ALLENTOWN, PA – Junior Dawson Tallant (Cape May, NJ/Middle Township) went 4-0 to earn the 197-pound title while first year Jaryn Hartranft (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) and junior Hunter Lowe (Westminster, MD/Winters Mill) also placed second and third respectively for the Wilkes University wrestling team at the National Guard Mideast Futures Tournament hosted by Muhlenberg College Sunday.

Full Brackets

Tallant earned the 197-pound championship with a perfect 4-0 run on the day. He started with a 19-6 major decision over Muhlenberg's Hayk Grigorian in the Round of 16 then followed with a 7-3 decision over TCNJ's Chris Baker in the Quarterfinals. Then Tallant earned an 8-2 decision over Sean Quaye of Muhlenberg in the Semifinals and an 8-6 decision over Max Ruiz of Stevens Institute of Technology in the Finals bout. Tallant, who came in at 4-7 on the season, finished the 2022-23 year with an 8-7 record and his first career tournament title.

Hartranft did not lose on the mat and placed runner-up at 149-pounds. The first-year began the day with a Round of 32 win over Jake Rosenthal of TCNJ by a 3-2 decision. He then picked up a forfeit in the Round of 16 and a 17-2 technical fall in the Quarterfinals over Penn College's Brett Patton. Hartranft then defeated Alvernia's Brandon Flores with a 5-3 decision in the Semifinals before settling for second with a forfeit in the Finals to Pasquale Vizzoni of Stevens. It was the first time Hartranft has placed at a tournament in his career.

Lowe placed third at 184-pounds after wrestling back from a Round of 16 sudden victory loss to Demitrius Ruiz of TCNJ. The junior beat Colin Boldt of Muhlenberg by a 16-1 technical fall then Connor Fritsch of Ursinus by an 11-9 decision. Lowe then pinned Dave Giulian of TCNJ at the 1:50 mark and Karam Ali of Brockport at 2:37 to advance to the Third Place Bout where he earned a forfeit win to finish the day 5-1.

Cadden Kucek (Forty Fort, PA/Wyoming Valley West), Sam Kimmel (Drexel Hill, PA/Upper Darby), Ben Grater (Saddle Brooke, NJ/Saddle Brook), Spencer Hughes (Metairie, LA/De La Salle), Nikko Partsanakis (/Media, PA), Charles Everdale (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area), Devin Doty (Port Jervis, NY/Minisink Valley), Trevor DuBoff (Stony Point, NY/North Rockland), Ryan Winn (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North), Souleymane Diarra (Philadelphia, PA/Overbrook), John Devito (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central), Alexis Perez (Mahanoy City, PA/Mahanoy Area), and Trevor Gitski (Alburtis, PA/Emmaus) rounded out the Colonels competing at the season-finale tournament for most of them.

The Wilkes wrestling team returns to action Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Southeast Regional in York, Pa. with one wrestler at each of the 10 weight classes vying for a top three finish to advance to the NCAA Championships.