WILKES-BARRE (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's wrestling team opened its 2021-22 season at the Ned McGinley Invitational hosted by King's College and placed 8th out of 15 teams led by third place finishes from Youssef Ait Boulahri and Russell Benson.
Benson, a junior 141 pounder, and Ait Boulahri, the senior 174 pounder each went 5-1 on the day and earned wins in their final matches for the third place title. The Aggies got fourth place finishes from sophomore heavyweight Dan Eckley, first-year 149 pounder Greg Croce and first-year 125 pounder Ryan Kelly.
Benson won his first three matches by decision, before dropping a 5-3 decision to Chris Horton from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He bounced back with a 6-4 decision over Cody Williams of Greensboro and earned third place with a 10-1 major decision over Blake Shalbert from conference foe York College.
Ait Boulahri began his day with a 13-1 major decision and won the next two by decisions. He dropped an 11-5 decision to Demitereus Henry of Cortland but battled Ben Dougherty (RIT) for a 7-5 decision in the third place bout.
Croce and Eckley also recorded 5-1 days but reached their six-match limit before they had a chance to compete in the 3rd/4th place bout.
Croce handled a pair of MAC competitors in his first two matches. He defeated Bret Murphy of King's by 15-6 major decision and fought off Kyle Tino for a 10-9 decision. His lone setback came by first period fall to Mike Glynn of RIT but he came back with two decisions and a medical forfeit. Along the way he defeated another MAC athlete in Nick Paolucci of York, 6-4.
Eckley impressed with two-straight wins by fall to start the day. After getting pinned by Nico Ramirez of Sothern Virginia, Eckley earned his third fall of the day against Sean McCurdy of Wilkes. In his final bout of the day, Eckley was matched against his teammate Austin Williams and came away with a 6-2 decision.
Kelly rounded out the Aggie place winners with another 5-1 day. He pinned a pair of MAC athletes to start the day in Darevin Curlee of King's and Nicholas Bauer of Wilkes. He lost by fall to Cody Merwin of Cortland but took a convincing 15-7 major decision against Ari Dinerman to advance. Kelly closed his day with a pair of decisions where he tallied 19 points combined to 12 points against.
Full results from the Ned McGinley Invitational can be found here.
