SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –
Lucas Hughes '24 and
William Maffei '27 both placed sixth in their respective weight classes, leading the Wesleyan wrestling team to a seventh place finish out of 17 teams at the New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Futures Tournament on Sunday hosted by Western New England. The Cardinals scored 50 team points on the day, good enough for seventh place, while Castleton claimed the victory with four first place finishers.
Wrestling for the final time in his career, Hughes left his mark in a big way, earning a pair of wins in the 174 flight by pinfall to get the action started. He pinned Timothy Smale of Southern Maine in 2:21 in the opening round and followed with another pin in the round of 16, getting a tap at 3:36 in his match against Teddy Tonna of Norwich. Hughes' run in the winners bracket came to an end in the quarterfinal, but he rebounded with a 17-1 tech fall victory over the #5 seed David Lisk of Western New England. In the fifth-place bout, Hughes lost in a 7-5 decision to the #2 seed Caleb Rojas of Castleton.
In the 197 bracket, Maffei went on a run in the consolation half to earn his sixth-place finish. He opened with a pin in 43 seconds and followed with another pin, this time in 1:23. Needing one more win to advance to the fifth-place match, he landed a third consecutive win by pinfall, defeating Nick Blitz in 3:58. Maffei fell to Matt Myers of RIC in the fifth-place bout by major decision, but his run of three wins by pinfall earned him the sixth-place result.
Kellen Horst '26 tied for the team-lead with four wins on the day in a competitive 141 flight. He started with a pinfall in 2:41 in the opening round of the championship flight before suffering a defeat in the next round. He then went on a three-match win streak in the consolation flight, taking a 12-9 decision win over Colin Sevigney of Southern Maine before he knocked off Joseph Gangi of New England College by a 12-6 decision. Horst then landed a crucial pin with just 31 seconds left, defeating Jonathan Fabrizio of Roger Williams. Needing one more win to make it to the fifth-place bout, Horst fell just one win shy as he lost in a major decision in the consolation semifinals.
As the #8 seed in the 165 bracket,
Akiva Lind '26 opened with a pinfall victory in 4:06 before a 13-2 major decision victory, advancing to the quarterfinal round of the championship flight. Lind then suffered a tech fall loss to the #1 seed and he then suffered an 8-3 decision loss to the #6 seed in the consolation flight.
Roman Martinez '27 came in as the #8 seed in the 184 weight class and he had a productive start, defeating the #5 seed Michael Sanchez of Southern Maine in a 16-10 decision in the opening round. Martinez rolled in the round of 16 with a pin in 4:20, moving on the quarterfinals where he suffered an 8-3 decision loss to #4 seed Cruz Henton of Castleton. Martinez then took a close 6-5 decision defeat in the consolation flight, finishing with a 2-2 record on the day.
Noah Lim '27 picked up a pair of wins in the 133 flight, earning a first round pinfall victory in 4:21 and then landing a pin in 33 seconds in the consolation flight, to finish his day with a 2-2 record.
JT Thomas '26 landed a pinfall win in the 157 consolation flight while
Ciaran Edwards '25 had a pin in the 165 consolation bracket.
Wesleyan shifts their focus onto the Northeast Regional Championships next weekend, hosted by WPI, from March 2-3. The top three finishers in each weight class earns a bid into the 2024 NCAA Division III Championships held in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
