MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – It was a near perfect start to the dual match portion of the 2023-24 season for the Wesleyan wrestling team as the Cardinals picked up a pair of wins in a tri-meet on Saturday from the Bacon Field House. Wesleyan (2-0) earned a flawless 54-0 win over Bridgewater State (0-3) and followed with a 38-13 victory over WPI (2-1).

• WES 54, BSU 0 | RESULTS
• WES 38, WPI 13 | RESULTS

The Cardinals opened with a dominant showing against the Bears, winning all 10 matches including seven by pinfall. This represents the first shutout win for Wesleyan in a dual match since defeating Daniel Webster 51-0 back in 2015. Meanwhile, the 54 points is the most scored in a dual by the Cardinals since defeating Western New England 55-0 in 2010.
 
An explosive start saw Chris Hong '27 score 21 points in a tech fall win over Adam Distasio at 125, as the first-year finished the match in 4:55. Next came four straight wins via pinfall including one from Ike Guttentag '26 at 149 that took just 10 seconds. Terry Brannigan '24 finished Joseph Cahill in 1:07 at 133 while Shailen Savur '25 earned a pin in 1:00 against Alex Guaman Castro at 141. CJ Shea '25 got his pin at 157 in just 51 seconds against Jack Janes.
 
Andrew Maiorini '25 won a competitive match at 165, defeating Michael Hopkins in a 7-1 decision. Marcus Brown '25 came through with a pin at 174, starting another streak of three straight pinfall wins as Aris Dashiell '25 pinned Christian Curley at 184 in 2:52 and Dean Omirly '25 got a tap in his match at 197 in 1:53. Kolton Gagnon '25 finished off the shutout win with a 12-0 major decision victory in the 285 match.
 
Rolling right into the start of the WPI match, the Engineers earned a win at 125 by major decision but the Cardinals responded with five straight wins to build a 29-4 lead. Brannigan won in a forfeit at 133, followed by a strong showing from Hayden Myers '27 as he pinned Mason Basara at 141 in 2:26. Guttentag rolled at 149, defeating Connor Doran in a 15-0 tech fall, while Shea picked up his second pin of the day, earning a tap in 1:08 against Zachary Rioux at 157.
 
Maiorini earned his second win of the day, pinning Ryan Hsu in 3:50 at 165. WPI came up with a pin at 174 but Dashiell answered back with a 16-13 decision victory at 184 to clinch the match win for the Cardinals.
 
Omirly was defeated in a close 4-3 decision at 197 to Joe Bernard before Gagnon finished strong with a pin at 285 against Trevor Bowen in 4:53 to seal the 38-13 victory.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a shift back to tournament wrestling as the team heads to Ursinus College for the Will Abele Invitational on Saturday, January 13. Competition is set to begin at 10 AM from the Floy Lewis Bakes Center in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.