WILKES-BARRE, PA (November 03, 2018) — It was a solid start for the Monarch's season at the Ned McGinley Invitational where King's competed against 14 other teams from outside the conference. Dakota Quick was able to dominate in his weight class and make it all the way to the semi-finals while Matt Sparks advanced to the quarter-finals. 
 
Quick fought his way through the bracket after earning a bye in the first round of the tournament, later defeating Alexandra Gudlah of Wilkes University with a pin 29 seconds into the first round. The junior faced Manny Dovshek of Washington & Jefferson in the quarter-finals bout, winning with another pin at 2:58 of the opening period. 
 
Advancing to the semi-finals Quick battled Jared Kuhns of York College (PA) where he would fall in a major decision to the eventual champion of the 125-weight class. In the consolation-semis Quick hit another pin in just 47 seconds against Matt Murawski of Scranton. He was defeated by Roger Williams' Kyle Kaiser and was awarded 3^rdplace.
 
Sparks worked his way up to the quarter-finals earning each contest in a decision. He breezed by his earlier opponents Blaine Phillips of Southern Virginia 10-4, Joshua Armstrong of Washington & Jefferson 5-2 and Cooper Cummings of Roger Williams 6-2 before dropping  a 7-0 decision to Ryan Budzek of The College of New Jersey.
 
The 149-pound wrestler finished his run at the tournament in the consolation brackets prevailing against Josh Brown in a 5-2 decision and then falling to NYU's Evan Drill in a technical fall. 
 
Freshman Kade Kravits won in his first match as a Monarch. It was a 10-7 decision characterized by a takedown and two near falls that solidified the victory. He would go on to fall in his next bout of the preliminaries and his consolation match. 
 
Fellow underclassmen Nick Palazzolo, Javier Gonzales and Anthony Harmon-Miller were ultimately winless in their debuts as Monarchs. Palazzolo was able to put up some points until he got caught by Panzarella of Roger Williams in a pin fall. Gonzales and Harmon-Miller would meet the same fate in their respective weight class. 
 
Up next for the team is the Roger Williams Invitational in Bristol, R.I. that starts at 10:00 a.m. and will continue throughout the day.