LEXINGTON, Va. – Highlighted by senior Matt Frisch's 100th career win, The Citadel wrestling team had seven placers in the 22nd annual All Academy Championships in Lexington, Virginia, on Saturday. As a team, The Citadel finished the tournament fourth.
 
In the first round of the day, six of the 10 wrestlers earned wins by fall to give The Citadel the lead in the overall team score. Despite losing first round bouts at 165, 174 and 184, the Bulldogs still held a 17.5 team score after Marshall Haas pinned Taylor Thomas of VMI.
 
In the championship matches, Frisch was the first Bulldog to take the mat against Jerry McGinty of Air Force and took the 3-2 decision victory en route to a first-place finish. The senior now has 102 wins in his career and has taken top honors for the third consecutive year at the tournament. Frisch placed all four year of his career with the first-place finish today.
 
Aaron Walker also took home first place at 157 pounds, edging Army's Russell Parsons in an 8-3 tiebreaker win. With the three wins today, Walker extended his win streak to 11 matches and picked up another pin to push his season total to six.
 
Joe Bexley and Marcus Malecek closed things down for the 2016 tournament, taking to the mat for the 285 bout. Malecek jumped out a 3-0 lead heading into the second period after tallying a two-point takedown and an escape. Air Force extended its lead to 6-2 in the third period and eventually took the victory over Bexley 9-3, giving the junior a second-place finish.
 
The Citadel had four wrestlers advance to the third-place match. Patrick Kearney went 2-2 on the day picking up wins over Army by fall and Merchant Marine by tech fall before losing to Navy's Brant Leadbeter by an 8-2 decision. Ty Bucksio also took home third place with his only loss coming to Army's Logan Everett by a tight 3-2 decision. Freshman Sawyer Root lost his first match of the day but bounced back to win three straight including the third-place match. Root was able to pull out the 5-2 tiebreaker win to finish the day 3-1.Haas took fourth place after finishing 2-2 and earning wins over VMI and Merchant Marine before losing in the third-place match to Michael Woulfe of Navy.
 
The Citadel will continue its SoCon road swing with two duals in three days. First up for the Bulldogs is Gardner-Webb on Feb. 5th and then Davidson on Feb. 7th. Live stats will be available for both at CitadelSports.com.
 
Placers:
125- Patrick Kearney (9-19), 4th place
141- Ty Buckiso (16-11), 3rd place
149- Matt Frisch (18-7), 1st place
157- Aaron Walker (21-5), 1st place
184- Sawyer Root (14-14), 3rd place
197- Marshall Haas (20-9), 4th place
285- Joe Bexley (11-11), 2nd place
 
For more information on The Citadel wrestling, follow @CitadelWrestle or visit CitadelSports.com.