WINCHESTER, VA – The Wilkes University wrestling team finished in second place at the Shenandoah University Invitational Saturday afternoon. Fifteen different Colonels placed eighth or higher at the event, including three individual champions.
 
The Colonels finished runner-up in the 11-team tournament totaling 169 team points. Messiah University finished first with 204.5 team points while Elizabethtown College took third place with 152 team points.
 
Jaryn Hartranft (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) (157), Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) (197) and Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) (285) all won individual titles in their respective weight classes. Hartranft used back-to-back technical falls to reach the semifinals where he won 4-0 over Messiah's Noah Rice to move onto the finals. There he bested Messiah's Clay Gainer by 4-0 decision to claim the title.
 
Butka cruised to the finals with a technical fall, fall and another fall in the semifinals. In the title bout, Butka took the crown with a 7-4 decision over Will Davis of Elizabethtown.
 
Burkhart used three straight extra-point wins to reach the finals including two falls and a major decision. He finished off his title run with his third fall of the tournament and eighth of the season when he pinned Elizabethtown's Ksawery Niewadomy in 3:58.
 
At 125-pounds, Cadden Kucek (Forty Fort, PA/Wyoming Valley West) wrestled to the finals with a fall and two 5-3 decisions to reach the title bout. There he fell to Shenandoah's Anakin Burs 8-4 in the finals to settle for second place.
 
Connor Kerwin (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) took home second place at 133-pounds. Kerwin began the day with a 5-3 decision before a fall in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Kerwin won 5-3 setting up a title bout with Elizabethtown's Corey Cope. Kerwin would fall 4-0 in the championship bout to finish second.
 
At 174-pounds, Lucas Miller (Kempton, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) opened with a fall and 6-3 decision to reach the semifinals. There Miller fell to Dylan Weaver of Shenandoah 12-2 before bouncing back in the third place bout to win by technical fall 16-0 in 5:11 over Garrett College's Cole Stuchal.
 
Christopher Nuss (Gore, VA/James Wood) (184-pounds) also finished third for Wilkes. Nuss used a 7-5 decision and 19-1 technical fall to reach the semifinals. There Nuss fell 6-2 before battling back to win the third place bout by fall in 6:34 over teammate Patrick Gordon.
 
Other notable Wilkes finishers included Gordon (4^th at 184), Colton Thorpe (Southington, CT/Southington) (4^th at 149), Jackson Brady (Goshen, NY/Goshen Central) (5^th at 149), Jacob Bettencourt (Dighton, MA/Bristol Plymouth) (7^th at 149), Omari Watson (Clayton, NJ/Clayton) (6^th at 174), Joshua Wilkins (Mount Laurel, NJ/Holy Cross) (7^th at 174), Jared Bilinski (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville Central) (8^th at 184) and Devin Doty (Port Jervis, NY/Minisink Valley) (7^th at 184)
 
Wilkes is back in action Friday with a dual match at Elizabethtown starting at 7:00 p.m.