George Finishes Third Qualifies for Nationals
February 23-24, 2018
Johnstown, PA – The second day at the NCAA nationals ended up being a little better than the first for the Fighting Scots. Dalton George (Williamstown, West Virginia) was able to go 2-1 on the day which enables the redshirt junior to qualify for his second straight national tournament in two weeks.
The day started off on a losing note for the Scots as George was beaten in a tough semi-final match as he was defeated in a decision 6-5 by Damon Greenwald from Seton Hill. . Greenwald took a lead with just seconds remaining the in the first period to go up 2-0. Dalton was fighting an uphill battle from then on and was not able to catch up.
Just two weight classes behind that junior Tyler Koreski (Parkersburg, WV) was the only other wrestler for the Scots left on the second day. However his day would not last long as he would be defeated by Wes Phipps of Mercyhurst with a 6-3 decision.
George was then on deck for his second match of the day against Dan Arkow from Long Island University Post. George would be able to secure a pin and move to the third place match during the evening session.
In the third place match he would face a familiar for Gino Sita from Alderson Broaddus, the two had faced each other twice during the season splitting the honors at one apiece. Sita earlier had won an overtime match by the smallest of margins of .01 riding time to defeat a national qualifier from last year Roberto Rivera from Notre Dame College OH. 4-3 with the extra point coming from the just one the second of riding time.
The match between George and Sita was very cautious one during the first period with neither wrestler scoring in the first. George then chose down to start the second and was able to get out and get the one point for an escape, neither wrestler was able to score any more points going into the third with George up 1-0.
Sita then chose down for the third and George was able to control him and riding Sita for over a minute before Sita was able to escape. With just under one minute George was able to defend a couple of attacks of Sita and using the riding time to advance to finish third and advance to the national tournament by a 2-1 score.
The Scots were only able to score 19.5 points during the tournament and finished 13th out of 15 schools. The NCAA Division II National Tournament will be held at Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 9th and 10th.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the wrestling program this year follow @ovu_athletics on Twitter and Instagram, like Ohio Valley University Athletics on Facebook or visit fightingscots.ovu.edu.
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