Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Ferenczy fifth at 174 pounds in prestigious Joe Parisi Open
11/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
Junior Josh Ferenczy became Liberty University's fourth wrestler to place at the annual Joe Parisi Open, hosted by Lindenwood University, Saturday in St. Charles, Mo.
Ferenczy, a 6-foot-1, 174-pound junior, worked his way through the consolation bracket to finish 5-2 and in fifth place at the prestigious tournament, which features wrestlers from predominantly NCAA Division I teams.
He started the day with a loss to Oklahoma's Chandler Rogers before rebounding to beat Central Oklahoma's Dylan Harmon by 19-2 technical fall. Ferenczy then decisioned Brandon Gilligan from Illinois, 5-2, before winning by medical forfeit over Iowa's Mitch Bowman and scoring a 15-2 major decision over Missouri's Tim Miklus.
A 15-2 technical fall loss to Southern Illinois' Jake Residori sent Ferenczy into the fifth-place match where he defeated West Virginia's Weston VonEgidy.
"Josh had an outstanding tournament, beating four NCAA Division I wrestlers," Liberty Head Coach Jesse Castro said.
On Sunday, Flames Assistant Coach Allen Hackmann traveled with 14 members of the team to Bristol, Tenn., for the annual King University Open. That tournament, hosted by the NCAA Division II Tornado, which won four weight classes, was smaller than last year but still stronger than the competition Liberty faced at the Virginia Beach National Championships.
Flames heavyweights Josh Travers, a senior, and sophomore Evan Canady, who normally compete at 235 pounds, had two of the team's better showings. Travers finished 2-2 and Canady 1-2 and both would have placed in the top six, but the tournament only wrestled for the top four places.
"Travers is looking like he's going to be our No. 1 heavyweight," Hackmann said, noting he raised his record to 8-4 on the season. "He's making progress and wrestling well. His conditioning has gotten a lot better, so now that he's wrestling hard, we can work on technical things, getting him to wrestle cleaner."
Similarly, sophomore Jonah Swinson bumped up from 141 pounds and went 1-2 at 149 and senior Alex Cox was 1-2 at 197, giving up a pin in the final two seconds of the second period of his final match. Both would have placed in the top six.
Liberty will have a week and a half of practices before exams start and won't compete again until the Dec. 29-30 Citrus Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., followed closely by the Jan. 8-9 Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum.
