GRANTHAM, PA – The No. 17 Wilkes University wrestling team finished tied for third place at the annual Messiah Petrofes Invitational hosted by Messiah College on Saturday afternoon. The Colonels totaled 130 team points to finish in the third position of the 14 teams competing at the event.

Full Brackets

Host Messiah captured first place with 209 total team points while Gettysburg followed in second with 131.5 and Wilkes and Mount Union tied for third with 130 team points.
 
Matthew Grossmann (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) led all Colonels wrestling on day two capturing the 141-pound crown. Grossmann took a 14-4 major decision over Lee Cassel of Messiah in the semifinals before posting a 6-4 decision against Mount Union's Alec Cotton in the finals to remain perfect on the year. Kyle Medrow (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) was another top-seven finisher in the class claiming third place with a 9-0 major decision followed by a medical forfeit in his final two matches of the day.
 
Guesseppe Rea (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) earned an 8-4 decision in the semifinals at 125-pounds to setup a matchup with No. 1 Lucas Malmberg of Messiah. Malmberg took the final bout 12-4 over Rea as the senior settled for second place in the bracket.
 
At 133-pounds, Pankil Chander (Cedarhurst, NY/Lawrence) moved into the finals using a 9-5 decision over Zachary Rainess of Greensboro in the semifinals. Chander fell in 6:17 in the finals to Hunter Harris of Messiah to settle for second place in the class.
 
Nicholas Racanelli (West Creek, NJ/Southern Regional) was one of three top-seven finisher at 157-pounds for Wilkes. Racanelli fell in the semifinals to eventual champion Colin Kowalski of Greensboro before wrestling back to take third place with a dominating 9-1 major decision in the third place bout over teammate John Ritter (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) who finished in fourth place. Ritter fell in the semifinals before a fall placed him in the third place bout against Racanelli. Ashton Gyenizs (Madison, CT/Daniel Hand) finished in seventh place for the Colonels using a 10-5 decision in the final bout to claim the seventh spot.
 
At 197-pounds, Zachary Faust (Wilkes-Barre, PA/G.A.R. Memorial) earned third place after falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Kacee Hutchinson of Greensboro. Faust battled back using a 4-2 decision followed by an 8-6 decision in the third place bout to claim a top three spot in the class.
 
Jacob Huling (Jersey Shore, PA/Jersey Shore) was the final top-seven Wilkes finisher earning fourth place at 285-pounds. Huling fell in the seimifinals to eventual champion Paul Triandaflou before posting a 5-3 decision to move into the third place bout. There, Huling fell 9-2 to settle for fourth place.
 
Wilkes remains idle until hosting the Wilkes Open on December 22 at 9:00 a.m. in the Marts Center.
 
Final Team Scores:
 

1.	Messiah	209.0
2.	Gettysburg	131.5
3.	Mount Union	130.0
3.	Wilkes	130.0
5.	Springfield	108.5
6.	Greensboro	72.0
7.	Ursinus	72.0
8.	West Virginia Tech	69.0
9.	Alderson Broaddus	56.0
10.	Muhlenberg	53.0
11.	McDaniel	48.5
12.	Bridgewater State	36.5
13.	Bergen CC	13.0
14.	Thaddeus Stevens	7.0