COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Sophomore Ben Maack and freshman Alex Koenig each earned a place as the Ursinus College wrestling team hosted a relatlively condensed field at the annual Will Abele Invitational on Saturday.
Maack took down third place with a big run through the consolation bracket following a loss to eventual champion Aidan Pasiuk of Wheeling Jesuit in the main draw. The sophomore dominated Cade Wilbert of Penn State Wrestling Club (14-1), then logged a 12-4 major decision over senior teammate Anthony Cutrufello. Maack then handed Onenonta's Ryan Marszal a 9-5 defeat in the third-place bout.
Cutrufello reached the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over Oneonta's Chris Coyle.
Koenig captured his first career place with a strong showing at 165. The rookie opened with a 20-3 technical fall against Western New England's Dario Papallo before dropping out of the quarterfinals via a pin by Penn State's Dan Ritz. Koenig responded with two consecutive pins, over Wheeling's Brice Harkness (6:59) and West Chester's Zach Wakefield (3:18) and gained the consolation final with a medical walkover against senior teammate Zachary Goranson. Koenig fell, 12-4, to Oneonta's Thomas Marrone.
Goranson started with a17-1 tech fall over Wakefield and made the semifinals by pinning Western New England's Jason Alves in a mere 15 seconds. He fell out of the semis with an injury and was unable to continue.
Senior Patrick Ammirati was a semifinalist at 133, where he pinned Temple's Anthony Zayas in 2:42. He then fell on the short end of a tough 8-5 decision to West Chester's Manuel Canfijn and was pinned by Mason Blank of PSU-Mont Alto in the consolation semifinals.
Freshman Gary Nagle took his day to the consolation semifinals at 174. After losing his first-round match, Nagle pinned Mont Alto's Aric Smoker (1:09) and Temple's Christian Petrucci (2:12) before losing a 13-7 decision to UMBC's Tyler Rendina.
The Bears produced a pair of quarterfinalists at heavyweight. Senior William McGinley got there with main draw triumphs over Stephen Murphy of Scranton (pin in 2:40) and West Chester's Leo Teti Cassidy (17-1 technical fall). McGinley was pinned by Oneonta's Matthew Burge in the quarters and came up just short in a 3-2 decision to Scranton's Keegan Connelly.
Freshman teammate Robert Fielder also made the quarterfinals, courtesy of a pin in 1:33 against Western New England's Devin Grandison. Fiedler lost his next two matches.
Fellow rookie Kyle Seibert was a quarterfinalist at 141, edging Wheeling's Matt Oblock by a 5-1 count in his first bout of the day.
Another freshman, Noah Supsic, advanced to the final eight at 157, scoring a major decision (15-3) in his first round and another (15-6) in the consolation rounds. Senior Edward Howlette pinned his first-round opponent in just 8 seconds to make the quarterfinals in the same class.
Freshman Brady Herr and sophomore Charlie Wildermuth each posted a fall at 197.