WVU Kicks Off 2017-18 Campaign with Wrestle-Offs

Friday, October 27

Morgantown, W.Va.

5:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

Gold/Blue Match

Photo by: Steven Prunty

October 27, 2017 10:47 PM | Wrestling

By: Amy Salvatore

AUSTIN, Texas (Oct. 27, 2017) – The West Virginia University wrestling team made its first public appearance of the 2017-18 season with its inaugural Gold and Blue Wrestle-Offs held Friday night inside the Shell Building in Morgantown.

West Virginia also played host to its Mountaineer Athletic Club members on MAC Donor Weekend, as the home crowd witnessed a total of 11 bouts that were tightly contested. Friday night's matchups featured a mixture of established veterans along with talented newcomers who competed for a spot in next week's lineup vs. Big 12 foe Utah Valley State – the Mountaineers 2017-18 season opener.

"I was extremely impressed with the way our guys wrestled this evening, and I'm really impressed by the level competition each one of them produced," said WVU coach Sammie Henson. "The best match of the night was [Matthew] Schmitt vs. [Joe] Wheeling. It was a tough, hard-fought battle between the two. I also thought Kyler Rea and Christian Monserrat battled it out for the starting position at 149 [pounds]. That's going to be an on-going battle all year.

"I also want to thank all the Mountaineer fans and the MAC donors that came out to watch tonight's event. The home crowd made tonight truly special, and it is a tradition that we want to keep putting forth in Morgantown."

Here are your 2017 wrestle-off winners:

Bout – Blue vs. Gold (Silver Singlets)
125 - Zeke Moisey (Blue) dec. Devin Brown (Gold), 10-5
133/141 – Matthew Schmitt (Blue) dec. Joe Wheeling (Gold), 8-6
149 –Kyler Rea (Gold) dec. Christian Monserrat (Blue), 4-3
149 –Kyler Rea (Gold) dec. Christian Monserrat (Blue), 5-0
157 – Zachary Moore (Blue) dec. Ryan Lopez (Gold), 5-3
165 – Nick Kiussis (Blue) wins by fall Cade Moisey (Gold)
165 – Hunter Jones (Blue) dec. Luke Sorboro (Gold), 5-2
174/184 – Parker Vonegidy (Blue) dec. Brenden McRill (Gold), 3-0
184 – Hunter DeLong (Blue) dec. Kyle Rogers (Gold), 9-4
197 – Noah Adams (Blue) dec. Sean Mullican (Gold), 13-3
HWT – Brandon Ngati (Blue) dec. David Smith (Gold), 4-3

West Virginia opens the 2017-18 season on Friday, Nov. 3, as the squad heads to Clarion, Pennsylvania, for a neutral site match with Big 12 foe Utah Valley. The match is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET. The Mountaineers will then remain in Pennsylvania for the Clarion Open on Sunday, Nov. 5, starting at 8 a.m. ET.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.