CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – For the second time in as many years,
Tyler Brennan advanced to day two of the Southern Scuffle, while four other Trojans collected two or more match wins at the prestigious wrestling tournament.
Brennan was one of three Little Rock wrestlers to win his first bout, earning a 3-0 decision, before dropping a tight 2-0 second match to the number two seed to move to the consolation bracket. From there, the redshirt sophomore battled for revenge against Drexel's #HM Barczak in a triple-overtime, 13-minute match before ending it with a takedown. He advanced to day two with help from a clutch four-point near fall in the first period in the first consolation round of 8 before bowing out on day two.
"The Scuffle was a much needed tournament for us," said head coach
Neil Erisman. "We got a lot of tough competition and we competed hard and earned some good wins. It was much better than we have done as a whole at that tournament since our first time out two years ago. Definitely a step in the right direction for us."
Josiah Hill continues to get better and better as the season progresses, collecting three wins in a row, two of them with bonus points. He pinned Pac-12 conference opponent CSU-Bakersfield in the first period of his first bout before rolling over Gardner-Webb in an 11-1 major with four takedowns. The redshirt freshman's final win was in overtime over Northern Colorado's Seely after controlling most of the match. His only losses came to placers Costello from Iowa and Harris from Oklahoma State, who took fourth and seventh, respectively.
Despite dropping his pigtail match,
Joseph Bianchi got back into his groove with a 4-2 decision over Oklahoma State and a 12-4 major decision against a VMI wrestler. The Trojans are set to battle VMI in a tri-meet later this month, meaning that his individual result, as well as the fact that not a single VMI opponent moved on to day two, bodes well for Little Rock. In addition, Bianchi moves to 9-4 on the season along with Hill and
Jaylen Carson to lead the team.
Jayden Carson dominated his two victories by tech fall. He only allowed one escape in each 16-1 win, racking up six near falls between the pair of matches.
Finally,
Tanner Mendoza also had himself a day, earning a pair of decisions over conference opponent Stanford and Duke. The latter was in sudden victory thanks to shooting for quick takedown in the first 25 seconds of overtime.
Little Rock finished 21st as a team, placing higher than Pac-12 rivals CSU-Bakersfield as well as 2021-22 scheduled opponents VMI and Drexel.
Now headed into the thick of dual season, the Trojans will return home to the Jack Stephens Center this Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. dual against #4 Oklahoma State.
Little Rock Results
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