COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The dual came down to the final match as the Ursinus College men's wrestling team outlasted Muhlenberg College, 22-17, on Thursday evening from the Floy Lewis Bakes Fieldhouse.
With the victory, Ursinus collected their sixth straight win, improving to 8-6 overall and 3-0 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Mules fell to 8-11 on the season and 1-4 in conference play. For the Bears, it marks their 15th consecutive Centennial dual meet victory since falling, 22-19, in January of 2022 against the Merchant Marine Academy.
Sophomore
Max Parnis clinched the dual in the final bout at 149 pounds as he overcame an early deficit and earned an 18-6 major decision over Muhlenberg's Alex Greco. Meanwhile, the keys of the match occurred at 125 and 141 pounds as senior
Franco Mazza and sophomore
Andrew Schaen avenged previous losses and each tallied victories by decision. Heading into tonight's matches, Mazza and Schaen were a combined 0-5 against their opponents.
"Great hard-fought win tonight over a tough Muhlenberg team," Director of Wrestling
Joe Jamison said. "We knew it would take everyone to get the job done and the boys stepped up. I'm really happy for Franco and Andrew; those two wins were a long-time coming."
The dual started at 157 pounds as Muhlenberg's Trey Miletics picked up a 7-5 decision over senior
Wesley Tosto to give the Mules an early 3-0 match lead. Tosto secured an early takedown and led 4-3 heading into the final stanza, but a third period takedown decided the bout for the visitors. Next, sophomore
Braden Kmak (165lbs) brought the Ursinus crowd back to their feet as he collected a second period fall over Muhlenberg's Logan Hurwitt to give Ursinus a 6-3 match lead. With under 10-seconds remaining in the opening period, Kmak secured a takedown to give him a 3-0 lead heading into the second stanza. After choosing top, Kmak connected on a near-sided cradle for the fall at 3:39-mark of the match. Kmak has shined recently for the Bears, winning seven of his last eight matches, with five victories coming via fall.
Muhlenberg bounced back at 174lbs as Anson Dewar recorded a first-period fall over junior
Anthony Cerulli to give the Mules a 9-6 lead. Dewar a former 2023 Centennial Conference Champion and NCAA All-American at 174 pounds improved to 10-4 this season. The Bears would respond at 184lbs as junior
Nils Updale earned a 4-2 decision over last year's Centennial Conference runner-up Muhlenberg's Ryan Fairchild. Updale secured a first-period takedown while a third-period escape lifted him to the victory to tie the match at nine apiece.
Each team traded decisions at 197lbs and 285lbs as the dual meet was knotted at 12 apiece heading into the 125lb bout. At 197lbs, Muhlenberg's Paul Parise collected a 9-4 decision over senior
Connor Fritsch. Meanwhile, sophomore
Mohamed Abdelatty used a pair of takedowns and a third period escape to collect an 8-7 decision over Andrew Franklin at 285lbs.
In a rematch of the Centennial Conference finals from a season ago, Mazza gained the 6-3 decision over Muhlenberg's Joey Lamparelli at 125lbs to give Ursinus a 15-12 match lead. Lamparelli, a two-time Centennial Conference Champion and 2023 NCAA All-American upended Mazza, 5-1, a season ago. Mazza nearly connected on his opening shot attempt, but was turned away by the former All-American as the period ended tied at zero. After an escape from Lamparelli to open the second stanza, Mazza reshot on a single leg before advancing his positioning for the first takedown. Another escape from Lamparelli made the score 3-2 entering the final period. Mazza chose neutral to open the third and connected on another takedown, but a quick escape made the score 6-3. With under 20 seconds remaining, Mazza defended off several takedown attempts from Lamparelli to earn the 6-3 victory.
Muhlenberg bounced back at 133lbs as CJ Horvath recorded an 18-2 technical fall over junior
Michael Adams to regain a 17-15 match lead for the Mules with two bouts remaining. The Bears' second avenged match came at 141lbs as Schaen earned a 7-3 decision over Muhlenberg's Andrew Loniewski to give Ursinus an 18-17 match lead with one match remaining. Loniewski placed second last year at the Centennial Championships and defeat Schaen via a 5-1 score last year, and 4-1 this year in sudden victory at the Will Abele Invitational. Schaen opened with a blast double to secure the early lead and entered the second period leading 3-1. Loniewski chose bottom in the second period and collected an escape, but trailed 3-2 entering the final period. After an escape from Schaen in the third, he closed out the match with his second takedown to earn the 7-3 victory. The winning takedown came as the wrestlers were battling towards the edge of the circle. Schaen used another double leg, while adjusting his positioning for the winning score.
In the final bout with Ursinus leading 18-17, Parnis recorded an 18-6 major decision over Muhlenberg's Alex Greco to give the Bears' a 22-17 match victory. Greco opened with the first takedown, but an escape and a late takedown from Parnis gave him a 4-3 lead heading into the second period. After nearly converting on a single leg, Parnis collected the takedown behind a great scramble to earn the one-point advantage. He carried the momentum into the next period as an escape and a takedown increased his lead to 8-3. With under 40-seconds remaining in the second, Parnis used a sweep single before advancing his positioning for the three-point score. Next, Parnis closed out the period with four nearfall points to increase his lead to 12-3, en route to the 18-6 major decision, and 22-17 dual victory for the Bears. Tonight's victory marked the fourth consecutive for the Bears over the Mules.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, February 8th as they celebrate Senior Day with a tri-meet against Merchant Marine and McDaniel College starting at noon.
Full Results:
157lbs –Trey Miletics (MUH) over
Wesley Tosto (UC) by decision, 7-5 (UC 0, MUH 3)
165lbs –
Braden Kmak (UC) over Logan Hurwitt (MUH) by fall (3:39) (UC 6, MUH 3)
174lbs – Anson Dewar (MUH) over AJ Cerulli (UC) by fall (1:26) (UC 6, MUH 9)
184lbs –
Nils Updale (UC) over Ryan Fairchild (MUH) by decision, 4-2 (UC 9, MUH 9)
197lbs – Paul Parise (MUH) over
Connor Fritsch (UC) by decision, 9-4 (UC 9, MUH 12)
285lbs – Mohammed Abdelatty (UC) over Andrew Franklin (MUH) by decision, 8-7 (UC 12, MUH 12)
125lbs –
Franco Mazza (UC) over Joey Lamparelli (MUH) by decision, 6-3 (UC 15, MUH 12)
133lbs –Christian Horvath (MUH)
Michael Adams (UC) by technical fall 18-2 (6:29) (UC 15, MUH 17)
141lbs –
Andrew Schaen (UC) over Andrew Loniewski (MUH) by decision, 7-3 (UC 18, MUH 17)
149lbs –
Max Parnis (UC) over Alex Greco (MUH) by major decision, 18-6 (UC 22, MUH 17)
