GRANTHAM, Pa. – Freshman Collin Wickramaratna made it all the way to the title bout at 125 pounds as the Ursinus College wrestling team opened the 2018-19 campaign by placing fourth at the Messiah Invitational.
Wickramaratna started his collegiate career in impressive fashion, blanking McDaniel's Robert Kaminski 5-0 in his debut and gaining the semifinals by pinning Elizabethtown's Austin Jones just 25 seconds into the second period. The rookie dominated Messiah's Sean Redington to the tune of a 13-4 major decision to advance to the championship, where he fell by a 14-9 decision to Wheaton's Carlos Fuentez.
Senior Zachary Goranson (165) and freshman Gary Nagle (174) took third place in their respective brackets. The Bears shined at 165, where all three of their entrants reached the quarterfinals and two went on to the semifinals. Goranson needed just 22 seconds to pin his first opponent, Carter Ellis of Liberty, but had to go the distance in his second. Goranson dominated the extra session against Johns Hopkins' Dane Morgan, eventually cruising to a 7-1 triumph and a spot in the semifinals.
Freshman Jason Zollers made his way through the bottom half of the 165-pound bracket, pinning Liberty's Cendall Manley before edging Wheaton's Jonavan Huggins by a 9-5 score in the quarters.
Goranson downed Huggins, 7-3, in the consolation semifinals and was granted third via medical forfeit, while Zollers exited in the consolation semifinals to Liberty's Andrew Burgette.
Nagle lost his opening match in overtime but followed with a run of four consecutive wins to take third. He defeated McDaniel's Neal Rinker (9-2), Gettysburg's Sam Puglisi (pin in 50 seconds), Liberty's Sam Karel (4-3), and senior teammate Anthony Cutrufello in the back draw. Cutrufello racked up three straight pins and an 8-4 decision against Messiah's Dan Swarr to make the consolation final.
Junior Brandon Miller and freshman Kyle Seibert made some noise at 133. Each won a match in the main draw, Miller downing Messiah's Dalton Daugherty with a first-period fall and Seibert slipping past Jordan Pinette of Gettysburg, 6-3. Miller nearly reached the semifinals but came up on the short end of a 6-5 thriller with Gettysburg's Noah Malamut. Seibert pinned the Bullets' Alex Shaffer in the consolation rounds.
Junior Alfred Corradetti posted three wins in the consolation rounds at 149, including a pair of major decisions.
Freshmen Alex Koenig and Noah Suspic each registered their first career wins in the consolation bracket at 157. Fellow rookie Malcolm Hunt produced back-to-back pins in the back draw at 184, where sophomore Ben Maack pinned McDaniel's Quinton Lyons and Wheaton's Natan Jara before dropping out of the semifinals with a 7-0 loss to Gettysburg's Daniel Ebert.
Sophomore Charlie Wildermuth made a run through the consolation draw at 197, winning three straight bouts before falling by a narrow 1-0 decision to Isaac Morales of Johns Hopkins in the semifinals. Freshman Kyle Schaffer advanced to the main draw quarterfinals with his first collegiate win.
Senior William McGinley won three matches at heavyweight, which included a major decision over Messiah's Dennis Karas and a 5-3 defeat of classmate Zebulin Pfeiffer before a tight 3-2 triumph over Elizabethtown's Maxwell Rhoden.
The Bears host the annual Fall Brawl next Saturday.