong in the final two periods, recording multiple takedowns and winning the advantage in riding time en route to the 13-5 major decision.
Terao’s strong performance carried over in his matchup against Columbia’s Penn Gotfried. Terao imposed his will from the opening of the match and picked up a 16-6 decision.
“He is starting to see a lot more guys backing away from him in his matches or just trying to keep it close,” Moore said of Terao.
Senior heavyweight Blake Herrin also picked up two wins on the afternoon. The first matchup saw Herrin and Columbia’s Wyatt Baker face off in what was a close match through two periods with Herrin holding a 3-2 advantage. In the third, Herrin took over recording two takedowns and an escape to push the final tally to 9-3, Herrin.
His second match was similar to the first. After a close first period, Herrin began to pull away with a 7-2 lead entering the third period before finally taking the match 16-6.
Other Eagles to pick up victories included:
sophomore 157-pounder John Boyle and senior Keithen Cast at 174 pounds each picked up one major decision.
Freshman Jason Grimes at 184 pounds, freshman Spencer Slishman at 141 pounds and sophomore Esteban Gomez-Rivera at 133 pounds each recorded one decision.
“We are still growing,” head coach Teague Moore assed of his team. “The good news is we’ve got issues which can be fixed. If we fix the small things the end result will be good.”
The Eagles are next in action when they take on Binghamton University Jan. 25 in Binghamton, N.Y.
