The wrestling team traveled to Bethlehem, Penn., to compete in the Sheridan Invitational Saturday for one last tune-up before the dual-meet season begins.
After finishing fourth, third and first in their first three invitationals, the Blue Devils had high expectations going into this weekend's competition. Those expectations, however, were not met as the team wrestled its way to a ninth-place finish in the 10-team field.
"We expected a lot," head coach Bill Harvey said. "We knew it was going to be a real good field, but we thought we could finish in the middle of the pack."
Injuries on the wrestling team were a factor in its ninth-place finish. The team was without starters senior Dan Goffredo (injured ribs) and freshman Jacob Hart (injured foot).
The Blue Devils were also dealt a blow when freshman Dan Covatta, who was seeded first in the 142-pound weight class, had to default because of an ankle injury.
All three wrestlers could have added points that would have changed the overall team standings.
"When you figure how many points [Goffredo, Hart and Convatta] could have gotten we could have been right in there," Harvey said.
Sophomore Scott Frinzi, seeded third in the 134-pound weight division, only had to win one match to reach the semifinal round. Frinzi accomplished this by beating Don Rosas of Bloomsburg 4-3, but then lost to Charlie Morgan from Morgan State 7-5. Frinzi ended the day at fourth-place in his division, but he said that he was not satisfied with his performance.
"I don't think I wrestled well at all," Frinzi said. "The competition was definitely the strongest we met all year, but the team lacked a little something thing this time."
"We wrestled well until we got to the semifinal round," Harvey said. "Those semifinal matches were tough. We wrestled against some outstanding individuals."
One tough semifinal match involved freshman Chris Heckel. Heckel won each of his first two contests in the 126-pound weight class by scores of 12-3 before losing to Bloomsburg's Dan Rozanski 8-3 in the semis.
"It is a really tough tournament," Heckel said. "You're not going to meet somebody who is not a good wrestler."
Heckel finished the competition with a respectable fourth-place in his division.
Junior Dan Lilley turned in a solid performance and also scored a fourth-place finish for the Blue Devils in the 150-pound weight class. Lilley won his first two matches 8-6 and 9-3 before losing in the semifinal round to Jason Hawk of Rutgers 10-1.
This tournament was slightly different than the previous three due to the way the brackets were arranged.
The unusual set-up had a negative effect for the overall finishes of juniors Jeremy Godwin and John Kays. Godwin won two matches and lost one but finished ninth, and Kays won three matches and lost one but finished fifth.
"If [Kays] had wrestled in a regular tournament he could have gotten third," Harvey said.
This was the last tournament the team will have as the dual-meet season begins after semester break.
"The past few tournaments were a good tune-up for the dual-meet season," Frinzi said. "We are really excited for the dual meets to start. I think the break will give us time to fine tune ourselves and [learn from] the mistakes that we made in the tournament."
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