WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The No. 17 Wilkes University wrestling team crowned one champion along with four runner up finishes as the Colonels took home second place in the team standings at the 2016 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships Saturday afternoon at Lamade Gymnasium.

Full Results
 
Wilkes finished with 132 total team points at the event, trailing only champion No. 6 Messiah College who tallied 176.5 team points. Delaware Valley finished third with 113 team points while host Lycoming followed in fourth with 58.5 points and King's College fifth with 58 points.
 
Wilkes lone champion came at 141-pounds when Jessie Lopez (Everett, WA/Everett) claimed a 5-3 decision over teammate Thomas Stokes (Bensalem, PA/Bensalem). Lopez rolled to the championship bout with two extra point wins including a pin in the semifinals over Messiah's Arty Walsh. Stokes cruised to the final bout with a major decision in the quarterfinals before posting a thrilling 5-3 decision in the semifinals over Lee Cassel of Messiah. John Ritter (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) rounded out top finishers for Wilkes at 141 earing third place after a posting a 5-3 decision over Cassel in the consolation semifinals before receiving a medical forfeit in the third place bout.
 
Michael Fleck (Easton, PA/Wilson Area) finished second at 125-pounds keeping his extra-point victory streak going with two technical falls in the quarterfinals and semifinals to reach the title bout. In one of the top matches of the whole tournament featuring two top ten ranked wrestlers, Fleck dropped an 11-3 major decision to No. 1 ranked Lucas Malmberg of Messiah to settle for runner up.
 
Kyle Diesel (Westtown, NY/Minisink Valley) wrestled his way to the title bout at 184-pounds using back-to-back technical falls before posting a 3-0 decision in the semifinals over Messiah's Jeremy Bailes to setup a top-ten battle of ranked wrestlers in the final. No. 4 Diesel would drop a tough 2-0 decision to No. 3 Josh Thomson of Messiah to settle for runner up.
 
Nicholas Dawson (Montoursville, PA/Montoursville) was the final runner up finisher for Wilkes moving onto the final bout at 197-pounds after 2-0 and 6-5 wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Dawson fell to No. 6 Kyle Koser of Messiah in the finals with a fall in 2:03. Zachary Faust (Wilkes-Barre, PA/G.A.R. Memorial) also grabbed a top five finish at 197 finishing in fifth place.
 
At 133-pounds Wilkes saw two wrestlers earn top five finishes including Richard Gilson (Thompsontown, PA/Juniata) (3^rd place) and Samuel Mass (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) (5^th place). Gilson pinned Messiah's Josh Grossnickle in the third place bout while Mass picked up fifth place with a win in the fifth place match.
 
At 149-pounds, two Wilkes wrestlers took home top six finishes led by Morgan Fuller (Hamlin, PA/Western Wayne)'s fifth place finish and Robert Hawkins (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Coughlin) sixth place finish. Nicholas Racanelli (West Creek, NJ/Southern Regional) and Ashton Gyenizs (Madison, CT/Daniel Hand) went third and fourth at 157-pounds with Racanelli pinning his teammate in 1:15 in the third place bout.
 
At heavyweight, Alex Pullen (Salisbury, MD/Wicomico) took home fourth place and Kyle Gilgner fifth place. Pullen wrestled back through the consolation bracket to earn a spot in the third place bout before falling in a tough 3-2 decision to Ralph Bernardo of King's. Gildner finished the event with a 6-5 decision win over Tom Lynd of Lycoming to claim fifth.
 
Matthew Judge (Eynon, PA/Valley View) (165-pounds) and Jacob Brook (Layton, NJ/Kittatiny) (174-pounds) rounded out the Colonel top six finishers with sixth place finishes at the event.
 
Wilkes returns home next Sunday, January 31^st, hosting a quad match at the Marts Center starting at 11:00 a.m.