GREENWOOD, S.C. - The Allen University Wrestling team rolled to their first win of the season on Thursday afternoon defeating Div. II Emory & Henry College (Va.) 33-11 at the Lander University tri-meet. The Yellow Jackets then fell 51-0 to 7th ranked Lander (SC) later Thursday.

ALLEN 33, EHC 11
Allen got off to a quick start in their first match of the day as junior Reco Robinson tallied 5 takedowns en route to an 11-6 decision win at 125 lbs. Junior Nyshaad Hannon then followed with a high-scoring major decision win, 28-15 at 133 lbs. It was the most points scored by a Yellow Jacket so far this season.

Freshman Quincy Gash then won a competitive battle 15-10 at 141 lbs to increase the Allen lead to 10-0. Junior Drevon Wallace then stepped up at 149 lbs and grabbed a quick fall for the Jackets pinning his foe in just over a minute. After a loss at 157 pounds, Allen came right back with a dominating 16-0 win by technical fall from sophomore Ya'Donnis Hardaway at 165 lbs as AU would go up 21-5 after six bouts. The teams would then trade six points apiece with junior 2022 All-American Mike Jackson picking up a forfeit win at 184 lbs as Allen would clinch the win and lead 27-11 with two bouts left.

Junior Christian Poplous then controlled his opponent en route to an 11-4 decision win at 197 lbs. Freshman Emmanuel Velasquez then rallied from a 1-0 deficit late in his match at heavyweight to grab the winning takedown using a sweet arm-drag to a double-leg to squeak out the 2-1 decision as AU won 8 of 10 bouts in the dual.

"This was a great win to start the season, but we have a lot of work to do in practice to improve our performance," commented head coach Eric Pack. "I'm proud of them but I will always  push them to get better."

Against #7 Lander, Allen was. led by Jackson at 184 lbs who fell by a close 4-0 decision while LU was able to score bonus points in each of the other 9 matches. Junior D'Andre Wilkerson did record a takedown in his bout at 197 lbs, but the 7th ranked Bearcats were just too much for the young Yellow Jackets on the night. 

Allen now sits 1-1 on the season and will next return home to host St. Andrews University on Tuesday evening at 6 pm from Adams Gym.