WHEATON, IL – The Wilkes University men's wrestling team completed day one of the Pete Wilson Invitational hosted by Wheaton College on Friday afternoon.
 
The Colonels stand in 13^th place with 32.5 team points after the first day of competition.

Full Results
 
Of the 10 wrestlers entered into the tournament, three still remain alive after day one competition. Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) led the way with three straight wins after being seeded first at 197-pounds. Butka began the day with a 14-4 major decision over Jesse Kanatzar of John Carroll University before pinning Casey Kinnel of Nebraska Wesleyan University in the second round. Butka finished off his day with a 7-3 decision over Byrce McCloskey of Mount Union to earn a spot in the semifinals on Saturday. Butka will face Casey Aikman of North Central (IL) in one of the semifinals tomorrow.
 
At heavyweight Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) received a bye in the first round before dropping a 12-5 decision to Peyton Smith of Concordia University in the second round. Burkhart wrestled back with a 15-10 decision over Mason Swanson of Concordia (Moorhead) before finishing the day with a 10-3 decision win over Edward Perry of the University of Chicago in the consolation third round. Burkhart will face Sloan Welch of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the consolation fourth round.
 
At 125-pounds, Connor Kerwin (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) fell in his opening match of the day only to wrestle back with four straight wins to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Kerwin pinned Jack Reina of Augustana College and Chris Karbash of Wisconsin-Platteville in 1:29 and 4:07 respectively to move into the consolation fourth round. There he beat Brett Stanley of John Carroll by a 10-8 decision. Kerwin will face Fred Luchs of Rhode Island College in the fifth round of consolations tomorrow.
 
Day two action begins at 11:00 a.m.