MECHANICSBURG, PA – The Wilkes University men's wrestling team saw seven wrestlers earn top-eight finishes as the Colonels competed at the Messiah Open on Saturday.
 
At 157-pounds Jaryn Hartranft (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) raced to the semifinals with three extra-point wins including a 19-4 technical fall in the opening round, 4:05 fall in the second round and 18-2 technical fall in the quarterfinals. From there Hartranft medical forfeited to end his day in fourth place.
 
The Colonels saw all three wrestlers who entered at 285-pounds reach the podium as Trevor Gitski (Alburtis, PA/Emmaus) (4^th), Christopher Dellabella (Dingsman Ferry, PA/Delaware Valley) (5^th) and Luke Abilio (Montville, NJ/Montville) (8^th) all placed at the event. After an opening round loss, Gitski wrestled back with four straight wins to reach the third place bout where he would fall by a 3-1 decision to settle for fourth place. Dellabella went 3-2 on the day claiming fifth while Albilio picked up a pair of wins including a 9-1 major decision on way to eighth place.
 
At 197-pounds Elliot Black (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) took home fifth place going 2-2 in the event while Patrick Gordon III (South Riding, VA/Freedom) posted a seventh place finish at 184-pounds also going 2-2 including a 16-1 technical fall over teammate Jared Bilinski (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville Central).
 
Souleymane Diarra (Philadelphia, PA/Overbrook) added a sixth place finish at 174-pounds going 3-3 on the day. After falling in his opening round bout, Diarra answered back with three consecutive wins including two falls and a technical fall on way to sixth.
 
Wilkes returns home Tuesday to host Misericordia University on Senior Night in a dual match scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in the Marts Center.