November 5, 2006

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech wrestling team concluded a successful day at the Hokie Classic, wrapping up action 4-0. Tech downed James Madison, 41-6 before taking down Liberty (40-6), Gardner-Webb (29-13) and Anderson (27-12).

Results from all eight matches on the day can be found at http://www.hokiesports.com/wrestling/classic/

In Tech's second match of the day, it fell behind to a scrappy Liberty team 7-4 before five of the next six wrestlers picked up pins for the Hokies. Andre Johnson, Jon Bonilla-Bowman, Eric Decker, Steve Ratley and fourth-ranked Steve Borja picked up falls while Matt Epperly recorded a major decision to quickly put the match out of reach.

Against Gardner-Webb, the Bulldogs took a 10-4 lead after four matches, but the strong middle weights of the Hokies quickly closed that gap and gave Tech a big lead. After Bonilla-Bowman picked up a major decision, Epperly recorded his first collegiate pin, coming in just 46 seconds, followed by pins from Decker and Ratley and a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory by Borja.

In the final match, Tech and Anderson wrestled on two mats to speed up the long day. Robert Buck picked up his first collegiate win with a 5-2 decision while Borja picked up a pin in 16 seconds, by far the fastest of his career.

For the day, Tech went 4-0, Gardner-Webb went 2-1, Liberty went 2-1, James Madison went 0-3 and Anderson went 0-3.

Ratley went 4-0, picking up four wins all via the "Rat Trap" his signature pinning move. Borja went 4-0 with two pins and Epperly, a Christiansburg native, went 3-0. Decker went 3-0 with two pins and a technical fall while Bonilla-Bowman also went 3-0.

The Hokies will return to action next Saturday against Tennessee-Chattanooga in a dual meet on the road.