MILLERSVILLE, Pa. ? Senior Leon Barrow claimed a 3-2 decision over sophomore Josh Wine in the final to claim the heavyweight title at the “Shorty” Hitchcock Memorial Classic, hosted by Millersville (Pa.) on Saturday.
Barrow and Wine were joined by freshman Andrew Szymborski, who placed third at 174 lbs., as placewinners for VMI at the tournament. The title was the second of the season for Barrow and third of his career, after he won the heavyweight class at the Davidson Open for a second-straight year.
“We wrestled better today as a whole, but there's a long way to go yet,” said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. “We certainly made some progress at the tournament today. Leon wrestled well, and Josh is really starting to get his confidence back. Andrew had a good run today, winning seven of his eight matches. It was good to get a lot of guys some experience today. You can't get better without getting out there and wrestling matches, and we had 19 guys out there today. We've got the tough part of the schedule coming up here. It's been a long week, but I feel like we're moving forward.”
Barrow won five matches on the way to his title, including four decisions and one injury forfeit. Barrow began by taking a 6-2 decision over Kutztown's Cory Rutt, before scoring a 3-1 win against Hofstra's Paul Snyder. The Keydet heavyweight then advanced over Nassau's Brandon Williamson on an injury forfeiture, then won a 4-2 match against Campbell's Khiry Reid to advance to the final, where he dispatched of Wine.
Wine, meanwhile, took a different route on his way to the final, pinning both Hofstra's Devion Smith and Edinboro's Michael Horton. The Keydet then advanced to the championship by defeating Kutztown's Kevin Bolinsky 4-1 before falling to Barrow.
Szymborski began his day with an impressive 15-1 major decision against Kutztown's Sonny Flood before suffering his lone loss of the day, coming to Shippersburg's Chris Barrick in a 12-3 major decision. Szymborski immediately bounced back, running off four consecutive decisions before a medical forfeit put him in the third-place match. The Keydet posted an 8-4 victory over Drexel's Woodall to mark his best collegiate finish.
Other Keydet highlights came from freshmen Michael Bowman and Vinnie Gallo. Bowman won his first two matches at 133, finishing just one victory short of placing, while Gallo pinned a pair of opponents in the consolation bracket at 165.
Junior Michael Long and freshman Joel Hutchens each won a pair of matches in the championship bracket at 149. Long needed only 1:50 to pin his first opponent of the day before outlasting Kutztown's Brett Martinez in overtime, 6-5. Hutchens, meanwhile, won 6-0 and 4-2 decisions before dropping his next two matches at 149.
