COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's wrestling team earned victories over the Merchant Marine Academy and McDaniel College on Saturday afternoon to finish with a perfect 5-0 Centennial Conference record.
The Bears have won eight straight dual matches improving to 10-6 overall and 5-0 in Centennial Conference action. With the victory, it marks the Bears 17th straight dual meet victory since falling 22-19 in January of 2022. In total, Ursinus has won 21 of their last 22 dual meets within conference play.
Ursinus honored six seniors prior to the contest as
Jordan Downey,
Stone Franczyk,
Connor Fritsch,
Franco Mazza, Alex Tenaglia, and
Wesley Tosto were honored for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the Men's Wrestling program over the last four years.
"The men crushed today; we wrestled with a ton of heart and energy," Director of Wrestling
Joe Jamison said. "Going undefeated again in our conference duals is great, but we need to finish the job next weekend."
Ursinus 32, Merchant Marine 18
Mazza gave Ursinus a six-point advantage at 125lbs as he collected a forfeit to give the Bears an early lead. The Mariners responded with a comeback victory at 133lbs as Wesley Wydick defeated junior
Michael Adams by a 10-9 decision. The Bears answered back at 141lbs as sophomore
Andrew Schaen collected his sixth straight victory by earning an 11-2 major decision over Merchant's Charles Lausten to give Ursinus a 10-3 lead.
At 149lbs, sophomore
Max Parnis extended the Bears lead to 16-3 as he recorded a fall over Matthew Trinidad at the 3:31-mark of the second period. Parnis secured the opening takedown via a single-leg, while a pair of escape made the score 3-2 entering the second stanza. After choosing bottom, Parnis reversed his opponent to his back and collected the fall for the Bears. After a pin at 157lbs for the Mariners, Ursinus bounced back with a fall from sophomore
Braden Kmak at 165lbs to extend their lead to 22-9. Entering the final period, Kmak chose top and answered with a with a cross face cradle to secure the pin at the 5:20-mark.
Junior
Anthony Cerulli carried the momentum into the 174lb bout as he defended off a shot and locked up a cradle for a first period fall at the 1:16-mark to increase the Bears lead to 28-9. The Mariners earned a decision at 184lbs and a fall at 197lbs to make the match score 28-18 heading into the final bout. Sophomore
Mohamed Abdelatty closed out the dual with a 9-0 major decision at 285lbs to give Ursinus a 32-18 match victory.
Ursinus 33, McDaniel 14
Ursinus carried the momentum into their final Centennial dual as they earned back-to-back decisions to open the match to earn a 6-0 lead. At 125lbs, Mazza continued his hot-streak by defeating McDaniel's Alex DuFour by a 6-2 decision. Next, Adams secured a 12-9 decision over McDaniel's Romeo Tsai to increase the Bears lead to 6-0. In the first period, Tsai was in deep on a single leg, but Adams reversed the move throwing Tsai to his back to take a quick 7-0 lead. He closed out the match by defending off a few shots to give Ursinus their second consecutive decision.
Next, Schaen put on a takedown clinic en route to a 19-6 major decision over Ethyn Ramey to stretch the Bears lead to 10-0. McDaniel quickly responded as they collected a fall at 149lbs and a 21-6 technical fall at 157lbs to regain an 11-10 match lead with five bouts remaining. The turning point of the dual came at 165lbs as Kmak collected a 50-second fall over Andre Allen to give Ursinus a 16-11 advantage. Kmak defended off a shot from Allen, before using a spladle to pin his opponent on the edge of the mat, bringing the Ursinus crowd to their feet.
Cerulli answered the call at 174lbs as he pinned McDaniel's Avery Cummings within the opening minute to extend the Bears lead to 22-11. Cerulli quickly took down his opponent, before going hip-to-hip with the McDaniel wrestler, and bumping him over for the fall at the 56-second mark. Junior
Nils Updale clinched the dual at 184lbs as he earned a 19-2 technical fall over Patrick Takeuchi to increase the Bears lead to 27-11. McDaniel earned an 8-1 decision at 197lbs, before Abdelatty closed out the dual with a pin over Ezekiel Gayle to give Ursinus a 33-14 victory.
In an extra match, Tenaglia recorded a fall over McDaniel's William Conley at the 2:19-mark. To view the full results from today matches, click
here.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, February 15th as they look to defend their Centennial Conference Championship at Gettysburg College starting at 10 a.m.
