ALLENTOWN, PA. - The Ursinus College Wrestling team battled to a 19-13 victory over Muhlenberg College Thursday evening inside an electric Memorial Hall. The Bears improved to 6-4 overall and 5-1 inside the Centennial Conference and currently hold first place in the standings.
Ursinus grabbed control of the momentum early on winning the first two bouts of the night to take a 6-0 lead. Terry Adams led off the Bears with an 11-5 decision over Joey Lamparelli at 125lbs. Adams silenced the crowd early in the first period recording two takedowns and collecting a decision for Ursinus. Romeo Rodriguez (133lbs) followed Adams with a 5-1 decision and gave the Bears a 6-0 lead with eight matches to go.
The energy in the crowd started to pick up after Muhlenberg answered collecting two decisions and a major of their own to grab a 10-6 lead at the halfway point. Heading into the second half of the dual it would be up to the Bears seniors to decide the match. Jacob Folk earned a hard-fought decision at 165lbs to give the Bears momentum heading into the final four matches. Folk collected a takedown in the first period and never looked back collecting a 6-2 decision.
Senior Alex Koenig brought the Ursinus bench and fans to their feet after a first-period throw led to a four near fall early in the match. Koenig would come close to collecting a fall at 174lbs, but only earned a few more back points and would leave with a 15-10 decision. Fellow classmate Gary Nagle picked up a key major decision at 184lbs to give the Bears a 16-10 lead heading into the final two matches. Nagle used an early takedown and came close to a pinfall but was unable to fully turn his opponent.
In a rematch of last year's Centennial Conference final, Muhlenberg's Luca Colestock earned a victory at 197lbs to close the deficit to three points for the Mules. 285lbs would decide the meet for both teams as the Bears Malcolm Hunt faced off against Keshon Davila for the Mules. Hunt used an early takedown to grab a 2-0 lead midway through the first period. After an injury timeout for the Mules, Hunt was given the choice of choosing a position to restart the match. After choosing bottom, Hunt earned a quick escape and closed the first period with a 3-0 lead. In the second period, Hunt would earn another escape and a takedown to electrify the Bears bench. The senior heavyweight closed out the match with a 9-1 major decision to give the Bears a 19-13 victory.
"Great team effort tonight and it felt great to get this win on the road against our rival," head coach Joe Jamison said. "It's been years since we've beaten Muhlenberg so I'm happy for the guys, especially the seniors. We wrestled through a lot of tough positions in every match and the guys were willing to leave everything on the mat. The men are going to take the weekend off and get ready for the postseason. Sydney will compete on Saturday at Delaware Valley and we're looking forward to the rest of the season."
The Bears will have some time off before returning to action February 12th for the Centennial Conference Championships hosted at Johns Hopkins.
UC 19 Muhlenberg 13 125 Terry Adams (U) dec. Joey Lamparelli, 11-5 133 Romeo Rodriguez (U) dec. Ricky Caamano, 5-1 141 Christopher Dalmau (M) dec. Jagger Clapsadle, 7-3 149 Brandon Bowles (M) dec. Dante Monaco, 5-3 157 Anson Dewar (M) maj. dec. Stone Franczyk, 9-1 165 Jacob Folk (U) dec. Ronnie Grevera, 6-2 174 Alex Koenig (U) dec. Jack Patti, 15-10 184 Gary Nagle (U) maj. dec. Fletcher Goodman, 8-0 197 Luca Colestock (M) dec. Jason Carter, 3-1 HWT Malcolm Hunt (U) maj. dec. Keshon Davila, 9-1