Velasquez Knocks Off No. 9 Wrestler in the Country

Friday, January 8

Hampton, Va.

7 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Chattanooga

1/8/2016 3:41:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Steven Gonzalez

HAMPTON, Va. – The Grand Canyon wrestling team continued its week full of matches as it traveled to Hampton, Va. to compete is the Virginia Duals. GCU made its presence at the tournament as Zackary Velasquez took down the No. 9 wrestler in the country in Chad Walsh. The Antelopes went 1-2 in duals with a win over The Citadel and will compete in the championship in the Bronze Pool on Saturday.

The Lopes started the day with a matchup against Chattanooga in the York River Bouts bracket. The Lopes started the match winning two in-a-row starting with Trayton Libolt winning his third straight match. Libolt was able to take down UTC's Cody Minnick in a 5-3 decision and Juaquin Olivas followed up Libolt's performance with his own decision. Olivas came away with the 5-1 decision over Cody Hill that gave GCU a 6-0 lead. UTC would fight back to win seven matches but GCU closed out the match with a win from Daniel Chaid. GCU lost to Chattanooga 21-9.

The Lopes next match took place against Rider and GCU found itself in a tight battle. Libolt won his fourth straight match at 125 with an 11-5 decision over Zach Valcarce and the next victory came from Blake Monty in the 149-pound match with his second major decision of the season. Velasquez had the tough task of facing No. 9 in the country, Walsh, in the 157-pound contest and in a tight battle for three rounds, Velasquez pulled out the 6-5 decision to defeat the nationally ranked wrestler. Kenny Moore and Chaid would also come away with victories but the Lopes fell to Rider 17-16.

The Lopes win came on the final match of the day when they took to take down The Citadel. Olivas earned his second victory of the day with a 17-2 technical fall and in his first match since Nov. 7, 2015, Rafael Tovar would earn his second victory of the season with a 2-0 decision in the 141-pound match. The Lopes trailed 9-8 after five matches and GCU responded by rattling off three straight victories by Casey Larson, Moore and Austin Trujillo to give GCU the 20-9 lead. Chaid would close out the match with another win to give GCU the 23-12 win and advance to the bronze pool championship to face George Mason, who they faced this season on Dec. 13, 2015.