FAIRFAX, VA. – It was all business for Wolves Wrestling this weekend, as they traveled up to George Mason University to partake in the 2022 Arms Software / GMU Patriots Open in Virginia. Looking to rebound from the previous dual against UNC Pembroke, the Wolves sent 14 wrestlers to compete at the one day tournament that included a plethora of Division I and unaffiliated competition. By tournament's end, two Wolves would leave as placers in the open; Khris Walton (Merrillville, Ky.) would secure a fourth place finish at 197 lbs and Devon Rice (Rock Hill, S.C.) would finish sixth at 285 lbs.
For Rice, his day would kick off with a defeat to Tristan Kemp of West Virginia by a 2-1 decision, but after a bye in the consolation bracket, he would get back to his winning ways by defeating Billy Mcchesney of Columbia by a 3-1 decision. Continuing with the winning ways, Rice would score a 6-5 decision against Ashton Davis of Spartan Combat RTC before finally seeing his afternoon end with a sixth place finish after a 3-1 decision defeat against Jamier Ferere from Navy.
Walton, in his first action for Wolves Wrestling, would start his tournament blazing with a 5-2 decision victory against Harrison Shapiro from Franklin & Marshall, followed by a 3-1 decision win against Kaleb Snodgrass of Lock Haven. After suffering a setback with a 2-1 decision loss against Jonathan List of host George Mason, he would contend in the third place match against Gavin Henry from Davidson College, but Henry would come out on top with Walton dropping a 12-6 decision, finishing the afternoon in fourth place.
Other highlights from the tournament included 157 lbs Nolan Wheeler (Dahlonega, Ga.), 133 lbs Fletcher Swindall (Alexandria, Ala.), 149 lbs Devan Moore (Baxely, Ga.), and 184 lbs Armando Acosta (Gainesville, Fla.) all securing at least one win in the tournament.
Starting with Swindall, he would be defeated by a 16-0 tech fall in his first bout of the day to Boris Witmer of Columbia. After a bye, Swindall would get into the win column by pinning unaffiliated wrestler Brennen Retmier in 50 seconds before ending the tournament by a 18-2 tech fall defeat to Ethan Qureshi of Spartan Combat RTC.
Moore would secure a 16-1 tech fall win in his first match of the day against Corbin Dion of Gardner-Webb before a 12-2 major decision defeat to Frank Antonelli of Navy would send him to the consolation bracket. He would get back on track with a 16-1 tech fall victory against Josh Scott of Savage University, followed by a 5-1 decision win against Christian Hodges of Navy. He would bow out of the tournament in the next match to Evan Maag from George Mason by a 3:22 fall.
Wheeler's day started slow with a 14-7 decision loss to Lorenzo Rajaonarivelo of George Mason before righting the ship with a 2:42 pin of unaffiliated Jeremy Delvalle. He would win his next match by a 5-4 decision against Tyler Brignola of Gardner-Webb before falling to Marc Koch of Davidson by a 10-5 decision.
Rounding out the rest of the Wolves to secure wins, Acosta would be defeated by Lucas Uliano of Appalachian State by a 4:45 pin in his opening match. A consolation bye would ensue before he would pin TJ Dorceus of Pennsylvania RTC at 3:35 in his next match.
A battle of Newberry Wolves would follow his previous win as he would face his teammate Des Marshall (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and come out on top with a 5:44 pin. The next match would be his last of the tournament as he would lose a 10-4 decision to Carsten Rawls from American.
Wrestling will have the rest of this week and most of next week to prepare for their next tournament, which will come on December 17 and 18 at the Midwest Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana.
