No. 20 Men’s Wrestling goes perfect 2-0 on Day 1 of Davidson Duals
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The nationally-ranked Lock Haven men’s wrestling team picked up a pair of wins Thursday to go a perfect 2-0 on day one of the 2024 Davidson Duals.
The No. 20 Bald Eagles opened the day with a clinical 30-14 victory over Gardner-Webb and Lock Haven closed day-one action with a thrilling 20-14 victory over Harvard.
It marked Lock Haven’s first two dual victories of the 2023-24 season as The Haven moved to 2-5 overall.
The victory over Gardner-Webb also marked dual-win No. 75 at The Haven for head coach Scott Moore.
Leading the way today was Gable Strickland (Benton, Pa./Benton), No. 13 Wyatt Henson (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg), Nick Stonecheck (Alpharetta, Ga./Buford) and Connor Eck (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem). All four were a perfect 2-0 on the day.
Strickland was 2-0 at 133 pounds, 13th-ranked Henson went 2-0 with two tech falls at 141, Stonecheck picked up a pair of hard-fought decisions at 149, and Eck went 2-0 at 157 with a major decision. All four are enjoying a strong run of recent success and today’s remarkable day only strengthened their 2023-24 resumes.
In the day’s opener vs. Gardner-Webb, the Bald Eagles got off to a fast start and never looked back as they won seven of 10 bouts including the first seven bouts of the dual, which included two victories by way of tech fall, and two by major decision.
Top-ranked 125-pounder Anthony Noto (Lima, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima), Strickland (133), Henson (141), Stonecheck (149), Eck (157), 165-pounder Avery Bassett (Middleburg, Pa./Midd-West) and 174-pounder Tyler Stoltzfus (Mifflinburg, Pa./Saint Joseph’s Academy)
all registered wins for Lock Haven.
The dynamic 1-2-3 punch of Noto, Strickland and Henson quickly put the Bald Eagles up 16-0. Noto won by tech fall, Strickland won by medical default and Henson added a tech fall.
Stonecheck won a hard-fought match at 149, 10-6, before back-to-back major decision from Eck and Bassett at 157 and 165, respectively. Stoltzfus added a 12-9 win at 174, and the Bald Eagles led 30-0.
Gardner-Webb got on the board after No. 29 Jha’Quan Anderson edged out Colin Fegley (Mahanoy, Pa./Mahanoy), 4-1 in sudden-victory at 184. Gardner-Webb added wins at 197 and 285, but the dominating, and fast start from the Bald Eagles was too much.
Highlighting the victory was Henson’s official Lock Haven dual debut and the return of Bassett. Henson, the reigning Mid-American Conference (MAC) Wrestler of the Week, was a national qualifier last season for Oklahoma before transferring to The Haven. Bassett last competed for Lock Haven back in mid-November.
The Bald Eagles closed the day with a hard-fought 20-14 win over Harvard.
In the win over Harvard, Lock Haven won six of 10 bouts and benefitted from another tech fall win by Henson.
Along with Henson (141), Strickland (133), Stonecheck (149), Eck (157) and Fegley (184) all won, as did Ethan Miller (York, Pa./Central York) in the final bout of the match at 285.
Strickland won by decision before Henson’s tech fall. It was four straight wins for the Bald Eagles as Stonecheck and Eck added decisions as Lock Haven swept its way through the 133, 141, 149 and 157 bouts. The front-end power helped push Lock Haven into the lead and to victory after an early deficit. In the opening match at 125, nationally-ranked No. 24 Diego Sotelo edged out Noto, 11-8 in a high-scoring shootout.
A pair of nationally-ranked Harvard wrestlers picked up wins at 165 and 174, and The Haven led 14-11 with three bouts to go.
Fegley grinded out an important and hard-fought 8-5 win at 184 to extend the Lock Haven lead to 17-11.
Harvard added a win at 197 and the Bald Eagle lead was 17-14 with one match to go.
At 285, Miller stepped up and sealed team win with a thrilling 3-0 win in sudden-victory.
Match-by-Match / Bout-by-Bout Results:
No. 20 Lock Haven 30 – Gardner-Webb 14
125: #1 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) tech fall Drew West (Gardner-Webb), 17-2
133: Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) won by medical default over Aedyn Concepcion (Gardner-Webb)
141: #13 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) tech fall Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb), 19-4
149: Nick Stonecheck (Lock Haven) dec. Zach Price (Gardner-Webb), 10-6
157: Connor Eck (Lock Haven) major dec. Tyler Brignola (Gardner-Webb), 13-3
165: Avery Bassett (Lock Haven) major dec. Andrew Wilson (Gardner-Webb), 9-1
174: Tyler Stoltzfus (Lock Haven) dec. Sam Mora (Gardner-Webb), 12-9
184: #29 Jha’Quan Anderson (Gardner-Webb) dec. Colin Fegley (Lock Haven), 4-1, SV
197: Josh McCutchen (Gardner-Webb) won by forfeit
285: Peyton McComas (Gardner-Webb) tech fall Ethan Miller (Lock Haven), 15-0
No. 20 Lock Haven 20 – Harvard 14
125: #24 Diego Sotelo (Harvard) dec. #1 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven), 11-8
133: Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) dec. Coleman Nogle (Harvard), 5-1
141: #13 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) tech fall Dante Frinzi (Harvard), 23-6
149: Nick Stonecheck (Lock Haven) dec. Kenny Herrmann (Harvard), 5-3
157: Connor Eck (Lock Haven) dec. Joseph Cangro (Harvard), 6-5
165: #31 Josh Kim (Harvard) dec. Avery Bassett (Lock Haven), 9-6
174: #12 Philip Conigliaro (Harvard) tech fall Tyler Stoltzfus (Lock Haven), 19-3
184: Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) dec. Luke Rada (Harvard), 8-5
197: Leo Tarantino (Harvard) dec. Cael Black (Lock Haven), 8-5
285 Ethan Miller (Lock Haven) dec. Nick Marcenelle (Harvard), 3-0, SV
Up Next:
Tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 12), Lock Haven will close the 2024 Davidson Duals event with matches vs. Little Rock (10 a.m.) and the host Wildcats (12 p.m.).
