Posted: Jan 15, 2022

Wrestling Wins 2022 Will Abele Invitational, Crown Four Champions

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (January 15, 2022) – The Western New England University wrestling team traveled to Ursinus College to take part in the Will Abele Invitational on Saturday afternoon, crowning four champions on the afternoon in their respective weight classes.

How It Happened:

The Golden Bears started off with the 125-pound weight class as Nick Arborio and Nick Faraci competing. Both Faraci and Arborio would receive byes in the round of 32, automatically qualifying both for the round of 16. Washington and Jefferson's Tyler Ratledge would defeat Faraci in the round of 16 after a major decision victory. Arborio would move into the quarterfinals after defeating William Schwartz from Ursinus College via 14-2 fall. Arborio would receive three takedowns and two near falls, good for the 14 points in 2:15. Arborio would move into the QF round by taking down Dylan King of Norwich University via tech-fall. Arborio would collect three takedowns, and three near falls in the win putting himself into the semifinals where Arborio would meet Kevin Lopez of Nassau Community College. Arborio again would take the victory by tech-fall, this time by a score of 19-3. Arborio would be taken down for the first time on the afternoon in the match, though he was able to recover and win the next 18/19 points in the match. Arborio would move into the first-place match to match with Terry Adams of Ursinus College. Arborio would take the first seven points and never look back, defeating Adams 15-5 via major decision, winning the 125 lb. weight class.

Ayden Cheng would compete in the 133 lb. weight class, taking down Matthew Gariano of Washington and Jefferson College in the round of 16 before falling to Chris Dalmau of Mulhenburg College via fall. Darius Grant and Colby Reilly would receive byes in their 141 lb. weight class first round, moving into the round of 16. Grant would come up just short in the round of 16 to Wesley Tosto of Ursinus while Reilly would be able to take down Sawyer Ferry of Southern Virginia University by a 6-0 fall decision to move into the round of 16. Reilly would get passed Cameron Hatchet in the quarter-final round before falling in the semi-finals.

Louis Stablle and Sam Worthington competed in the 149 lb weight class on the afternoon. Cam Hines made it into the quarterfinal match before falling via fall in the 149 lb. weight class. Mitchell Pardi competed in the 157 lb. weight class, along with teammate Lucas Pinzino who was completed four matches to be crowned champion of the 157 lb. weight class. Pinzino defeated Bryce Palamar from Penn State Mont Alto via tech fall 18-3 in the round of 16. Pinzino followed that performance by taking care of Joshua Searle of Washington & Jefferson College 8-0 on a victory via fall. To get to the championship match, Pinzino went through Cameron Wooldridge of Norwich University, taking him down via major decision 23-10 to square off against Josh Ducharme of Norwich in the championship match. Pinzino was able to grab the first three point of the match, though his opponent would stand tall, grabbing those three points back. Pinzino would take five straight points and a decision at the end of the match would be made to crown him champion of the 157 lb. weight class.

Teammates James Dougherty and Sean Monteiro would square off in the championship match against one another in the 165 lb. weight class after getting through their opponents. Monteiro would take the victory via a 9-4 decision while Dougherty would finish in second place. Jaylen Hawkins would be the only Golden Bear to compete in the 174 lb. weight class, falling in the round of 16. Charles Maloy and Tyreece Cherival would both comepete in the 184 lb. weight class. Maloy would win 2-0 via fall in the round of 16 before dropping a close QF match to Scott Chambers of Southern Virginia via fall. Maloy would take third in this weekend's events. Cherival would take down Owen Donahue from Camden Community College in the round of 16, before being defeated by Gary Nagle in the QF match, taking 5^th place in the event,

Capping off the afternoon for the Golden Bears was Griffin Ostrom in the 285 lb. weight class and Darby McLaughlin, who won the 197 lb. weight class. McLaughlin took down Michel St. Juste of Norwich University via fall, Alex Donahue of Washington & Jefferson via a 7-1 decision, and winning the championship match via fall 4-2 over Jason Carter of Ursinus College. McLaughlin would be the fourth Golden Bear on the afternoon to win his respective weight class. Ostrom was able to win two matches, making it all the way to the semi-final match where he came up just a decision away from heading into the championship match. Overall, on the afternoon, the Golden Bears saw four champions crowned.

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