NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Williams College wrestling team had a strong first day of competition at the NCAA Regional hosted by the Coast Guard Academy, with nine of 10 wrestlers advancing to the second day and six going unbeaten directly into Sunday's semifinal matches.
The top three wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the NCAA Championship, which will be held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 13-14. The team scores after the first day of competition had the Ephs in second place of 19 participating schools with 98 points, 6.5 points behind Springfield College and two points ahead of third-place Castleton.
The Ephs won all of their matches in the weight classes from 149 up to 197, with Caleb Seyfried (149), Peter Kane (157), Henry Forte (165), Gage Wiggins (174), Jamie Evarts (184) and Zach Borzio (197) all moving into Sunday's semifinal matches, where they will wrestle for a spot at Nationals.
The wrestlers moving into Sunday's competition through the consolation bracket are Christopher Colon (125), Tylor Stubbs (141), and Connor Reynolds (285). First-year Jake Strianese (133) won his first match of the day, a fall at 8:30 over Joel Puri of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the round of 32, but took a difficult 16-15 decision loss in the next round, earned a 17-1 technical fall in his first consolation match but lost his second via 8-2 decision to end his first trip to regionals.
Of the six wrestlers advancing to the semifinals, Borzio had the toughest road, starting with an unlucky draw that meant he was one of only two Ephs who had to wrestle in the round of 32. He came out on top of a tight 4-3 decision over Joe Bernard of WPI, but then won consecutive matches by fall, the first after just 47 seconds over a wrestler from Southern Maine and the second after 2:26 over a competitor from Wesleyan. The junior, seeded #3 in the tournament, will take on #2 seed Nick Rogers of Springfield College in the semifinal.Â
Seyfried, a #2 seed, moved in the semifinal with a 12-3 major decision over a wrestler from Rhode Island College and a 16-0 technical fall over Maine Maritime, and will take on Ike Guttentag of Wesleyan on Sunday. Kane came in as a #1 seed, and pinned his opponent from Southern Maine in 28 seconds in the round of 16 before winning a 7-3 decision over Ryan Kozdra of Springfield in the quarterfinal.
Wiggins (seeded #2) used two pins, one after 40 seconds over Emmanuel College in the round of 16 and another after 4:50 against Western New England in the quarterfinal, to advance to Sunday unscathed, and Evarts (seeded #2) had a fall (2:46 over Trinity) and a tech fall (17-1 over Emmanuel) to move on. Wiggins will take on Aidan Faria of RIC in his semifinal, while Evarts faces Caden Stout of Coast Guard in his bracket. Forte, the top seed at 165, won via major decision 21-4 over Southern Maine in his first match and via fall (6:29) over Springfield in the quarterfinal, and will take on Jack Richardson of Johnson & Wales on Sunday.
The wrestlers moving on through the consolation bracket include Colon, who won his first match in the round of 16 over Roger Williams via 18-3 tech fall, but lost in a sudden victory match against Coast Guard in the quarterfinal. Colon won his first match in the consolation bracket, an 11-4 decision over Carter Noble of Southern Maine, and will face Chris Hong of Wesleyan on Sunday to continue moving through the bracket.
Stubbs lost his first match, a 16-15 heartbreaker against Michael Follo of New England College in the round of 16, but won two straight major decisions in the consolation bracket, and will face Jared Hood of Emmanuel on Sunday. At heavyweight, Connor Reynolds also lost in the first round before winning two, first a 12-0 major decision over Southern Maine and then a tight 3-2 decision over Brandon Lavasta of NEC. He will take on Jayden Toppan of Roger Williams on Sunday for the opportunity to move on.
The team scores after Saturday's competition are as follows:
1 Springfield (104.5)
2 Williams (98)
3 Castleton (96)
4 Coast Guard (93)
5 Johnson & Wales (91)
6 Wesleyan (66.5)
7 Trinity (53.5)
8 Western New England (50.5)
9 Roger Williams (41)
10 Norwich (37)
11 Southern Maine (36)
12 Emmanuel (33)
13 Bridgewater State (32)
14 Rhode Island College (30.5)
15 WPI (26)
16 New England College (21)
17 Plymouth State (12)
18 Maine Maritime (7)
19 Utica (3)
Competition starts at 10am on Sunday with live stats available here.Â
