SALEM, Va. — The Averett University men's wrestling team competed at the Southeast Regional Duals on Saturday and fell to Lycoming College, Wilkes University and Messiah College in dual action.

Lycoming 32, Averett 16

Sophomore Sam Braswell started off the day for Averett at 125 pounds and gave the Cougars a 4-0 lead in the dual as he won by major decision, 12-4. Braswell recorded five takedowns and an escape to pace him to the victory. Lycoming would respond with a win by fall at 133 pounds to take a 6-4 lead. Sophomore Brandon Woody answered back with a close 4-2 decision to give Averett the 7-6 advantage. Woody scored a takedown in the first period to give him the slight edge on the scoreboard. At the beginning of the third period, Woody earned an escape to give him the 3-2 edge which he held onto for the win.

Lycoming would win the next two bouts by technical fall and major decision to reclaim the 15-7 lead. Freshman Jared Lough wrestled for Averett at 165 pounds and won by decision, 4-2. Lough scored a takedown about two minutes into the match and then followed it up with an escape in the second and third period to give himself the 4-0 lead in the match. Hadyn Swartwood earned a takedown with 13 seconds left in the match, but it was too little too late as Lough held on for the 4-2 win cutting the Lycoming lead to 15-10.

After Lycoming won by pin at 174 pounds, freshman Demontay Wimbush earned a win by pin himself at 184 pounds. The Bassett, Virginia, native went into the second period leading 4-1 by way of two first period takedowns. After Christopher Grecco escaped, Wimbush took him down again with one minute left in the second period and 27 seconds later put him on his back for the pin. This brought the dual score to 21-16 in favor of Lycoming.

The Warriors would win by technical fall and by fall in the last two bouts to propel themselves to the 32-16 victory.

MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
#125 –  Sam Braswell (AU) over Shane Casey (LC) (MD 12-4)
#133 – Seth Andrus (LC) over Korpesh Gootee (AU) (Fall 3:47)
#141 – Brandon Woody (AU) over Joe Santomarco (LC) (Dec 4-2)
#149 –  Trevor Corl (LC) over William Merritt (AU) (TF 18-0 2:13)
#157 – Josh Haley (LC) over Josh Linkous (AU) (MD 11-3)
#165 – Jared Lough (AU) over Hadyn Swartwood (LC) (Dec 4-2)
#174 – Ryan Bohringer (LC) over Darian Johnson (AU) (Fall 2:15)
#184 – Demontay Wimbush (AU) over Christopher Grecco  (LC) (Fall 4:27)
#197 – Travis Ogden (LC) over Chris Mohr(AU) (Fall 2:51)
#285 – Garrett Wesneski (LC) over Hagan Smith (AU) (TF 15-0 3:12)

Wilkes 27, Averett 12

Braswell stayed on the attack heading into his second match of the day at 125 pounds which helped him to his 20-4 technical fall victory over Nicholas Bauer of Wilkes. Wilkes would go on to win at 133 pounds before Woody would claim his second victory of the day at 141 pounds. The Chesterfield, Virginia, native came out of the gates strong, collecting three takedowns, an escape and a four-point near fall all in the first period. Woody would not look back as he extended his lead far enough to earn the win by major decision, 23-11. This win by Woody gave Averett the 9-4 lead over Wilkes in the dual.

The Colonels would respond, though, by winning the next four bouts by way of one fall, two decisions and a major decision. The two decisions came at 157 and 165 pounds, where Averett lost by a combined three points through both matches. Sophomore Josh Linkous lost a close 5-4 battle at 157 pounds while Lough was defeated 4-2 at 165 pounds. This effort gave Wilkes a 20-9 lead in the dual. Wimbush made things interesting by claiming a 6-4 decision victory at 184 pounds. This would turn out to be not enough as Wilkes went on to win the last two bouts by major decision and decision for the 27-12 win.

MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
#125 –  Sam Braswell (AU) over Nicholas Bauer (WU) (TF 20-4 5:57)
#133 – Dylan O'Connor (WU) over Korpesh Gootee (AU) (MD 8-0)
#141 – Brandon Woody (AU) over Kyle Medrow (WU) (MD 23-11)
#149 –  Joshua Brown (WU) over Ryan Morton (AU) (Fall 0:22)
#157 – Michael Brown (WU) over Josh Linkous (AU) (Dec 5-4)
#165 – Nicholas Racanelli (WU) over Jared Lough (AU) (Dec 4-2)
#174 – Ashton Gyenizs (WU) over Logan Howell (AU) (MD 15-7)
#184 – Demontay Wimbush (AU) over Matthew Judge  (WU) (Dec 6-4)
#197 – Moustafa Almeky (WU) over John Bishop (AU) (MD 12-4)
#285 – Roger Horton (WU) over Hagan Smith (AU) (Dec 4-0)

Messiah 34, Averett 12

Messiah wasted no time as they jumped out to the 18-0 lead in the first five bouts of the dual. In those five bouts, the Falcons won by way of three decisions, a major decision and a technical fall. The Cougars would respond back in the form of Lough at 165 pounds. The Stafford, Virginia, native gave Averett six team points after pinning Tyler Riley in the second period (3:19).
The Falcons would open up a 28-6 lead after winning by major decision and fall respectively at 174 and 184 pounds. Freshman John Bishop earned his first collegiate victory at 197 pounds. The Kernersville, North Carolina, native scored two takedowns in the first period and followed it up with an escape, a reversal and another takedown in the second. On the last takedown, Bishop was able to put Roman Wagner on his back for the victory by pin (4:25).

Messiah would win by fall at heavyweight to defeat Averett, 34-12.

MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
#125 –  Josiah Gehr (MC) over Sam Braswell (AU) (MD 24-10)
#133 – Dalton Daugherty (MC) over Korpesh Gootee (AU) (Dec 12-5)
#141 – Nick Nunez (MC) over Brandon Woody (AU) (Dec 7-5)
#149 –  Stephen Maloney (MC) over Caleb Harmon (AU) (TF 17-0 1:54)
#157 – Lee Cassel (MC) over Josh Linkous (AU) (Dec 14-9)
#165 – Jared Lough (AU) over Tyler Riley (MC) (Fall 3:19)
#174 – Spencer Clements (MC) over Darian Johnson (AU) (MD 11-0)
#184 – Joe Embleton (MC) over Demontay Wimbush (AU) (Fall 2:52)
#197 – John Bishop (AU) over Roman Wagner (MC) (Fall 4:25)
#285 – Carter Urich (MC) over Hagan Smith (AU) (Fall 2:02)
 
Averett returns to Salem, Virginia, on Sunday as the Cougars will partake in the Star City Open. The tournament is set to start at 10 a.m.