No. 13 Wilkes Wrestling Finishes Strong at Will Abele Invite; Four Colonels Earn Titles

No. 13 Wilkes Wrestling Finishes Strong at Will Abele Invite; Four Colonels Earn Titles

COLLEGEVILLE, PA – Four Colonels earned individual championships as the No. 13 Wilkes Wrestling team finished in second place at the Will Abele Invitational Saturday afternoon hosted by Ursinus College.

The Colonels totaled 132.5 team points only trailing team champion and host Ursinus who finished with 157 total team points. Rhode Island College finished third with 83 points.

Matthew Grossmann (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) was the first Wilkes wrestle to earn a title going 3-0 to capture the 133-pound crown. It marked the second straight top two finish for Grossmann, who claimed second place at the Wilkes Open in late December. He started the day with a 10-2 major decision in the quarterfinals before posting an 8-2 decision in the semifinals to reach the title bout. There, Grossmann pinned Ursinus' Chris Hoogheem in 3:58 on way to the championship.

Josh Evans (Palmerton, PA/Palmerton) claimed the 149-pound title going 3-0 in the tournament. He started the day with a technical fall (18-2) in the quarterfinals after a bye in the first round, then used another technical fall (16-1) in the semis to reach the title bout. Evans received a medical forfeit in the finals when Derek Arnold of Rhode Island could not wrestle in the championship bout due to injury.

Stephen Turner (Plains, PA/Coughlin) made it three title for the Colonels when he wrestled to a 3-2 decision win in the finals of the 157-pound bracket. After receiving two byes to start the day to reach the semifinals, Turner pinned his opponent in 1:37 to move onto the finals. There he wrestled to the one-point decision win over Michael Murphy of Rhode Island to earn the crown.

Kyle Diesel (Westtown, NY/Minisink Valley) rounded out the Wilkes winners earning the 174-pound title after going 3-0 including two falls on his journey through the bracket. Diesel posted pins of :32 and :54 before wrestling to a 5-0 decision victory in the finals over Cody Richmond of Rhode Island.

Other finishers for Wilkes included Bilal Bici (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) (2nd at 141), Mark Misczenski (Easton, PA/Easton) (3rd at 141), Matthew Evans (Honesdale, PA/Honesdale) (4th at 141), James Palys (Scotrun, PA/Pocono Mountain East) (3rd at 149), Morgan Fuller (Hamlin, PA/Western Wayne) (4th at 149), Lucas Kline (Elizabethtown, PA/Elizabethtown) (4th at 157), James Ilvento (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) (3rd at 174), Jordan Nochimson (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) (3rd at 197) and Nicholas Dawson (Montoursville, PA/Montoursville) (2nd at 285).

Wilkes hosts the 2015 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships next Saturday at 11:00 a.m. in the Marts Center.

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