Wrestling 11/19/2017 10:30:00 PM Charles O'Brien

Four championships propel No. 3 Wrestling to second at Star City Open

November 19, 2017

Final Results

The Basics

Score: Stevens (113.5 points) - 2nd Place
Location: Salem Civic Center - Salem, Virginia (Hosted by No. 11 Ferrum College)
Short Story: Led by championships in four weight classes, No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling finished second at the Star City Open Sunday, hosted by No. 11 Ferrum College.
The results: Stevens finished with 113.5 team points to second out of nine competing programs. Elizabethtown College won the event, narrowly edging out the Ducks by one-and-a-half points. Huntington College (106), Ferrum (105.5) and Washington and Lee University (90.5) rounded out the top five.
The victors: junior Joey Borai earned a fall and a decision to reach the finals, where he bested Elizabethtown's Phillip Torresani 6-4 in sudden victory after tying at regulation. Joining Borai at the top of the winner's podium were sophomore Troy Stanich (133 pounds), senior Zach Wilhelm (157 pounds) and junior Thomas Poklikuha (165 pounds). Stanich reached the semifinals after scoring a technical fall over Huntington's Jacob Smith and the top-ranked 133-pound wrestler earned back-to-back falls to claim the championships. Wilhelm earned consecutive victories via technical fall to reach the finals, where the 157-pound senior won a 10-3 decision over Washington & Lee's Shane Connors. Lastly, Poklikuha won via pinfall in each of his first to matches to reach the finals, where the West Creek, New Jersey native won a major decision over Elizabethtown's Christopher Kummerer to win the weight class.

Other Top Finishers

At 141 pounds, sophomore Michael Derin won each of his first three matches via different results (technical fall, fall and decision) to reach the championship bout, before falling to Huntington's DeAndre Beck via decision (3-1) in sudden victory.
Sophomore Dylan Van Sickell finished second at 149 pounds, reaching the final bout after picking up wins via fall and a major decision and was leading the championship match 7-4 before falling via pinfall.
Senior Aaron Wolfang finished fifth at 149 pounds, winning via pinfall in his final bout.
Junior Stephen Friedman secured third place at 157 pounds, winning via a technical fall over Ferrum's Clifford Harrison.
All total, eight Stevens wrestlers placed at the event.

From the Mats

"We had a nice response today after a disappointing performance last night. We learned a lot on this trip and will continue to build off our performance from the last two days. We look forward to getting back to work tomorrow in preparation for the always tough New Standard Invitational." - head assistant coach Anthony Bonaventura

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