The
Knights left The Citadel with 3 UCF place winners and 1 unattached
place winner. Devon Jackson (174 lbs.) finished the tournament
in second place falling to The Citadel's J. Oddo in the finals.
Also at 174 lbs., CJ Hauser finished the tournament in fourth place.
At 197 lbs. Richard Rippy finished the tournament in third place
with a technical fall over Darton College's A. Boley.
Traveling with the Knights and finishing third was Gabe Hale at 141
lbs.
Making an impressive showing for
the Knights and finishing just outside the medal round was Stephen
DeAugustino (133 lbs.), Ryan Witzel (157 lbs.), and Graham Smith
(184 lbs.).
The Knights will now gear up for
their home dual meets against Darton College, Marion Military
Institute, and Middle Tennessee State University on Novemeber 14 and
the Central Florida Open on November 15.
Alumni Match 11/1/08
This past weekend the Knights
kicked off their competition season with an alumni match instead of
the traditional sanctioned college tournament. “The match was
intended to launch our young team into the competition season with a
fun event that encouraged team camaraderie and reaffirmed our young
and growing tradition,” said Head Coach Jason Balma. “In order to
continue and build our team tradition, it was important to the
coaches and older teammates to get alumni, who made their mark on
the NCWA, together with the young wrestlers. It was neat to see a
lot of the alumni, from the team’s NCWA revival in 2001, back
together wrestling; it was an event that reminded us what makes the
sport of wrestling so great ,” said Balma.
Although the alumni team featured “older” team members, many never
stopped training over the years and came ready to do battle with
current team. While conditioning was certainly a factor for many of
the alumni in the(3) 90 sec. periods, many continue to train and
support wrestling by coaching at local high schools, volunteer
coaching at for the current team, or training in mixed martial arts.
The evening was filled with many fun events, including speeches,
wrestling, raffles, and a post event BBQ; however everyone couldn’t
help but be entertained when Tom Lawlor came onto the mat dancing to
MIA’s “Paper Planes” handing out autographed photographs of him as
Daniel Polaski waited at the center of the mat. Lawlor is currently
on the Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter”.
“We are very excited about this season and this was a perfect event
that will launch our team into a successful start,” said Balma.
The Knights kick off their season with an open tournament hosted by
The Citadel in Charleston, SC on November 8.
Although the current team finished on top (24-21), the alumni made
an impressive showing and really came ready to rumble. The dual meet
came down to the final match featuring alumni and current radio DJ
Shawn (“ShawnJaya”) Stuart who lost a close match to junior Andres
Munoz.
Here are the results:
James Schumacher (alumni) dec. Daniel Polaski
Steve DeAugustino dec. Frito Cherenfant (alumni)
Matt Bohren (alumni) dec. TJ Gillin
Jorge Benzsquen dec. Paul Rothenberg (alumni)
Ryan Witzel dec. Rob McCarty (alumni)
Jayson Patino (alumni) dec. Willie Rothenberg
CJ Hauser dec. Mike Lemieux (alumni)
Joe Gibson dec. Jeff Ruberg (alumni)
Raun Jessee (alumni) pin Justin Crimmins
Richard Rippy pin Jason Ruberg
Tom Lawlor (alumni) pin Daniel Polaski
Andres Munoz dec. Shawn Stuart (alumni)
NCWA
Announces 2009 National's Location
The NCWA announced that the
2009 NCWA National Tournament will be hosted in Hamption, VA
(Hampton University). Since 2002, UCF has finished 8, 4, 1, 1,
4, 2, 3, respectively at the national tournament.
Former UCF Wrestler and 3X NCWA National Champion Appears on Spike
TV's "The Ultimate Fighter"
Former University of Central Florida 3X NCWA
National Champion Tom Lawlor will compete this Wednesday (September
24 - 10pm EST) for his spot in the "Ultimate Fighter" house. Lawlor, a 2003, 2004, & 2005 NCWA National Champion, fights out of
Orlando for American Top Team in light heavy-weight division. While
in the NCWA, Lawlor wrestled in the 235 lbs. weight class. Lawlor's
record going into the show is 6-2-0. Make sure to watch the show and
support the NCWA's first 3X National Champion!
