WREST: Monchery Propels Mountaineers to Dramatic SoCon Wrestling Title
March 8, 2025
Contact: Bret Strelow – st******@ap******.edu
Wrestling
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — App State Wrestling needed a reversal of fortune, and true freshman Stephan Monchery came through in the most clutch way imaginable.
With the Mountaineers shut out of championship round victories heading into the heavyweight finale but still in position to win the SoCon Championship tournament with one timely triumph, Monchery’s deficit-erasing, trophy-deciding reversal with 14 seconds left gave him a 6-5 victory against The Citadel’s Jonathan Chesser and lifted coach JohnMark Bentley’s program to its third straight tournament title.
App State, which was ahead of The Citadel by 3.0 points going into the head-to-head showdown with the Bulldogs, totaled 79.5 team points. With a 3-2 record in championship finals, The Citadel finished with 73.5 points to place second in a tight team race that included third-place Campbell (68.5 points) and Chattanooga (63.0 points) entering the final day with a chance to win.
Eight of App State’s 10 starters earned a top-three finish, with finalists Kaden Keiser (149), Will Miller (165) and Luke Uliano (174) being runners-up in their weight classes. Chad Bellis (133), Jeremiah Price (157), Logan Eller (184) and Carson Floyd (197) all had hands raised to conclude third-place matches. Aldo Hernandez (141) pulled an upset in his opening-round match Friday, and Bryson Terrell (125) collected a pin on the first day.
Of the Mountaineers’ four finals matches, the first three were App State losses with the only takedown of each match occurring in the final minute of the third period or overtime. The second-seeded Monchery didn’t know the team stakes when he took the mat against the fifth-seeded Chesser, who returned from injury to make his season debut in mid-February.
After a scoreless first period, Monchery quickly followed an escape to open the second period with a takedown for a 4-0 lead. Chesser executed an escape early in the third period and took a 5-4 lead on a takedown with 49 seconds remaining, but Monchery’s two-point reversal 35 seconds later flipped the match.
A tying escape from Chesser occurred just after time expired, and the Mountaineers were able to start celebrating once a lengthy review concluded with no point awarded to him.
Displaced from its flooded locker room leading up to the season because of damage from Hurricane Helene, a group that started freshmen at five of 10 weights after losing two top-16 NCAA finishers to P4 programs via the transfer portal and having two other SoCon champions with NCAA experience suffer season-ending injuries in the first dual delivered the program’s 13th SoCon tournament title and 28th overall SoCon title.
Under Bentley, the Mountaineers have won their fifth SoCon tournament title after earning a share of an eighth regular season title in his 16 seasons.
For several wrestlers, the next step is hoping for an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia, as Monchery clinched the only automatic bid.
Keiser and top-seeded Carson DesRosier entered overtime of the 149 final tied at 1-all, and DesRosier won on a takedown 16 seconds into the Sudden Victory period.
Miller and second-seeded Thomas Snipes were also tied at 1-all late in the third period of the 165 final, and Snipes finished off a takedown in the final seconds of his 4-1 victory against the seventh-ranked Mountaineer.
After Uliano recorded an escape early in the third period to create a 1-all tie in the 174 final, second-seeded Sergio Desiante from Chattanooga broke the tie on a takedown with 49 seconds left in his 4-2 victory.
Bellis suffered a hard-to-swallow upset loss in a quarterfinal shortly after competition began Friday in Asheville but stormed back to take third with three straight wins: a first-period fall, an 8-6 decision to avenge a regular season loss to Campbell’s Logan Heil and a 5-0 shutout of The Citadel’s George Rosas. Wrestling against No. 2 seed Blake Boarman from Chattanooga in a true second place match for a second NCAA berth at 133 pounds, Boarman won 4-1 on an overtime takedown.
App State collected bonus points in the other three third-place matches, as Price had five takedowns in a 17-4 major decision against Gardner-Webb’s Drew Pepin, Eller won by a medical forfeit and Floyd posted a 13-3 major decision against Bellarmine’s Andrew Liber.
The 2024-25 season is presented by Hungry Howie’s and Penn Station.
APP STATE RESULTS
125: #4 Bryson Terrell, App State
QF: L (Dec, 9-7) vs. #5 Tyson Lane, Gardner-Webb
Conso: W (Fall, 4:47) vs. #9 Waylon Rogers, VMI
Conso SF: L (Dec, 6-2) vs. #3 Jack Parker, Bellarmine
133: #4 Chad Bellis, App State (3rd place)
QF: L (Dec, 5-1) vs. #5 Trayce Eckman, Bellarmine
Conso: W (Fall, 2:53) vs. #9 Kyle Gibson, VMI
Conso SF: W (Dec, 8-6) vs. #3 Logan Heil, Campbell
Third-place match: W (Dec, 5-0) vs. #6 George Rosas, The Citadel
True second: L (Dec, 4-1 in OT) vs. #2 Blake Boarman, Chattanooga
141: #5 Aldo Hernandez, App State
QF: W (Dec, 10-6) vs. #4 AJ Rallo, Bellarmine
SF: L (MD, 13-4) vs. #1 Shannon Hanna, Campbell
Conso SF: L (Dec, 12-6) vs. #3 Eli Knight, Chattanooga
149: #3 Kaden Keiser, App State (2nd place)
QF: W (Dec, 4-1) vs. #6 Dayne Dalrymple, Chattanooga
SF: W (Dec, 4-2) vs. #7 Tyler-Xavier McKnight, Davidson
Final: L (Dec, 4-1 in OT) vs. #1 Carson DesRosier, The Citadel
157: #2 Jeremiah Price, App State (3rd place)
QF: W (Dec, 7-3) vs. #7 Jeb Prechtel, Bellarmine
SF: L (Dec, 6-1) vs. #3 Chris Earnest, Campbell
Conso SF: W (Dec, 8-3) vs. #5 Tyler Badgett, The Citadel
Third-place match: vs. #4 Drew Pepin, Gardner-Webb
165: #1 Will Miller, App State (2nd place)
QF: W (TF, 19-4) vs. #8 Tyler Brignola, Gardner-Webb
SF: W (MD, 12-2) vs. #5 Bryce Griffin, Davidson
Final: L (Dec, 4-1) vs. #2 Thomas Snipes, The Citadel
174: #1 Luke Uliano, App State (2nd place)
QF: W (Fall, 2:22) vs. #8 Luke Hart, VMI
SF: W (Dec, 4-1) vs. #4 Benjy Haubert, The Citadel
Final: L (Dec, 4-2) vs. #2 Sergio Desiante, Chattanooga
184: #4 Logan Eller, App State (3rd place)
QF: W (Dec, 4-1) vs. #5 Caleb Roe, Presbyterian
SF: L (TF, 20-2) vs. #1 Devan Hendricks, Bellarmine
Conso SF: W (Dec, 4-1) vs. #6 Micah Dicarlo, The Citadel
Third-place match: W (Med. Forfeit) vs. #2 Braxton Lewis, VMI
197: #2 Carson Floyd, App State (3rd place)
QF: W (Fall, 0:51) vs. #7 Logan Webster, Chattanooga
SF: L (Dec, 8-7) vs. #3 Patrick Brophy, The Citadel
Conso SF: W (Fall, 3:33) vs. #5 Toby Schoffstall, VMI
Third-place match: W (MD, 13-3) vs. #4 Andrew Liber, Bellarmine
Hwt: #2 Stephan Monchery, App State (Finalist)
QF: W (MD, 16-4) vs. #7 Peyton McComas, Gardner-Webb
SF: W (Dec, 4-2) vs. #3 Josh Evans, VMI
Final: W (Dec, 6-5) vs. #5 Jonathan Chesser, The Citadel
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