WILKES-BARRE, PA (November 5, 2022) -- The King's College Monarchs wrestling team opened up their season on Saturday at home, hosting the Ned McGinley Invitational. As a team, King's finished in sixth place out of the 11 teams with 75.5 points. The Monarchs had several remarkable performances, including a tournament win by first year Shane Kibler. 

Kibler got a first round bye as the seventh seed at 149. He won over Danny Lightfoot of New York University in the round of 16 via decision by a final of 13-6. In this match where he had five takedowns. He would face another NYU wrestler in the quarter-finals in Anthony Chavez and would also take that match via decision 17-10. Kibler earned a place in the finals via medical forfeit where he faced off against fifth-seeded Pasquale Vizzoni of Stevens Institute of Technology. After he got a takedown in the opening period and escape in the second period, he held on to defeat Vizzoni 3-2 and win the 149 bracket. This was all done in his very first collegiate tournament. Sophomore Cameron Leslie also participated in the  at 149. He lost Ben Grater of Wilkes University. 

Senior Gus Petruske IV had a exhilarating day on the mat at 125. After taking care of York College's Jacob DelVecchio via technical fall 21-3, he pinned John Freebern of Rochester Institute of Technology. He followed that up with another pin of Vincent Principe of Stevens in the quarterfinals before falling to Austin Fashouer of Wilkes in the semis. Sophomore Kyle Miller also wrestled at 125 and fell to Caden Kucek of Wilkes in the round of 16.

The 133 weight class featured sophomore Nick Germano for the Monarchs. After losing his first matchup, Germano had a commanding 17-0 win via technical fall over Timothy Routen of the US Merchant Marine Academy. He would then fall to Rob Horan of Rochester Institute of Technology.

In the 141 weight class, first year Hugh Bittenbender lost his first match before defeating Shkeb Nadir of the University of Scranton. He would then lose to Chris Horton of Rochester. 

Senior Colby Spencer and sophomore Bret Murphy each competed for King's at 157. Spencer lost his two matches and Murphy defeated Scranton's Jake Rudy before falling in the round of 16 to York's Jared Bair. He would go 1-1 in his other two matches. 

The 165 weight class had first year Alex Ballantyne and Francis Theroux competing for the Monarchs. Ballantyne fell in the first round to Harrison Hinojosa of Stevens. Theroux meanwhile defeated Jack Bailey of Stevens 12-4 before falling in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Cooper Pontelandolfo of NYU. 

Returning graduate student Kade Kravits won a thrilling opening match 8-7 over Jayden Curley of Rodger Williams University at 174. He followed this with a 6-3 decision win over Blaise Wagner of Stevens and and 8-3 win over Ben Dougherty of Rochester. He had another hard-fought bout in the semi-finals with James Geiger of Wilkes but just came up short, falling 4-2. 

The 184 weight class saw three different Monarchs compete. First year Connor Wrobleski made the deepest run in the bracket of the three. He got a pair of pins to made it to the semi-finals. Senior Bill Grace fell in the round of 16 and sophomore Richard Fronheiser in the round of 32. Grace did come away with one win over Kade Moran of US Merchant Marine Academy. 

Senior Dave White and first year Nick Valenzano represented the team at 285. Both lost in the round of 16. White would however win three matches on the day. Valenzano also won a match. 

The Monarchs finished the day with one first place, one fourth place and three sixth place finishers. The wrestling team will hit the road next Saturday and travel to Collegeville, PA for the Rachich Rumble Invitational.