WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The second day of the Budd Whitehill National Duals began today at 9 am. After round robin dual matches yesterday, teams from Groups A, B, C, and D were reseeded into new brackets to determine their final positions.
The Williams College wrestling team's 1-2 performance yesterday earned them a spot in the 9-12 bracket. Competing against them in the bracket was Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, and Wesleyan College.
Amongst a very strong competitive field Williams earned a 12th place finish out of the 16 teams who were apart of the prestigious tournament.
Eph head coach Scott Honecker commented on the experience: "What an awesome tournament. Most years I like to have our lineup at our best for this event, as this is the toughest single weekend of dual competition we will see all year. This season the dynamics were a little different as we are far from full strength. We were able to get some new guys some valuable experience as we tune up for next weekend's NEWA championships. We will be calling on these guys again in the future because they wrestled their butts off."
In their first match of the day, The Ephs were pitted against Rochester Institute of Technology.
Senior Matt Morris maintained his undefeated streak with a 7-2 victory over his opponent to put Williams up 3-0. A Rochester Institute of Technology victory in the 133 pound division brought the score to 3-4. However, Junior Alex Pankhurst put Williams back into the lead with an 8-5 triumph at the 141 weight class.
Unfortunately, other than Sophomore Luke Anselmi's 9-5 victory over his opponent, Rochester managed to win all other weight divisions.
A series of close matches that resulted in Rochester success put the score at 31-9 in favor of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Rochester Institute of Technology vs. Williams College
Match Summary RIT WILL
125 Matt Morris (Williams) over Andrew Flanagan (RIT) Dec 7-2 0 3.00
133 Alex Prunoske (RIT) over Ben Morton (Williams) Maj 14-6 4.00 0
141 Alex Pankhurst (Williams) over Shane Murphy (RIT) Dec 8-5 0 3.00
149 Zarek Thomas (RIT) over Jack Murphy (Williams) Dec 5-3 3.00 0
157 Kaidon Winters (RIT) over Brendan Kiernan (Williams) Fall 2:38 6.00 0
165 Colby Hall (RIT) over Yo Akiyama (Williams) Dec 7-4 3.00 0
174 Luke Anselmi (Williams) over Joe Lupisella (RIT) Dec 9-5 0 3.00
184 Trevor Snow (RIT) over Carl Sangree (Williams) Maj 10-0 4.00 0
197 Matt Cicco (RIT) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 6.00 0
285 Connor Calkins (RIT) over Nicholas Beauchamp (Williams) TF 16-0 5.00 0
Dual Meet Score 31.0 9.0
The Ephs faced off against the other Wisconsin school, the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, for their final dual match of the tournament.
Junior Alex Pankhurst went undefeated on the day after notching another victory at the 141 weight division. His dominant pin in 2:12 were Williams College's only points for the match.
Sophomore Yo Akiyama and Junior Sebastian Dziadkiewicz both gave strong efforts but were ultimately edged out with scores of 3-2 and 8-6 respectively.
The Final score of the match was University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 42, Williams College 6.
Williams College vs. University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point
Match Summary WILL UWSP
125 Ben Vosters (UWSP) over Matt Morris (Williams) Dec 10-3 0 3.00
133 Matt Berlin (UWSP) over Dietrich Hartman (Williams) Dec 7-4 0 3.00
141 Alex Pankhurst (Williams) over Bobby Uttecht (UWSP) Fall 2:12 6.00 0
149 Joe Crook (UWSP) over Jack Murphy (Williams) Fall 0:34 0 6.00
157 David Granatelli (UWSP) over Brendan Kiernan (Williams) Fall 4:52 0 6.00
165 Jordan Weinzetl (UWSP) over Yo Akiyama (Williams) Dec 3-2 0 3.00
174 James Borgen (UWSP) over Luke Anselmi (Williams) Fall 1:57 0 6.00
184 Dan Squires (UWSP) over Sebastian Dziadkiewicz (Williams) Dec 8-6 0 3.00
197 Dylan Diebitz (UWSP) over Christopher Washington (Williams) Fall 4:40 0 6.00
285 Ross Agg (UWSP) over Nicholas Beauchamp (Williams) Fall 2:11 0 6.00
Dual Meet Score 6.0 42.0
"Although I'd prefer to win more than we lose," Honecker stated about the tournament's matches, "The win against Lycoming last night put us in a more competitive bracket today. That pitted us against two great teams in RIT and Stevens Point. We didn't take one position off and competed in a way that made me proud to be the coach of this team. I wish for our athletes and our fans we could have turned in a few more wins, but this young team is going places and I am glad we jumped into this fire instead of putting easier matches on our schedule."
The Budd Whitehill Duals marks the first of several duals the Ephs will compete in this year. Their next chance at competition comes on January 21st when they will participate in the New England Wrestling Association Duals held at Johnson & Wales University.
COMPLETE RESULTS
