BPC Wrestling Competes

The Brewton-Parker College wrestling programs competed last week with the women in Indiana and the men taking the shorter trip to Marietta.

Women

Brewton-Parker Women's Wrestling closed out its weekend trip to Fort Wayne with the Warrior Open on Saturday. The Lady Barons competed in a field comprised of 12 teams and finished sixth with 100 team points. A total of seven BPC grapplers earned placements in the competition within a tough field of competitors.

Alyssa Valdivia earned the highest placement for the Lady Barons with a first-place finish in the 109 division. She picked up 25 points for Brewton-Parker with a 5-0 record. She captured two wins via pins and two with 10-0 tech falls. Two wins were over the 9th and 15th-ranked grapplers in the 109 class. No. 20-ranked Leidaly Rivera picked up a secondplace finish in the 130 division with a 3-1 record on the day. One of her three wins was over the 14thranked grappler at 103 via a 14-2 tech fall. Her other two victories were via falls.

Mel Mercado picked up fifth place for 14 team points with a 4-2 record on the day at 143. She won with two pins and a 4-1 decision. Hayden Varner gathered sixth place in the 116 division for nine points. She picked up two wins with bye's followed by a pin for a 3-3 record. No. 17-ranked Alesandra Burgos finished sixth as well for 11 points at 123. She picked up a 3-3 record on the day with a win over the No. 19th-ranked grappler at 123. No. 12-ranked India Page also finished in six but earned 12 points for Brewton-Parker. Page competed in the 155 division with a 2-3 record, earning pins in both victories.

Lastly, Brooke Hamilton finished seventh in the 130 division for 8.5 team points. She picked up two wins via fall.

Brewton-Parker will now rest up and recharge before returning to action at the NWCA NAIA Multi-Duals on Jan. 6-7 in Louisville, Ky.

Men

Brewton-Parker Men’s Wrestling opened Mid-South Conference South Division action on Wednesday night in the Eagles’ Nest in Marietta, Ga, against Life University.

The (RV) Barons fell to the No. 2-ranked Running Eagles 40-9 with Douglas Peppers and Lucas DeSilva gathering wins over NAIA Top-10 opponents.

“Tonight was a tough challenge for the guys against a really good program,” Coach Kenny Mason said. “This was our first dual of the season, but I am proud of our efforts and the fight our guys showed. “We have a lot of technical things to work on and clean up, but tonight should be a great learning experience for our guys to look back on throughout the season,” Mason added. “It is also nice to get the first dual out of the way and under my belt. Looking forward to what’s ahead for us.” The dual began with the 125-lb bout as Zayveon Mitchell faced No. 1-ranked Brandon Orum. Orum managed to pin (2:22) Mitchell to earn the Running Eagles their first six points of the night. The 133-lb class followed with Keyshaun Taylor taking on Keegan Slyter. Slyter dropped Taylor via fall (1:54) to advance Life’s lead to 12-0.

In the 141-lb bout, Bryant Santiago faced Jordan Mitchell. Santiago fell by a 10-2 major decision with Mitchell earning the Running Eagles four additional points, moving the lead to 16-0. Kohlby Hopper faced No. 2-ranked Julian Hernandez in the 149lb bout but fell by an 11-2 major decision.

With a 20-0 lead, Life picked up another win in the 157-lb bout as Steven Villalobos downed Levi Bishop with a 21-5 tech fall victory, moving the deficit to 25 points. At 165, Cody Thompson fell to No. 3-ranked Sid Ohl via fall (1:54) to go down 31-0 in the dual.

As for the 174-lb bout, Peppers gave a spark to the Barons with an upset performance recording a fall (3:18) against the No. 1-ranked Asher Eichert to give BPC six points, making the score 31-6. At 184, No. 6-ranked DeSilva followed up with a 6-5 decision over No. 8 Michael Gibson, earning a Top-10 win and three points for the Barons.

During the 197-lb bout, Jonathan Whiting faced No. 2-ranked Zane Lanham. Whiting fell via fall (1:22) with Whiting moving Life’s lead to 37-9. To wrap up the dual, Joel Faglier faced JJ Perez and battled hard in the 285-lb bout. Perez managed to hold on to an 8-5 lead to win by decision to close the dual with a 40-9 victory over the Barons.

Brewton-Parker returned to action on Monday of this week as they headed to Lebanon, TN. to take on No. 7 Cumberland (Tenn.) in MSC South Division action.