Tournament Results

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Senior Bobby Christopher (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) finished runner-up in the heavyweight division as the Gettysburg College wrestling team kicked off the new season at the King's College Monarch Invitational on Saturday.

Gettysburg totaled 48.5 points on the strength of five top-six finishes. The Bullets finished seventh as a team with 24th-ranked Wilkes University grabbing the top spot with 155 points.

After winning the event last season, Christopher earned the top seed and a first-round bye on Saturday. He worked over Oneonta's Christopher Pike for a 9-5 decision in his debut and advanced to the championship match by way of a medical forfeit in the semis. The Bullet senior was prevented from repeating as Nick Cambi from Roger Williams pulled off a 3-1 decision.

The heavyweight division proved to be Gettysburg's most profitable division as sophomore Kevin Poplaski (North Reading, Mass./St. John's Prep) grabbed fourth place. He had a busier afternoon than his heavyweight counterpart, wrestling six times and coming away with four wins. After opening with a pin in his season debut, Poplaski lost 6-4 to Wilkes University's Christopher Smith. He bounced back in the consolation bracket with a trio of wins before Smith again edged out a two-point decision (5-3) in the third-place match.

Gettysburg's newcomers made the most of their collegiate debuts as every freshmen scored a win. Jared Leon (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) was the highest-placing first-year with a fourth-place effort at 174 pounds. Leon scored 7-4 and 7-3 victories in his first two matches before losing 4-2 to eventual champ Dustin Stough of Wilkes. Leon picked up another decision in the consolation bracket before Stough's teammate, Raymond Dungee, edged the Bullet 7-6 in the consolation finals.

Leon wasn't the lone Bullet to place in the 174 bracket as Mike Sheehan (Fairfield, Conn./Ludlowe) finished fifth. Sheehan downed Brad Burridge of Oneonta State 9-2 before running into Stough and falling 6-3 in the next round. Sheehan avoided a confrontation with a teammate in the wrestleback as fellow first-year Anton Serhan (Needham, Mass./Needham) suffered an injury after posting a pin for his first collegiate win. After earning the medical forfeit, Sheehan logged a 10-3 win over Oneonta's Frankie Provenzano to before losing to Dungee by pin. The Bullet freshman rebounded in the fifth-place final for a 3-2 win over Johann Roebelen of Roger Williams.

Freshman Jared Schlett (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) had the misfortune of drawing King's Mike Reilly in his collegiate debut at 184 pounds. Reilly, ranked third in the nation and the top seed, handed the Bullet a technical fall (18-3) on his way to a dominating championship performance which included three technical falls and a pin. Schlett came right back in the consolation bracket with four wins, including three by pin. After falling to the eventual third-place finisher, he blasted through Oneonta's Chad Obzud in the fifth-place match in just 22 seconds.

Freshmen Matt Spano (Wappinger's Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and Dan Grabfelder (Collegeville, Pa./Germantown Academy) each met the eventual tournament champion at 125 and 165, respectively. Spano won his first match in both the championship and consolation brackets, while Grabfelder, like Schlett, fell in his collegiate debut to the top seed before bouncing back with a pin in the wrestleback.

Sophomore Joe Fiore (Hicksville, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) and Marshall Puls (New York, N.Y./Hotchkiss) each earned wins in their season debuts. At 157, Fiore posted a 14-0 major decision over RIT's Adam Hugunine, while Puls logged a decision at 197 before he was sidelined with an injury for the rest of the tournament.

Gettysburg returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 10, with a non-conference dual at the University of Scranton at 7 p.m.