Recap: Montoya and Torres place as @UNCBearsWrestle makes history at the Southern Scuffle

Monday, January 1

Chattanooga, TN

All Day

University of Northern Colorado

Southern Scuffle

1/2/2018 8:37:00 PM | Wrestling

Final Bracket

UNC and Montoya earn the best finish in program history at the tournament

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.- If there was a clear indicator of Northern Colorado wrestling's improvement as a program, it can be seen at 2018 Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear. Rico Montoya placed fourth in the 133 lb weight class, giving him the best finish for a Bear at the Scuffle in program history.

Keilan Torres placed seventh in the 165 lb weight class, making it the second consecutive year UNC has two placers in the tournament.

UNC finished the Scuffle tied for 12th place with 46 points, also the best performance at the tournament in program history.

Montoya started day two of the Scuffle with a tough match against No. 2 Scott Parker from Lehigh, but stunned the tournament top seed in the 133 lb weight class with an 11-9 decision win. Montoya pulled off the upset with a takedown of Parker with eight seconds left, plus added on one point with riding time, After the upset, Montoya advanced to the consolation semifinals with a win by default over Air Force's Isaac Jimenez. In the semifinals, Montoya advanced after a medical default by Austin DeSanto of Drexel. With the medical default, Montoya moved into the third place match against Colby Smith, who wrestled unattached. Smith defeated Montoya, 8-4 by decision after building a 4-0 lead by scoring a take down in the first and a reversal in the second.

Torres came out focused in his first match and pinned Quentin Perez from Campbell at 2:09 to advance to the consolation round. With a spot in the semifinals up for grabs, Torres lost a close 3-2 decision to Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis. Lewis scored a takedown with :37 seconds left to down Torres. In the seventh place match, Torres got the better of Lehigh's Dew Longo with a late takedown to earn the 9-7 decision win. With the score tied at four after two periods, Torres scored one more takedown of Lewis with :51 seconds left to secure seventh place.

Dylan Gabel [184] and Jacob Seely [197] were also both active for UNC on the second day of the Scuffle, but were unable to place. Gabel met Alan Clothier from Appalachian State in the second consolation round of eight, falling in a close match by decision 4-3. Seely wrestled against Drexel's Stephen Loiseau in the second consolation round of eight with Loiseau defeating Seely 10-5 by decision.

Northern Colorado tied with Appalachian State for 12th place at the Scuffle, behind host Chattanooga and ahead of No. 4 NC State. After finishing 15th last year, UNC showed its growth as a program, along with Montoya's program best fourth-place finish. Second-ranked Penn State won the Scuffle with 197 points, 70 more than second place No. 13 Northern Iowa.

In their words
"Rico started the day with a very exciting win over the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the country form Lehigh. We have been looking for Rico to have wins like this and it is nice to see them come through. Keilan finished strong today by winning his last match in a hard fought battle. Overall, I am really proud of our guys effort and attitudes. We continue to improve. We have a quick turnaround for Iowa State on Friday."- Troy Nickerson, Head Coach

Up Next
Northern Colorado has a quick turnaround as they stay on the road and travel to take on Big 12 foe Iowa State. The dual starts at 6 P.M. (MT) on Friday, January 5th.