Men’s Wrestling Places Seven at Will Abele Invitational
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (January 14, 2023) – The Western New England men's wrestling team finished 5th of 15 team at the Will Abele Invitational on Saturday afternoon, hosted by Ursinus College, seeing seven of their own placing in the top eight of their respective weight classes.
How it Happened:
In the 133 lb. weight class, first year Austin Monteiro picked up where he left off at last week's Williams Open, picking up third place in the Will Abele Invite. Monteiro would take a victory via decision, 8-6, over Lee Rubin of Rochester Institute of Technology to move into the quarter final match. Monteiro would nearly go the distance in his next match, winning via fall in 6:57 over AIC's Aaron Morocho. Monteiro would battle for third place after falling via major decision in the semifinal match, though would come around and take third place in the weight class after defeating Kyle Nase of TCNJ via decision, 3-1.
Ayden Cheng would place sixth in the 141 lb. weight class. Cheng would be dropped early in the first morning match of the day though would climb back and take four consecutive matches to move into the 141 lb. weight class 5th place match. Cheng would defeat Justin Santiago of Keystone College via tech-fall 18-0, Jacob Sheiner of Ursinus College via major forfeit, and Gregory Brach of SUNY Oneonta via 8-4 decision. Cheng would fall in the 5th place match, taking 6th in the weight class.
Keon Ayala would place 7th in the 157 lb. weight class. Ayalya defeated Heath Ruban of Gettysburg College and Mariano Monacelli of Keystone College before falling in his third match of the day. Ayala would bounce and win the 7th place match over Jacob Gonzalez of East Stroudsburg University.
Western New England saw two of their own place in the 165 lb. weight class as both Sean Monteiro and David Lisk would place, Monteiro 2nd and Lisk 8th. Monteiro would go 4-0 to start the day before falling in a tightly battled championship match of the 165 lb. weight class with Luke Ciampa of East Stroudsburg University. Monteiro would defeat Geroge Vrachnos of Shenandoah University, Alex Strashinsky of TCNJ, Joe Russo of Nassau Community College and Liam Strouse, via decision in a close 4-3 victory to get to the championship match.
Lisk would collect three victories for the Golden Bears, also in the 165 lb. weight class. Lisk would drop Esdras Ramos of SUNY Oneonta and Ricky Cassidy of TCNJ as well as getting a bye in the opening round, finishing in 8th place in the weight class.
Jaylen Hawkins would also place 8th for WNE, winning four matches on the day. Hawkins defeated Nicholas Bortz of Temple University in the opening bout, while also taking down Jordan Downey of Ursinus College (3:00 fall), Loyal Holm of Southern Virginia University (10-0 major decision), and teammate Tristan Julian (13-11 decision).
In the 197 lb. weight class, Western New England's Darby McLaughlin finished in 4th place, getting a 19-2 tech-fall win in his opening match of Matt Richardson of East Stroudsburg University, while also defeating Russell Canova of Gettysburg University, Joe Daddario of TCNJ and Joe Harkless of RIT before dropping the 3rd place match to East Stroudburg's Ajay Hiller.
Altogether, Western New England placed seven on the day, finishing in 5th place in the tournament, earning 104.5 total points.
Up Next on the Schedule:
- WNE heads to the NEWA Duals, hosted by Springfield College on Saturday, January 21 at 10:00 AM.
