North Carolina
Reno Tournament of Champions
Scotton, Drury Pace Tar Heels In Reno
December 20, 2009 | Wrestling
Dec. 20, 2009
RENO, Nev. - Junior 157-pounder Thomas Scotton defeated three nationally-ranked opponents, including two rated in nation's the top 10, en route to a third-place finish, and senior Dennis Drury posted a runner-up showing at 197 pounds to lead North Carolina at the Reno Tournament of Champions Sunday at the Reno Downtown Convention Center. The Tar Heels took ninth out of 25 squads in the team standings with 54 points.
No. 4 Oklahoma State took the team title with 154 points.
Scotton, who suffered his first loss of the season last time out, reached the quarterfinals with wins over UC Davis' Trevor Macahado-Chin (4-2) and Justin Decker of Upper Iowa (3-2) before topping No. 6-ranked and third-seeded Chase Parmi of Cay Poly by a 4-2 margin in the round of eight. In the semis, Scotton suffered a 2-0 loss at the hands of No. 5-ranked Adam Hall of Boise State but bounced back to topple No. 8-ranked Neil Eirsman Oklahoma State in the consolation bracket. In the third-place bout, Scotton downed 14th-ranked Bryce Saddoris of Navy with a 7-5 decision. With a 5-1 record in Reno, Scotton ran his season mark to 16-2.
The 15th-ranked Drury also rebounded from a loss in his last bout to open with a pin of Kyle Rooney of West Virginia in 5:28 and a 12-2 major decision against Evan Mattingly of Montana State Northern to reach the quarterfinals. There, Drury notched a 3-0 win over sixth-seeded Matt Casperson of Boise State and followed with a 7-2 decision against No. 7 seed Erik Schuth of Ohio. In the final, Drury suffered a 14-5 major decision loss to No. 8-ranked and top-seeded Alan Gelogaev of Oklahama State. With a 4-1 mark on Sunday, Drury improved to 12-4 on the year.
Sophomore Nick Tenpenny was the Tar Heels' third place-winner on the day, as he took sixth at 184 pounds with a 3-3 record to move to 9-5 on the year.
Seeded sixth at 141 pounds, Mike Rappo went 3-2 to improve to 7-5 on the season. Kyle Kiss was 2-2 at 165 to run his season mark to 8-7.
The Tar Heels are back in action Dec. 29-30 at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C.
Players Mentioned
