YORK, Pa. (January 21, 2023)  – Five wrestlers won individual championships as No. 5 Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling captured its third straight Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship Saturday at the M&T Bank Field House.

Stevens totaled 152 points on the strength of 15 place-winners to top the eight-team field. The Ducks have won the MAC's team championship in each season since joining the league for the 2019-20 season. The Ducks extended their streak to eight straight conference championships dating back to the program's tenure in the Centennial Conference. Alvernia, Wilkes, Delaware Valley, York, who served as site host, and Lycoming each had one conference champion to round out the individual winners. Alvernia had a total of 10 place-winners to total 138 points to finish second in the highest-ever finish for the Golden Wolves. Messiah (97.5 points), Wilkes (97) and Delaware Valley (92.5) rounded out the top-five. Stevens is now tied for ninth in MAC history with three team championships.

Individually, senior Kyle Slendorn took first at 141, classmate Hunter Gutierrez finished first at 149, first-year Jason Smith topped the field at 157, while junior Stefan Major captured gold at 174. Senior Frank Medina finished first at 184 to round out the individual champions. The five first-place finishes bring Stevens' three-year total to 15, which ranks 15th in the lengthy history of the conference. The Ducks sit two individual titles behind Rutgers University, which competed in the Mid-Atlantic Conference in the 1940's. 

The individual conference championship is the third for Slendorn, while Major earns his second. Gutierrez, Smith and Medina topped the field at the conference tournament for the first time. The league will bestow its annual awards following the completion of the national championship tournament in March.

The Ducks' five conference champions each earned First Team All-MAC honors. Junior Luke Hoerle joined senior Pasquale Vizzoni, first-year Ryan Smith and sophomore Harrison Hinojosa in earning second-place finishes, which also landed each wrestler Second Team All-MAC accolades. Senior James Snyder placed third at 165 to earn Third Team All-MAC recognition. In addition to leading all conference schools with five first-team honorees, the Ducks also topped the conference with four second-team selections. To earn all-conference honors a wrestler must place top-three in their weight class.

Graduate student Michael Dooley placed fourth at 285, while junior Joel Martsinovsky took fourth at 174. First-year Justin Ciliotta was fourth at 141 in his first conference tournament, while sophomores Brendan Newbury and Blaise Wagner finished fifth and sixth at 184, respectively, to round out the Ducks' place-winners.

Ater an opening-round bye, Slendorn, the top seed at 141, posted three straight pins to advance through the bracket before scoring a 16-6 win over the bracket's second seed, Avery Leonard of Alvernia. The three consecutive falls extended Slendorn's streak to nine and the major decision in the championship was his second of the season. Slendorn's four wins moved his season record to 19-2, with 13 of the wins coming with bonus points. 

At 149, Gutierrez, who was also the top seed in his weight class, began his tournament with consecutive falls, before posting a 6-0 shutout in the semifinal match, over fifth-seeded Brandon Flores. In the championship, Gutierrez met Vizzoni and spun his second straight shutout (9-0) to win the title via major decision. He improved to 16-3 on the year with eight pins and three majors. 

Smith, meanwhile, fought his way through the bracket, building off a dominant 18-3 tech fall over Messiah's Jared Butler in the opening round. He then posted consecutive decisions over seeded wrestlers to reach the final, including a narrow 3-2 win over second-seeded Robert Lawlor of Alvernia in the second round. An escape at the start of the final period ultimately proved to be the deciding point in the bout. A 7-3 win over the bracket's second seed (Alvernia's Jason Rezac) set up a showdown with his teammate, Ryan Smith, who was the top seed in the field. 

The 157-pound championship match certainly  lived up to the hype as Ryan Smith forced a sudden-victory period after earning the riding time point to even the bout at five. Early in the extra period, Jason Smith scored a takedown to push the score to 7-5 and earn his first conference championship. The two-point margin reversed a two-point outcome that went in Ryan Smith's favor earlier in the season.

After an opening-round bye, Major, who was the top seed at 174, opened with a high-scoring 17-5 major decision over Messiah's Tim Eddinger. The Fort Salonga, New York native then scored consecutive first-period pins to march into the championship bout. First, Major pinned Alvernia's James Circle in 31 seconds, before stopping fifth-seeded Jared Townsend of York in 1:39. In the championship bout, Major allowed just a single point in an 8-1 decision over third-seeded Kade Kravits of King's. Major captured the title at 174 in 2022 and was a silver medalist at 157 in 2020. Major's four wins moved his season total to 13, marking his third season with double-digit victories.

Medina was the final first-place finisher for Stevens after topping the field at 184. After an opening-round bye, Media, who was ranked second in the bracket, scored a first-period pin of Messiah's P.J. Nitschke-Love. He then had a dominant 22-7 tech fall over York's Kian Payne to advance to the semifinals. Messiah's third-seeded Ryder Slayton presented the semifinal opponent and Medina was up to the task, scoring three points in both the second and third periods to cement a 7-3 victory. It was Medina's second win over Slayton this season.

In the championship, Medina met top-seeded Isaac Kassis of Alvernia. After a scoreless first, Kassis escaped from the bottom position at the start of the second period for the first point of the match, before Medina scored the first takedown of the bout with just seven second left in the frame to take a 2-1 lead. Medina escaped from the bottom position at the start of the final period to account for the 3-1 decision win. The four victories increased Medina's win total to 17.

Saturday's event marked the 76th MAC Wrestling Championship dating back to the first iteration of the championship in 1936. There was no championship from 1944-46 due to World War II, and from 2007-13 the MAC did not sponsor wrestling. The 2019 (Winter Storm Harper) and 2021 (COVID-19) championships were both canceled.

Up Next: Wrestling returns to Canavan Arena on Jan. 27 to host local rival, NYU. The Ducks topped the Violets 21-15 in Brooklyn on Feb. 2, 2022 in the last meeting between the teams and have won five of the last six duals between the programs. A link for live video is posted to StevensDucks.com.

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