No. 19 Wilkes University vs. King's College
Friday, February 14, 2025
Start Time: 7:00 p.m.
Wilkes-Barre, PA / Marts Center
 
No. 19 Wilkes University vs. Hunter College/Misericordia University
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Start Times: 2:30 p.m./4:00 p.m.
Dallas, PA / Anderson Center
 
Friday – Live Video
 
Saturday – Live Video
 
Colonels Notebook
• The Wilkes University men's wrestling team finish off their dual season schedule with matches against cross-town rival King's College on senior night Friday at the Marts Center before traveling to nearby Misericordia University Saturday afternoon for a double dual with Hunter College and the host Cougars.
 
• Three Wilkes wrestlers earned top-seven finishes at the 2025 Messiah Open last weekend as Trevor Gitksi (285) earned third place, Melquan Warren (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) (174) seventh place and Brayden Shannon (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) (165) seventh place at the event. A total of 28 Colonels wrestled in the open tournament.
 
• Wilkes finished in 12th place at the Pete Willson Invitational in Illinois with three wrestlers finishing in the top seven including 197-pound champion Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton).
 
• The Colonels finished 1-1 at the 2025 John Reese Duals falling against No. 16 Ithaca College before recording a 36-15 victory over Oneonta in their final match of the day. Butka made history in his bout against Ithaca at 197-pounds as the senior earned a 20-5 technical fall and collected his 122nd career victory, breaking the school record for wins in the process which was previously held by Guesseppe Rea in 2017.
 
• Wilkes cruised to a 42-14 victory over the University of Scranton pushing its win streak over the Royals to six straight matches dating back to the 2017-18 season. Head coach Jon Laudenslager also collected his 300th career coaching victory at Wilkes now owning a 300-150-5 record in 22 seasons at the helm of the program.
 
• The Colonels went 2-1 at the NY/PA Duals picking up dual wins over the United States Merchant Marine Academy 35-18 and Hunter College 51-5. Head coach Jon Laudenslager now sits one win shy of 300 for his career at Wilkes.
 
• Wilkes finished in 7th place at the 36th annual Budd Whitehill Duals having faced two ranked opponents over the two-day dual tournament. The Colonels went 1-2 in group stage with a 40-17 victory over Cortland State on day one. Wilkes then finished the tournament with a 27-26 victory over former Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) foe Messiah University to settle for seventh.
 
 • The Colonels saw two wrestlers place at the 91st annual Wilkes Open before the break as Butka and Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) each finished in third place at 197-pounds and 285-pounds respectively at the open tournament.
 
• On December 7, Wilkes captured its first team tournament title taking home first place at the Blue Jay Classic hosted by Elizabethtown College. Four Colonels earned championships at their respectively weight classes including Ryan Santiago (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) (141), Jaryn Hartranft (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) (157), Warren (174) and Butka (197).
 
• The Colonels went 1-1 earlier this season in dual matches including a 23-22 victory at Elizabethtown before falling 29-18 against No. 16 Delaware Valley University at home in the Marts Center. In the victory at Elizabethtown, Burkhart came up with a huge fall in 2:31 to tie the match, his team-leading ninth pin of the year. That forced the review of criteria to decide the match winner. Needing to get to the third criteria, total team scoring, Wilkes totaled more points in the matches, 55-52, to get the additional team point to win the match.
 
• Wilkes finished in second place at the Shenandoah Invitational. The Colonels saw three wrestlers earn champion status and 15 wrestlers place within the top eight of their respective weight classes. Hartranft (157), Butka (197) and Burkhart (285) all won individual titles in their respective weight classes.
 
• The Colonels cruised to three victories in their home quad match posting wins over Keystone College (44-9), Elmira College (52-4) and New Jersey City University (36-12) to move its dual record to 3-1 entering tonight's match.
 
• Wilkes opened the 2024-25 season by placing fourth place at the Ned McGinley Invitational. The Colonels saw four wrestlers place within the top six of their respective weight classes and had one champion. Butka earned the crown at 197-pounds and surpassed the 100-career win mark in the process. He posted five total wins on way to the title including extra point victories in every match leading to the finals. In the finals Butka bested Spencer Fetrow from Roger Williams.
 
• The Colonels 2024-25 roster goes 40 deep with a class breakdown of: one graduate student, six seniors, five juniors, 13 sophomores, and 16 first years.
 
• The roster features student-athletes from eight states: Pennsylvania – 18; New Jersey – 15; New York – 4; Connecticut – 1; Massachusetts – 1; Virginia – 2
 
In the Rankings
• In the latest Open Mat individual rankings, Butka (197) was ranked 2^nd and Burkhart (285) 14^th. As a team, the Colonels were tabbed 19^th overall in the tournament rankings.
 
• One Colonel earned individual honors in the latest NWCA national rankings. Butka was tabbed No. 4 nationally and first in Region 2 at 197-pounds. Other regionally ranked wrestlers included Burkhart (2nd/285), Hartranft (2nd/157), Santiago (2nd/141) and Warren (4th/174).