Appalachian State University Boone, NC
Appalachian State Gets Three Southern Conference Champions

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Tony Gravely, Austin Trotman and Championships Saturday night at Davidson College, the trio punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships starting March 18 in Omaha, Neb.

Gravely took Chandler down 30 seconds into the match and quickly went to work on getting back points. He got a three-point near fall and kept getting Chandler to his back before getting the pin at the 2:26 mark.
The Martinsville, Va. native becomes the first ASU 125 pounder to win a conference championship since two-time champion Rich Caisse won in 2003.

Gravely becomes the first No. 4 seed to ever win the 125 pound Southern Conference Championship.
With three wins on the day, Gravely moves on to Omaha, Neb. with an 11-9 record.
Savva Kostis, Chip Powell and Kyle Blevins all finished second at the SoCon Championships.
Kostis fell 14-9 in the final to Dean Pavlou. Kostis fell behind early, and was able to get a late takedown but it was not enough.

Powell, a No. 5 seed at 157, fell in the finals 14-6 to The Citadel's Turtogtokh Luvsandorj.
Blevins got behind 9-1 after three periods to UNCG's Victor Hojilla but was able to get riding time in the third and a three-point near fall, bu that was all as he dropped a 10-5 decision to Hojilla.
Jason McCroskey scored the first points with an escape to open the second period but Trotman earned three-straight takedowns to take control and garner a 7-2 decision over McCroskey. Trotman took advantage of his quickness to pull off all three takedowns, especially in the third when he took McCroskey down after a restart at the 1:02 mark of the third period. Trotman becomes the first ever Mountaineer to win a Southern Conference Championship ay 184 pounds.

Temple jumped on The Citadel's Justin Sparrow early with a takedown just 45 seconds into the match and kept the pressure on. After Sparrow escaped, Temple got a takedown with 14 seconds left in the first period to take a 4-1 lead. Temple earned two more takedowns in the second period and got the riding time point for an 8-2 decision.
The three champions are the most wrestlers ASU is taking to the NCAA Championships since taking five in 2003.
Appalachian State Beats Franklin & Marshall and Belmont Abbey

BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University wrestling put on a dominating performance, beating Franklin & Marshall and Belmont Abbey Sunday afternoon in Varsity Gym.

Appalachian (4-8) won the first nine matches en route to a 49-3 win over F&M in the first match of the day. All nine of ASU's wins came by major decision, tech. fall or pin.

Austin Trotman earned his second pin of the season by dropping Matt Latessa with 23 seconds remaining in the first period. Trotman had built up a 6-2 before the pin.

Dylan Temple followed at 197 with a 14-1 major decision over Colin Ely. Temple started the match with a quick takedown and added a three point near fall to take a 5-0 lead into the second period. Temple added four more takedowns on his way to the dominating performance.
The Mountaineers captured forfeits at 125 and 133 before Kyle Benson and Savva Kostis earned back-to-back pins. The pin was the second of the season for Benson while it was Kostis' team-leading sixth.

Chip Powell followed with a dominating 17-0 tech. fall win at 157 and Kyle Blevins rounded out the Apps' wins with a 10-2 major decision over Anthony Bongarzone.
The Mountaineers shutout Belmont Abbey 47-0 to pick up its fourth win of the season. Brett Boston, Chris Collura and Savva Kostis all earned pinfalls in the win while Travis Puckett and Carter Downs won by tech. fall.

After Austin Trotman started the match with a forfeit victory at 184, Paul Glover and Ken Altarac won the next two matches by decision. After Boston's pin, Jacob Earp defeated Graceson Pastirlik by a 13-5 major decision. Blevins earned his second win of the day at 165 with a 8-2 decision over Jake Varilek and Downs' tech. fall clinched the shutout for the Mountaineers.

Appalachian travels to Gardner-Webb on Wednesday to take on the Bulldogs and NC State.
Appalachian State Wrestling Finishes 24th at Southern Scuffle

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Savva Kostis (Boone, N.C./Watauga) recorded four wins to lead Appalachian State University wrestling to a 24th place finish at the highly competitive Southern Scuffle on Tuesday and Wednesday in Greensboro.

Kostis won three matches by pinfall and one my major decision to lead all ASU wrestlers with four wins. He pinned Cal State Bakersfield's Anthony Box in his first match and downed Luke Mellmer of Minnesota in his second match. After a loss dropped him to the consolation bracket, he pinned Virginia Tech's Taylor Knapp and be Army's James Rafferty 13-4.

Chris Collura (Spencerport, N.Y./Spencerport) and Brock Durfee (Sherrills Ford, N.C./ Bandys) were the only other Mountaineers to have multiple wins, as each had two wins.
Zack Mastro (Naples, Fla./Palmetto Ridge), Carter Downs (Tequesta, Fla./Jupiter Christian), Dylan Temple (Marietta, Ga./Walton), Paul Glover (Rochester, N.Y./Spencerport) and Ken Altarac (Johnsonville, N.Y./Lasalle Institute) all picked up a victory for the Apps.

Appalachian is back in action when they travel to Virginia Tech on Jan. 4.

Appalachian State's Trotman Takes First at Michigan State Open

EAST LANSING, MICH. - Austin Trotman (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) won the 174 pound weight class to lead Appalachian State University wrestling in the season-opener at the Michigan State Open on Sunday.

ASU had eight wrestlers finish in the top-six in their weight class as the Mountaineers had a solid debut to the 2009-10 season. The tournament featured more than 20 schools, including ranked opponents such as Central Michigan, Indiana and Michigan State.

A redshirt sophomore, Trotman led the way for ASU with his first place finish. He defeated The Citadel's Jonathan Oddo 14-5 in the first round and followed that with a 7-0 decision over Ian Hinton to reach the finals. In the finals he dominated Findlay's Justin Shannon 10-1 to take home first place honors.

Frank Celorrio (Miami, Fla./Hialeah) was the Apps' next highest finisher, taking fourth at 133. He won three match on the day, including a 4-2 decision over Zach Neibert to clinch fourth place.

Three Mountaineers earned fifth place finished in the open division, including Mike Kessler (Bay City, Mich./Bay City Western), Kyle Blevins (Sapulpa, Okla./Sapulpa) and Dylan Temple (Marietta, Ga./Walton).

Kessler won his first match of the day by pinning Ohio's Heath Allen. After a second round loss, Kessler went 1-1 in the consolation bracket before defeating Ohio's Darren Boing 10-8 in the fifth place match.

Blevins opened his season with a 2-1 win over Kris Bowser before falling in the next round to Indiana's Ryan LeBlanc. Blevins, like Kessler, went 1-1 in the consolation round before beating Michigan State's Ben Boudro 9-4 for fifth.

After falling in the first round, Temple won five-straight matches to capture fifth. The junior defeated North Idaho's Jacob Burge to capture fifth.

Savva Kostis (Boone, N.C./Watauga) captured sixth place, picking up two wins in the process, beating The Citadel's Derek Royster 8-1 and Cleveland State's Collin McCreary 14-5.
Paul Glover (Rochester, N.Y./Spencerport) and Carter Downs (Tequesta, Fla./Jupiter Christian) represented ASU well in the under 21 division, earning fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively.

Also for ASU, Brock Durfee (Sherrills Ford, N.C./Bandys), Jacob Earp (Boone, N.C./Watauga) and Richie Dehnz (Naples, Fla./Palmetto Ridge) picked up two wins apiece while freshmen Brett Boston (Morganton, N.C./Freedom) and Chris Collura (Spencerport, N.Y./Spencerport) picked up a win and sophomore Travis Puckett (Matthews, N.C./David W. Butler) earned a win.

Appalachian is back in action on Sunday, Nov. 22 when they travel to the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia, Pa
.Appalachian State University wrestling head coach hired Christian Sinnot as an assistant coach

JohnMark Bentley hired Christian Sinnot as an assistant coach for the upcoming season, announced Bentley Tuesday afternoon.

Sinnot comes to Appalachian from Central Michigan, where he was an volunteer assistant coach for the 2008-09 season. He also served as the strength and conditioning coach for wrestling, football, baseball, gymnastics and field hockey in 2008.

“I’m very excited about adding Christian to our staff here at ASU,” Bentley said. “I believe he will be a tremendous asset to our upper weight classes, and his experience as a competitor and coach will help our program.”

During his career on the mat with the Chippewas, Sinnot was a three-time NCAA qualifier, a two-time Mid-American Conference champion and earned All-American honors as a senior. He ranks in the top-15 in school history in career winning percentage and helped lead Central Michigan to back-to-back top-10 national finishes in his junior and senior years.

Appalachian State Sports Information
307 Varsity Gym
Boone, NC, 28607
www.GoASU.com