PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. – For the final time in 2018, CU men's wrestling took to the mat at the Smoky Mountain Duals earning three wins all by 45 or more points.
Two of the dual meets ended with the Tigers shutting out their opponent, the third win they only allowed one decision victory for three points and the CU loss came by 12 points to No. 7 ranked Life University in a matchup of ranked Mid-South Conference foes.
In the Tigers' 53-0 victory over Lyon College, four different CU wrestlers scored victories by pin as
Aaron Rugnao (141 lbs.),
Jaedin Sklapsky (149 lbs.),
Michael Diemer (157 lbs.) and
Kevin Schantz (197 lbs.) won six points for their team. Both pins by Rugnao and Schantz were recorded in under a minute into their matches with Rugnao earning the pin in 55 seconds and Schantz doing so in just 33 seconds.
Michael Beets (133 lbs.) won his match by tech fall at 17-1,
Kolten Radaz (133 lbs.) won via forfeit,
Gavin Smith (165 lbs.) won by tech fall 16-0,
Mahlic Sallah (174 lbs.) won by major decision 20-6,
Aaron Mosley (184 lbs.) won by tech fall 16-1 and
Ashton Mutuwa (285 lbs.) won by major decision 10-1.
CU upped their pin rate in their match against Midway University, earning six pins on their way to the 48-3 victory. Radaz, Sklapsky,
Chandler Woenker (157 lbs.),
Calieb Ray (165 lbs.), Schantz and Mutuwa all earned pins with Mutuwa getting the quickest fall with a pin in 55 seconds.
Beets won by major decision 16-4,
Tombola Sindihebura (141 lbs.) won by decision 8-4 and Mosley won by another tech fall 19-1.
For their largest victory of the Smoky Mountain Duals the Tigers scored 55 points on Bluefield College with five pins. Radaz, Rugnao, Sindihebura, Mosley and Mutuwa all earned their pins in the first period with the quickest coming from Rugnao in 1:35 into the first period.
Jordan Martinez (125 lbs.) won his match by tech fall 18-0 with Smith (14-5) and Sallah (19-8) winning by major decision.
In one of the tightest duals of the whole day, Campbellsville and Life finished within 12 points with each team holding leads early in the meet.
After Martinez lost a decision 6-4 to give Life an early 3-0 lead,
Marvin Galette (133 lbs.), Rugnao and Sklapsky won their matches by decision to jump the Tigers to a 10-3 lead. Galette's victory was a major decision by 10-2 score, Rugnao won 7-1 and Sklapsky earned a tight 3-1 win.
The Running Eagles then answered with wins in the next five matches to take a 25-10 lead before Mutuwa won the final match of the meet by decision 4-2.
CU finishes 2018 with a 6-4 duals record, as their next action will be early in January when they will compete in the NUWAY College Open on Jan. 3 followed by the NWCA National Duals on Jan. 4-5.
