DECEMBER 2, 2011

KING'S WRESTLERS 6TH AT R.I.T. INVITATIONAL, REILLY CAPTURES 197-POUND CROWN

ROCHESTER, NY — Mike Reilly captured the 197-pound championship to lead the King's College wrestling team to a sixth-place finish at the 46th annual R.I.T. Invitational at Rochester Institute of Technology Saturday in Rochester, NY.

Reilly, ranked fourth nationally at 197 and seeded first in the event,went 4-0 to capture gold. In his first match, Reilly posted a pin in 1:37, then won decisions of 8-2 and 7-1 to advance to the final. There, he tallied a 10-4 decision over Luke Erickson of Wesleyan to win the championship.

Other King's place-winners included Chris Mazzocchi who ws third at 149-pounds. Mazzocchi, seeded second, won his first round match with a pin in 4:31, then followed up with an 11-5 decision to reach the semi-finals. There he fell to eventual champion Howard Tobochnik of Wesleyan 8-1. Mazzocchi fought his way back through the consolation bracket, earning a pin in 1:05 before registering an 8-1 decision over Evan Poole of Norwich in the consolation final.

In the 125-pound class, Aaron Perez placed fifth in the event. Perze dropped his first match 5-3 in overtime to Greg Tanenbaum of Wesleyan. He then won his first consolation match 5-3 against Ale Stewart of Norwich before falling to Shin Wakabayshi 7-1.  He then won a rematch with Tannenbaum 13-1 in the fifth-sixth place match.

At 157-pounds, Jordan Jiunta placed sixth at his weight. Seeded second, Jiunta won his first two matches with a 11-3 major decision and a 3-1 decision before falling 4-0 in the semi-finals to Daniel Graff of Oneonta. Jiunta then fell to the consolation bracket where he dropped a 4-1 decision to Sean Sercu of RIT before withdrawing from the tournament with a minor injury.