MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – The Ursinus College wrestling team opened the 2016-17 season with a variety of solid performances against a wealth of Centennial Conference competition at the Messiah Invitational on Saturday. Freshman James Harkness and senior Alexander Kramer put up the Bears' top finishes, each placing second in his respective bracket.
Harkness was impressive in his collegiate debut, reaching the finals of the 133-pound bracket before coming out on the short end of a hard-fought 1-0 decision against Elizabethtown's Bryan Pflanz. Harkness scored a 15-7 victory over Gettysburg's Josh Newman in his debut, then pinned UMBC's Nate Labille in just 32 seconds to reach the semifinals. There, Harkness registered a 3-1 decision over Messiah's Hunter Harris to reach the title bout.
Freshman Alfred Coradetti picked up a pair of pins in the 141-pound class, first against Gettysburg's Andrew Andrade in the first round and again opposite the Bullets' Louie Carusillo in his first consolation bout after a tight 7-5 setback at the hands of McDaniel's Alvontae Drummond, the eventual champion, in the quarterfinals. Fellow rookie Thomas Boldosser also won two matches at 141; he pinned Carusillo in 3:55 in the first round and routed Andrade, 18-2, in the consolation rounds.
Kramer turned in a strong showing at 149, dominating Messiah's Trent Johnson (17-1) and McDaniel's Mick Zahora (18-0) before a 4-1 victory against Messiah's Adam Peris lifted him into the finals. Kramer dropped a 4-0 decision to Seth Lansberry of Lycoming.
Sophomore Zachary Dellicompagni notched a 14-7 victory over McDaniel's Erik Meyers in the first round of the 157-pound bracket.
Sophomores Robert Endy and Zachary Goranson made big runs through the consolation rounds at 165. After dropping his first-round bout, Endy rattled off five wins in a row – a 16-1 technical fall against McDaniel's Aadam Abdullabi, a 13-1 rout of the Green Terror's Neal Rinker, a 6-5 nail-biter opposite Wheaton's Jonavan Huggins, and a 5-3 defeat of Goranson preceded an injury default that sent him into the third-place bout, where he fell to Liberty's Patrick Scarborough. Goranson, meanwhile, edged teammate Gianpierro DiBattista by a 1-0 count and then advanced via disqualification and a 42-second fall against Wheaton's Derek Cole.
Junior Deon Edmund won his first-round clash by fall against Elizabethtown's Josh Stencler at 184, and sophomore William McGinley captured an 18-5 major decision over the Blue Jays' Wyatt Anderson in the consolation rounds at 197.
The Bears return to Collegeville to host the annual Fall Brawl on Saturday, November 12.