ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The Citadel (11-7, 7-1 SoCon) concluded the final rounds of competition at 2026 Southern Conference Wrestling Championship on Saturday afternoon, closing out the two-day affair with a total 53.5 points — good for fourth on the team leaderboard — behind a trio of silver-medal performances from Carson DesRosier (149 lbs), Kyrel Leavell (157 lbs) and Jacob Silka (174 lbs) plus a pair of fourth-place showing via Gylon Sims (125 lbs) and Teegan Vasquez (133 lbs).
During the Championship Finals, DesRosier faltered in a sudden victory decision, 8-5, before both Leavell and Silka followed suit with narrow one-point losses — 11-10 and 4-3, respectively. Sims scored an early victory in the Consolation Semifinals before dropping his third-place chance, 2-0, while Vasquez initially won on forfeit before falling by major decision, 14-4, in his own third-place bout.
“I’m pretty lucky to be coaching a bunch of great individuals,” interim head coach Luke Welch said. “These guys represent The Citadel really well, and I wouldn’t have been able to get through this year without them. I know they didn’t reach their goals for this weekend. Tough weekend, but we have to bounce back, the sun’s gonna come up tomorrow. Historic season for this team, the first time in 22 years that the wrestling program won a regular-season conference title. I’m just proud of our guys. I’m proud of our guys for staying at The Citadel this year and doing something that’s never been done, something that they’re going to hang their hats on forever.”…