BRISTOL, R.I. (November 13, 2021)  – First-year Harrison Hinojosa and junior Frank Medina each placed second in their respective weight classes, to lead No. 6 Stevens Institute of Technology Saturday at the Roger Williams University Invitational. 

A total of five Ducks placed at the tournament, with sophomores Luke Hoerle and Nick Boggiano finishing third at 133 and 165, respectively, and senior Michael Dooley finishing sixth at 197. As a team, Stevens totaled 85 points to finish sixth. Johnson & Wales won the team title, winning four weight classes, while also seeing 10 student-athletes place in the top-six.

"Back-to-back weekends of great competition with some of the best teams from the Northeast Region," said assistant coach Anthony Bonaventura. "We battled hard throughout the event and showed progress in a lot of areas."

"Proud of Luke for bouncing back to take bronze at 133 and flipping his quarterfinal result from earlier in the day," Bonaventura continued. Great showing at 165 with two individuals finishing in the top-three. [An] amazing display of depth at that weight; Harrison and Nick were firing on all cylinders and scoring a lot of points."

In his second collegiate event, Hinojosa posted a second straight top-three finish, scoring three victories en route to finishing second at 165. The Haddon Township, New Jersey native scored three victories by decision to reach the championship match. After an opening-round bye, Hinojosa opened his tournament against Coast Guard's Agustus Edwards, scoring four takedowns en route to a 10-4 victory. He then followed it up with a 9-4 win over Johnson and Wales' Sean DeFex, using a dominating second period to secure the win and advance to the semifinals. 

In the semifinals, Hinojosa scored an early takedown of Norwich's Tyler Barker and then earned an escape point at the start of the second period to earn a hard-fought 3-2 decision. In the final, Castleton's Michael Angers opened the final period with a reversal, which proved to be the difference in the match as Angers came away with a 5-2 decision. 

While Hinojosa was marching through his side of the bracket, Boggiano battled his way through the other half of the bracket to win the third-place match. Boggiano opened his tournament with a second-period pin of Roger Williams' Cole Wolkner, leading 8-0 at the time of the fall. The second-year grappler dropped to the consolation bracket after falling to Angers via an 8-3 decision, however the Toms River, New Jersey native quickly bounced back from the setback and posted his second fall of the tournament with a second-period pin of Edwards. He then earned a 9-4 decision over Johnson & Wales' Jack Kelly, which was followed by a 10-1 major over Barker in the consi semis to advance to the third-place match. 

In the third-place match, Boggiano turned in perhaps his best performance with a 5-0 shutout of DeFex, scoring a reveal and a near-fall in the second period, with the riding time point capping off his tournament.

Medina, who finished third at the season-opening Ithaca Invitational, notched three pins and a decision win in his march to the 174-pound championship match. The Millington, New Jersey native opened his tournament with a second-period pin of Wesleyan's Lucas Hughes, scoring a takedown in the final minute of the stanza, which led to the fall. Medina's most impressive victory of the dame came in the round of 16, where he took down Johnson & Wales' Dominic Pugliese, 19 seconds into the opening period, leading to the fall just seven seconds later.

In the quarterfinals, Medina won a spirited 15-10 decision over Castleton's Cooper Fleming, where the competitors combined for 12 points in the opening period. Medina earned his third fall of the day, pinning Roger Williams' Jacob Cardozo in the final minute of the opening period. In the championship, Medina dropped a hard-fought 13-4 major to Wesleyan's Marco Gaita, ranked fifth in the first NWCA Division III rankings. 

"Frank Medina continues to impress," Bonaventura said. "His second-place performance was solid and he battled hard against one of the top wrestlers in the country in the finals."

Hoerle placed for the first time this season, finishing third at 133. After three bonus-point victories last weekend, Hoerle opened his tournament with a first-period pin of Roger Williams' Roman Mayer, leading 6-2 at the time of the fall. The Westfield, New Jersey native fell in the quarterfinals to Castleton's Michael Gonyea, however, Hoerle quickly bounced back, with a major, an injury default and an tech fall to reach the third-place bout, where he defeated Gonyea via a 5-2 decision, 

Dooley was the final Duck to place, finishing sixth at 197 in his season debut. The All-American received a bye in the opening round and posted his first victory of the season with a first-period pin of Norwich's Michael St. Juste. The Hillsborough, New Jersey native made it two falls in a row with another first-period pin, knocking off Roger Williams' Hunter Rasmussen in the first period. 

The Ducks' 197-pounder dropped to the consolation bracket via a tough-luck 3-1 decision to Coast Guard's Cory Spooner, with Spooner scoring the deciding points with a takedown with just seven seconds left in the match. Dooley wrapped up his day with a sixth-place finish after a pair of medical forfeits.

"Overall, it was a good showing at a tough tournament," Bonaventura commented. "The team is eager to get back to work and improve their craft."

Senior Joe Schneider, juniors Arjun Khatri, Jonah Schechtman, James Snyder and Carsten DiGiantomasso, along with sophomore Michael Conrad and first-years Blaise Wagner (2), Brandon Bulatao, Joseph Russell, Chris Stathopoulos, Jack Bailey, Max Ruiz and Brandon Newbury all earned victories in their respective weight classes before bowing out of the tournament. Schneider won a total of three matches at 157, while Snyder and Stathopoulos each won three times at 165 and 157, respectively. Conrad won twice at 184 and Wagner won a pair of matches at 174 to round out the Ducks' victories in the single-day event. Two of the three wins by Schneider and Stathopoulos were by bonus points, with Schneider scoring a pin and a tech fall and Stathopolous earning two pins. 

All totaled, the Ducks totaled 23 bonus-point victories on the day, with 19 pins, three majors and one tech fall.

Up Next: No. 6 Wrestling will head to the midwest for a highly competitive week of action, starting with the Concordia Wisconsin Open on Nov. 20. 

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