WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's wrestling team ended their 2022 schedule with a 10^th place finish at the Wilkes Open on Thursday.
 

The Bears totaled 38.5 team points in the 31-team field featuring a handful of Division I schools. Bloomsburg won the team title tallying 141 points as Franklin & Marshall (125.5) finished second, and Rutgers rounded out the top three totaling 112.5 points.

 
"We had a really good showing at the Wilkes Open today," Director of Wrestling Joe Jamison said. "The field this year was the toughest I've seen in a long time and featured a lot of division one programs. It was great for our guys to test themselves against top competition. As a coaching staff, it's always fun to watch them get a few wins against division one opponents. Our confidence is building, and we'll be ready to hit the ground running in the second semester."

 
Sophomore Franco Mazza earned a sixth-place finish at 125lbs as he battled throughout the consolation bracket finishing with a 3-2 record. He dropped his opening match, but bounced back in the consolations by advancing to consolation of four after defeating the #6 seed Colin Mellot of Ohio Northern via a fall at the 4:56-mark. In his next match, Mazza collected a 10-2 major decision over the #7 seed Ryan Berstler of Pennsylvania College of Technology before falling to Bloomsburg's Bronson Garber in the 5^th place match.

 
Sophomore Wesley Tosto (141lbs) wrestled well finishing with a 2-2 record defeating two division one wrestlers in the consolations. After falling in his opening match, Tosto collected a 13-5 major decision over Lock Haven's Jacob Torres and a 6-3 decision over Bloomsburg's Nikolas Voras to advance to the consolation of eight.

 
Senior Alex Koenig had an impressive day collecting two pins including the fastest fall of the tournament pinning Wilkes' Devin Doty in just nine seconds at 174lbs. Koenig advanced to the consolation of four by collecting a pinfall over teammate Jonny Gherman at the 6:31 mark. Gherman (174lbs) earned a 17-6 major decision over Bloomsburg's Anthony Derosa while first-year Nils Updale collected a fall over Owen Schuller of the Apprentice School at the 2:25-mark.

 
Senior Jake Ahmad finished 2-2 on the day collecting pinfalls over Dustin Urlbes at the 1:59-mark and defeating teammate Gavin Range via pinfall in the first period. In the consolation of eight, Ahmad lost via a 3-1 decision to the #4 seed Charles Tibbltts of Binghamton.

 
First-years Derek Giordano (157) and Anthony Cerulli (165) each earned falls in the consolations, as Cerulli defeated Sacred Heart's Alex Marciniak via a fall in the second
period.


The Bears will return to action on Saturday, January 7^th as they host the Manganaro Duals at 10 a.m. from the Floy Lewis Bakes Center.