WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – A total of four Ursinus wrestlers earned their way to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships on Sunday by virtue of their performances at the NCAA East Regional hosted by King's.
More importantly, the Bears finished second in the team standings with a total of 105.5 points just one point behind top finisher Wilkes.
Freshman Matan Peleg (285) and junior Christian Psomas (197), along with sophomore Anthony Carlo (157) all finished second to punch their ticket to Iowa, while junior Richard Jasinski (157) was third to also earn a trip to nationals.
Junior Daniel Manganaro (184) finished fourth, while freshman Derek Arnold (149) and senior Eli Gaylor (141) finished fifth.
Junior Christopher Donaldson (125) finished sixth on the day.
In addition, head coach Bill Racich added to his long list of accolades as he was named as East Region Coach of the Year.
Starting with Peleg, he opened with a 2-1 win over Brian Grise of Cententary (NJ), before earning a 4-1 win over Eric Calimano of The University of Scranton. In the semifinals, he grabbed an overtime win over Brian Walker of the United States Merchant Marine Academy 4-3. In the title bout, he fell to top-seed Zach Roseberry of Delaware Valley, 10-3.
Psomas started his day with a technical fall over Chris Silakoski of Scranton 22-7 at the seven minute mark. After a 9-8 win over Darreus McCrea of Ferrum College, he got an injury win over Nathaniel Leer of The College of New Jersey. In the title tilt, he fell to top-seeded Aaron Karns of Delaware Valley, 8-0.
Carlo opened with a 17-6 major decision win over William Hutchinson of The University of Scranton, then beat John Messinger of New York University, 3-2. In the semis, he defeated Tommy Desir of King's College 6-4. In the championship bout, he lost by injury at the six minute mark to top-seeded Chris Burdge of The College of New Jersey.
Jasinski started off his day with a tech fall over Collin Furth of Gettysburg, 15-0 in 4:44, before falling to Craig Montgomery of The College of New Jersey 6-1.
Moving into the wrestlebacks, he bested Gordon Custer of King's, 6-1, then blanked Leo Wortman of Stevens, 3-0. After a pin of Matt DiGiovanni of New York University in 5:38, he won the third place bout over Montgomery 8-5.
Manganaro opened his bracket with a pin of John Riccardi of Scranton in 1:50, before being pinned by Giovanni Santiago of The College of New Jersey in 3:25. In the wrestlebacks, he defeated Connor Gabriel of Delaware Valley 8-2, then beat Nicholas Cross of McDaniel 14-6. After a 4-3 win over Patrick Sheehan of New York University, he lost to Santiago in the third place bout 9-1.
Arnold opened with a 6-2 win over Darryl Albonico of New York University before falling to Dylan Thorsen of The College of New Jersey 3-1. In the wrestlebacks, he defeated Jack Walsh of Merchant Marine 8-0, before beating Kyle Casaletto of The College of New Jersey 5-1. After being beaten by Vinny Fava of Delaware Valley by pin in 3:27, he won the fifth-place bout over Christian Mazzocchi, 12-0.
Gaylor started with a tech fall win over Giacomo Dinicola of King's 15-0 in 3:14, then repeated with another tech fall over Tim McCann of Hunter 17-0 in five minutes. After being pinned by Henry Stauber of Johns Hopkins in 4:40, he dropped a 10-1 decision to Logan Meister of Ferrum 10-1. In the fifth-place bout, he pinned McCann in 4:20. Gaylor finished his career with 82 wins.
Donaldson started with an 11-3 major decision over Corey Forlenza of Scranton and then beat Kenneth Albert of Hunter 6-5. In the semis, he lost to Mike Mui of Merchant Marine by pin in 1:25. In the wrestlebacks, he lost to Kevin Corrigan of The College of New Jersey 5-4, then fell to Guesseppe Rea of Wilkes 9-2.