Wrestling 11/4/2017 1:40:00 AM Charles O'Brien

No. 7 Wrestling places nine in Ithaca Invitational Quarterfinals

November 3, 2017

Day 1 Results

The Basics

Score: Stevens (59.5 points) - 5th Place
Location: Providence Career & Tech Center - Providence, Rhode Island
Short Story: Fueled by nine placements in the quarterfinal round, the seventh-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling team completed the first day of competition at the Ithaca College Invitational in fifth place with 59.5 points.
The leaders: No. 6 Johnson & Wales University leads after the first day of competition with 88.5 points. Springfield College (67), Ithaca (66), Castleton University (62.5) and Stevens round out the top five.
Of note: There are 16 competing teams.

Top Finishers

Fifteen wrestlers contributed to the team's first-day total.
Juniors Michael Heck and Joey Borai earned decision victories to reach the quarters at 125 pounds. Borai also won by fall over Springfield's Griffin Reid in the opening round.
After an opening-round bye, sophomore Troy Stanich pinned Springfield's Norberto Torres to reach the championship round of 16 at 133 pounds.
Sophomore Michael Derin and freshman Brett Kaliner each notched two victories to advance through to the championship quarters at 141 pounds. After an opening-round bye, Derin pinned SUNY Sullivan's Brian Vaughn and Castleton's Matt Saville to advance. Kaliner won an 11-6 decision over Springfield's Patrick Ferzoco and pinned RIT's Shane Murphy to move on.
Sophomore Dylan Van Sickell won a major decision over Western New England's Lamont Wallace and by fall over Springfield's Bryce Finnegan to reach the round of 16 at 149 pounds.
Senior Zach Wilhelm picked up a major decision and a technical fall to advance to the second day of competition at 157 pounds.
Junior Thomas Poklikuha scored 5.5 points for Stevens at 165 pounds after scoring a technical fall over Johnson & Wales' Christopher Behen and a pinfall win over Rhode Island College's Almon Grabbert.
Senior Phil Woods scored a pair of pinfall victories at 174 pounds to collect six points towards the team total.
Also of note, freshman Mark Kimbrell dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Oswego's Jordan Bushey in his first collegiate event. Bushey is ranked second in the country at 184 pounds.

From the Mats

"Overall a solid first day. The guys were competing hard at every weight and scoring a lot of points. It's always important to get that first weigh-in and compete at a high level."
"Nine guys in the quarterfinals is good, but we obviously wanted more. Tomorrow morning's session will be big. We need to push these guys to the finals and bring home some championships. Guys also need to compete hard on the back side and wrestle to third-place finishers." - head assistant coach Anthony Bonaventura

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