King opens with solid outing at Citadel Open

[Jimtown 138]

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The King University men's wrestling team opened their season with a tough test at the Citadel Open. The Tornado turned in a solid day, especially at the 133 pound weight class as D'Marcus Spencer was the champion and Collin Crume came in with a third place finish.

 

At 133 pounds, Spencer won all five of his bouts, taking the title over Newberry College's Virgil Toms on a 7-3 decision. He also defeated University of North Carolina's Matthew Williams 8-7 in the semifinals. He earned his first win over an NCAA Division I wrestler in the quarterfinals, topping Nathan Coburn of Old Dominion University 8-5. Crume fell to Toms 5-3 in the semifinals, but bounced back in the wrestleback to defeat teammate Cullen King and Williams to take third place.

 

The Tornado also wrestled well at 184 pounds as Tyler McClanahan defeated teammate Jesse Masters in the semifinals. Blaike Henry also advanced to the quarterfinals in the weight class. Masters started his day by defeating Hamilcar Lawson on a fall in 6:38 before topping Alex Krunklinski of Appalachian State University 6-0. He then topped. McClanahan opened with a 15-1 major decision over UNC Pembroke's Kyle Kidd. He then topped Appalachian State's Tyrece Jones 6-1 to advance to the semifinals.

 

At 165 pounds, Justin Cash turned in a solid day, advancing to the semifinals. He started his day with a 9-4 win over Newberry's Zach Howerton before capping his run with a 7-3 win over Hayden Smith of UNC Pembroke. Bryce Killian also turned in a solid first tournament, taking second at 141 pounds. Killian took a 4-3 decision over Jake Velarde of Old Dominion to advance to the finals after beating Ryan Hall 10-0 in the quarterfinals. However, he fell to North Carolina's Joseph Ward in the finals to finish second.

 

King will be in action again on November 10 at the Hokie Open.