JANUARY 23, 2016

KING'S KILPATRICK PLACES SECOND AT MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS, MONARCHS FNISH WITH THREE TOP-FOUR FINISHERS

 

WILLIAMSPORT -- King's College sophomore Howard Kilpatrick placed second at 157-pounds to rank as the top Monarch finisher in the 2016 Middle Atlantic Confernece Championships. King's finished with five wrestlers placing in the top-six.

King's finished fifth among the five teams in the tournament. Messiah won the team title with 176.5 points. Wilkes was second with 132.0 points while Delaware Valley finished third with 113.0 points. Lycoming was fourth with 58.5 points while King's finished fifth with 58.0 points.

Kilpatrick won his first match with a 6-5 decision over Sekou Harris of Delaware Valley. In the semi-finals he faced Nick Racanelli of Wilkes and posted a 3-2 decision. In the finals he dropped a 8-0 decision to top-seeded Larry Cannon of Messiah, the eighth ranked wrestler nationally at 157.

At 285-pounds, sophomore Ralph Bernardo won his first match with a 7-2 decision over Jacob Huling of Wilkes. In the semi-final he faced second-seeded Jacob Wright of Messiah and dropped a 3-2 decision. In the consolations he posted a pin in 1:32 of Kyle Gildner of Wilkes. In the consolation finals he earned a 3-2 decision over Kelly Pullen of Wilkes.

At 165, King's junior Angelo Lussi placed fourth. Lussi received a first-round bye before falling 5-2 to Ben Wise of Messiah. Lussi won his first consolation match with a pin in 4:56 of Evan Weneck of Delaware Valley. Lussi won his next match with an 8-1 decision over Messiah's Wilber. In the consolation final he faced a rematch with Messiah's Wise and fell 11-2 .

At 133, King's sophomore Matt Sparks would place sixth. Sparks reached the semi-finals with a pair of byes. Once there, he was pinned by Hunter Harris of Messiah in 0:25. He then dropped a 7-5 decision to Josh Grossnicki of Messiah. He would settle for sixth via a medical forfeit to Sam Mass of Wilkes.

At 197 senior Ryan Longenberger placed sixth for the Monarchs. After a first-round bye he was pinned in 3:59 by Josh Richardson of Delaware Valley. In the consolation bracket Longenberger earned a 3-2 decision over Skylar Ebner of Lycoming. He then fell 4-2 to Nick Havener of Messiah in the consolation semi-finals. Longenberger settled for sixth when he forfeited to Zach Faust of Wilkes.

At 125, King's James Wright placed sixth . After a bye, he dropped a 9-3 decision to Brendamn Velez of Delaware Valley. In the consolations Wright pinned Justin Zuzulock of Wilkes in 2:26 before dropping a 7-2 decision to Kyle Drick of Lycoming in 2:26.  In his final match Wright fell 9-7 to Josh Whitelaw of Messiah to settle for sixth.

At 141, King's sophomore Jake Daniel was pinned by Art Walsh of Messiah in 1:37.  In wrestlebacks he received a medical forfeit before losing by fall to Art Gutierrez of Messiah in 1:41. Also for King's, Kevin Kelly lost by fall in 2:04 to Les Cassel of Messiah. In consolations he was then pinned by John Ritter of Wilkes in 1:40. 

At 157, Giacomo Dinacola picked a first-round bye but then lost to top-seeded Larry Cannon of Messiah by a fall in 1:36.  In consolations he was pinned by James Toal of Messiah in 3:54. At 165-pounds King's Keith Wanamaker drew a bye, but then lost to Tag Wilbur of Messiah by a 11-5 decision. Wanamaker then fell to Matt Judge of Messiah by a 14-1 margin. 

At 174 King's Rene Sousa lost his first match 6-1 to Brandon Conrad of Lycoming. He was then edged 10-9 in the consolations by Karrington Washington of Messiah. At 184 King's Edward Merrill was pinned in 4:08 in his first match by Willie Alford of Lycoming. He then fell in the consolations to Victor DeFrance of Messiah by fall in 4:39.

Also at 184, King's Nick Price lost by technical fall to second-seeded Kyle Diesel of Wilkes, the fourth-ranked wrestler nationally in Division III. In the consolations Price dropped a 5-0 decision to Brandon Rudy of Lycoming.

King's returns to the mat Tuesday when the Monarchs host Oneonta State at 7:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gym.