The Muhlenberg wrestling team came home from the Petrofes Invitational with its best showing in more than a quarter-century, coming in third out of 15 teams. 

The Mules had 10 placewinners out of the 19 competitors they sent to the two-day meet to place in the top three for the first time since the 1992-93 squad finished second. Only two nationally ranked teams, Mount Union and Messiah, were ahead of the Mules, who finished ahead of another nationally ranked squad, Centennial Conference rival Gettysburg.

day one recap

Senior Jimmy Fratantoni was Muhlenberg's top individual, coming in second at 184. He dropped a 7-3 decision in the final to the 2018 MAC champion from Messiah.

Junior Dylan Schwartz (pictured above) won two bouts on the second day, one by technical fall and one by major decision, en route to placing fourth at 165. He went 5-2 at the tournament, with both of his losses coming to a 2018 junior college national qualifier from Thaddeus Stevens.

Junior Austin Sherman (141) and senior Gennaro Cerminara (197) posted fifth-place finishes, while freshmen Billy Moore (133), Greg Baum (149) and Luca Colestock (197) came in sixth. Rounding out the Mule placewinners were freshmen Angelo Mahaffey (seventh at 157) and Nick Cope (eighth at 165) and junior Scott Schaeffer (eighth at heavyweight).

complete results

Team Scores
1. Mount Union (Mt) 218
2. Messiah (Me) 158
3. MUHLENBERG (Muhl) 116.5
4. Washington & Jefferson (WJ) 103.5
5. Springfield (S) 99
6. Gettysburg (Ge) 90.5
7. Waynesburg (Way) 80.5
8. Alderson Broaddus (AB) 76.5
9. Penn College (Penn) 68.5
10. Greensboro (Gr) 61
11. King's (K) 41.5
12. Thaddeus Stevens (TS) 40.5
13. West Virginia Tech (WVT) 36.5
14. Bridgewater State (B) 18
15. Penn State Mont Alto (PS)

Muhlenberg Results (second day)
133
Moore pinned Ka'au Estrella (Me), 4:59
Logan Fox (S) dec. Moore, 4-3
fifth place: Tristan Bean (WVT) dec. Moore, 9-3

141
David Massey (Mt) dec. Sherman, 3-1 (ot)
Ryan Peters (S) dec. Sherman, 7-5
fifth place: Sherman over Curtis Cox (AB) by medical forfeit

149
Baum dec. Lemons, 18-11
Luke Hernandez (Mt) tech fall Baum, 23-6
fifth place: Ryan Dominique (Gr) over Baum by medical forfeit

157
Ray Martin (Ge) over Mahaffey by medical forfeit
seventh place: Mahaffey over Kevin Edwards (Me) by medical forfeit

165
Mason Canonico (Ge) pinned Cope, 2:54
seventh place: Daniel Bergeron (Penn) pinned Cope, 2:01

165
Schwartz tech fall Daniel Bergeron (Penn), 27-12
Schwartz maj. dec. Joel Kanagy (Gr), 11-2
consolation final: Tarr dec. Schwartz, 12-9

184
Fratantoni dec. Brian Shermeyer (Me), 6-4
final: Victor DeFrance (Me) dec. Fratantoni, 7-3

197
Tyler Stepic (Mt) dec. Cerminara, 9-5
Jared Mooney (Penn) pinned Cerminara, 0:35
fifth place: Cerminara by forfeit

197
Colestock dec. Joe Embleton (Me), 8-3
George Tarwo (S) dec. Colestock, 4-1

HWT
Grant Martin (Mt) pinned Schaeffer, 2:54
seventh place: Jonathan Pineda (Penn) dec. Schaeffer, 9-4