This past weekend, five members of Elizabethtown College’s wrestling team placed in the Ursinus Fall Brawl tournament.
The Saturday, Nov. 11 event brought results for the Blue Jays that are optimistic for the rest of the season.
For Etown, senior Joseph Ghione finished second in the 149 pound weight class after facing York College sophomore Gregory Warner.
Senior Rocco Hladney placed third in his weight class after being named last week’s Wrestler of the Week, the first named in the 2017-2018 season.
Hladney made it through the first round of matches with a bye, and then faced Johns Hopkins sophomore Karl Tayeb for his first match of the day.
He then had a tough battle against junior Taylor Westlake from Liberty University on a 4-1 decision. After his loss to Westlake, who went on to finish second in the weight class, Hladney was moved to the loser’s bracket, where he fought his way to the top and faced senior teammate Quinn Ruble.
Hladney’s win against Ruble put Hladney in third place, with Ruble coming in behind him in fourth, both in the 197-pound weight class.
Another notable member of the wrestling team who placed was senior Eric Eckstein, placing fourth in the 285-pound weight class. After getting a bye in the first round, he faced senior David Trigg from Liberty University and won the match 14-3.
After losing to sophomore Austin Shewsbury from Worchester Polytechnic Institute, Eckstein was moved to the second bracket where he beat Delaware Valley’s first-year Oscar Daniels, The Apprentice School’s first year Ross Graham and York College junior John Shorter.
Eckstein then placed fourth with Shrewsbury right above him in third place.
In the 125-pound weight class, senior Philip Torresani beat three opponents in a row before he was defeated by first-year Logan Treacher from the Naval Academy. Torresani won the first match against first-year Jeremy Berger from John Hopkins University, earning 16 points to Berger’s eight. Torresani then went on to beat first-year Brendan McDonough from York College with five points over McDonough’s three.
His third consecutive win was against Gettysburg College senior Lenny Ogozalek with a decision 11-4.
Torresani then wrestled first-year Michael Aquino of Worchester Polytechnic Institute and won with a fall at three minutes and 46 seconds.
In a final match against first year Kolin Johnson, Torresani suffered a fall at only 30 seconds, leaving him with fourth place, while Johnson took third.
Overall, the Blue Jays were successful at the Ursinus Fall Brawl. The team will be back on the road this Sunday, Nov. 19 at the Star City Open in Roanoke, Virginia.
