ABC Columbia MVP – Newberry’s Jason Valek

ANDERSON, S.C. (NC SID) — The No. 2-ranked Newberry Wolves clinched the highest winning percentage of any season in the College’s NCAA era with a 46-0 thrashing of the Anderson Trojans in the Abney Center on Wednesday night. Newberry completes the dual season with a 17-1 record, for a .944 winning percentage. The previous high since Newberry joined NCAA Division II in 1992-93 was the wrestling program’s 23-2 (.920) season in 2008-09. The Newberry all-sports record for winning percentage was the 1976-77 men’s basketball team, which went 36-1 for a .973 winning percentage. In Wednesday night’s dual, the Wolves used three bonus point wins to jump out to an early lead. At 125 lbs., Jon Cronin (Las Vegas, Nev.) earned an 11-2 major decision over Cory Monteforte, while Travis Laxton (Live Oak, Fla.) pinned Keenan Simmons in the first period of the 133 lbs. bout for an early 10-0 lead. No. 4 BJ Young (Jackson, N.J.) earned another pin for the Wolves in the second period of the 141 lbs. bout to move to 29-9 on the season entering the Super Regional tournament. No. 7 Deral Brown (Elgin, S.C.) completed an undefeated dual season at 149 lbs. with a 7-6 decision over Dan Telhada to put Newberry up 19-0. Brown went 18-0 in duals this season, and is just the second wrestler in program history to go undefeated in duals. The other was Cy Wainwright, who went 36-0 overall on the way to a national championship in 2008-09. Taylor Knapp (Lawrenceville, Ga.) earned a 9-5 decision at 157 lbs. to extend the dual lead to 22-0, and No. 6 Sean Byrnes’ (Jackson, N.J.) 9-0 major decision over Dalton Harper at 165 lbs. made it a 26-0 match. No. 7 Travis Sheehy (Suwanee, Ga.) earned a 19-2 technical fall over Bryan Glace at 174 lbs. to push the lead to 31-0 and Travis Holliday (Burlington, N.J.) won by forfeit at 184 lbs. to make it 37-0. Zach Anderson (Dunwoody, Ga.) won by 10-5 decision over Jordan Denmark at 197 lbs. in the final action of the night, as Jake Elkins (Trussville, Ala.) won by forfeit at heavyweight to close out the shutout win. Newberry will next wrestle at the NCAA Division II Super Region I Tournament in Pembroke, N.C., on February 24-25. The super regional tournament determines berths for the NCAA Division II National Tournament in Pueblo, Colo., on March 10-11.