ELIZABETHTOWN, PA – Sophomores Austin Fashouer (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) and Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) earned championships at the Blue Jay Classic for the second consecutive season as the duo led 11 top-six finishers for the Wilkes University wrestling team. Wilkes placed third of nine teams with 134 team points.

Results

Fashouer, the top seed at 125-pounds, went 3-0 to earn his title. He picked up a quarterfinals fall in 2:37 over No. 8 Matthew DiGennaro of the University of Scranton. Fashouer then beat fifth seeded Jude Robson of Roanoke College in the semifinals by a 5-3 decision. He then won the championship with a 5-4 decision over No. 2 seed Mac Cafurello of Roanoke.

Butka, the No. 2 seed at 197-pounds, earned the title with a 4-0 day. He started in the round of 16 with a fall in 32 seconds over Elijah Morder of Keystone College. Butka then won by fall in 2:23 over Josh Sanders of Davis & Elkins College in the quarterfinals. Butka made it three falls in a row with a semifinal pin of teammate Dawson Tallant (Cape May, NJ/Middle Township), 45 seconds into the second period. He capped his title run by avenging a loss that he suffered to McDaniel College's Jaedyn Harris on November 20th. Butka was able to beat the top seed 6-4 in sudden victory overtime.

Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville), the second seed at 285-pounds, made it to the finals bout before taking second place. He began with a round of 16 fall over Garrett Eddy of Davis & Elkins in 2:59. He then beat seventh seeded Kurt Driscoll of Elizabethtown College with a fall in 2:21 in the quarterfinals. The sophomore made it three falls in a row with a fall at 2:31 over Jake Pomykata of Johns Hopkins University in the semifinals. Dylan Waller, the top seed and ranked No. 13 by the NWCA, earned the 285-pound title with a 14-7 decision over Burkhart in the finals.

Jack Bauer (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central), seeded second at 141-pounds, started his day in the round of 16 with a 18-0 technical fall over Jackson Ratcliffe of Scranton at the 5:53 mark. He then defeated Nick Kaufmann of Roanoke with a 4-0 decision in the quarterfinals. Bauer then lost to No. 3 seed Dustin Smith of Roanoke by fall in the semifinals at 6:42. In the consolation bracket semifinals he defeated top seed Morgan Robinson of Roanoke with a 4-2 decision. Bauer then beat Kaufmann again in the third-place bout with a 9-2 decision to finish the day with a 4-1 record.

James Geiger (Dallas, PA/Dallas), the second seed at 174-pounds, also placed third for Wilkes. He began with a round of 16 win over Noah Garber of Johns Hopkins by a 13-9 decision. Geiger then beat No. 7 seed Sawyer Dereszynski of Roanoke with a 12-5 decision in the quarterfinals. He then dropped his semifinal bout 5-4 to third seeded William Laughlin of Scranton. Geiger won his consolation semi of fifth seeded Ganon Smith of Elizabethtown with a 5-2 decision. He earned third place with a 3-1 decision over fourth seeded Michael Bromley of McDaniel to finish 4-1 on the day.

Christopher Nuss (Gore, VA/James Wood), the fourth seed at 184-pounds, earned third for the Colonels as well. He began with a fall in 3:40 over Jonathan Sklavounos of Scranton in the round of 16. Nuss then picked up a 10-2 major decision over fifth seeded Jake Sweitzer of Davis & Elkins in the quarterfinals. Top seed Will Davis of Elizabethtown picked up a fall at 4:44 over Nuss in the semifinals. The sophomore then beat pinned Valentin Pryor of McDaniel at the 5:22 mark of the consolation semifinals and earned third place with a fall in 2:07 over Sweitzer to finish with a 4-1 record.

Hunter Lowe (Westminster, MD/Winters Mill), seeded fifth at 197-pounds, was fourth Colonel to place third. He started with a round of 16 fall in 3:53 over Nicholas Barrickman of Davis & Elkins. Lowe then beat fourth seed Cam Cavins of Roanoke with a 6-4 decision in the quarterfinals. McDaniel's Harris, the top seed, won with a 15-4 major decision in the semifinals. Lowe defeated No. 3 seed Michael Schneider of Davis & Elkins in the consolation semi with a 10-0 major decision. Lowe then beat Cavins for a second time with a fall in 2:08 of the third-place bout to finish the day 4-1.

Nevin Rauch (New Columbia, PA/Milton), seeded fourth at 285-pounds, placed fourth for Wilkes. He began with a round of 16 win over Jimmy Yeingst of Elizabethtown with a fall in 33 seconds. Fifth seeded Joshua Mancia of Roanoke beat Rauch with a 7-5 decision in the quarterfinals. Ruach wrestled back with a win over Eddy of Davis & Elkins by fall in 59 seconds and then an 8-1 decision over third seeded Darius Green of Elmira College. In the consolation semifinals Rauch beat Pomykata of Johns Hopkins with a 7-1 decision to reach the third-place bout. He then lost a 10-5 decision to Mancia to settle for fourth with a 4-2 record on the day.

Tallant placed fifth at 197-pounds, John Devito (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) was sixth at 184 and Kyle Tino (Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg) was sixth at 149 to round out the Colonles that placed.

Host Elizabethtown took the team title with 172 points while Roanoke was second with 168.

Wilkes will open its home portion of the schedule on Friday, December 9 hosting Delaware Valley University at the Marts Center. Wrestling is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. for the dual match.