WILKES-BARRE, PA (February 15, 2024) -- The King's College Wrestling team adds to their win streak as they defeated the Lakers of Oswego State (5-12) 32-12 on Thursday evening. The Monarchs are now 9-5 (1-2) putting them over .500 winning percentage with one more regular season match since the 2009-2010 season.
 
Patrick Horvath (So.) gained the first win for King's by forfeit at 125 in McGrane Gymnasium. After a quick takedown by Cole Anderson (So.) in the 133-weight division, he was able to pin Michael Hade in 1:28. Noah Clawson (Jr.) continued the momentum in his 141 bout with another win by pinfall over John Vicario at 1:02. MJ Turi (Fy.) had a hard-fought battle against Tyler Rossini. With a takedown in the final seconds of the third period, Turi edged Rossini in a 4-2 decision win at 149. Cameron Leslie (Sr.) competed at 157 and frustrated Landon Smith through three periods but succumbed to an 8-4 decision loss to put the Lakers on the board.
 
Bret Murphy (Jr.) got King's back on track after tallying multiple takedowns throughout all three periods and bested Steven Felice in a 14-1 major decision. The 174 dual was neck-in-neck as both Xavian Ramos (So.) and James Sturek were not going down without a fight. Ramos took down Sturek in the third period, which helped him edge a 9-8 decision win. Bryce Smith was able to outlast Connor Wrobleski (So.) and held on to a 14-8 decision win over the Monarch at 184. Richard Fronheiser (Jr) fell to Anthony Cascen at 197 in 2:51. In the final match of the evening, Bill Grace (Gr.) notched off a 12-1 major decision win over Kevin Arriaza at heavy weight by gaining takedown points in each period. King's celebrated a 32-12 victory.
 
The Monarchs hosted four exhibition matches during Thursday's matchup. At heavyweight Nick Valenzano (So.) dropped a close match with Dustin Koskinen-Falls by an 8-5 decision. Elijah Rivera (Fy.) pestered Shaquille Daniel but suffered a 19-2 technical fall loss at 197. Nick Germano (Jr.) controlled the 141 bout and polished off an 18-2 technical fall win over Wayne Earl. Hugh Bittenbender (So.) had a nail biter match against Earl at 141 but was outlasted and took a 18-16 loss.
 
King's are back in action tomorrow, February 16^th at 7 p.m. to take on cross town rival Wilkes in their last regular season meet. The squad will prepare for the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships that is hosted by Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA on March 1^st-2^nd.