SALEM, Va. - North Carolina left the Southeast Open with three individual titles Sunday, as Lincoln Jipp, Nadav Nafshi and Elias Navida all climbed to the top of their brackets and helped the Tar Heels finish with seven podium spots.
Navida was the lone UNC champion in the open division, taking the 141-pound title with three straight decisions. He opened with a 4-2 win over Tommy Wurster (Unaffiliated), then beat Clayton Gabrielson (Maryland) 10-3 in the semifinals before closing with a 10-5 decision over Ethan Uhorchuk (Chattanooga) in the final.
The freshman/sophomore side belonged to Jipp and Nafshi. Jipp rolled through the 197-pound bracket with a fall in 1:02 over Everett Rouse (Mount Olive), a 19-4 technical fall against Jamil Morrow (George Mason), a 20-2 technical fall over Paxton Hunt (West Virginia) and a 14-3 major decision over Jonathan Rocha (Virginia Tech) in the championship match.
Nafshi put together a similarly strong run at 174 pounds, starting with a 13-0 major decision over Lucas Ricketts (NC State). He followed with an 11-1 major decision against Nick Moore (George Mason), then topped Jaxon Penovich (Illinois) 8-2 and Carson Thomas (Maryland) 4-0 before edging Jason Kwaak (NC State) 7-5 in the final.
UNC also picked up podium finishes from Cameron Stinson Jr., Marco Tocci, Nolan O'Boyle and Mikey Calcagno. Stinson placed sixth at 125, Tocci took fourth at 133, O'Boyle finished sixth at 184 and Calcagno was runner-up at 197.
Calcagno’s run in the open 197 bracket included a 9-7 decision over Drew Linciome (Ohio), a fall at 1:10 against Devin Downes (Maryland) and a 6-4 decision over Jake Stacey (West Virginia) before Branson John (Maryland) beat him 8-5 in the final.
Tocci went 2-1 early in the 133-pound bracket, beating Ryan Meek (Ohio) 15-4 and Brad Yokum (NC State) 10-5 before falling to No. 3 Aaron Seidel (Virginia Tech) 19-4 and Joe Fongaro (App State) 8-2 in the third-place match.
Stinson’s 125-pound day included a 16-0 technical fall over Brady Joling (Davidson) before Cooper Foster (App State) beat him 10-4 in the quarterfinals and Tyler Tice (Chattanooga) edged him 4-3 in the fifth-place match.
O'Boyle opened with a 7-5 decision over Jeremy Olszko (Ohio), then dropped into consolation after Landon Jones (Chattanooga) beat him 24-8 by technical fall. He added three more wins in consolation before Benjamin Weader (Virginia Tech) took the fifth-place match 5-1.
North Carolina will host the Blue and White Showcase on Friday evening at Carmichael Arena, with action set for 5 p.m.
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