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Grantham, PA - Josh Thomson (174) and Lucas Malmberg (125) won their respective weight classes and led the Falcons to a third place finish with 137 points at the annual Petrofes Invitational. Wilkes finished in second place with 154 points, and Wisconsin-Whitewater took the team championship with 161.5 points. Other Falcons who placed include Chris Williamson (149, 2nd), Larry Cannon (157, 3rd), Greg Kabakjian (157, 8th), Derek Beitz (165, 4th,), Jeff Hojnacki (165, 6th), Tyler Schell (174, 5th), Kyle Koser (197, 7th), Nick Havener (285, 4th), Isaiah Shipman (285, 5th), and Jason Wright (285, 7th).

No. 2 Lucas Malmberg started his championship journey with a 3:00 fall over Andrew Gauthier of Bridgewater State. Malmberg followed his first round pin with another fall over Sean Kuklisin of Baldwin Wallace in just 1:00. He continued his dominance with an 18-1 technical fall over Noah Malamut of Gettysburg College. In the semifinals, Malmberg earned his first decision with an 8-3 victory of Zac Denny from Wisconsin Whitewater. Malmberg ran into a familiar foe in the finals in No. 3 Jesse Gunter from Baldwin Wallace. He kept his winning ways over Gunter with a 6-2 decision and earned the 125 pound Petrofes Invitational title.
 
In the 149 pound weight class, Chris Williamson earned a tough 5-3 overtime win in the first round over Seth McCurdy of Mount Union. Williamson grinded out his quarterfinal and semifinal matches with close 3-2, and 5-2 decisions. In the finals, Williamson lost a close 5-3 decision to Ben Kazimir of Mount Union. Kazimir scored a first period takedown, which ultimately was the deciding factor of the match.
 
No. 9 Larry Cannon won by fall in 4:40 at 157 pounds over Zach Wilhelm of Stevens Institute of Technology in his first match of the tournament. In the round of 16, Cannon had to earn a tough 8-7 decision over Conrad Lacey of West Virginia Tech. Cannon took great shot attempts throughout the match and was in excellent scoring position, but Conrad Lacey countered with tough shot defense to fend off Cannon's shots. Cannon scored a late takedown in the third period to tie score at six with 30 seconds remaining in the match and decided to give Lacey an escape and look for the winning takedown. His strategy worked and Cannon scored the final takedown with seconds remaining to capture the 8-7 victory.
 
Next, Cannon defeated Jesse Gross from Mount Union in the quarterfinals by a 6-0 decision. The semifinals were tough for Cannon as he lost a 5-1 decision to Derek Arnold of Ursinus College. After the loss he dropped to the consolation semifinals where he defeated Tom Gerszewski of Wisconsin-Whitewater by an 8-3 decision. Cannon went on to win his third place match by a 9-3 decision over Sean Lombardi of Wilkes University.
 
The Falcons had another place winner in the 157 pound bracket in Greg Kabakjian. The Falcon lost his first match of the tournament to Tom Gerszewski of Wisconsin-Whitewater by an 8-0 major decision. After dropping to the consolation bracket, Kabakjian won four straight matches where he met Gerszewski again in the consolation quarterfinals. Kabakjian lost by technical fall and fell to the 7th place match. In the 7th place match he lost a close 7-5 decision over Jacob Tremoulis of Mount Union.
 
At the 165 pound weight class, Derek Beitz won his first round match by a 17-0 technical fall. Then, Beitz locked up a tight cross face cradle on Sean Szitas of Mount Union and earned a fall in 2:01. In the quarterfinal Beitz lost by a close 8-7 decision to Colin Navickas of Stevens Institute of Technology. Beitz rallied off two falls and a medical forfeit to put himself in the 3rd place match. In the third place match, Beitz lost by a 10-6 decision to CJ Caserta from Stevens Institute of Technology.
 
Another Falcon placed in the 165 pound bracket in Jeff Hojnacki. Hojnacki won his first three matches by fall to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals Hojnacki lost by a 14-9 decision in overtime to Colin Navickas of Stevens Institute of Technology. In the overtime period Hojnacki was taken down and caught on his back for three near fall points. In the consolation semifinals Hojncaki loss a close 6-5 decision and fell to the fifth place match where he lost another 5-4 decision to Tyler Becker of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
 
The second champion for the Falcons was No. 3 Josh Thomson at 174 pounds. Thomson blew by his competition on his way to the finals with a fall, two technical falls, and a medical forfeit to reach the finals. In the finals Thomson wrestled Garrett Chase of Baldwin Wallace who he lost to earlier in the year at the Mount Union Duals. Thomson avenged his loss with a 3-2 decision. Thomson scored a takedown off a single leg in the first period, which would be the deciding factor of the match.
 
Tyler Schell was another place winner for the Falcons at the 174 pound weight class as he finished in 5th place. Schell earned two falls to reach the semifinals where he lost by fall to Garrett Chase of Baldwin Wallace. The match was scoreless in the first period, but Chase proved to be tough in the top position during the second period and earned the fall. After the loss, Schell dropped to the consolation semifinals where he lost a 6-2 decision to Zachary Bass of Stevens Institute of Technology. Schell won by medical forefeit to place 5th.
 
At 197 pounds, Kyle Koser started his tournament with a 6-3 decision over Rob Maggiulli of Stevens Institute of Technology. In the quarterfinals, Koser lost by an 11-3 major decision to Eric Bach of Wilkes University. Then, Koser won by fall over Casey Enderliln of Bridgewater State to reach the consolation quarterfinals. Koser lost his consolation quarterfinals match and won by a medical forfeit to earn 7th place.
 
Messiah had three place winners in the 285 pounds weight class. Nick Havener finished in 4th place, Isaiah Shipman finished in 5th place, and Jason Wright finished in 7th  place. Havener made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Anthony Edgren of Wisconsin Whitewater by a 3-2 decision. Havener battled back through the consolation rounds and lost to Edgren again in the third place match by a 4-1 decision.
 
Isaiah Shipman won by two falls to reach the semifinals where he lost by a 3-2 decision over eventual champion David Oberrender of Wilkes University. Shipman wrestled teammate Nick Havener in the consolation semifinals and lost by a 2-1 decision to fall to the 5th place match. In the 5th place match Shipman won by fall over Andrew Sierawski of Baldwin Wallace.
 
The last Falcon to place in the 285 pound weight class was Jason Wright. Wright won his first match by a 12-3 major decision and won by fall in 0:57 to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Wright lost to eventual champion David Overrender by a 9-3 decision. Wright went 1-1 in the consolation bracket and beat Wyatt Norfolk of West Virginia Tech by a 5-2 decision to earn 7th place.
 
The Falcons will take a break for the holidays and be back in action January 3, at the Franklin & Marshall Open. 
 

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