Last season, the Elizabethtown College wrestling team ended another successful season with seniors Quint Eno and Bill Meaney taking All-American honors at the NCAA championships. Now that they have graduated, the team must regroup in order to get back to the national stage.
This year, the team has a lot of younger grapplers that are stepping up early in their college careers. The team started their season at the Messiah College Invitational where sophomore Jeremy Reith and first-year Chad Lammer went undefeated and won their respective weight classes. Reith came into this season as one of the higher ranked wrestlers in the country and entered the season as the number one seed. Reith received a bye and rolled through his bracket on his way to a victory over Messiah’s Charles Jones.
Reith’s victory was expected; however, Lammer’s success was more of a pleasant surprise for the team. The first-year from Ephrata dominated his first-round matchup and then started a string of upsets in a talented 133 pound weight class. He first beat the number two seed Delian Schneider from Heidelberg University 11-7, defeated Messiah’s Zach Snow and got a medical forfeit against number three seed Kyle Coblentz from Messiah to get to the finals. The shocker of the tournament was pinning the Coast Guard Academy’s Nate Gorgio, the number two wrestler in the country in 1:42 to capture the title.
Some of the team’s other young wrestlers have made an impact at the invitational with sophomore Woodie Hermann making the championship at 165 pounds. Adding to the success for the Blue Jays were junior Kyle McNulty and sophomore Phil Landis with third place finishes.
On Saturday’s Ursinus Fall Brawl, sophomore Zeke Zimmer made his name known with a third place finish at 174 pounds. Zimmer entered the tournament as the number four seed. After a first round bye, Zimmer squeaked by Delaware Valley College’s Nick Della Fera and The College of New Jersey’s KC Murphy 5-4 and 5-3, respectively. However, his run ended in the semifinals as Zach Thomson got the pinfall in 1:02 for the win.
Lammer started off his run in the Fall Brawl in the 149 pound weight class with a win in the second round. After a medical forfeit win in the quarterfinals, he fell to Luke Bilyeu from West Chester University, the top seed in the tournament, 8-1.
First-year Larry Gordon has also made an early impact for the team, making the semifinal round after collecting a decision in the first round and earning a pin in 2:42 in the quarterfinals. Gordon then faced the number one seed and ranked wrestler Musa DeReese from Hunter College and lost 8-3.
Tuesday marked the team’s matchup against 18th ranked Johns Hopkins University. It was a closely fought match between the two squads, but it was first-year Jesse Meaney’s pin in the final match of the night for the Blue Jays to pick up a win. Meaney, younger brother of All-American Bill Meaney, and junior Julian Meaney picked up the pin at 1:42 making the final score 19-18 in favor of Etown.
The Blue Jays face 13th ranked Wilkes University Friday at Thompson Gymnasium.