CHARLESTON, S.C. – Three Old Dominion grapplers, who wrestled unattached, finished in third place at the 2014 Citadel Open this weekend in Charleston, S.C. Josh Markham, Emilio Saavedra and TC Warner came in third place in their respective weight classes and were three of four ODU wrestlers to earn top-three finishes on the day.
The 125-pound freshman, Markham (unattached), defeated Alex Battaglia (Limestone) by a 13-6 decision, Bryan Mol (UNC-Pembroke) 23-8 by a tech fall, Trae Green (Life), 20-3 tech fall and Landon LoAlbo (Gardner-Webb) by a 10-4 decision to make it to the first-place match for 125 pounds. In the final match, Markham fell to Travis Laxton (Coker) by a very narrow 6-5 decision to claim second place at 125.
Emilio Saavedra (unattached) was also a finalist in the 133 championship bracket, defeating Jayson Guardada (Gardner-Webb) by fall (2:35) and defeated Jake Smith (UNC-Pembroke) by a 15-7 major decision, Clarence Arrington (The Citadel) by a 3-2 decision and won by disqualification over Drew Walker (Campbell) in the semifinal round. Nathan Kraisser (Campbell) got the best of Saavedra in the championship bout, winning by a 7-1 decision.
TC Warner (unattached) was the final wrestler to place second in his weight class for Old Dominion. He picked up one win by fall, two victories by tech fall and then one by a major decision. He started out defeating Milo Shelton (UNC-Pembroke) by fall (3:11), then he took down DeAndre Johnson (Spartanburg Methodist) by a 13-0 major decision, Christian Grillo (Central Florida) by a 15-0 tech fall (4:41) and Robert Manning (Limestone) by a 19-1 tech fall (4:00) to make an appearance in the championship round. Warner suffered a loss by fall (5:30) to Shawn McGhee (Campbellsville) to earn second place at 157.
Even after suffering a 9-8 loss to eventual champion Terrence Zaleski (UNC-Pembroke) in the 174 championship third round, Joey Balboni (unattached) came in third place at 174 pounds. He defeated Mitchell Abreu (Truett-McConnell) by a 15-9 decision, Payton Mills (Gardner-Webb) by an 18-5 major decision, Andy Bennett by a 22-7 tech fall (5:30), Rocco Hladney (Coker) by an 18-7 major decision and Robert Shade (UNC-Pembroke) by a 6-4 decision in the wrestleback rounds to place third.
Also competing for ODU at the Citadel Open this weekend included, Dylan Hunziker (141-unattached), Tanner Stephens (141-unattached), Jared Swan (165-unattached), McKinnis Spadoni (157-unattached) and Kaleab Fetahi (174-unattached).
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RESULTS:
125
Josh Markham (ODU - Unattached) DEC Alex Battaglia (Limestone - Unattached) D 13-6
Josh Markham (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Bryan Mol (UNC-Pembroke) T1.5 23-8; 6:57
Josh Markham (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Trae Green (Life University) T1.5 20-3; 5:30
Josh Markham (ODU - Unattached) DEC Landon LoAlbo (Gardner-Webb - Unattached) D 10-4
Travis Laxton (Coker) DEC Josh Markham (ODU - Unattached) D 6-5
133
Emilio Saavedra (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Cody Walker (Coker) T1.5 20-4; 5:15
Emilio Saavedra (ODU - Unattached) WBF Jayson Guardado (Gardner-Webb - Unattached) F 2:35
Emilio Saavedra (ODU - Unattached) DEC Jake Smith (UNC-Pembroke) M 15-7
Emilio Saavedra (ODU - Unattached) DEC Clarence Arrington (The Citadel) D 3-2
Emilio Saavedra (ODU - Unattached) WBF DQ (Campbell - Unattached) F DQ
Nathan Kraisser (Campbell - Unattached) DEC Emilio Saavedra (ODU - Unattached) D 7-1
141
Tanner Stephens (ODU - Unattached) DEC Alex Lewis (App State) M 14-2
Curtis Harris (Coker - Unattached) DEC Tanner Stephens (ODU - Unattached) D 9-4
Tanner Stephens (ODU - Unattached) WBF David Synder (Central Florida) F 2:50
Job Armenta (Gardner-Webb) DEC Tanner Stephens (ODU - Unattached) D 8-7
Kevin Thompson (Coker) DEC Dylan Hunziker (ODU - Unattached) D 7-5
Dylan Hunziker (ODU - Unattached) DEC Nicholas Tomlin (Life University) D 9-3
Nate Harper (The Citadel) DEC Dylan Hunziker (ODU - Unattached) D 6-1
157
TC Warner (ODU - Unattached) WBF Milo Shelton (UNC-Pembroke) F 3:11
TC Warner (ODU - Unattached) DEC DeAndre Johnson (Spartanburg Methodist) M 13-0
TC Warner (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Christian Grillo (Central Florida) T1.5 15-0; 4:41
TC Warner (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Robert Manning (Limestone - Unattached) T1.5 19-1; 4:00
Shawn McGhee (Campbellsville) WBF TC Warner (ODU - Unattached) F 5:30
McKinnis Spadoni (ODU - Unattached) WBF Brysen Thorpe (Braves Wrestling Club) F 4:35
Dallas Brown (Life University) DEC McKinnis Spadoni (ODU - Unattached) M 14-4
Joseph Evans (Gardner-Webb) DEC McKinnis Spadoni (ODU - Unattached) D 7-2
165
Jared Swan (ODU - Unattached) DEC Garrett Hlavacek (UNC-Pembroke - Unattached) D 7-4
Jared Swan (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Austin Bailey (Central Florida) T1.5 16-1; 3:00
Jared Swan (ODU - Unattached) WBF Zorrie Green (Spartanburg Methodist) F 4:23
Bryce Carr (Darton) DEC Jared Swan (ODU - Unattached) D 2-1
John Weiss (Campbell - Unattached) WBF Jared Swan (ODU - Unattached) F 3:29
174
Joey Balboni (ODU - Unattached) WBF Hunter Smith (Life University) F 5:55
Terrence Zaleski (UNC-Pembroke) DEC Joey Balboni (ODU - Unattached) D 9-8
Joey Balboni (ODU – Unattached) DEC Mitchell Abreu (Truett-McConnell) D 15-9
Joey Balboni (ODU - Unattached) DEC Payton Mills (Gardner-Webb - Unattached) M 18-5
Joey Balboni (ODU - Unattached) WBTF Andy Bennett (Gardner-Webb) T1.5 22-7; 5:30
Joey Balboni (ODU - Unattached) DEC Rocco Hladney (Coker) M 18-7
Joey Balboni (ODU - Unattached) DEC Robert Shade (UNC-Pembroke - Unattached) D 6-4
Matthew Ostermiller (Limestone) WBF Kaleab Fetahi (ODU - Unattached) F 6:10
Kaleab Fetahi (ODU - Unattached) WBF Jordon Garlow (Coker) F 3:32
Kaleab Fetahi (ODU - Unattached) WBF Kody Eichlen (King University) F M FOR
Ulysses Avgeros (The Citadel - Unattached) WBF Kaleab Fetahi (ODU - Unattached) F M FOR