COLLEGE ROUNDUP

Keydet Wrestler Dunham Advances To NCAAs

Virginia Military Institute 133-pound wrestler Dyson Dunham punched a ticket to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships by placing third in his weight class Saturday at the 2024 SoCon Championships held at Appalachian State University’s Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, N.C.

The top three placers in each weight class earned automatic bids to the national championships.

As the No. 5 seed entering the tournament, the sophomore from Haymarket qualified by topping No.4 seed Tyson Lane of Gardner-Webb twice on the day. In the opening round, he defeated Lane by a dominant 16-5 major decision. He advanced to the second round to face No. 1 seed Domenic Zaccone of Campbell, where he fell by a 9-2 decision.

In the consolation bracket, Dunham defeated The Citadel’s George Rosas by a 4-1 decision to advance to face Lane again in the third-place match. Dunham won the bout by a hard-fought 8-5 decision to go 2-0 on the day versus Lane to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

He is the first NCAA qualifier since Neal Richards wrestled in the 2020 tournament.

VMI placed seventh of eight teams at the SoCon Championships with 18 points, ahead of Presbyterian College’s 5.5 points. VMI sophomore Braxton Lewis (174) and junior Josh Evans (197) both placed fourth in their weight classes.

No. 24-ranked Appalachian State won the tournament with 114 points, with No. 22-ranked Campbell coming in second place with 97.5 points. Rounding out the standings were Chattanooga (63.5), Gardner-Webb (49.5), The Citadel (44.5), Davidson (23), VMI and Presbyterian.

The 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will be held at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., next Thursday through Saturday, March 21-23.

For VMI wrestling updates, visit www.vmikeydets.com.

VMI’s Bither

Rifle Coach

Of Year

Following a season that featured multiple program records, Junior Olympic qualifiers and appearing in the top 20 for the first time in program history, VMI rifle head coach Bill Bither was named the 2024 Southern Conference coach of the year earlier this month.

This marks the second time that Bither has earned the accolade, having received the award in 2020.

As a team, VMI placed fifth of eight teams in the SoCon Championship with an aggregate score of 4,590 points, with the VMI women’s squad (4,494) just behind them in sixth, while Georgia Southern (4,725) grabbed its third straight title. The championship was held March 2 and 3 at The Citadel’s Inouye Marksmanship Center in Charleston, S.C.

The mixed team had the fourth-best air rifle score with 2,319 points, with Ryan Harlow shooting the seventhhighest score in that discipline (577) a day after placing sixth in the smallbore. Overall, Christopher Hicks’s 1,159 was the ninth-best aggregate in the field.

A day after leading the VMI women’s squad in the smallbore, Victoria Phillips led all VMI women’s shooters in the air rifle, recording a 566. Katelyn Grochalski had a good showing in the air rifle, with her 587 tying for eighth overall.

For more on the championship, visit www.vmikeydets. com.