Webb, Eagles Excel at Vaunted Life Open
MARIETTA, Ga. – Powered by second-place finishes from both Daryus Webb (varsity) and Garine Gibson (FR/SO), the men of Avila wrestling put together one of the best overall performances in the team's young history, recording the seventh-most total points of any of the 46 squads competing at the vaunted Life Open in Georgia this weekend.
The Avila men were making their first big trip geographically in the program's history, and it was to compete in a star-studded open event that featured wrestlers and teams from all across the country – literally coast to coast – and all across levels of collegiate athletics, including NCAA Division I wrestlers and teams.
But still, even in the face of that quality of competition, the Eagles excelled: seven different Eagles placed at the event, netting a total of 125.5 team points, officially the seventh-most in the final standings (though that's always an imperfect science since some of those "teams" are various groups of unattached wrestlers, and not every school enters the same number of participants).
The event was large enough to be broken down into two tiers: a varsity tier, and a group reserved for freshmen and sophomores. That tier is where a lot of the wrestlers from "bigger schools" competed to gain experience early in their careers, which also served as prime opportunities for Avila wrestlers to compete against so-called "top level talent."
In that underclass bracket, Tyler Johnson won five matches to place 5th at 133; Jason Gross won four matches to place 4th at 149; Brad Mahoney pinned Lenny Feliciano of Southeastern to place 3rd at 165; Jake Callahan won five matches to finish 4th at 174; and Garine Gibson, in his return to the mat in 2022, won his first three matches, including a decision against a wrestler from the University of North Carolina, to advance to the title match, where he fell in the first period but still earned a highly impressive 2nd-place finish at heavyweight.
In the varsity bracket, Logan Johnson won his first three matches before ultimately picking up a forfeit victory to place 5th at 149 and Webb continued his excellent season by winning his first three matches – including a ranked win over Hans Evatt of Truett in the quarterfinal – to advance to the title match, where he ultimately dropped a tight 5-1 decision against Life's Myles Starke, ranked the No. 6 wrestler at 184 in the NAIA. Webb, himself ranked No. 19 in the class, was right in the bout until the final seconds, where Starke recorded a late takedown to secure the match and the title.
Still, after this highly successful weekend, coupled with their early dual success, Avila wrestling is flying high in its second season. Up next, after a brief break, the Eagle men will return to dual action on Friday, December 2 against KCAC frontrunners Ottawa in Ottawa, Kansas. The match is scheduled to start at 7 PM; as always, you can watch all the action live on the KCAC Network.
