AB Wrestling Scores Team Title at Builders Invitational; Crowns Two Individual Champions
January 20, 2019
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Behind five finalists and two individual champions, the Alderson Broaddus wrestling team scored the team title at the Builders Invitational hosted by the Newport News Apprentice School Sunday.
Gino Sita and Josh Dailey each earned individual titles at 174 and 197 respectively. Curtis Cox, Tyler Bauer and Jared Burgoyne all reached the finals.
The Battlers took the team title by 2.5 points over host Newport News Apprentice School. The difference was bonus points. AB scored 12 falls and three tech falls. The Battlers also posted scoring finishes at 10 weights.
Dailey moved up to 197 and used a pair of falls to advance to the finals. In the finals, Dailey scored a 9-2 decision and ran his record to 17-4 on the year.
Sita also earned bonus points on his way to the final scoring a fall and a major decision to get the title match and then scoring a tech fall to win his second straight Builders Invitational title.
Cox lost a tight match in the finals. Bauer scored bonus points with pins in his opening two matches before falling in the finals. Burgoyne also scored a fall in the semifinals before dropping his title bout.
"I have mixed feelings about our performance overall," said head coach Sam Gardner. "Pushing 5 in to the finals, winning a team championship, scoring in all weights, that all shows the kind of progress we want to see in terms of tournament wrestling. That said, I think we left points on the table. I didn't believe we were out-matched in any of the finals we lost, we just came up short, and I hurt for those guys. We lost a few bouts during the day in situations where we had victory within reach and just didn't slam the door and finish like we needed to. There are technical and tactical things we need to improve if we want to be better this coming weekend."
The Battlers scored some key third places finishes from Levi Hobbs and Brantley Guckert.
"Brantley [Guckert] came up big trailing 12-4 in the consolation semis he cradled his opponent and pinned him," Gardner said. "Then in the third place match he rallied again to knock off the guy who beat him in the opener. Those were some key points for the team."
Camren Ritchey, Derek Schmidt and Daniel Sherrard each posted fourth place finishes. Schmidt and Sherrard each had a pair of falls that proved to critical to the team scoring.
The Battlers will return to action on Saturday when they travel to the West Virginia Collegiate Invitational hosted by Wheeling Jesuit.
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