Williams, Hughes lead Pioneers at UNC Pembroke Open

PEMBROKE, NC., 

The Pioneer Wrestling Team placed two at the UNC Pembroke Classic Open Tournament this past Saturday. In a tournament filled with some of the top teams from NCAA Division II in the southeast, the SMC Pioneers managed to get 133lber Maurice Williams (Orlando, Fl.) and Jackie Hughes (Laurens, SC) in 6^th place, in their perspective weight classes. Other wrestlers who just fell short of placing, making it to the consolation quarterfinals were, 125lber Marvin Galette, and 184lber Nicholas Siniard.

Maurice Williams (133), in his first events this year has compiled a total of 13 matches with a 9-5 record thus far. In this past weekend's tournament he started off strong with a pin in under two minutes before losing to Belmont Abbey's Troy Gregor by decision. Williams then won two matches in a row both by a decision. In his placement match for 5^th/6^th he saw former foe, Gregor of Belmont Abbey yet again, where he still couldn't find a way to secure that victory.

Jackie Hughes (197), in his second tournament of the year had another great showing. Jackie started off the day by pinning his first opponent from Allen University in under four minutes before he lost a hard fought battle to Coker Colleges' Tamaris Dixon 1-0. Hughes, then stormed back shutting out his next two opponents, winning the first by fall, and the second by major decision, 9-0. In Jackie's next match, he saw a tight, hard fought battle where, in the last twenty seconds he unfortunately suffered a concussion, narrowly losing the match 3-2. Not being able to continue on in the tournament, but still securing his 6^th place, he medical forfeited out of his final match.

Two others who came close to placing were Marvin Galette (125) and Nicholas Siniard (184) both made it to the championship quarterfinals. Galette, fought his way through the bracket losing in the placement match of the bracket to the eventual 3^rd placer, Ibrahim Bunduka of George Mason University, who Galette had beat earlier on in the tournament. Nicholas Siniard also lost to George Mason University wrestler, Luke Ludke, in his match to place. Nicholas had a strong showing at the tournament winning his first match by fall, and his second by technical fall 28-7.

Others with notable wins this past weekend was Brady Whiteside (133), over Nick Lankford from Newberry College. Efrain Tello (141) score his second collegiate victory with a win over Belmont Abbey's Jonathan Charpenter 9-7.

"Although we had a great showing against all of these four year schools," Coach Oliver says, "we still made a lot of mistakes which cost us two guys placing in the tournament. We will get back to work and fix those mistakes. It is still early on in the season."

The Pioneers will travel to face the UNC Pembroke in a dual on Thursday November 12, 2015 at 7pm.

View Season Stats here

Individual Results

-         Champ. Round 1 -Marvin Galette (SMC) over Darirus Dunn (UNCP-Unattached) (Dec 6-4)

-         Champ. Round 2 -Marvin Galette (SMC) over Ibrahim Bunduka (George Mason University) (Dec 10-5)

-         Quarterfinal -Josh Epperson (Newberry) over Marvin Galette (SMC) (TF 16-0)

-         Cons. Round 4 - Marvin Galette (SMC) over Jayquon McEntyre (UNCP-Unattached) (Dec 4-2)

-         Cons. Round 5 -Ibrahim Bunduka (George Mason University) over Marvin Galette (SMC) (Dec 12-9)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Jordan Simpson (Unattached) over Brady Whiteside (SMC) (Fall 1:01)

-         Cons. Round 1 - Brady Whiteside (SMC) over Nick Lankford (Newberry) (Fall 5:37)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Maurice Williams (SMC) over Brady Whiteside (SMC) (Dec 6-0)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Maurice Williams (SMC over Tevin Baysa (Unattached) (Fall 1:43)

-         Quarterfinal - Troy Gregor (Belmont Abbey ) over Maurice Williams (SMC) (Dec 5-0)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Maurice Williams (SMC) over Brady Whiteside (SMC) (Dec 6-0)

-         Cons. Round 3 - Maurice Williams (SMC) over Jonathan Miller (UNCP-Unattached) (Dec 6-3)

-         Cons. Semi - Tim Martinez (Unattached) over Maurice Williams (SMC) (Dec 2-1)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Efrain Tello (SMC) over Nathan Stratford (Allen University) (Maj 11-1)

-         Champ. Round 2 - RaSean McArthur (Coker College) over Efrain Tello (SMC) (Dec 5-3)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Efrain Tello (SMC) over Jonathan Charpenter (Belmont Abbey ) (Dec 9-7)

-         Cons. Round 3 - Jordan Eley (Campbell University-Unattached) over Efrain Tello (SMC) (Maj 14-5)

-         Champ. Round 2 - Ryan Blackwell (UNC Pembroke) over Lontay Greene (SMC) (Maj 9-1)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Jordan Eley (Campbell University-Unattached) over Lontay Greene (SMC) (Dec 4-3)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Eric Milks (UNC Pembroke) over Jordan Hodge (SMC) (Fall 4:21)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Clay Perry (Unattached) over Jordan Hodge (SMC) (Dec 7-3)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Derek Scotland (SMC) over Kemp Shider (Allen University) (Dec 3-1)

-         Champ. Round 2 - Eric Joyner (UNCP-Unattached) over Derek Scotland (SMC) (SV-1 3-1)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Brendan May (George Mason University) over Derek Scotland (SMC) (Dec 8-1)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Brysen Thorpe (UNC Pembroke) over Bradley Mewhorter (SMC) (SV-1 7-5)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Sean Kelly (University of South Carolina) Bradley Mewhorter (SMC) (Dec 12-6)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Tyler Maclain (Belmont Abbey ) over Antoine Hammond (SMC) (Dec 6-3)

-         Cons. Round 1 - Steven Welch (Allen University) over Antoine Hammond (SMC) (Dec 7-4)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Nicholas Siniard (SMC) over Argie Burnette (St. Andrews) (Fall 4:31)

-         Champ. Round 2 - Nicholas Siniard (SMC) over Gary Spencer (Unattached) (TF 28-7)

-         Quarterfinal - Michael Thomas (UNC Pembroke) over Nicholas Siniard (SMC) (Fall 6:51)

-         Cons. Round 4 - Nicholas Siniard (SMC) over Bryan Greenbaum (Belmont Abbey ) (Dec 10-4)

-         Cons. Round 5 - Luke Ludke (George Mason University) over Nicholas Siniard (SMC) (SV-1 6-4)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Jackie Hughes (SMC) over Corrice Davis (Allen University) (Fall 3:45)

-         Quarterfinal - Temaris Dixon (Coker College) over Jackie Hughes (SMC) (Dec 1-0)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Jackie Hughes (SMC) over Thomas Agresta (Unattached) (Fall 2:07)

-         Cons. Round 3 - Jackie Hughes (SMC) over Jared Key (St. Andrews) (Maj 9-0)

-         Cons. Semi - Tyrell Walker (Unattached) over Jackie Hughes (SMC) (Dec 3-2)

-         Champ. Round 2 - Chass Delgado (Belmont Abbey) over Robert Shiver (SMC) (Fall 1:48)

-         Cons. Round 2 - Zachary Boyda (University of South Carolina) over Robert Shiver (SMC) (Fall 1:36)

-         Champ. Round 1 - Onassis Williams (SMC) over Isaiah Jones (Allen University) (Dec 3-1)

-         Champ. Round 2 - Dane Mitchell (Belmont Abbey ) over Onassis Williams (SMC) (Dec 2-0)

Cons. Round 2 - Keivn Sigwart (Belmont Abbey ) over Onassis Williams (SMC) (