Men’s Wrestling secured their fourth consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship and five individual championships on Saturday, January 20.
The Ducks accumulated 166.5 points, outplacing the other five teams competing for the title, and just eight and a half points in front of runner-up, Alvernia University. Graduate students Akhil Vega, Pasquale Vizzoni, and Stefan Major, senior Joel Martsinovsky, and sophomore Ryan Smith won conference championships in their respective weight classes and were just five of the Ducks’ 13 place-winners during the day. In addition to each of these wrestlers being titled First Team All-MAC, teammates junior Blaise Wagner and sophomore Nico Diaz seized second-team all-league and senior Andrew Finateri and junior Harrison Hinojosa received the Third Team All-MAC honor. This MAC victory was both their fourth in a row and the program’s ninth total since being in the Centennial Conference.
2024 had already started strong for the team when they saw a 50-0 win against New Jersey City University (NJCU) on January 5 in their Mental Health Awareness Match. NJCU, already faced with a three forfeit disadvantage in weight classes 197, 285, and 125, lost to two technical falls, three decisions, and two pins by Major and Martsinovsky. A notable victory in this match was 157, where Smith defeated Jeff Johnson, who is currently a fifth-year captain at NJCU and ranked second in the Mideast region, 8-7.
At the Budd Whitehill Duals hosted by Lycoming College, the team then took on McDaniel College, Wilkes University, Ithaca College, Washington and Lee University, and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Friday, January 12, saw pure success with the Ducks achieving scores of 30-12 (McDaniel College), 27-15 (Wilkes University), and 31-9 (Ithaca College). Vega along with Smith, Major, Martsinovsky, Diaz, senior Luke Hoerle, juniors Chris Stathopoulos and Brendan Newbury, and first-year Carmen Cortese all finished day one with only wins on their scoreboards, although Vega and Hoerle were the only ones who wrestled all three matches.
Following their 3-0 record in pool play, the Ducks competed in the Championship Semifinal against Washington and Lee University first thing on Saturday, January 13. They secured a 31-13 victory with a forfeit, a technical, two decisions, an injury, and a pin by Finateri at 133. At 1:30 p.m., the Ducks began their fight for the tournament win against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Despite four decision wins, the Ducks were defeated 26-13, leaving them in second place. This is the second year in a row that the team was defeated by Wisconsin at this tournament.
Today, Friday, February 2, the Ducks will be taking on Washington and Lee University once again, this time in Lexington, VA, and tomorrow, February 3, they’ll be competing in the Southeast Futures Tournament in Salem, VA, hosted by Roanoke College.
