Dakota Moore Leads Roadrunners to Strong Finish at Nationals

Des Moines, IA - February 27, 2010

GCC sophomore 174lb. Dakota Moore (Pemberton, NJ/Camden Catholic HS) captured the national championship in his weight class on Saturday night at the historic Veteran's Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa. His win catapulted the Roadrunners into 3rd place overall in the non-scholarship team tournament. GCC's Kirk Kiriazis finished in 6th place on Saturday in the 157lb. weight class. Both Roadrunners earned All-American status.

In the final, Moore took on Chad Wright from Labette CC (KS). Wright was the more aggressive wrestler in the match but Moore was more accurate. Despite several attempts to take Moore down, Wright was unsuccessful but when Moore "shot" late in the first period he scored a takedown and opened a 2-0 lead in the match. Wright was able to even the match by scoring two points on "escapes" but Moore chose the down position to start the final period and scored a point of his own by "escaping" Wright's grip. The match ended a 3-2 decision and Moore pumped his fist to the crowd before embracing assistant coach Mike McConville and head coach Dan Calhoun on the elavated championship mat.

Dakota Moore - Road to a National Championship

National Champion Dakota Moore in action during the regular season

Round 1 - Bye

Round 2 - Moore def. Nick Peterson (Northwest Wyoming CC) 9-1

Quarterfinal - Moore def. Tony Lisek (Jamestown CC) 7-3

Seminfinal - Moore def. John Vogt (Meramac CC) 5-4

Final - Moore def. Chad Wright (Labette CC) 3-2

Final Tournament Brackets...

Notes: Moore is the 7th individual national champion in Roadrunner history. Previous national champions include: Greg Van Brill (1989), John Garriques (1998), Brian Brittingham (2002), Billy Gibbs (2001), Nick Vinciguerra (2002) and Jimmy Rollins (2004); Roadrunners Head Coach Dan Calhoun was an NJCAA All-American in 2006 & 2007 before continuing his wrestling career at University of North Carolina. Moore is the first national champion of Calhoun's three year coaching career at Gloucester CC; Gloucester CC has won the team national championship on six occasions: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007

Wrestling Prepares for National Championships

Deptford, NJ - updated February 16, 2010

The Gloucester County College wrestling team will depart February 24th for the NJCAA Eastern District II Championships hosted by Ellsworth Community College (IA). The tournament will be held in Veteran's Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, IA from February 25th-27th. All 10 Roadrunners wrestlers who competed in the district qualifying tournament have advanced to the national tournament.

Roadrunner Lineup for National Championship

125 lb. Andre Thompson

133 lb. Ryan Layton

141 lb. Ryan Kemmerer - District Champion

149 lb. Eric Thompson

157 lb. Kirk Kiriazis - District Champion

165 lb. Howie Graber

174 lb. Dakota Moore

184 lb. Geoff Buama

195 lb. Ricky McIlvaine

HWT. Kiefer Flemming

National Championship Resources/Links:

NJCAA Wrestling Championship Debuts in Des Moines Feb. 26-27 posted on NJCAA.org

Official Tournament Website

February 5 NJCAA Wrestling Poll - posted on NJCAA.org

Complete Listing of 2010 National Tournament Qualifiers - posted on NJCAA.org

Roadrunners Place 2nd at NJCAA Eastern Districts