Belmont Abbey College Wrestling
2000 National Recap
March 14, 2000
Currently in its second year of wrestling, Belmont Abbey College finished in
the top 25 in the nation for the second year. The team sent four wrestlers
to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Championships in Dallas,
TX, and finished 23rd out of 50 schools. Wrestling for the Abbey were Josh
Cline/Concord, NC, (125lbs); Chris Russell/Austin, TX, (165); Mike
DeSapio/Frenchtown, NJ, (HWT); Dave Spence/Gastonia, NC, (HWT).
Josh Cline wrestled the number 1 seed, a returning All-American from
San Diego State Heath Alojado, in the first round. Cline lost a hard-fought
battle 6-1. Josh wrestled back to score a win over Curt Palermo from McNeese
State. His third match of the day was against the Northeast Conference
Champion, Tom Mascio. Josh won a Major decision 8-0. In the round that
would decide the top six All-Americans, Josh faced another returning
All-American, Aki Hashimura form Georgia Tech. Josh had his best match of
the day against the Senior Hashimura but lost a 5-4 decision. Josh missed
scoring several takedowns in the final minute, which would have won the
match.
Posting a 16-12 record, Chris Russell was the best wrestler on the team
during the regular season. Chris, however, had a rough post-season. He won
his first match 8-5 against Anthony Perez of West Texas A&M. Then Chris was
pinned by Jeff Gunlick, the eventual National Champion, in 4:01. Chris lost
his last match against Zach Zutavern of Texas A&M (18-9). Chris finished the
year with the best overall record for the Abbey at 17-14.
David Spence did not start wrestling for Belmont Abbey until January
when he transferred from Western North Carolina. Starting late in the season,
David had a rough regular season, but he placed third in the SEC Conference.
At Nationals, David won his first match in overtime 8-6 against Joel
Espinoza of Eastern New Mexico. David's next match was against a returning
two-time All-American and last year's National runner-up, Nick Jacobi.
Jacobi (from Lafayatte College) won 15-6. In the match that would have
decided the top six wrestlers at HWT, David got caught in a throw and was
pinned by Kerry Assa from Stephen F Austin.
Mike DeSapio, a first-year wrestler, qualified for Nationals by
receiving a wild-card bid. Mike won his first match at Nationals by forfeit over David
Farrell of Yale. Farrell injured his shoulder while training for Nationals.
Mike's next match was against Tom Ivie, a returning All-American from
Georgia Tech. In Mike's last match, he faced the northeast conference
runner-up, Jason Schnieder of Baptist Bible College. Mike, after scoring the
first take down, was caught in a roll and pinned. The match ended a
hard-fought season.
The four freshmen wrestled very well, considering their limited college
experiences. The team is looking forward to next season, where all four will
have the experience and knowledge to become All-Americans.
The following is the breakdown of top 25 team scores. 1 Pensacola Christian,
2 Apprentice School, 3 Miami University, 4 Auburn University, 5 Southern
Virginia, 6 University of Delaware, 7 Williamson School, 8 Georgia Tech, 9
San Diego State, 10 Lafayette College, 11 University of Kansas, 12 Texas
A&M, 13 Baptist Bible College, 14 Kansas State, 15 West Texas A&M, 16
University of Texas, 17 Georgia Southern, 18 Yale University, 19 Stephen F
Austin, 20 Tennessee Temple, 21 Middle Tennessee, 22 Vanderbilt, 23 Belmont
Abbey, 24 Valley Forge, 25 New Hampshire.
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