The Muhlenberg wrestling team wrapped up a fantastic season at the NCAA Mideast Regional with two wrestlers narrowly missing qualifying for nationals and senior Gennaro Cerminara closing out his career with a milestone.

The Mules finished sixth out of 18 teams. Since the NCAA revived the regional tournament for the 2012-13 season, they had never placed higher than 14th. 

Six Muhlenberg wrestlers made the podium, with junior Austin Sherman (141) and senior Jimmy Fratantoni (174) placing fourth, Cerminara (197) and junior Dylan Schwartz (165) fifth, junior Scott Schaeffer (HWT) sixth and junior Brian Jamison (157) eighth.

After comfortably winning both of his bouts on the first day of the tournament, Sherman began the second day with a loss to the top-ranked wrestler in Division III. He rebounded with a 5-2 decision to reach the consolation final, where he needed a win to earn an NCAA bid. Trailing 6-4 against a TCNJ opponent who is receiving honorable mention in the D3wrestle.com rankings, Sherman scored a late takedown to tie the bout, but his foe escaped for a 7-6 win.

In his semifinal bout, Fratantoni went the full seven minutes against a TCNJ wrestler who pinned each of his first two opponents in the first minute. Fratantoni advanced to the consolation final with a 5-4 decision, scoring two takedowns to build a 5-1 lead before his opponent - also receiving honorable mention in the rankings - took him down in the closing seconds to make the final score closer. 

Fratantoni battled to a 1-1 tie in the consolation final but was taken down in overtime.

Cerminara (pictured above) fell 10-9 on riding time in his semifinal bout before nearly completing a big comeback in his first consolation match. Down 10-4 at one point, he closed to within 13-12 on a pair of third-period takedowns before eventually falling, 19-14. 

In the fifth-place bout, Cerminara did finish his comeback. Trailing 5-4 early on, he reversed his opponent and pinned him to finish his career in appropriate fashion. It was his 50th pin, tying the school record set by Bill Holsinger, who will be inducted into the Muhlenberg Athletic Hall of Fame in April. Cerminara gave up near-fall points in all three of his regional wins, coming back for a pin each time.

Schwartz scored a dramatic win in his fifth-place bout, recording a reversal in the tiebreaker period for a 6-5 win. 

Jamison became the 15th different Mule to place at a tournament this year.

Team Scores
1. Ithaca (I) 166.5
2. TCNJ (TCNJ) 139
3. stevens (St) 108
4. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) 96.5
5. Oneonta (On) 83
6. Muhlenberg (Muhl) 79.5
7. Centenary (Ce) 75
8. Merchant Marine (MM) 68
9. Oswego (Osw) 54.5
10. Brockport (B) 53.5
11. Scranton (Scr) 46.5
12. Cortland (Co) 44
13. Elizabethtown (E) 37
14. Ursinus (U) 29
15. Hunter (H) 24
16. Keystone (K) 9
17. Alfred State (AS) 4
18. Mount St. Vincent (MSV) 3

Muhlenberg Results (day two only)
141
Troy Stanich (St) tech fall Austin Sherman (Muhl), 7:00 (22-3)
Sherman dec. Ahken Chu (On), 5-2
consolation final: Robert Dinger (TCNJ) dec. Sherman, 7-6

157
JT Beirne (TCNJ) dec. Brian Jamison (Muhl), 7-4
seventh place: Kyle Schaffer (Scr) dec. Jamison, 7-3

165
Dempsey King (RIT) dec. Dylan Schwartz (Muhl), 4-0
Alec Donovan (Ce) dec. Schwartz, 4-3
fifth place: Schwartz dec. William Sims (MM), 6-5 (tb)

174
Daniel Kilroy (TCNJ) maj. dec. Jimmy Fratantoni (Muhl), 9-0
Fratantoni dec. Troy Seymour (Osw), 5-4
consolation final: Chibueze Chukwuezi (I) dec. Fratantoni, 3-1 (sv)

197
Dan D'Agostini (Scr) dec. Gennaro Cerminara (Muhl), 10-9
Dalton Elias (I) dec. Cerminara, 19-14
fifth place: Cerminara pinned Pjetri, 1:08

HWT
Scott Schaeffer (Muhl) tech fall Cam Smith (K), 5:25 (20-2)
Connor Calkins (RIT) pinned Schaffer, 2:29
fifth place: Keegan Connelly (Scr) dec. Schaeffer, 11-4