KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Southeastern University redshirt sophomore Wyatt Kirkham was named the NAIA Wrestler of the Week for his work on Saturday to help the Fire defeat No. 15 Hastings.
 
The Stuart native defeated third-ranked Taygen Smith in his 165-pound match during the Fire Duals to help SEU to a 37-9 victory and improve to 10-2 on the year. Kirkham took a 3-2 lead to start the third after choosing bottom and being given an escape. He then had to fight off multiple shots by the returning All-American before scoring a takedown with 37 seconds left to come away with a 5-2 win and improve to 11-7 on the year.
 
Kirkham is just the second Fire wrestler since 2015 to earn this award, joining current graduate assistant Olson Delisca on November 22, 2017.
 
Southeastern returns to action this weekend at the Missouri Valley Invitational.

The post Upset victory helps Kirkham land national accolade appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

LAKELAND, Fla. — No. 7 Southeastern finished the Fire Duals with a 2-0 record, knocking off Keiser and No. 15 Hastings both by the scores of 37-6.
 
Against Keiser, the Fire picked up a forfeit at 197, and a pin by Trillyon Fils-Aime at 184. Sal Silvastarted the match with an 18-3 technical fall at 157. Stephen Kelle (174), and Kael Brisker (141) also scored techs.
 
In the match against Hastings, the Broncos took the first match and a 3-0 lead after a tough loss for Trace Braun who got the first takedown of the match but followed with an upset win by Wyatt Kirkham over No. 3 and returning All-American Taygen Smith by the count of 5-2. With the bout tied 2-2 going to the third, Kirkham was given an escape to start the period and fended off numerous shots by Smith and ultimately scored on a takedown with 36 seconds remaining and rode out the match for the win.
 
“I knew that I needed to stick with my leg attacks and I would be alright,” Kirkham said. “It gives me more confidence because it’s pretty much my first year wrestling in college after redshirting and coming back from an injury, so it feels good to finally be able to wrestle.”
 
Gage Braun picked up another win at 285, coming away with a technical fall, as did Xavier Williamsonat 133.
 
“I thought they were two good team wins and pretty unique we finished with the same score,” said coach Travis Patrick. “We had a ton of good matches across the board, even in losses.”
 
The Fire will head to the Missouri Valley Invitational next weekend in Marshall, Mo.  
 
SOUTHEASTERN 37, KEISER 6
157 – Salvador Silva (Southeastern) over George Zertopoulis (Keiser University ) TF 18-3
165 – Dominick Lomazzo (Southeastern) over Adam El-Damir (Keiser University ) Dec 6-4
174 – Stephen Kelle (Southeastern) over Mitchell Clark (Keiser University ) TF 17-2
184 – Trillyon Fils-Aime (Southeastern) over Brett Bosserman (Keiser University ) Fall 2:55
197 – Blake Rypel (Southeastern) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
285 – Earnest Johnson (Keiser University ) over Caleb Hardeman (Southeastern) Dec 6-2
125 – Isaac Crowell (Southeastern) over Riley Stevens (Keiser University ) Dec 6-0
133 – Bryce Gonzalez (Keiser University ) over Michael Bush (Southeastern) Dec 4-1
141 – Kael Brisker (Southeastern) over James Berline (Keiser University ) TF 21-6
149 – Andreus Bond (Southeastern) over Carlos Bogan (Keiser University ) Maj 19-5
 
SOUTHEASTERN 37, HASTINGS 6
157 – Thomas Stevenson (Hastings (Neb.)) over Trace Braun (Southeastern) Dec 9-4
165 – Wyatt Kirkham (Southeastern) over Taygen Smith (Hastings (Neb.)) Dec 5-2
174 – Trenton Munoz (Hastings (Neb.)) over Stephen Kelle (Southeastern) Dec 8-2
184 – Trillyon Fils-Aime (Southeastern) over Dominick Leon (Hastings (Neb.)) Dec 6-0
197 – Blake Rypel (Southeastern) over Riley Dement (Hastings (Neb.)) Fall 0:26
285 – Gage Braun (Southeastern) over Henry Jones (Hastings (Neb.)) TF 16-1
125 – Isaac Crowell (Southeastern) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
133 – Xavier Williamson (Southeastern) over Andy Rojas (Hastings (Neb.)) TF 21-4
141 – Kael Brisker (Southeastern) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
149 – Maxwell Kauffman (Southeastern) over Dylan Crawford (Hastings (Neb.)) Dec 9-4

The post Kirkham’s upset highlights 2-0 day for Fire at Fire Duals appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. –Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) John Sullivan announced Friday the addition of five new affiliate members and the addition of men’s volleyball as a championship sport for 2022-23.

The addition of the affiliate members allows the AAC to make men’s volleyball a championship sport and adds more schools in the sport of men’s wrestling.

The new affiliates come to the AAC as full members of The Sun Conference and the Southern States Athletic Conference.

“The commissioners from The Sun Conference, the Southern States Athletic Conference, and myself have been working on this agreement over the past year,” said Sullivan. “By adding these affiliate members, we are able to sponsor men’s volleyball as a conference sport and increase the number of teams sponsoring men’s wrestling to the advantage of all three conferences by reducing travel and missed class time. It also makes us one of the largest wrestling conferences in the country and moves men’s volleyball forward on the path to national championship status.”

The schools joining the AAC are:

• Life University (Ga.) – men’s volleyball and men’s wrestling;
• Webber International University (Fla.)* – men’s volleyball;
• Warner University (Fla.) – men’s volleyball;
• Brewton-Parker College (Ga.) – men’s wrestling;
• St. Thomas University (Fla.) – men’s wrestling;
• Keiser University (Fla.)* – men’s wrestling;
• Southeastern University (Fla.) – men’s wrestling.

*-Webber and Keiser are already affiliate members of the AAC in the sport of men’s lacrosse.

These institutions will join Bluefield, Columbia International, Reinhardt, St. Andrews, and Truett McConnell in men’s volleyball, and Bluefield, Montreat, Reinhardt, St. Andrews, Truett McConnell, and WVU Tech.

With the addition of men’s volleyball, the AAC will offer a total of 24 championship sports in 2022-23.

The post AAC welcomes five new affiliates, adds men’s volleyball as championship sport in 2022-2023 appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

MARIETTA, Ga. – It was a tough day on the mats in Georgia for the Fire in another Top 5 dual this season.

Southeastern won just two matches with the Running Eagles getting bonus points in six of their eight victories in a 37-6 loss to second-ranked Life Saturday afternoon.

Adrian Ayala improved to 7-2 on the year with a 7-1 decision in his 141-pound bout against Logan Sims. Alton Meeks also notched a decision victory with a 6-3 win over Diallo Matsimella, the fifth-ranked 197-pound wrestler.

Southeastern had some success in the three extra matches, getting two wins including a wild comeback by Stephen Kelle in an 11-10 win. Max Kauffman was an 8-4 winner in the extra matches as well. Freshman Trevor Borom wrestled hard in his extra match against Randy McCray, who is ranked second at 125, but ended up on the short end of a 9-3 decision after the match with six of McCray’s points coming in the third period.

The Fire return to action on Friday at Brewton-Parker.

NO. 2 LIFE 37, NO. 5 SOUTHEASTERN 6
125: Brandon Orum (LIUN) over Isaac Crowell (SOEA) (SV-1 11-7)
133: Gabriel McGlamery (LIUN) over Xavier Williamson (SOEA) (Fall 4:15)
141: Adrian Ayala (SOEA) over Logan Sims (LIUN) (Dec 7-1)
149: Denver Stonecheck (LIUN) over Jaquan English (SOEA) (TF 20-2 6:09)
157: Jack Bass (LIUN) over (SOEA) (For.)
165: Sid Ohl (LIUN) over Cody Walsh (SOEA) (MD 16-5)
174: Asher Eichert (LIUN) over Carlos Diaz (SOEA) (MD 15-5)
184: Myles Starke (LIUN) over Kohl Drake (SOEA) (Dec 11-4)
197: Zane Lanham (LIUN) over Trillyon Fils-Aime (SOEA) (Fall 6:26)
285: Alton Meeks (SOEA) over Diallo Matsimella (LIUN) (Dec 6-3)

EXTRA MATCHES
125: Randy McCray (LIUN) over Trevor Borom (SOEA) (Dec. 9-3)
141: Maxwell Kauffman (SOEA) over Jordan Mitchell (LIUN) (Dec. 8-4)
165: Stephen Kelle (SOEA) over Michael Gibson (LIUN) (Dec. 11-10)

The post No. 5 Southeastern falters at No. 2 Life appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

LAKELAND, Fla. – A veteran lineup racked up 98 team points in its two duals against upstart Florida programs Keiser and St. Thomas during the Florida Duals.

Against St. Thomas, the Fire scored first in every match, and in the first period in nine of the 10 bouts and against Keiser, scored first in six of the eight contested matches. SEU also scored on top, picking up a total of 48 nearfall points against Keiser and another 36 against the Bobcats.

“I think we stepped up and performed really well today,” said coach Brandon Jorge. “It helps when most of your lineup is returners and former qualifiers especially against younger programs.”

Blake Rypel won both of his matches at 184, scoring an 11-5 decision against Keiser’s Josh Crandall and a pin in just 42 seconds against Jonathan Evans of St. Thomas. Mason Kump was also 2-0 on the day and picked up 12 team points and needed just 1:29 to accomplish his two pins.

“The focus this week was scoring first and scoring a lot and that’s a mentality we have to have in every match,” said Jorge.

Andreus Bond (149) and Kyle Kirkham (157) also both went 2-0 with Kirkham scoring a pair of falls. Bond scored bonus points with a first period technical fall against Gerge Zertopoulis of Keiser.

The Fire will be back on the mat December 13^th at the Reinhardt Duals, facing Lindsey Wilson and Truett McConnell in addition to the hosts.

SOUTHEASTERN 47, KEISER 4
174: Carlos Diaz (SOEA) over Dominic Pappalardo (Kei) (TF 19-4 7:00)
184: Blake Rypel (SOEA) over Josh Crandall (Kei) (Dec 11-5)
197: Mason Kump (SOEA) over Dante Cooper (Kei) (Fall 0:54)
285: Jesse Pryor (SOEA) over Alex Saint-Jean (Kei) (TF 17-0 4:33)
125: Isaac Crowell (SOEA) over (Kei) (For.)
133: Xavier Williamson (SOEA) over (Kei) (For.)
141: Austin Ramsey (SOEA) over Zachary Fix (Kei) (TF 16-1 5:38)
149: Andreus Bond (SOEA) over George Zertopoulis (Kei) (TF 16-0 3:00)
157: Kyle Kirkham (SOEA) over Carlos Bogan (Kei) (Fall 3:58)
165: Carl Guess (Kei) over Stephen Kelle (SOEA) (MD 14-1)

SOUTHEASTERN 51, ST. THOMAS 0
174: Coleman Bryant (SOEA) over Rivaldo Valmy (St.Tom) (TF 21-2 5:15)
184: Blake Rypel (SOEA) over Jonathan Evans (St.Tom) (Fall 0:42)
197: Mason Kump (SOEA) over Estaban Hoyos (St.Tom) (Fall 0:35)
285: Sanford Meeks (SOEA) over Micke Olesco (St.Tom) (Fall 2:18)
125: Isaac Crowell (SOEA) over Nick Foster (St.Tom) (MD 15-3)
133: Xavier Williamson (SOEA) over Malik Cook-Bey (St.Tom) (TF 16-0 2:12)
141: Jaquan English (SOEA) over Osniel Carnesolta (St.Tom) (Fall 0:49)
149: Andreus Bond (SOEA) over Drake Campbell (St.Tom) (Dec 4-0)
157: Kyle Kirkham (SOEA) over Edens Valmy (St.Tom) (Fall 4:50)
165: Stephen Kelle (SOEA) over Brent Becera (St.Tom) (MD 10-0)

The post Bonus points help Fire win Florida Duals Title appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.