GRANTHAM, Pa. (February 8, 2020)  – Six wrestlers placed to lead No. 15 Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling Saturday at the Messiah Open, hosted by Messiah College at the Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena.

Freshman Stefan Major was the top finisher for the Ducks, placing fourth at 165. Fellow freshman Hunter Gutierrez placed fifth at 141, while classmates Trevor Mastorio placed sixth at 141 and Carsten DiGiantomasso placed eighth at 157. Sophomore Nico Ziccardi placed sixth at 174 and fellow second-year student-athlete Robert Gennat placed sixth at 184 to round out the place-winners. Team scores were not compiled and the open tournament format consisted of wrestlers from all three NCAA divisions.

"The Messiah Open was a great opportunity for us to compete against some high-level wrestlers from Divisions I, II and III," said assistant coach Anthony Bonaventura. "We battled and continue to bring the fight to our opponents. We need to continue to work hard and clean up our technique in specific areas as we focus on finishing the season strong."

After receiving an opening-round bye, Major pinned York's Ryan Doyle in the first period for his first victory of the day. The Fort Salonga, New York native advanced to the semifinals with a 10-6 decision of Farouq Muhammed of Division II's Lock Haven University, who was competing as an unattached wrestler. Competing as an unattached entrant, Liberty University's David Cox stopped Major's run through the championship bracket with a tech fall in the semis, but Major rebounded with a pin of Nick Cope (Muhlenberg) in the first period. University of Pennsylvania's Jack Conway won the third-place match over Major with a 10-2 major decision.

Normally competing at 133, Gutierrez entered the open tournament at 141 and earned five victories on the day, including a victory over Mastorio in the fifth-place match to place. After an opening-round bye, The Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey native dropped his first match of the day to The College of New Jersey's Anthony Rua via a 5-2 decision. Gutierrez immediately began to work his way through the consolation bracket with a pair of first-period falls. He began the sequence with a fall over unattached Alex Bendinelli (Millersville) in 1:21 and then scored his second pin of the event with a fall over York's Verlensky Joachim in fifty-nine seconds. 

Gutierrez advanced over unattached Tyler Dilley (Lock Haven) via a medical forfeit before scoring his third pin of the tournament, stopping unattached Byron Daubert (Pitt-Johnstown) in 1:41. Gutierrez fell to West Chester University's Jake Taylor via pin in the consolation semifinals before closing out his day by winning the fifth-place match.

Mastorio wrestled his match of the day in the second round after receiving a bye out of the opening round. The Sayreville, New Jersey native won his first match of the day with a first-period pin of Gettysburg's Alex Shaffer. Mastorio advanced to the semifinals when Dilley withdrew from their match because of an injury. Mastorio dropped to the consolation round after falling to Rua via a 7-2 decision. 

Mastorio dropped his second match of the day via a 7-5 decision to TCNJ's Nic Mele and closed out his tournament with a hard-fought 7-4 decision loss to Gutierrez.

Ziccardi began his tournament with his sixth pin of the year, stopping Liberty's Cody Richmond in the first round before falling to the consolation round with a hard-fought 4-1 decision to TCNJ's Reid Colella. Ziccardi rebounded with consecutive victories over TCNJ's Joseph McCarthy and Messiah's Kevin Diehl. Ziccardi topped McCarthy via a 9-4 decision, while his victory over Diehl came via a second-period pin. Ziccardi fell in the consolation semifinals to John Crawford (Franklin & Marshall) before falling to Colella for the second time via a 3-2 decision.

Gennat scored a pair of victories in the first two rounds of the 184-pound bracket to reach the semifinal round. The Sparta, New Jersey native opened his tournament with a pin of Ohio Valley University's Tre'Vonte Burrell-Jones in the second period and a pin of Lycoming's Gable Crebs in the first. Gennat dropped to the consolation bracket after falling to Penn State University's Donovan Ball via major decision. Gennat bowed out of the consolation bracket due to injury.

After dropping his first match of the day, DiGiantomasso received a bye in the opening round of the consolation bracket before scoring a pin of Gettysburg's Mike Daugherty to reach the third round of the consi's. The Jackson, New Jersey native dropped his final two matches of the day, including the seventh-place match to Messiah's Joshua Paige to finish eighth.

Freshman Pasquale Vizzoni, sophomore Anthony Lanza, junior Bruce Parola and senior Carl Vasti each won one match before bowing out of the tournament. 

Up Next: No. 15 Wrestling returns to Canavan Arena for its final dual of the season against Centenary (N.J.) University on Feb. 14. The Ducks blanked the Cyclones 42-0 on Nov. 2, 2014 in the last meeting between the programs. A link for live video is available on StevensDucks.com.

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