Gorham, ME --- Antonios Sevastos (Mansfield, MA) reached the 141-pound championship bout and five other WPI wrestlers placed as the Engineers finished fourth Saturday in the Ted Reese Invitational hosted by Southern Maine.
Mario Barberio (Muncy, MA) and Tyler Riggs (North Scituate, RI) collected bronze medals at 165 and 197 pounds respectively, Tanner Thatcher (Blairstown, NJ) came in fourth at 125 and 174-pounder Ethan Edmondson (Milford, CT) and Lucas Wilson-Wuestefeld (Barrington, RI) each placed fifth in their weight classes.
The Crimson and Gray amassed 93.5 points as Coast Guard captured the team title at the 12-team event with 187.50 points followed by No. 22 Castleton coming in second (168) and the host Huskies claiming third (119.50).
Sevastos began his journey to the final with a second-period pin against Plymouth State and a first-period fall versus Coast Guard. After eking out a 3-1 semifinal victory over a different Coast Guard grappler, the junior locked horns with James Rodriguez, the top-ranked wrestler in New England, who took the title with a dramatic 7-5 win in sudden victory. Sevastos was down 5-2 and facing an additional riding time point with just 31 seconds left but escaped, got a takedown and rode out to erase the riding time point to force extra time against the returning All-America.
Barberio had a big day at 165 pounds, registering pins against Plymouth State and Coast Guard before being nipped 4-3 in the semifinals versus the No. 2 wrestler in New England from Castleton. The junior bounced back with two more victories, including a first-period pin against Southern Maine. Riggs went 4-1 on his way to a third-place showing. The junior opened by shutting out foes from Southern Maine (4-0) and Maine Maritime (8-0 major decision) before getting derailed in the semifinals. Riggs responded with a 15-0 tech and a 6-3 win by decision.
Thatcher logged a pair of victories by decision over Coast Guard wrestlers to create a path for his fourth-place finish at 125 pounds. Edmondson dodged an opening loss to go 3-1 the rest of the way, including a 14-4 major decision over UConn, a 7-3 win against Southern Maine and a first-period fall versus MIT in the fifth place match. Wilson-Wuestefeld also took the long way back to the podium, rebounding from an early loss to rattle off three straight triumphs by decision on his way back to fifth place.
Other multiple winners on the day for the Boynton Hillers included Quincy Laflin (Shoreline, WA), who tallied a pin at 141 pounds, Ethan Wilson (Braintree, MA), who notched a pin and a sudden victory triumph at 149, Caden Crist (Westerville, OH), who delivered a pair of falls at 157 and Jonah Potter (Wells, ME), who produced bonus pints with a major decision at 197.
Charlie Pavis (Bethlehem, PA) at 125 pounds, Jesse Beers (Larchmont, NY) and Theo Sawyers (Boston, MA) at 157, Ryan Hsu (Norwood, MA) and Ryan Addeche (Foxboro, MA) at 174, David Gibson (Goffstown, NH) and Christian Andres (North Haledon, NJ) and Trevor Bowen (Frenchtown, NJ) and Hank Pharris (Camden, ME) also contributed to the Crimson and Gray with victories during the day.
The Engineers wrap up the 2022 fall semester with a meet next week at New Jersey City University. WPI takes on No. 13 NYU at 1pm and the host Gothic Knights at 2:30pm.
Brackets (PDF)
Team Scores (PDF)
