Air Force Academy
All-Academy Championships
Wrestling Team Wins All-Academy Championships
2/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 2, 2002
The United States Air Force Academy won their fourth All-Academy Championship at the Eighth Annual Championships hosted by The Citadel in Charleston, SC. Eight nationally-ranked wrestlers competed in Saturday's competition.
Scott Frohardt (149) of the Air Force Academy entered the championships ranked 11th in the nation (Wrestling Mall), and won his weight class for the fourth consecutive year. Frohardt was the first ever wrestler to win four championships at the All-Academies. Frohardt beat Mike Parsons of VMI 7-3. The Citadel's Wayne Watts beat Army's Eric Miller 11-9 for third.
"This is a tournament everyone looks forward to," Frohardt said. "We are all in the same boat, and we experience the same things. That's what makes this a great tradition."
At 125-pounds Air Force's Heath McKim won his second consecutive title at the tournament, defeating VMI's Juan Sanchez 4-1.
At the 133-pound weight class, Andy Peters of the Air Force Academy defeated The Citadel's Sean Markey 7-3.
Senior, Mark Conley of Navy, entered competition ranked second in the nation at the 141-pound weight class (American Wrestling News). Conley won 7-4 over Army's Phillip Simpson. Phillip Simpson was ranked 13th (AWN). AFA's Chris Bennett won his first match, but lost his next two and did not place.
Blaine Brown, the Falcons 157-pounder, won two tough matches to advance to the finals, but lost to the No. 1 seed VMI's Adam Britt, who entered as the 17th ranked wrestler (AWN) in the nation. Britt defeated Brown 12-1. Army's Jeremy Conner finished third as he defeated Navy's Mike Carbonaro.
In his first wreslting action since November, Samuel Sherertz had a tremendous tournament. Just back from an injury, Sherertz won his first two matches at 165, before falling in a tight match to The Citadel's Mike Regner. Regner beat the Air Force's San Sheretz 2-1. Luke Lazzo of Navy, beat Jason Kontopedes of VMI 9-8 for third.
The 174-pound class was one of the toughest of the day as Air Force's Terry Parham and VMI's Matt Erwin started the day ranked 16th and 17th respectively in the nation. Erwin defeated the higher ranked Parham 10-7 to earn the championship. The Army's Matt Bernard beat Navy's Andrew Hemminger 3-1 to take third.
In the 184-pound weight class Army's Graig Cooper earned his second All-Academy title as he defeated Jason Cox of VMI by a 6-4 decision. Chris Springer of the Merchant Marine defeated Travis Mannion of Navy to pick up the third-place finish. Josh McCrary won his first-round match to earn the Falcons team points.
At 197-pounds Navy's Mike Bigrigg defeated Army's Jon Paxton 11-6, while The Citadel's Jordan Everett beat VMI's Brian Toney 3-1 for third. Ryan Kaiser won his first-round match to earn the Falcons team points.
Heavyweight, Kevin Hoy of Air Force was ranked ninth in the nation (AWN), and Navy's heavyweight Stephen Kovach 18th as the two squared off in the finals. Hoy held off Kovach 2-1 for the first-place finish. The Citadel's Billy Linane beat Army's Tom Anderson 7-2. The Citadel needed only a pin in the last match of the day to pass Army and finish in fourth, but fell just short in the dramatic final seconds as Linane recorded a near fall in the closing moments.
The Ken Shelton Award for the Most Outstanding Wrestler went to the Air Force's Scott Frohardt. The fastest fall was The Citadel's Jordan Everett in :37 seconds. The coach of the year went to Air Force's Wayne Baughman.
Team scores are as follows:
United States Air Force Academy - 89
Virginia Military Institute - 80
United States Naval Academy - 73.5
United States Military Academy - 66
The Citadel - 64.5
United States Merchant Marine Academy - 15
United States Coast Guard Academy - 6
Norwich University - 0.5
For complete brackets, visit The Citadel's Web Site
