Liberty University Club Sports
LU Mid-Atlantic Conference Qualifier
Flames wrestlers rack up seven crowns to clinch 11th straight MAC Championship
2/26/2023 1:16:01 AM | Men's Wrestling
Liberty University’s men’s wrestling team won the Mid-Atlantic Conference Tournament for the 11th season in a row and qualified 18 wrestlers for the March 9-11 NCWA Grand National Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with top-five individual showings, Saturday at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center.
The Flames put 12 wrestlers in the 11 weight class finals and claimed seven individual champions to rack up 229 points and pull away from the Apprentice School (187.5), Allen (S.C.) University (123.5), newcomer Virginia Tech (110), East Carolina University (77), Clemson (71.5), South Carolina (60.5), and Emory & Henry (46.5).
“It was an excellent team effort,” Liberty Head Coach Jesse Castro said. “Our upperclassmen set a great pace for our young wrestlers on the team and I am thankful to the university for allowing us the opportunity to compete and honor Christ through this great sport.”
By capturing his fourth consecutive individual MAC Tournament title, Flames graduate 235-pound wrestler Jeff Allen improved to 25-2 on the season and broke Liberty’s record for most career wins with 131, surpassing Michael Hatch (’87), a former heavyweight now in the Athletics Hall of Fame.
At nationals, while the Flames will be contending for their fifth consecutive team title, Allen will vie for his fourth straight individual crown, which would match Castro’s program record set from 1977-81 in the NCCAA ranks and Cendall (Manley) Murphy, graduate 197-pound MAC champion Josiah Murphy’s wife, who won four NCWA women’s national titles in a row from 2017-20. Currently, Allen is tied with Austin Amos (’20), a three-time national champion from 2018-20, for most NCWA men’s championships.
“Coach Castro won four in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) back in the day and to the best of my knowledge, in the 25 years of the NCWA, there hasn’t been a four-time men’s champion yet, so I’m hoping to be the first one,” Allen said. “Coach (Castro) is a big inspiration for me.”
Allen scored a 2-0 decision over Apprentice’s John Pierce in a rematch of last year’s MAC Tournament and NCWA Grand National finals.
“I just wanted to wear him out, hold him down on top,” said Allen, who secured the win with his escape and riding time point.
After starting his career on Virginia Tech’s NCAA Division I team, he is thankful he decided to transfer to Liberty as a sophomore and is eager to defend his title to help the Flames build on their dynasty with a fifth consecutive and sixth overall NCWA Grand National Championship.
“I’ve had a great career so far and have been very blessed,” Allen said. “I thank God for it. I’m trying to be smart in my training and nutrition, and not get hurt. Staying highly motivated and hungry is hard when you’ve been doing it as long as I have and had success, but I’m still very hungry to finish out the mission of four-time national champion. I’ve got something to prove. My dream is to be a coach one day, so I’m trying to do all I can do to have great accolades as an athlete.”
At 197, senior Sean Gillespie won his first two matches by fall over JMU’s Cormac Flannagan in 1:52 and Virginia Tech’s Michael Harrigan in 1:30 before edging Apprentice School’s second-seeded Caleb Hartung in the semifinals, 6-5, to qualify for nationals for the first time before forfeiting the final to Murphy, a reigning NCWA Grand National champion.
“Last year, we just blew out the competition with six national champions, but now we have to deal with Bellarmine University, which is transitioning to NCAA Division I next year,” Gillespie said of the team that ended Liberty’s four-year run as NCWA National Duals champions in its hometown of Louisville, Ky. “They’re pretty good, but I think in a tournament setting and the way we’ve been putting in work, we’re going to contest with them. It’s a good change of pace. We don’t want to go there and just whoop everybody. We want some competition. Competition breeds success, and I can speak for everybody on the team to say we’re really excited about the challenge and looking forward to it.”
Mid-Atlantic Conference Tournament results
(Top five finishers in each weight class qualify for NCWA Grand Nationals)
Championship finals: 125: Bruno Alves (AS) d. Dante Minnino (L), by forfeit; 133: Dillon Messick (AS) p. Andrew Holloday (VT), 5:28; 141: Jordan Robins (AS) t.f. Grant Brammer (L) 17-2; 149: Charles Hudson (L) d. Zach Ortega (AS) 7-0; 157: Ian McIlhenny (L) d. Christian Govan (ECU), by forfeit; 165: David Over (L) d. Ethan Baker (AS), 9-5; 174: Zach Kaminsky (L) p. Ethan Martin (L), 3:49; 184: Michael Jackson (AU) d. Gabe Hayes, 3-2; 197: Josiah Murphy (L) d. Sean Gillespie (L), by forfeit; 235: Jeff Allen (L) d. John Pierce (AS) 2-0; HWT: Rick Weaver (L) d. Peter Cortapasso (AS), 3-0.
Third-place matches (involving Liberty): 125: Chase Armestad (L) d. Caleb Olgers (AS), 8-2; 184: Jackson Wakeland (L) m.d. Denton DiCarlo, 9-0; 235: Seth Ellsmore (L) d. Landon Gray (ECU), 12-7; HWT: Tyirek Jackson (L) d. Emmanuel Velazquez, by forfeit.
Fifth-place matches (involving Liberty): 133: Blake Schmitt (L) t.f. Drew Porter (AS), 15-0; 165: Syler Weber (L) p. Jake Rippeon (VT), 2:18.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Micah Adams/Club Sports Video & Media Assistant
