ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Wesleyan wrestling team continues to make strides as the Cardinals finished off the fall semester with a third-place finish at the RIT Invitational competing against a strong 15-team field that including No. 6 nationally-ranked John Carroll and the host Tigers. The Cardinals were led once again by 174 lb champion
Marco Gaita '23 while five total wrestlers had podium finishes on the day.
"We had probably our best performance of the season so far in our last competition of the fall semester," said Wesleyan head coach
Drew Black. "The team is showing steady improvement. We continue to incline as we move towards the dual portion of our season in the new year."
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Gaita won his second straight tournament bracket at 174, earning his way to the finals by way of four wins by pin. In the title bout, Gaita won by a 6-2 decision over the fourth-seed Ben Dougherty of RIT, with his points coming via two takedowns, an escape, and a riding time point. Gaita went 5-0 on his way to a second straight title, having won at 174 at the Doug Parker Invitational on November 19.
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Greg Fischer '23 was a finalist for the Cardinals at 125. Fischer closed out a 9-5 win over Aiden Prunoske of RIT in the quarterfinals before defeating Edward Alizio of Case Western in the semis. In the title match, Fischer fell to David Yeh of Williams by a 10-2 major decision, as the Cardinal senior took the runner-up finish.
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At 133 lbs,
Shailen Savur '25 made his first collegiate final, advancing to the title match as the seven-seed. He recorded two wins by pin before knocking off the #2 seed Adam Schaeublin of Trinity 8-5 in the quarters before taking down the #3 seed Lee Rubin of RIT 9-6 in the semis to secure a top 2 finish.
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Aaron Goldman '23 made his way to the 157 lb finals match via two wins by pin and a decision victory in the semis. In the final, he was edged 4-1 by top-seed Patrick McGraw of John Carrolll.
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At 165 lbs,
Jack Reusing '25 place third, highlighted by two pins, a tech fall, and a win by major decision. After falling in the semis of the main draw, Reusing came back and managed a great bounce back performance as he defeated Liam Strouse of RIT by a 10-1 major decision.
The Cardinals have one more week of practice before finals week and holiday break. Wesleyan will be back in action at Bridgewater St. with a dual match against the hosts and WPI on January 7th for the first duals of the season.
Final Results:
125 -
Greg Fischer (2nd, 4-1)
133 -
Shailen Savur (2nd, 4-1)
157 -
Aaron Goldman (2nd, 3-1)
165 -
Jack Reusing (3rd, 4-1)
174 -
Marco Gaita (1st, 5-0)
Other top Performers:
133 -
Terry Brannigan (3-2)
141 -
Max Martinez (2-2)
149 -
Jack Wemmlinger (2-1)
157 -
Felix Clayton (3-2)
157 -
Andrew Maiorini (4-2)
184 -
Aris Dashiell (3-2)
285 -
Kolton Gagnon (3-2)