WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's wrestling team finished in eighth place at the first-ever Wilkes University Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the McHale Athletic Center (MAC).
 
The Colonels finished with 99.5 team points on way to eighth place of ten teams. Brockport State took home first place with 136 points while The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) finished second with 124 points. Oneonta State followed in third place with 114 points.

Full Results
 
Wilkes saw seven wrestlers earn top-six finishes including a second place showing for Ryan Santiago (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) at 141-pounds.
 
Santiago began his day with a 3-0 decision win over Braxton Stewart of Arcadia before cruising to a 17-2 technical fall over Neil Sharma of McDaniel in the quarterfinals. He then moved into the final after a 3-0 decision over Jaden Friel of Brockport. In the final bout, Santiago fell 10-4 to champion Avery Leonard of Oneonta 10-4.
 
At 165-pounds, Colton Thorpe (Southington, CT/Southington) finished in third place in the tournament. Thorpe started with a 7-0 decision over Elizabethtown's Johnny Mauer before winning 3-0 over Austen Kuntz of McDaniel in the quarterfinals. After falling 17-0 in the semifinals, Thorpe battled back and pinned Nick Acque of TCNJ in the third place bout in 1:01.
 
Jaryn Hartranft (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) finished in fourth place at 157-pounds for Wilkes going 3-1 on the day. He started with a 19-4 technical fall in the opening round before adding another technical fall 16-2 in the round of 16. Hartranft made it three straight technical falls with a 17-2 victory over Misericordia's Chase Stephen before falling in the semifinals to Albright's Trent Mahoney 9-4. He then forfeited the third place bout to settle for fourth place.
                        
Ben Grater (Saddle Brooke, NJ/Saddle Brook) was another fourth place finisher for Wilkes at 149-pounds. Grater began with a 17-2 technical fall in the opening round before winning 11-4 over Brockport's Brandon Drummond in the round of 16. He then pinned Ahmed Hussain of TCNJ in 1:32 before falling in the semifinals to McDaniel's Thomas Moon 15-3. Grater finished off his tournament with a 17-2 technical fall defeat to TCNJ Collin Menier.
 
Joshua Wilkins (Mount Laurel, NJ/Holy Cross) was the final fourth place finisher for the Colonels at 174-pounds. Wilkins went 2-2 on the day with a 10-6 decision and 11-9 decision in the first two round to reach the semifinals. E then fell 15-4 and 9-2 to end his tournament run.
 
Connor Kerwin (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) (133-pounds) and Omari Watson (Clayton, NJ/Clayton) (174-pounds) rounded out the top-six finishers for Wilkes taking home sixth place.
 
Wilkes is back in action Friday with a dual match at Delaware Valley University starting at 7:00 p.m.