New London, CT --- Tommy Dell'Aera (Eastchester, NY) highlighted five WPI wrestlers earning All-New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) honors in voting by the conference's coaches announced recently.
The junior earned second team accolades while Lucas Wilson-Wuestefeld (Barrington, RI), Mario Barberio (Muncy, PA) and Tanner Thatcher (Blairstown, NJ) drew honorable mention recognition and Charlie Pavis (Bethlehem, PA) landed on the all-rookie team.
Dell'Aera qualified for the NCAA Championships in Roanoke, VA after placing second at 157 pounds at the NCAA Northeast Regional at Southern Maine. Returning midseason after a season-ending injury last year, the sophomore compiled an 11-4 record with his only losses coming to wrestlers who competed at nationals, including a pair to seeded grapplers at nationals and two losses to the eventual third-place finisher. Dell'Aera had a pin and four major decisions on the season.
The trio of senior Wilson-Wuestefeld, junior Mario Barberio and sophomore Tanner Thatcher all reached the podium at regionals. Barberio finished sixth at 165 pounds and registered a team-best 22 wins (22-12) with seven pins, a tech fall and three majors. Thatcher turned in a seventh-place showing at 125. The second-year standout logged a 19-14 record this season with four falls to go along with two major decisions. Wilson-Wuestefeld posted 15 triumphs his season at 285 pounds, including nine by pin, the second most for the Engineers in 2022-23. The senior earned all-region honors after placing eighth at regionals.
Pavis had a stellar rookie campaign. The lightweight recorded a 13-10 mark with two pins and a pair of tech falls while seeing time at both 125 and 133 pounds.
All five also were named to the NEWA's All-Academic team as overall the Engineers had 25 wrestlers earn the honor, the second highest in the conference. Others to draw the praise include seniors Chris Cook (Mount Kisco, NY), Caden Crist (Westerville, OH), David Gibson (Goffstown, NH), Adam Marsh (Upper Black Eddy, PA) and Tyler Riggs (North Scituate, RI) juniors Isaac Krieger (Newton, MA), Antonios Sevastos (Mansfield, MA) sophomores Jesse Beers (Larchmont, NY), Nicolas LeSieur (Walnut Creek, CA), Ethan Edmondson (Milford, CT), Ryan Hsu (Norwood, MA), Zachary Rioux (Nashua, MA), Ethan Wilson (Braintree, MA) and freshmen Ryan Addeche (Foxboro, MA), Trevor Bowen (Frenchtown, NJ), Connor Doran (Gales Ferry, CT), Mike Gorman (Plainville, MA), Quincy Laflin (Shoreline, WI) Theo Sawyers (Boston, MA) and Alex Tomellini (Rehoboth, MA).
2022-23 saw several highlights as head coach Matt Oney's team quadrupled their win total and registered better finishes in both the NEWA Duals and NCAA Northeast Regionals and had a national qualifier for the first time since 2020 and posted the best overall team GPA in Division III.
All-NEWA Release
NEWA All-Academic Team Release
