Championship Brackets

LEXINGTON, VA. – Redshirt sophomore James Cook, the seventh seed at 184 pounds, stunned the conference, winning his weight class and qualifying for the NCAA tournament. As a team, Campbell finished in second place with 62.5 points on the day.

Cook posted two decisions and a pin on his championship run. He earned a 10-4 decision over Appalachian's Jake Johnson, the second seed, then pinned No. 2 Josh Tuck of The Citadel in 6:43. He claimed the 184 title with a 3-2 decision over the No. 1 seed, Robert Prigmore of Chattanooga, the overall team winner. 

At 125 pounds, freshman Eric Montoya met UTC's Nick Soto in the championship bout, but fell 4-0. Because two wrestlers from the 125-pound class received automatic bids, Montoya and No. 3 Dominic Parisi faced off for the second bid, where Parisi edged Montoya 6-5.

Redshirt junior Nick Rex earned third place at 157 pounds. The No. 2 seed, he pinned SIUE's Kyle Lowman in the first round, but fell 8-6 in the second round to Gardner-Webb's Alex Medved. Rex posted a 15-0 technical fall over VMI's Ted Gottwald in 6:38 to reach the third place match, where he posted another technical fall over UTC's Trey Stavrum 17-0 in 4:23.

Paul Duggan, a sophomore at the No. 3 seed at 165 pounds, also placed third in his class. He earned a 13-2 major decision over The Citadel's Vinnie Bellaran  before falling 9-3 to Appalachian's Zac Strickland.  He posted a 2-1 decision over VMI's Mark Darr and edged Gardner-Webb's Justin Guthrie 4-3 in the third-place bout.

The final Camel to place was senior John Merickel at 197 pounds, taking second.

In the first round, he posted a 7-4 decision over SIUE's Josh Wood then earned a 9-3 decision over the No. 2 seed Paul Weiss of Appalachian.  In the championship bout, he fell 10-6 to eh No. 1 seed, Niko Brown.

Cook will travel to Des Moines, Iowa March 21 to compete in the NCAA Championship.