Old Dominion Wrestling wins big on Senior Night
Matthew McCracken
Sports Editor
Old Dominion Wrestling (13-8) crushed the NC State Wolf Pack (4-8) in their final dual at home 34-3. Te Edwards and Joe Budi were recognized before the match as the lone seniors of the Monarchs.
Budi won by decision against NC State’s KaRonne Jones 2-0 in his last match at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
Edwards, ranked thirteenth in the 174-weight class, defeated no. 32 ranked Quinton Godley 5-3 with a late takedown.
“He [Godley] was reaching a lot. It was just weathering the storm from there. He [Godley] wrestled in short bursts,” Edwards said. “I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to, but a win’s a win,” Edwards said.
Old Dominion recognized their All-Decade team of ten past Monarchs during intermission. “I thought we had a great crowd tonight, thought it was a great turnout,” Monarchs’ head coach Steve Martin said.
Old Dominion started off well in the 125-pound weight class as no. 32 ranked redshirt freshman Jerome Robinson defeated no. 23 Coltin Fought 10-3. What seemed to be a close match opened up after Robinson had a late takedown in the third period.
“We knew we had to get off the bottom, and we got off the bottom, that’s why we won,” coach Martin said. “That was a big, huge win for him. That could have just bumped him a trip to the national tournament right there, that win.”
The middleweights for the Monarchs are the core to their success as John Nicholson, Tristan Warner and Edwards are all ranked in their weight classes. No. 20 Nicholson won by major decision against Colton Palmer, 14-4.
No. 24 Warner also won by major decision against Nijel Jones 13-2 with multiple takedowns. Warner leads the team this year with 25 victories.
“The beginning of the year started off a little slow. I just kept training hard, and keep making good decisions on and off the mat and it’s been working out for me,” Warner said of his season’s success.
“I think Tristan [Warner] has been dominate for the last month. He’s got as good a shot as anyone to be an All-American,” coach Martin said.
Out of the 10 weight classes, Old Dominion only gave up one loss in the 141-pound match-up between Monarchs’ Taylor Moeder and NC State’s Darius Little. Moeder is a true freshman while Little is ranked no. 11 for the Wolf Pack.
Moeder kept even with Little until late in the third period when he took down Moeder for two points, winning the match by decision 3-1.
“His match was when he let his guy escape in the second period. If that escape didn’t occur, we were going to beat him,” coach Martin said. “That’s a grown man out there he’s [Moeder} wrestling.”
Other dominant wins by Monarchs were Scott Festejo pinning Ben Elliot in 133-weight class. ODU’s Billy Curling took down Robert O’Neill multiple times in a major decision 12-4 win in the 184-weight class.
Old Dominion travels to Binghamton, New York to face Binghamton on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
Photo by Elaina Ellis
