BOONE, N.C. – There was no shortage of drama and excitement in what would prove to be a historic year for Appalachian State University wrestling, beginning from its very first time on the mat.
The year started with a packed Varsity Gym witnessing the start of an unparalleled Mountaineer run. App State downed then-No. 15 Oregon State on Nov. 12 by taking the final five bouts of the match to win 25-15. The red-hot wrestling continued as Appalachian then went on to down head coach JohnMark Bentley's alma mater, then-No. 25 North Carolina, with a narrow 18-16 score on Nov. 27.
App State wrestling would then go on to win 10 of its next 12 regular season dual matches with losses only coming to NC State and Missouri – both ranked in the top 10. The streak gave the program the most amount of wins in a season (12) since 2011 while also garnering them their most amount of Southern Conference wins in a season (13) and their highest team win percentage (87 percent).
Since Dec. 15, 2015, Appalachian has won 22 of 27 dual matches, including toppling five Power 5 programs and two top-25 teams.
With the dominating season, the Mountaineers ranked as high as No. 20 in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll, No. 16 in the InterMat rankings and No. 6 in the NWCA/National Duals Selection Committee Mid-Major Top 20 Poll.
The Black and Gold were able to capture the SoCon regular season championship with a heart-stopping 17-16 win over Chattanooga in Boone on Feb. 5. The match came down to criteria, where App State came out victorious, winning the individual point battle, 55-54.
Proving the Mountaineers could hang with anyone as a team or individually, the awards for the team poured in. Senior heavyweight Denzel Dejournette took his second consecutive SoCon Wrestler of the Year award while also joining fellow senior Vito Pasone with all-SoCon recognition. The two fifth-year seniors were two of seven wrestlers to receive the maximum number of points in the voting process.
On the other end of the age range, Appalachian had two wrestlers named to the SoCon's all-freshman team with 133-pound Colby Smith and 157-pound Gavin Londoff.
After winning the Southern Conference regular season, Appalachian was selected to host Indiana for the NWCA National Duals in Varsity Gym, which was watched by a standing-room only crowd. The Mountaineers' attention then turned to the SoCon Tournament where they had six wrestlers finish in the top 3 and eight place in the top 4.
Dejournette and Matt Zovistoski took the heavyweight and 149-pound division crown, respectively. Smith, Irvin Enriquez and Forrest Przybysz placed second at 133, 141 and 165 pounds.
After finishing second in the tournament overall, Appalachian State would send four to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship in St. Louis, Mo., with Dejournette, Zovistoski and Pasone making it with allocations from the conference tournament and Smith qualifying as an at-large.
Dejournette became the first Appalachian wrestler since 2012 to be named an NCAA All-American, finishing eighth in the nation for heavyweights while Zovistoski battled for two huge victories in the NCAA Tournament against NC State and Oregon State. Pasone and Smith also grappled hard through day two.
In addition to all the success on the mat, the Mountaineers had four wrestlers named to the NWCA All-Academic team (Pasone, Przybysz, Zovistoski and Dejournette) while the team itself finished No. 29 in the country with a 3.107 overall GPA.
