Rutgers Wrestling Finishes Sixth at Navy Classic
Nov 18 | Wrestling
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Rutgers wrestling team posted a sixth-place finish at the Navy Classic on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights tallied 48.5 points to finish sixth in the 13-team field, while host-Navy won the event with 148.5 team points. Bloomsburg was second with 141.5 points and West Virginia took third with 102 points.
Dan Hilt (Manalapan, N.J.) and Jack Barrett (Metuchen, N.J.) highlighted Rutgers' performance, both posted fourth-place finishes. Hilt took fourth at 133 pounds, while Barrett was the fourth-place finisher at 149 pounds. Chris Norrell (Phillipsburg, N.J.) also placed for the Scarlet Knights, taking sixth at 157 pounds.
In the 125-pound bracket, Andrew DelGuercio (Media, Pa.) went 1-2, recording a 7-6 consolation decision win over McDaniel's Tim Hall following a first-round loss to Liberty's Sean Katz. In his second consolation match, DelGuercio was eliminated by Campbell's Richie Apolinar.
Dan Hilt (Manalapan, N.J.) posted a fourth-place finish. Hilt made it to the quarterfinals following a first-round pin over West Virginia's Vince Gioiella at the 6:54 mark. In his next match, he dropped a tough 3-2 decision to fifth-seeded Brad Cipriani of Duquesne. Hilt won a 7-3 decision over Liberty's Sam Walters, followed by a 2-1 overtime win over Zach McCray, also over Liberty, to advance to the third-place bout. In the consolation semifinal, he won a 6-5 decision over Duquesne's Jayk Cobbs, but fell to Cipriani, 5-4, in the third-place match.
Rutgers had two entries in the 141-pound bracket in Kyle Milanese (Delran, N.J.) and Chris Battaglia (Warren, N.J.). Milanese posted a 5-2 win over fifth-seeded Jim Avola of Davidson, followed by an 8-5 win over Navy's Caleb Levee in the quarterfinals. Milanese moved to the consolation bracket following a 7-0 loss to Liberty's Tim Harner, the fourth seed in the tournament. In his first consolation match, Milanese fell to Knapp, 6-1.
Battaglia dropped two consecutive matches, falling to David Emerson of George Mason, 16-4, in the second round, followed by a loss to Avola in his first consolation match.
At 149 pounds, Barrett finished fourth, starting with a 9-4 decision win over Delaware's Arturo Holmes in the first round. In his second match, he defeated Navy's Joel Ahem, the fourth seed,
3-1. In the semifinals, Barrett fell to eventual-champion, Navy's John Cox by a technical fall. To advance to the third-place bout, Barrett beat Bloomsburg's Dennis Burmudez, 9-5, before falling to Ahem, 12-2, in his final match.
Ryan Rotelli (Lodi, N.J.) and Dan Pedone (Charlotte, N.C.) also competed at 149 pounds, falling in his first match to Bloomsburg's Matt Moley by fall. Rotelle then dropped a 9-4 decision to Navy's David Ingram in the consolation bracket. Pendone dropped his first-round match, 21-6, to Bucknell's Anthony Deleo. In his first consolation match, Pedone was eliminated by Delaware's Will Saylor.
The Scarlet Knights' Norrell took sixth at 157 pounds. Following a 7-5 first-round loss to Delaware's Josh McGregor, Norrell pinned Binghamton's Chris Klucka at the 5:15 mark and then posted a fall against Bloomsburg's Robert Hoffman 4:32 into the match to advance to the consolation semifinals. Bucknell's Brantley Hooks edged out Norrell, 5-4, putting Norrell in the fifth-place bout. George Mason's Robert Henry won by fall over Norrell.
Rutgers had two Scarlet Knights compete in the 165-pound bracket in Joe Troise (East Hanover, N.J.) and Matt Pletcher (Eastampton, N.J.). Troise fell in his first-round match, 7-4, to Binghamton's Sam Sirota, but rebounded with a pin at the 3:23 mark over Liberty's Taylor Hartsfield in the first round of consolation matches. In his next match, he fell to Navy's Jesse Feinsod, 8-0. Following a first-round loss to third-seeded Robert Johnston of Navy, Pletcher dropped a 4-3 decision to Campbell's Brent Poynter.
Keith Dobish (Lodi, N.J.) won his first-round match over Delaware's Chris Woodall in a 3-2 decision, before falling to top-seeded Nate Shirk of Bloomsburg, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. In the first round of consolation, Dobish pinned Navy's Brad Pendock at the 1:30 mark before falling to West Virginia's Chance Litton, the tournament's fifth seed, in a 3-1 overtime decision.
At 197 pounds, Karim Mahmoud (Wallington, N.J.) posted a first-round 6-1 win over Bucknell's David Bernstein, before falling to Navy's Phil Neese in a 5-2 decision in the quarterfinals. Mahmoud dropped his first consolation match in a 6-2 decision to Bloomsburg's P.J. Distefano. Mike Elshamy (Brick, N.J.) also competed at 197 pounds, falling in his first-round match to third-seeded Tyler Moyer of Navy. Elshamy defaulted due to injury in the consolation bracket.
Mike D'Amico (Kenilworth, N.J.) earned the fourth seed in the tournament, winning his first-round match in overtime, 5-4, over Navy's Josh Priebe. In the quarterfinals, he fell, 5-2, to Campbell's Jeremiah Fennell. In the consolation bracket, D'Amico posted a pin at the 3:01 mark over McDaniel's Keith English, before falling to Ryan Deiter, 6-4, also of McDaniel.
The Scarlet Knights will be idle until Friday, Dec. 1, when they open up their dual-match slate as they return to Annapolis, Md. for a match-up with Navy at 7:00 p.m. at Lejeune Hall.
