Robby Bell’s 12-03-02 Update On College Wrestling Involving SC Participants
The past two weeks former South Carolina stars have been
busy on the college wrestling scene as well as our two colleges that still fund
college teams. Anderson College was busy two weekends ago in Norfolk, VA at the
Old Domininon Invitational. The Trojans finished the weekend led by former
Dutch Fork High School stars Clyde Pollock (2nd @ 125) and Careef Robertson
(2nd @ 174). Pollock was defeated in the finals by Adam Bessinger, 2001 State
Champ from Battery Creek High School. Bessinger beat Pollock 6-3. Brent Poynter
also placed 3rd at 165. This past Thanksgiving weekend the Trojans competed in
the UNC Open in Chapel Hill, NC. Led once again by Careef Robertson (3-2 @ 174)
and Clyde Pollock (2-2 @ 125), Anderson College looks to bright futures from
its young team. Also on the weekend Steve Valponi was 0-1, and Brent Poynter
was 0-2. Tough first rounds for the Trojans when Clyde Pollock was defeated by
the UNC-P wrestler who placed, as well as Robertson drawing 2002 Returning All
American from Appalachian State Mark Fee.
Next up competing in some top competition the last two weeks was none other
than The Citadel competing and placing 6th out of 8 teams at the Navy Classic.
The Bulldogs placed behind nationally ranked teams from West Virginia, Kent
State, Navy, North Carolina State and Rutgers. (as of 11-26-02 only West
Virginia was ranked nationally 8th and North Carolina State is Honorable
Mention, however Kent State and Rutgers are usually in the top 30 teams in the
nation) The Bulldogs were led by Sean Markey, who won the tournament at 133, as
the lone finalist for the Bulldogs. South Carolina natives competed in the
tournament with good showings from Ryan McClester (5th @ 125), Vince Bartges
(1-2 @ 149), John Bohren (4th at 184) and Troy Bartges (1-2 @ 197). The
Bulldogs also competed along side with Anderson at the UNC Open in Chapel Hill.
The Bulldogs were led once again by Sean Markey losing in the finals to Evan
Sola of UNC 7-0. However the big win of the day was Markey over former South
Carolina Star and nationally ranked Travis Drake of Appalachian State. Markey
stayed on the offensive shooting Drake off the mat and came out with the big
win in the Quarterfinals. The Citadel also had another runner-up at 174, Keith
Clifton lost to Mark Fee of Appalachian, a 2002 NCAA Division I AA. The Citadel
boasted a large amount of South Carolinian Natives this past weekend that
included Vince Bartges (0-1 @ 149), Braxton Harrison (0-1 @ 157) both of whom
medical forfeited out of the tournament as well as Troy Bartges and John Bohern
who were 1-2 at 197 and 184. Derek Neitz (149) and Marua Bria (133) rounded out
The Citadel lineup having tough freshmen campaigns going 0-1 and 0-2 in the
tournament.
Other wrestlers on the college scene competing these past few weekends were
none other than Travis Drake of Appalachian competing in his first competition
of the year. Travis coming in was ranked 15th at 133 by Intermatwrestle.com.
Travis was 2-2 in the tournament finishing in 5th place. Also former Rock Hill
High School champ Terrance Thompson was 2-2 at 125.
From UNC Ryan Adams was competing at Heavyweight and finished 4-1 on the day
with a 3rd place finish. Ryan lost in the semis 4-2 in OT to Josh Etu of
Virginia who was a 2002 NCAA qualifier.
And last but not least Rubuen Daniels former state champ from Summerville now
wrestling at Edinboro University was 5-1 in the tournament placing 5th.
Look for The Citadel to be in Action this weekend at the Army Quad with Army,
American University, and Franklin & Marshall.