On Saturday, Nov. 15, the Elizabethtown College wrestling team participated in the New York City/Pennsylvania Duals in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Blue Jays had three dual matches on the day, facing Nassau Community College in the opening match. Etown defeated Nassau 23-20 in the opener before falling to Hunter and New York University in their other two duals. The Blue Jays finished the day with a 1-2 record in the three duals.
Etown trailed early, 8-6 after back-to-back major decisions by Nassau, but the Blue Jays were able to take back the lead when first-year Chris Kummerer won a 5-4 decision at 149 pounds and junior Mike Lammer won a major decision at 157 pounds.
Nassau fought back to take a 14-13 lead after a pin at 165 pounds before the Blue Jays won three straight weight classes. Senior Zeke Zimmer, sophomore Luke Fernandez and senior Jared Weaver all took home victories at 174, 184 and 197, respectively. The victories gave the Blue Jays a 23-14 lead and guaranteed the team’s first dual victory of the season.
The tables were turned in Etown’s second dual match against Hunter, falling behind early, 12-0. Junior Chad Lammer and his brother Mike both earned pins at 149 and 157 to tie the match at 12. In the last eight bouts of the match, seven were decided by pin. Hunter earned four of the seven pins to take the match 36-17.
The one match not decided by a pin was Zimmer’s 20-3 technical fall victory for his second victory of the afternoon. It brought the Blue Jays within one point of Hunter, but Hunter scored 18 points via pins over the final three bouts.
In the final dual of the day, the Blue Jays ran into the buzzsaw that is New York University. NYU went undefeated on Saturday, winning all four matches at the NYC/PA Duals. New York University received six pins en route to a 43 point showing in the final match of the day. The Blue Jays fell 43-6 with their two wins coming from junior Bryan Pflanz at 133 pounds and Zimmer at 174 pounds. Zimmer’s win was a major decision over New York’s Roman Accetta, 17-6. Zimmer finished the day undefeated with three victories in three bouts. He outscored his three opponents 43 to 10 on Saturday.
The Blue Jays will host Wilkes University on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Etown will have one more dual match before the holidays. York College (Pa.) will visit Thompson Gymnasium on Tuesday, Nov. 25 for a 7:30 p.m. match.
