YORK, Pa. – Five Ursinus College men's wrestlers placed within the top-five of their respective weight class leading Ursinus to a ninth-place finish at the New Standard Invitational on Saturday from York College.

 
First-year Samuel Rock III led the Bears lineup with a fourth-place nod at 285lbs, while senior Franco Mazza (125lbs), junior Anthony Cerulli (174lbs), sophomores Andrew Schaen (141lbs) and Mohamed Abdelatty (285lbs) each tallied fifth-place finishes.
 

Ursinus placed ninth behind a final tally of 87 points with No. 7 Roanoke College winning the team title with 143.5 total points. T-11th ranked Johnson & Wales (137) placed second, 11th-ranked TCNJ (126.5) took third, Washington & Lee (114), and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (101.5) rounded out the top-five placing fourth and fifth, respectively.


"We're incredibly proud of how the men competed today," Director of Wrestling Joe Jamison said. "The boys scrapped whistle-to-whsitle at one of the toughest in-season tournaments in the country. This is the strongest field we've seen since we started coming to the New Standard Invitational in 2018 and it was by far our best performance, and we're not even at full strength."  
 

Rock III cruised to a 5-1 record before medically forfeiting in the consolation championship to place fourth overall at 285lbs. He opened a third-period fall over Marymount's Steven Ramirez and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 decision over York's Derek Martin. Rock III lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual championship and nationally ranked eighth Merchant Marine's Reid Garrison via 10-1 decision. He responded in the consolations with a pair of victories to reach the consolation semifinals. He defeated Washington & Lee's Tade Omisore by a 13-1 major decision and earned a 9-5 decision over Roanoke's Nick Cook. Rock III advanced to the third-place match with a victory by medical forfeit before medically forfeiting against Delaware Valley's nationally ranked 14th Logan Flynn.

 
Abdelatty earned a fifth-place finish at 285lbs after finishing his day with a 4-2 record and his only losses coming against nationally ranked competition. He opened with a second period fall over Delaware Valley's Aiden Myers and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 9-1 major decision over Marymount's Edgar Lagos. Next, Abdelatty defeated TCNJ's Matt Coon via a fall at the 4:13-mark of the second period before falling to Garrison in the semifinal round by fall. In the consolation semifinals, Abdelatty fell to Flynn by a 9-2 decision before placing fifth via a victory by forfeit.  
 

At 125lbs, Mazza turned in a 5-2 record and improved his season mark to 12-7. After dropping his opening match on a stalling call with two seconds remaining, Mazza bounced back with four consecutive victories to reach the consolation semifinals. He first defeated York's Jacob Delvecchio via a 6-1 decision and continued to advance into the consolations with a 14-6 major decision over Apprentice's Lucas Vannostrand. Next, Mazza defeated Marymount's Ian Morales by a 4-1 decision and reached the medal rounds with a 4-2 decision over Johnson & Wales' Mason Franklin. Mazza dropped his ensuing bout to regionally ranked DVU's Malik Asfour (5th, Region 2) via a 6-2 score, before winning the fifth-place bout by a medical forfeit.
 

Schaen impressed at 141lbs for the Bears recording a 4-2 mark, reaching the championship semifinals, and improving his season record to 11-8. He opened his day by defeating the fourth ranked wrestler in region 2 Delaware Valley's Ryan Arndt via a 14-4 major decision and reached the quarterfinals with an 11-2 major decision against Washington and Lee's Isaiah Wilson. In his quarterfinal's matchup, Schaen matched up against returning 133lb All-American and Mideast Regional Champion last season Ithaca's Isaias Torres. During the bout, he faced an 8-4 deficit heading into the final period, but tallied an escape, takedown, three near fall points enroute to a 12-11 comeback victory. Unfortunately, dropped his next two matches to the eventual champion JWU's Jake Eckerle and Washington & Lee's Skyler Hickman before winning his fifth-place bout by medical forfeit.


Jamison spoke on Schaen's performance, "Hats off to Schaen for his performance this weekend, defeating an All-American and another top-20 opponent. He's been putting in the work and doing everything he can to improve, and he's starting to turn a lot of heads." 
 

Cerulli recorded a 6-2 record over the weekend behind four victories by fall and improved his season record to 15-6. He opened with three consecutive first period falls over Merchant Marine's Ivan Corral (0:56), Washington & Lee's Evan Surmay (2:40), and JWU's Ian Sutherland (1:34) to reach the quarterfinals. He dropped his next match via a 10-3 decision against Stevens' Harrison Hinojosa, but responded with a victory by a 14-8 decision over New England College's Joe Bolduc to reach the consolations semifinals. Next, he fell by fall against National qualifier and returning Mideast Regional Champion Ithaca's Jackson Gray, but earned a 7-4 decision over Roanoke's Kyle Lee to finish fifth.
 

Junior Michael Adams (133lbs), sophomores Evan Shriberg (141lbs), Samuel Teti (141lbs), Nicolas Rehfuss (157lbs), and Braden Kmak (165lbs); seniors Wesley Tosto (149lbs) and Connor Fritsch (197lbs) all recorded at least two or more victories throughout the tournament.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Saturday, December 21st as they travel to Nashville, Tennessee for the Gator Boot Duals.