WILKES-BARRE, PA – Senior Jack Bauer (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central) and junior James Geiger (Dallas, PA/Dallas) won championships at the Ned McGinley Invitational as the Wilkes University wrestling team opened its 2022-23 season placing third of 11 teams at the tournament hosted by King's College.

Full Results

The Colonels saw nine of its wrestlers place in the top six at their weight class including the two champions and three more runner ups. Wilkes was third overall with 115.5 team points. Stevens Institute of Technology placed first with 139.5 points while New York University was second with 119 points.

Bauer, the second seed at 141-pounds, won his round of 16 bout with an 8-0 major decision over Clay Rankin of Rochester Institute of Technology. In the quarterfinals he defeated Kenneth Sherman, the seven seed, of NYU with a fall 1:01 into the first period. The senior then beat third seeded Noah Hunt of Penn College in the semifinals with an 8-6 decision. In the finals Bauer faced off with the No. 4 seed in Nick Kruczynski of NYU, winning 3-2 on a second period escape and takedown to earn the 141-pound title.

Geiger, the third seed at 174-pounds, won his round of 16 bout over Lenny Breit of Roger Williams University with a 3-1 decision. He then beat Justin Leonard of NYU, the sixth seed, in the quarterfinals with a second period fall. Geiger used a sudden victory takedown to defeat second seeded Kade Kravits of King's 4-2 in the semifinals. The junior then earned the 174-pound title by taking a medical forfeit victory over No. 1 seed Jason Geyer of NYU.

Austin Fashouer (Scranton, PA/West Scranton), the top seed at 125, started his day with an 11-6 decision over Scranton's Justin Schifter in the round of 16. He then beat Ari Dinerman of Roger Williams, the eighth seed, in the quarterfinals with a 10-6 decision. Fashouer, ranked nationally by both the NWCA (6th) and d3wrestle.com (7th) at 125, then won his semifinal with a second period technical fall over No. 4 seed Gustav Petruske IV of King's 18-3 at the 3:28 mark. In the finals third seeded Luke Hoerle of Stevens won the title with a 7-2 decision over the sophomore as Fashouer took runner up.

Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton), the third seed at 197, won his round of 16 bout with a 10-2 major decision over Jordan DelValle of Roger Williams. The sophomore then won in the quarterfinals with a sudden victory takedown of US Merchant Marine Academy's James Cruz to win 8-6. Butka defeated second seeded Josh Harkless of RIT with a late third period takedown to win 3-2 in the semifinals. Top seeded Camden Farrow of York (Pa.) won the title bout with a 6-0 decision as Butka placed runner up.

Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville), second seeded at 285, made his Wilkes debut with a fall at 1:02 of the first period in his round of 16 bout with Christian Gillich of Scranton. He then beat Billy Bumbarger of Penn College with a fall at 2:31 of the first in the quarterfinals. That set him up with a semifinal bout with teammate and third seed Nevin Rauch (New Columbia, PA/Milton). Burkhart won that test with an 11-3 major decision. In the finals, top seeded Michael Dooley of Stevens took a 16-7 major decision as Burkhart placed runner up.

Rauch started his day with a round of 16 fall at 1:33 of the first period over Trent Patrick of Waynesburg. He then beat sixth seed Sam Rodriguez of York with an 8-3 decision in the quarterfinals before falling to Burkhart in the semifinals. Rauch then defeated fifth seeded Nate DeGroff of RIT in the consolation semifinals with a sudden victory takedown 8-6. In the third-place bout fourth seeded Reid Garrison of US Merchant Marine won a 9-4 decision as Rauch placed fourth at 285.

Hunter Lowe (Westminster, MD/Winters Mill), seeded seventh at 197, earned a fall at 4:00 over Gabriel Kennedy-Citeroni of Penn College in the round of 16. He then lost to the No. 2 seed Harkless of RIT in the quarterfinals. Lowe wrestled back with a 13-6 win over Owen Vietmeier of Stevens and a 4-2 decision over RIT's Nick Smith. He then lost to fourth seed Spencer Fetrow of Roger Williams in the consolation semifinals before winning the fifth-place bout with a fall at the 4:00 minute mark over DelValle of Roger Williams.

First year Nikko Partsanakis (/Media, PA) began his collegiate career at 157-pounds with a round of 32 win by fall at 2:27 of the first period over Alan DeVries of York. He then beat Waynesburg's Ryan Bachar by fall at 1:45 in the round of 16. Ryan Smith of Stevens beat Partsanakis in the quarterfinals by a 4-0 decision. He wrestled back with a fall at 23 seconds over Matt Lucas of Roger Williams and a win over fifth seed Daniel Kosinski of Scranton with a 12-3 major decision. Second seeded Jared Bair of York defeated him in the consolation semifinals. Partsanakis and top seed Trent Furman of NYU split sixth place with a no contest in the fifth-place bout.

John Devito (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central), the third seed at 184, dropped his round of 16 bout to US Merchant Marine's Daryl Crowley but wrestled back from there. He picked up a 6-3 decision over William Grace of King's then a 16-0 technical fall over Eric DeWald of US Merchant Marine. The senior then beat fifth seed Connor Wrobleski of King's by an 11-1 major decision before falling again to Crowley in the consolation semifinals. Devito and Nicky Bell of NYU split sixth place with a no contest in the fifth-place bout.

The Colonels are back in action on Friday, November 11 when they face The College of New Jersey in the first dual match of the season in Ewing, N.J. at 7:30 p.m. The next day Wilkes will compete at the Racich Rumble Tournament hosted by Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.