OMAHA, Neb. – Averett University wrestling senior Sam Braswell and sophomores Trent Ragland and George Moseley earned All-American status at the 2020 United World Wrestling Junior and U23 Nationals held Nov. 13-15.   

Braswell, Ragland and Moseley were among eight wrestlers from Averett's roster who competed in the event as part of the Cougar Wrestling Club, which also included senior Will Merritt, junior Joseph Jones and freshmen Zion Carpenter, Sheldon Davis and Alex Logsdon.

"I thought we over-performed when it came to Greco-Roman wrestling," said Averett wrestling head coach Blake Roulo, who also runs the wrestling club. "It shows that we have put a lot of work in this fall and last spring and continue to wrestle against the best in the country. I believe that Braswell finishing third, Trent finishing third and Moseley finishing fourth shows that we are doing the right things in the offseason and in the preseason when it comes to getting guys prepared.

Braswell capped off a stellar weekend with a third-place overall finish at 55 kilograms in Greco-Roman style wrestling, earning his third consecutive U23 All-American accolade.

Additionally, Ragland finished third overall at 130 kilograms to earn his first U23 All-American honor, while Moseley finished in fourth place at 77 kilograms while competing in the junior division.

"Ragland wrestling two guys ranked in the top-10 shows you where you stand when we come back down to the Division III level," Roulo added. "I thought it was great for our guys, it was a great experience for some of the younger guys that we took out there and we are really looking forward to what is ahead right now.

As a club, Averett finished second overall among Division III teams in terms of individual placers, trailing only Loras College, which finished the event with six. With the return of Braswell and Moseley, who were both named National Coaches Wrestling Association All-America selections earlier this spring and the welcomed return of Ragland and senior Brandon Woody – all of whom enter the upcoming season ranked within the top-15 in the country – Averett's national presence looks promising.

 "We are definitely in shape and I'm just excited because we got to compete against teams that we normally wouldn't get to see during the regular season," Roulo said. "It kind of shows you where your flaws are in a wrestling match and all of these guys got a bunch of notes to take from the weekend and it sets the bar pretty high for guys. I think it looks really good as a program when we are finding ways to compete; we are finding ways to get out there even though it's all the way out in Nebraska. We are finding ways to wrestle against the top guys in the country and you're only going to get better by wrestling the top guys in the country."