GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Ursinus College wrestling team had their first tournament of the 2010-11 season on Saturday, finishing 5th at the Messiah Invitational. 

Senior Nate Murren (Littleston, Pa./Littlestown) led the Bears placing first in the 184 pound weight class.  In the first round Murren completely dominated the match and won 9-3 against Daniel Peiera from the United States Coast Guard Academy.  In the second round he defeated Mike Hojnacki from Messiah in a close 3-2 match.  The final round was equally as close but Murren escaped with a 5-4 win over Julian Meaney from Elizabethtown.

Sophomore Myles Tornetta (Frazer, Pa./Great Valley) took third in the 174 weight class. He started the day by defeating Anthony DiMarco of Elizabethtown 3-1 in overtime. In the second round, he defeated Ben Abbot from Waynesburg with a pin at 6:48.  After losing in the third round to Andrew Scavuzzo of Baldwin Wallace, 8-1, Tornetta was able to come back and defeat Dimarco for the second time 3-1 and then captured third place by defeating Ricardo Plummer from Messiah 3-2

Junior Connor McNamara (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) took fourth in the 197 weight class.  After losing in the first round to Russel Jones of Messiah 6-4, McNamara then dominated in the second and third rounds pinning Case Western's Peter Heggs at 5:54, and then defeating Phillip Landis of Elizabethtown 7-2. 

Also contributing to the Bears performance were sophomore Mike Williams (Bronx, N.Y./Westtown) defeating Marcus Carter of McDaniel 12-4 and then Steven Bandstra of Messiah. 

Freshman Taylor Gload (Sewell, N.J./Washington Twp) had his first college win by defeating Alec Pence from UMBC 6-3. 

Freshman Elisha Gaylor (West Reading, Pa./Wyomissing) also had his first college victories in his defeat of Brian Snyder from Case Western, 16-6 and then an impressive pin at 1:58 of Stefan Chaussaard from Waynesburg.

Ursinus will host its annual Fall Brawl this Saturday.