No. 13 Wrestling Places Fourth at Season Opening Ithaca (N.Y.) Invitational

Jacob Decatur and Dalton Leightner each were individual champions

Posted: Nov 06, 2021

ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 13 nationally-ranked and defending Ohio Athletic Conference champion Baldwin Wallace University wrestling team placed fourth at the season-opening Ithaca College Invitational inside the Ben Light Gymnasium.

BW was four of 11 teams with 130 points. Johnson & Wales (R.I.) University was the invitational champion with 154 points. The Yellow Jackets had 11 wrestlers place in the top six, including two individual champions

Junior 125-pounder Jacob Decatur (Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) – First place

Bye in first round
Technical Fall over Dylan King (Norwich) in second round, 20-4
Major Decision over Christian Rivas (Johnson & Wales) in third round
Decision in extra time over Joey Manginelli (Springfield) in the semifinal, 3-1
Decision over Akhil Vega (Stevens Institute of Technology) in the first place match, 3-2

No. 7 nationally-ranked senior All-American Dalton Leightner (Ravenna/Rootstown) – First place

Bye in first round
Decision in extra time over Jake Harry (Springfield) in third round, 3-1
Pinned Bryce Smith (Oswego State) in fourth round in 6:32
Decision over Steven Ocampo (Johnson & Wales) in the semifinal, 1-0
Decision in tiebreaker over Michael Angers (Castleton) in the first place match, 2-1

Senior 285-pounder Jarod Miller (Greenville, Pa./Reynolds) – Second place

Pinned Alex Britos (American International) in the first round in 0:41
Decision over Doug Clark (Springfield) in second round, 6-2
Decision over Frances Boahen (New England College) in quarterfinals, 2-1
Pinned Shea Garand (Castleton) in the semifinal in 2:55
Lost to Liridon Leka (Johnson & Wales) by decision, 3-2, in the first place match

Sophomore 149-pounder Michael Petrella (Reynoldsburg / Bishop Hartley) – Third place

Bye in first Round
Pinned Joseph Parsons (Springfield) in the second round in 3:54
Pinned Colin Murphy (Ithaca) in the third round in 4:30
Lost to Brett Kaliner (Stevens Institute of Technology) by decision, 9-5, in the quarterfinal
Decision in extra time over Kyle Merritt (Norwich) in the consolation sixth round, 5-3
Decision over Matthew Beyer (Ithaca) in the consolation seventh round, 6-5
Medical forfeit over Gabriel McDaniel (Johnson & Wales) in the consolation semifinal
Decision in tiebreaker over senior Tanner McHugh (New Ringgold, Pa./Tamaqua) in third place match, 4-3

Junior 197-pounder Doug Byrne (Wickliffe) – Third place

Pinned Darby McLaughlin (Western New England) in first round in 3:41
Pinned Nathaniel Philion (New England College) in the second round in 2:10
Decision over Dylan Harr (Johnson & Wales) in the quarterfinal, 8-4
Lost to Chibueze Chukwuezi (Ithaca) by decision, 12-11, in the semifinal
Major Decision over Darby McLaughlin (Western New England) in the consolation semifinal, 8-0
Pinned Tommy Wrzesien (Johnson & Wales) in the third place match in 3:57

Junior 285-pounder Drew Levis (Elyria) – third place

Major Decision over Joseph Russell (Stevens Institute of Technology) in the first round, 10-0
Decision in extra time over Cameron Bailey (Johnson & Wales) in the second round, 2-1
Decision in tiebreaker over Michael Filieri (Springfield) in the quarterfinal, 3-2
Lost to Liridon Leka (Johnson & Wales) by decision, 5-1, in the semifinal
Decision in extra time over Abbas Abdulrahman (Castleton) in the consolation semifinal, 5-3
Decision in tiebreaker over Shea Garand (Castleton) in the third place match, 3-2

Freshman 125-pounder Brett Blaess (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) – fourth place

Bye in first round
Lost to Joey Manginelli (Springfield) by major decision, 13-3, in the second round
Major Decision over sophomore Johnny Novak (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) in the consolation second two, 11-0
Tech Fall over Kaya Bogle (Castleton) in the consolation third round, 25-8
Decision over Christian Rivas (Johnson & Wales) in the consolation fourth round, 6-2
Tech Fall over freshman Jared Fantauzzi (Willard/Edison) in the consolation fifth round, 16-0
Medical Forfeit over Matthew Griffin (Ithaca) in the consolation semifinal
Lost to Jerry Echevarria (American International) by decision, 9-6, in the third place match.

Senior 149-pounder Tanner McHugh – Fourth place

Bye in first round
Major Decision over Edward Marinilli (Johnson & Wales) in the second round, 8-0
Decision over Jeremy Scutellaro (Springfield) in the third round, 8-2
Decision over Elijah Cyr (Castleton) in the quarterfinal, 7-2
Lost to Brett Kaliner (Stevens Institute of Technology) by tech fall, 16-1, in the semifinal
Decision over Victor Perlleshi (Johnson & Wales) in the consolation semifinal, 5-4
Lost to sophomore Michael Petrella by decision in tiebreaker, 4-3, in the third place match

No. 3 nationally-ranked senior All-American 157-pounder Stanley Bleich (North Ridgeville/Elyria Catholic) – Fourth place

Bye in first Round
Decision over Christopher Stathopoulos (Stevens Institute of Technology) in second round, 5-4
Decision over Mannash Carlson (New England) in third round, 7-4
Lost to Hunter Gutierrez (Stevens Institute of Technology) by fall, 6:09, in the quarterfinal
Decision over Tyler Albis (Johnson & Wales) in the consolation sixth round, 4-2
Decision over Logan Dubuque (Castleton) in the consolation seventh round, 11-4
Major Decision over Sean Monteiro (Western New England) in the consolation semifinal, 14-6
Lost to Hunter Gutierrez (Stevens Institute of Technology) by fall, 2:32, in the third place match

Sophomore 133-pounder Jaden Hinton (Glassboro, N.J.) – Fifth place

Bye in first round
Decision over Adam Quintanilla (Johnson & Wales) in the second round, 9-3
Decision over Michael Gonyea (Castleton) in the quarterfinal, 7-3
Lost to Nicholas DeSola (Johnson & Wales) by decision, 13-10, in the semifinal
Lost to Nicholas Arborio (Western New England) by decision, 9-3, in the consolation semifinal
Injury Default over Gianni Manginelli (Springfield) in the fifth place match

Freshman 157-pounder Tyler Wittreich (Painesville/Riverside) – fifth place

Bye in first round
Pinned Jacob Carciato (Castleton) in second round in 2:54.
Pinned Joseph Schneider (Stevens Institute of Technology) in third round in 2:19
Lost to Adam Wagner (Ithaca) by major decision, 13-5, in fourth round
Pinned Luke Pinzino (Western New England) in the consolation sixth round, 2:25
Decision over freshman Tommy West (Avon Lake/St. Edward) in the consolation seventh round, 5-2
Lost to Hunter Gutierrez (Stebens Institute of Technology) by fall, 2:38, in the consolation semifinal
Medical Forfeit over Sean Monteiro (Western New England) in the fifth place match

Junior 285-pounder Matthew Werts (Buffalo, N.Y./Saint Joseph's Collegiate Institute) – sixth place

Decision over Louisandre Padilla (Castleton) in the first round, 5-2
Lost to Liridon Leka (Johnson & Wales) by major decision, 10-2, in the second round
Decision over Oliver Donahue (Castleton) in the consolation second round, 9-5
Pinned Spencer Dickinson (Western New England) in the consolation third round, 4:53
Decision over Michael Filieri (Springfield) in the consolation fourth round, 4-2
Decision over Gabriel Duden (Norwich) in the consolation fifth round, 6-4
Lost to Shea Garand (Castleton) by decision, 4-1, in the consolation semifinal
Lost to Abbas Abdulrahman (Castleton) by decision in extra time, 3-1, in the fifth place match

BW is back in action on Saturday, November 13 when it travels to Angola, Indiana to compete in the Trine University Invitational inside Hershey Hall at 9:30 a.m. The Yellow Jackets open OAC action on Tuesday, November 16 when they host a conference match against the University of Mount Union in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center at 7 p.m. Fans can watch all the action live at https://bit.ly/3q9Ktl5.