CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Virginia Tech wrestling's Sam Latona finished third at the 2020 Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. Thursday night.
Latona, competing unattached, went 6-1 between Wednesday and Thursday to bring the bronze back to Blacksburg. His only loss was a close 6-4 decision at the hands of Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni, who is ranked fourth in the country by InterMat.
Latona's third place match against Navy's Logan Treaster was a marathon. Tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, the match took nine additional periods before Latona ultimately rode out the victory.
Two of Latona's six victories were by major decision. Latona started his tournament with a 17-5 major over Alex Hernandez-Figueroa of CSU-Bakersfield in the round of 32. Latona would then go on to win a 10-1 major decision in the consolation round of four over Appalachian State's Sean Carter.
Latona won his match in the second consolation round of eight over ACC opponent NC State's Jakob Camacho. He racked up four takedowns to win a 10-5 decision.
The Southern Scuffle was the fourth tournament Latona has competed in this season. He previously won the 125-pound title at both the Southeast Open and the ARMS Software/GMU Patriots Open. Latona also placed third at the Wolfpack Wrestling Club Open.
Full results and brackets from the 2020 Southern Scuffle are available on FloArena.
