WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The Wilkes University men's wrestling team made its 2026-27 season debut on Sunday competing in the 2026 Lycoming College Invitational. Sixteen different Colonels earned top-six place finishes including two champions in Ashton Romberger (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) (149) and Jeremiah Segal (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) (184).
 
The invitational was an all-individual tournament with no team scores.
 
Romberger went 3-0 on way to the 149-pound title. He began the day with a 15-4 major decision over Oneonta's Tony Monchinski before earning an 11-2 major decision over Alfred's Parker Trento in the semifinals. Romberger captured the crown after posting a 13-6 decision over Cortland's Neil Paulerico in the finals.
 
Segal was equally impressive in his college debut finishing the invitational 3-0 with extra points in every match. He opened his run pinning Oneonta's Abdo Baraeya in 4:16. In the semifinals, Segal earned a 12-3 major decision over Penn State Behrend's Louie DeJulia before winning the title with a dominating 16-1 technical fall over Alfred's Jordan Smith.
 
Three different Colonels finished in second place in their respective weight classes. At 133-pounds, Connor Kerwin (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) went 1-1 with a 7-1 decision over Andrew Montagano of Oneonta in the semifinals. He then fell to Nikosh Marston of Misericordia in the finals in a back-and-forth affair 18-10. At 184-pounds, Lucas Miller (Kempton, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) finished 2-1 with a pair of wins in the quarterfinals (6-0 decision) and semifinals (17-0 technical fall) to earn a shot at the title. Miller fell in a tough 4-1 decision to Misericordia's Robbie Anderson in the finals. At 197-pounds, Jared Bilinski (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville Central) earned second place going 1-1 on the day including a fall (3:33) over Ethan French of Penn College in the semifinals. Bilinski dropped the title match 15-4 to Cortland's Chris Ayala.
 
Five Colonels earned third place in the tournament including Arion Blackwell (Ancramdale, NY/Taconic Hills) (125), Daniel Washburn (Ringwood, NJ/Bergen Catholic) (157), James Sloan (Hewitt, NJ/St. Joseph's Regional) (157), Thomas Longo (Montville, NJ/Montville) (125) and Christopher Dellabella (Dingmans Ferry, PA/Delaware Valley) (285). Blackwell went 2-1 in his college debut with a quarterfinal fall in 6:11 before falling in the semifinals by pin. Blackwell won the third place bout over Alfred's Jacob Pettit by fall in 2:22. Washburn went 3-1 in his first time wrestling in the Navy and Golf including three extra point wins. He finished his run pinning Levi Wilson of Alfred in 1:50 in the third place bout. Sloan was another place-winner at 157-pounds going 2-1 on the day. Sloan won his opening match by major decision 9-1 before falling in the semifinals. He rebounded with a quick pin (52 seconds) of Lycoming's Colby Seiler. Longo claimed a pair of falls on way to third place at 125-pounds. He pinned Billy Colloca (Oneonta) in 4:16 before another fall over Alexander Isopa (Oneonta) in 1:41 in the third place bout. Dellabella was the final third place finisher for Wilkes going 2-1 on the day including a 2-0 decision in the quarterfinals before taking the third place bout by forfeit.
 
Other top-six finishers for Wilkes included Elliot Black (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) (4^th at 197-pounds), Jacob Bettencourt (Dighton, MA/Bristol Plymouth) (5^th at 149-pounds), Hunter Troutman (Valley View, PA/Tri-Valley) (5^th at 165-pounds), Jayvyn Johnson (Shirley, NY/William Floyd) (5^th at 133-pounds), Luke Abilio (Montville, NJ/Montville) (5^th at 285-pounds), and Zion Essington (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) (6^th place at 285-pounds).
 
Wilkes makes its home debut Friday hosting RIT in a dual match at the Marts Center starting at 7:00 p.m.