COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – For the 11th time, and second straight season, the Centennial Conference Wrestling championship trophy will reside in Collegeville.
By virtue of eight wrestlers making the championship finals, and four wrestlers capturing gold, the Ursinus College wrestling team on the tournament with a total team score of 102.5 points.
Freshman Derek Arnold (149), junior Richard Jasinski (157), sophomore Anthony Carlo (165) and junior Christian Psomas (197) all won their respective weight brackets, while junior Chris Donaldson (125), senior Eli Gaylor (141), junior Daniel Manganaro (184) and freshman Matan Peleg (285) all took second.
Sophomore Keven Hoogheem was third at 133 pounds.
In addition to the team title, head coach Bill Racich as named as the Centennial Conference Coach of the Year, adding to his long list of accolades as the Dean of Wresting Coaches in the conference.
Arnold wowed the crowd with his performance, as from his second seed he defeated third-seed Duncan Crystal of Johns Hopkins by major decision in the semifinals 15-1, then took down top seed Mike Polizzi of Stevens by another major decision 12-4.
Jasinski paved the way to his championship, his second straight, with a 10-2 major decision win over Alex Niemann of W&L, then blanked Ben Stallings of Merchant Marine 5-0 in the semis.
In the finals, he got a 4-3 decision over Christian Salera of Hopkins to take gold.
Carlo crafted his title with an opening pin of Hugh Bahe of Johns Hopkins in 2:11, then got a 12-4 major decision over Tyler Cunningham of Gettysburg. In the title bout, he earned a 7-4 decision over second-seeded Connor Bass of Stevens.
Psomas earned his second straight title at 197, starting with a pin of Doug Medrano of Stevens in 2:06, followed by a 9-2 win over Dan Brereton of New York University. In the finals, he pinned Bennett Lewis of Washington and Lee in 4:56.
Donaldson started his day with a 17-3 major decision over Wayne Yuan of NYU, then got a 19-5 decision over Jaryd Flank of Muhlenberg. His match with Mike Mui of Merchant Marine ended with a Donaldson medical forfeit.
Gaylor had two wins to get to the finals, a 7-1 win over Rick Perrine of Stevens and a 7-2 win over Avontae Drummond of McDaniel, before falling to top-seed Henry Stauber of Johns Hopkins 8-1.
Manganaro started his quest toward the finals with a 18-6 major decision win over Nick Cross of McDaniel before being blanked by top-seed and Chris Clifford Award Winner Ryan Dorman of Stevens 6-0. Dorman's victory cemented him a four-time Centennial Conference champion.
Peleg battled his way to the finals with a 4-0 win over Anthony Chu of NYU, then a 6-1 win over Brian Walker of USMMA. In the finals, he lost 3-1 to top-seed Chris Florek.
Hoogheem earned third by beating Sean Billings of NYU in the third-place bout 17-3. He had dropped an opening decision to Ray Yagloski of Johns Hopkins 4-3, but defeated Issac Hammond of USMMA 8-1 to get to the third-place bout.
Mui was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.
The Bears, along with a host of other teams, will be in action next Sunday at King's in the NCAA Regional Qualifier.