LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee wrestling team finished third out of 11 teams as it hosted the W&L Invitational on Saturday at the Warner Center.
The Generals notched 97.5 total points to finish behind only St. Andrew's (127.0) and West Virginia Tech (125.0).
W&L claimed two individual champions and six total place-winners on the day. Sophomore 174-pounder Ron Tassoni (Media, Pa. / Haverford School) won the individual title at 174 pounds, while first-year Bennett Lewis (St. Louis, Mo. / Westminster Christian) took the 197-pound bracket.
Sophomore Zac Richey (Swoope, Va. / Buffalo Gap) placed second in the 184-pound weight class, while first-year Michael Rodgers (Allentown, Pa. / Allentown Central Catholic) finished third in the 141-pound bracket. Sophomore 285-pounder Grant Cokeley (Charleston, W.Va. / George Washington) placed fourth in his weight class and first-year 165-pounder Mac Evarts (Millersville, Pa. / Penn Manor) finished fifth in his bracket.
Tassoni went 4-0 overall on the day to claim the 174-pound bracket. He opened with a 10-0 win over Patrick Good of Liberty, then posted a 15-4 win over Colton Rowe of West Virginia Tech. He continued with a 17-6 win over Denzel Leggett of St. Andrew's in the semifinals, before cruising to an 11-0 victory over Aaron Wallace of West Virginia Tech in the finals.
Lewis went 3-0 in the 197-pound bracket to claim the title. He opened with a bye, before pinning Brandon Davis of Liberty in 2:28. Lewis then advanced by forfeit over Terry Nance of West Virginia Tech and he then recorded an 11-9 win over Chris Silakoski of Scranton in the finals.
Richey logged a 2-1 overall record in placing as the runner-up in the 184-pound bracket. After receiving a first round bye, he pinned Jake Hubbard of Hampden-Sydney in 3:15. In the semifinals, he notched a 17-2 technical fall victory over Christian Decker of Southern Virginia, before falling to Tola Morakinyo of West Virginia Tech in the finals, 7-3.
Rodgers went 4-1 on the day to place third in the 141-pound bracket. His day began with a 12-3 win over Andrew Levin of Bridgewater and continued with a pin of Hampden-Sydney's Nick Fletcher in 1:41. Rodgers was pinned by Scranton's James Kelly in the semifinals (4:04) and he then notched a 13-0 win over Scranton's Pierce Keane in the consolation round. Rodgers finished with a win by fall (5:45) over St. Andrew's Randy Hawes in the third place match.
Evarts received a first-round bye in the 165-pound bracket, but fell in his first match to Alex Knight of St. Andrew's by a score of 4-2. He then received another bye in the consolation bracket, before notching a win by fall (2:14) over Bridgewater's Travis Herald. Evarts then fell to Jemson Villard of St. Andrew's, 13-6, before picking up a forfeit win over Markevis Duncan of East Tennessee State in the fifth-place match to finish 2-2 overall.
Cokeley won his opening match of the 285-pound bracket by downing James Boozer of ETSU, 5-0. He then fell to Aaron McMillion of Bridgewater, 7-4. Cokeley rebounded with a 2-0 win over Henry Reeves of VMI and posted a win by fall (1:24) over Daniel Siler of Bridgewater to advance to the third-place match. In that match, he dropped a second decision to McMillion by a score of 5-2 to finish with a 3-2 record.
Washington and Lee returns to action next Saturday when it hosts McDaniel and the Merchant Marine Academy for matches beginning at 11:00 am.
-- http://www.generalssports.com --
