University of Virginia Library

Terps Win; Pegues MVW In ACC Wrestling

By Randy Wert
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Virginia crowned two
champions including Most Valuable
Wrestler John Pegues as Maryland
walked away with Atlantic Coast
Conference wrestling tournament
laurels Saturday at Memorial Gym.

John Pegues: The ACC's Most Valuable Wrestler For 1971

Virginia Grapplers Were Runners-Up In The Conference Tourney

Making it 18 wins in 18 outings
in the tourney, Sully Krouse's
Terrapins collected six individual
titles after advancing the entire ten
man squad to the finals and rallied
107 points to the second place
Cavaliers' 67. Kevin Michaels,
Virginia's once beaten
190-pounder, took a 3-1 decision
from Maryland's Pat McCall to win
his championship. After trailing for
five minutes due to a locking hands
penalty, the second year, two-sport
man escaped and used two minutes
riding time to seal the win.

Senior Pegues, from Granby
High School in Norfolk, became the
first non Maryland grappler to win
three ACC titles when he whipped
Terp Rob Stover 6-2 in the
142-pound final. After the
heavyweight bout, the coaches
voted the Al Crawford Award
denoting the Most Valuable
competitor in tournament to the
quietly confident Pegues, who used
a strong third period to win the
match. Coming off of a 7:10 fall in
the semi final round. Pegues
weathered a scoreless first period,
but allowed Stover to escape and
went into the final three minutes
trailing 1-0. An immediate escape
and a takedown put him ahead 3-1
after which he again traded an
escape for a takedown and added a
point riding time for the 6-2 win.

Hopes Lost Early

Virginia's title hopes were
dashed early in the tourney as a
combination of bad seedings and
unfortunate injuries decimated the
squad. 118-pounder Jack Johndrow
suffered a dislocated shoulder in his
first bout which prevented him
from scoring much needed team
points. Defending champ Shelly
Zablow, stunned by a slam,
dropped his preliminary match but
came back with two impressive
wins after his head settled to place
third in the tourney at 150.

Top seeded John Pitas was
another of Virginia's five finalists
but was momentarily caught on his
back by Maryland's Steve Pappas
and could not overcome the deficit,
losing an 8-5 decision in the
126-pound finals. 134-pound Lou
Pavia, another top seed for the
Cavaliers, ran into a tough Terp
Tom Talbert (a candidate for most
valuable honors) and lost in the
finals, 16-5. Virginia's other finalist.
Ted Moore, finished second for the
third consecutive year at 177,
victim of a third period flurry by
Maryland's Rich Ragan.

Virginia Placements

Other third place finished for
Virginia besides Zablow were Denis
Bittenbender at 158 and Jay
Douglas at 167. Both were
impressive in the consolation finals.
Denis winning by a fall and Jay
victorious in a 9-0 decision.

Other Champions

Champions in other weights
included Terps Steve Nicholaus
(118). Dave Strauss (150), and
George Myers (158) as well as three
time champ Steve Rhode of N.C.
State (last year's MVW) and Duke's
footballer. Ed Newman, a two time
winner. The Wolfpack wound up
third with 46 points while Duke
was fourth at 34 points and UNC
trailed with 28 points.