Golden Bears Take Seventh at Ithaca Invitational
ITHACA, N.Y. (November 6, 2021) – The Western New England wrestling team opened the 2021-22 season at the two-day Ithaca Invitational where the Golden Bears earned seventh as a team and had three athletes place top-six in their respective weight classes.
Nick Arborio opened his 2021-22 campaign wrestling at the 133-pound weight class. He started the tournament strong defeating Daijawn Hudson of New England College in a tech fall, 17-0 and then maintained his momentum into his next match beating Dylan Earl of Ithaca College via fall in just 1:33. Arborio made it to the quarterfinal where he fell to Gabriel Leo-Esparolini of Johnson & Wales via decision 8-6. This put Arborio into the consolation bracket where he battled teammate Corey Cope and won to advance to the consolation fifth round. There he challenged Luke Hoerle of Stevens Institute of Technology and won win another fall, this time in 3:41. In the consolation semifinals, Arborio came out victorious over Jaden Hinton of Baldwin Wallace with a 9-3 decision to move on to the third-place match. In the third-place match Arborio faced Michael Gonyea of Castleton. Gonyea defeated Arborio in a 13-5 major decision for Arborio to take fourth place at 133 and earn 16 points for the Golden Bears team score.
Sean Monteiro wrestled at 157 for the Golden Bears and opened the day with a bye. After that, Monteiro went on to wrestle Matt Duquette of Springfield who he defeated via decision 7-0 to advance to the next round. In round three of the championship bracket, Monteiro challenged Jonah Schechteman of Stevens Institute of Technology and won by another decision, 6-1 to continue to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Monteiro was up against Thomas West of Baldwin Wallace where Monteiro earned his first fall of the day in 4:04. In the semifinal, Monteiro came up short against Ithaca's Adam Wagner losing 5-4 to get bumped to the consolation semifinals. There Monteiro struggled to bounce back and lost to Stanley Bleich of Baldwin Wallace 14-6 to head into the fifth-place match. In the fifth-place match, Monteiro lost via medical forfeit to take sixth-place in the tournament and earn 10 points for the Golden Bears.
Darby McLaughlin opened the tournament falling to Baldwin Wallace's Doug Byrne to head to the consolation bracket. In the consolation first round, McLaughlin earned a bye followed by wrestling Maximo Ruiz of Stevens Institute of Technology. McLaughlin won his first consolation match by a 14-4 major decision. McLaughlin won the next match via medical forfeit and continued on to the consolation fourth round. There he challenged Anthony Cascen of Oswego State and recorded his first fall of the day in 5:26 to stay alive in the tournament. McLaughlin won his next match over teammate Griffin Ostrom 23-11 to head into the consolation semifinals. In the consolation semifinals, McLaughlin faced his first opponent, Doug Byrne for the second time. Byrne defeated McLaughlin again 8-0 to send McLaughlin to the fifth-place match where McLaughlin lost 11-5 to Dylan Harr of Johnson & Wales. McLaughlin finished in sixth-place and tallied 12.5 points for Western New England.
The Golden Bears placed seventh as a team with a total of 55 points while Johnson & Wales won the tournament with 154 points. Stevens Institute of Technology took second (153) while Castleton claimed third (135), Baldwin Wallace finished fourth (130) and Ithaca rounded out the top five (89.5).
Western New England returns to the mat on Saturday, November 13th when they host the Springfield City Championships set to start at 10 a.m.
