HAMPTON, Va. -As freshman Ryan Knapp stepped onto the mat in the Hampton Coliseum last weekend, he stood across from three opponents whose size advantage was glaringly apparent.
I got kind of upset
Knapp said. (Old Dominion) thought they were going to wrestle (Joel) Weimer took a look at me and basically thought 'Look at this kid -he's just a 174 pound guy.' They didn't seem to worry about wrestling me at all.
Stepping up to replace 197-pound wrestler Weimer, who injured his knee during the Bobcats' first dual with Virginia, Knapp wrestled two weight classes and 23 pounds up from his weigh-in level of 174 pounds.
In his first showing of the tournament, Knapp lost an 11-5 decision to Nebraska's B.J. Padden, as the No. 6 Cornhuskers shut out the Bobcats. However, in his second match against Old Dominion's Andrew Jordan, the outcome was a little different.
I knew he was a big boy
Knapp said. But the way we were wrestling
he was wearing down real easily
and if it was tied going into the third period
I figured I would have a good chance to win.
Knapp won with a 4-1 decision to give the Bobcats a crucial three points at the end of the match that allowed them to come back to beat Old Dominion 20-18.
(Knapp's victory) was a huge win for the team
assistant coach Luke Moore said. He gave us a shot there at the end of that meet to win
and he gave himself up for the team. It's a selfless act. That's a hard thing to do
to bump yourself up and wrestle guys that are bigger than you. You have to respect guys that do that.
The Bobcats split their four matches at the 25th Virginia Duals with victories against Virginia (18-15) and Old Dominion (20-18) and losses to Nebraska (41-0) and California State Bakersfield (29-14).
Bright spots came in familiar form as both 157-pound wrestler Jake Percival and 174-pound wrestler Ed Willis won three of their four matches, both falling only to Nebraska.
Willis' match with Cornhusker Marc Harwood took triple overtime to decide, with the win resting solely upon a few seconds of riding time.
I usually do well in overtime
Willis said. I've never had it go that long though. After the second overtime
