WHEATON, Ill. -- Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling team sits atop the leaderboard with 106.5 team points and will have nine wrestlers competing in the second day of the Wheaton Invitational on Saturday. The Warhawks have seven wrestlers in the championship bracket, nearly double the number posted by any other team, and two competing in the wrestleback. The invitational features 32 teams, 10 ranked in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association poll, and 267 wrestlers competing in 10 weight classes. The invitational will wrap up Saturday with the semifinals, wrestlebacks and championship matches.
In the championship bracket, Jimmy Nehls, the fourth seed in the 133-pound weight class, went 2-0 on Friday to advance to the semifinals. Opening the day with a first round bye, Nehls needed just 1:56 to pin his first opponent, Ryan Harter of Elizabethtown. Nehls, ranked third in the NWCA, followed with a major decision against Baldwin-Wallace's Andrew Taylor, 15-1.
The three seed at 141 pounds, Whitewater's Matt Adcock went 3-0 Friday. Adcock, ranked fourth according to the NWCA, pinned Joe Pelkey from UW-Oshkosh in 2:59 to open the competition. He followed with a technical fall against James Warren from Marantha Baptist stopping the bout in 7:00 with a score of 20-4. Adcock advanced to the semis after a 4-0 decision against Chicago's Charles Banaszak, ranked tenth in the nation at 141 pounds.
Elroy Perkin, the number two seed and eighth ranked wrestler at 149 pounds, followed up a first round bye with a pin of Marantha Baptist's Richard Warren in 1:04. He won his quarterfinal matchup with William Byrd of Wheaton by a 7-2 decision.
Top seeded Cedric Gibson went 3-0 for the Warhawks at 165 pounds. Gibson, ranked fourth by the NWCA, posted back-to-back pins in his first two bouts stopping the clock in 3:46 against Thomas Dahlke and 4:21 against Augustana's Connor Cummings. He added a major decision against Alex Vosburgh of North Central, 12-4, to advance to the semifinals.
Ryan Aprahamian, the four seed in the invitational, opened Friday with two pins at 184 pounds. The ref tapped the mat at the 5:40 mark in his first bout against Tyler Ray and Aprahamian registered a pin in 6:03 against Luke Ortscheid in his second bout of the day. A 5-0 decision against fifth-seeded Josh Anthony of Wisconsin-Parkside sent Aprahamian to the semifinals.
Whitewater's 197-pounder, Shane Siefert, racked up the most team points for the Warhawks Friday night. Siefert, the top seed in the invite and ranked second in the nation, needed just 54 seconds to record his first win of the day, a pin against Mario Palmisano of Chicago. He followed with another pin, this time in 2:20 against Mount St. Joseph's Nathan Islamovsky. Siefert advanced to the semifinals after winning by medical forfeit in his third match of the day.
Anthony Edgren, the top seed at 285, improved throughout the day. Edgren, ranked third in the NWCA poll, opened the day with a major decision against Jeffrey Tyburski of Chicago 11-1. He followed with a technical fall in 5:30 against Lakeland's Rainger Rossway, 17-1 and capped the first day of competition with a default win to advance to the semifinals Saturday.
Two Warhawks will compete in the wrestleback. Zac Denny fell in his first bout of the day at 125 pounds but rebounded with a pin against Ferrum's Robert Cunningham in 2:42. Denny added a major decision against Oshkosh's Scott Worlund, 10-2, and stayed alive with an 8-5 decision against Heidelberg's Delian Schneider. At 174 pounds, Andrew Pettit topped Mount St. Joseph's Nicholas Manning 3-2 after a first round bye. He was upset by David Brunk of Case Western 5-1 in his second bout of the day but will return to the mat Saturday after notching a 4-0 decision against Knox's Greg Ventris.
Team points are earned as a wrestler advances depending on the type of match decision. The Warhawks lead the 32-team field with 106.5 team points. Wisconsin-La Crosse (79), Messiah (61.5), Mount Union (60) and Olivet (58.5) round out the top five.
CORTLAND, N.Y. -- A pin by senior Brian Bistis at 141 pounds proved to be the decisive match as fifth-ranked Cortland State defeated visiting Delaware Valley 19-18 on criteria after the teams finished tied at 18-18.
With the final team score tied, criteria was applied to determine the winner. The first criteria, most total victories, was even at five apiece. On the second criteria, most 6-point wins, Cortland won since the pin by Bistis was the only 6-point victory by either team. Cortland improved to 10-3 with the win, while the Aggies dropped to 7-5.
Delaware Valley took an early 9-0 lead on a technical fall by Zac Haynes at 125 pounds and a 12-2 major decision by Connor Kirkegard at 133 pounds.
Cortland answered with wins in the next three matches. Bistis, ranked fifth nationally at 141 pounds, pinned his opponent in 3 minutes, 47 seconds, followed by a 4-1 decision by nationally top-ranked Bobby Dierna at 149 pounds.
At 157 pounds, Cortland senior James Ondris earned a 6-5 decision against Emmanuel Ajagbe, who was an All-American at 149 pounds last year. After a scoreless first period, Ondris went up 5-0 on an escape, a takedown and a 2-point near fall. Ajagbe quickly got a reversal to make it 5-2, but Ondris earned an escape point just before the buzzer to take a 6-2 lead. In the third, Ajagbe escaped early to cut the lead to 6-3. He also scored a stalling point with five seconds left, and earned a point for riding time, but it wasn't enough to tie Ondris.
The Aggies knotted the team score at 12-12 when Alec Horan won 8-2 at 165 pounds. Junior Lou Puca, ranked fifth nationally at 174 pounds, won 5-1 to put Cortland ahead 15-12, but Delaware Valley tied the match again when Connor Gabriel earned a 7-3 decision at 184 pounds.
The 197-pound match featured a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers -- third-ranked Joe Giaramita from Cortland and seventh-ranked Aaron Karns from Delaware Valley. Karns went up 4-0 on a first-period takedown and near fall and led 6-1 with 1:33 in the second after a violation and an escape. Giaramita, however, registered a takedown late in the second and a reversal 10 seconds into the third to close within one. Down 7-5, Giaramita tied the match with a takedown with 59 seconds left, then rode out Karns the rest of the way to earn the decisive riding time point.
At 285, Delaware Valley's Zach Roseberry posted a 9-5 upset win against nationally eighth-ranked Lance Moore. Down 2-0, Roseberry used a takedown and a 3-point near fall to go up 5-2. He threatened to register a pin, which would have given the Aggies the team victory, but Moore recovered and eventually got an escape with 48 seconds left in the second. Moore also escaped early in the third to pull within 5-4, but Roseberry got two takedowns later in the period.
Dierna improved to 17-3 on the season with his win at Puca is now 26-7. Giaramita upped his mark to 27-5 to keep the team victory lead and Ondris is now 21-10. Bistis, who returned recently from injury, is 13-5 on the season.
