The group of seniors combined to post a 16-0 mark and all positioned themselves to be the top seed in their respective weight classes at the NCAA East Regional Championships on March 4 and 5, which will be hosted by Gardner-Webb inside Paul Porter Arena.
Pniewski, already a two-time NCAA East Regional champion, blazed his way to four wins at 133 pounds. Pniewski earned a pin and a major decision to go with a regular decision and a forfeit victory.
No. 14 Elliott backed up his national accolades with a pin, two decisions and a forfeit at 149 pounds. Elliott is now 33-2 overall and 22-0 in dual matches this season. The senior also moved to within two victories of the 100-win plateau for his career and extended his dual-match winning streak out to 37 straight matches. Elliott is currently ranked No. 14 at 149 pounds by the NWCA, The Wrestling Mall and W.I.N. Magazine and is No. 15 in Amateur Wrestling News' latest poll.
Glaser positioned himself for a run at Nationals with a pin, two decisions and a forfeit victory at 157 pounds. The strong effort should be enough to earn a top seed at the NCAA East Regionals for the senior.
Blackwell also ran the table for the Bulldogs, putting himself as the early favorite at 197 pounds for the upcoming NCAA East Regionals. Blackwell scored decisions over all four of his opponents.
While GWU posted a 3-1 team record, it also recorded 23 individual victories in the 40 matches. Included in those individual wins were three pins and three major decisions. Cortney Roberts took two wins including a major decision and Brandon Beach also went 2-2. A.J. Renteria earned a major decision for his lone win, while Brandon Schweitzer and Matthias Piasecki also picked up a win.
Gardner-Webb began the day by storming past Delaware State, 40-6, as the Hornets forfeited five of the 10 matches to give GWU 30 uncontested points. Renteria picked up a major decision, while Beach and Blackwell each scored decisions for the Bulldogs.
In the second match of the day, the host Duquesne squad rolled to a 10-0 lead before consecutive victories from Blackwell and Schweitzer trimmed the gap to 10-6 after five contests. A major decision from Pniewski made it 13-10 in favor of the Dukes and a pin by Elliott brought GWU to within 17-16 with just one match remaining. Glaser then finished off the comeback with a 2-0 decision, giving Gardner-Webb the exciting, 19-17, win.
Gardner-Webb ran its season-high win streak out to seven matches with a 25-13 win over Millersville in the third round of the afternoon. GWU faced deficits of 6-0 and 9-6 before Roberts gave the ‘Dogs the lead for good with a major decision win in the 125-pound bout. Pniewski, Elliott and Glaser then put the finishing touches on the team victory by giving GWU wins in three of the last four matches.
That set things up for a showdown of the two remaining unbeatens as Gardner-Webb took its 3-0 mark up against Slippery Rock's 2-0 record in the fourth round. The Rock took control of the match with three-straight wins to open the action, taking a 12-0 advantage. Blackwell got GWU on the board with a decision, but Slippery Rock answered with a decision at the 285-pound match and pushed its lead to 18-3 with a victory at 125. GWU took three of the last four bouts as Pniewski, Elliott and Glaser all recorded decisions, but it was not enough as Slippery Rock held off the ‘Dogs for a 22-12 win.
Slippery Rock would then bounce Duquesne by a 21-9 margin in the fifth and final round of the day to secure the East Regional title with a perfect 4-0 mark. Gardner-Webb brought home second with a 3-1 record while Duquesne ended 2-2, Millersville was 1-3 and Delaware State took fifth place at 0-4.
With the three victories, Gardner-Webb upped its season record to 12-10 and stands with a winning record for the first time in the 2005-2006 campaign. The 12 team wins also mark the most victories in a season for the Bulldogs since the program went to Division I in 2000-2001.
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