COLLEGEVILLE (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's wrestling team competed in the annual Racich Rumble hosted by Ursinus College on Saturday and had seven wrestlers place including three runner up finishers.
First-year 125-pounder Jacob Blair, first-year heavyweight Logan Flynn, and junior 197-pounder Dan Eckley all took home second place honors.
Sophomore Ryan Arndt earned third place in the 133-pound bracket and fellow sophomore Greg Croce took fifth place at 157 pounds. Senior Austin Williams finished fifth at 285 pounds and sophomore Malachi Harvey placed sixth at 141 pounds.
Blair began the day with an 11-5 decision over Tanner Thatcher (Worcester Polytechnic) and then earned a thrilling 5-4 decision over Terry Adams (Ursinus). Adams was a national qualifier a year ago and came into this tournament ranked seventh in the nation. That win propelled Blair to the finals where he faced another nationally-ranked opponent in Jared Kuhns (York) who out dueled Blair with an 11-3 major decision. Blair went 3-1 on the day.
Eckley also had a 3-1 showing for the Aggies with two wins by decision and a win by fall. He began his day with a 5-1 decision over Tyler Phenegar (Elizabethtown) and followed that with a first period pin of Dawson Tallant (Wilkes). Eckley needed just 2:53 to get Tallant to his back and end the match. In the semi-finals, Eckley was matched up against nationally-ranked Mauro Pellot (Alvernia) and pulled out an upset victory with a wild 8-6 decision. Eckley finished runner-up after losing by tech. fall to Camden Farrow of York.
Flynn followed with a 3-1 day to lead to the team's third runner-up finish of the day. He began his run with a pair of wins over MAC wrestlers. First he used a dominant 15-4 major decision to get by Nick Valenzano (King's) and then he took a 6-2 decision from Nevin Rauch (Wilkes). In the semi-finals he earned a narrow 3-0 decision over Shane Whitney (Camden County) to punch his ticket to the finals. There he battled Dylan Waller (Elizabethtown), but dropped a close 3-1 decision.
Arndt went 5-1 on the day and began his tournament with two big wins by tech. fall and major decision. He followed that with a 6-3 decision over Anthony Portillo (Alvernia) before dropping his first match of the day by 6-1 decision.
Croce and Williams each posted 4-2 records en route to their fifth place finishes.
The Aggies will return to action one week from today at Baldwin Wallace.
