GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah wrestling team concluded the Petrofes Invitational on Saturday, finishing the 15-team invitational in seventh place. Messiah had six wrestlers finish in the top eight of their respective weight classes.
Zach Needles led the way with a third-place finish at 165 lbs. for Messiah's best finish in the two-day tournament.
Ryder Slayton (184 lbs.) and
Noah Rice (149 lbs.) earned fifth place finishes for the Falcons while
Caiden Heller (125 lbs., eighth),
Camerin Deville (149 lbs., eighth), and
Austin Brass (174 lbs., seventh) also claimed top-eight finishes.
Alvernia claimed the Petrofes Invitational 201.5 points, well ahead of second-place Springfield's 159.5 points. SUNY Cortland (147.5 points), Muhlenberg (124), and Shenandoah (89.5) rounded out the top five in the team standings.
As mentioned,
Zach Needles had the top finish for the Falcons, earning third place after going 2-1 on Saturday. Needles dropped his semifinal match, but rallied back to earn a 12-2 major decision in the consolation semifinal against Gettysburg's Justin Rickey before earning a high-scoring 10-8 decision against Nicolini Berlinger (Muhlenberg). The decision over Berlinger gave Needles a third-place finish in the tournament.
Messiah also earned a pair of fifth-place finishes from
Ryder Slayton (184 lbs.) and
Noah Rice (149 lbs.). Slayton started his day in semifinals, but dropped a close 3-1 decision to fall into the consolation bracket. Another tight loss, this time a 2-1 decision dropped Slayton into the fifth-place match where he earned a hard-fought 5-0 decision to claim fifth on the weekend.
Noah Rice started his day with a 3-1 decision over his teammate
Camerin Deville, but dropped an overtime decision in the consolation semifinals. However, he rebounded to claim fifth place with a 2-0 decision over Brandon Flores-Salazar (Alvernia) in his final match of the day.
Camerin Deville also earned a top-eight at 149 lbs. Deville dropped a pair of tight decisions on Saturday to finish in eighth place.
Caiden Heller earned an eighth-place finish as well. Like Deville, Heller dropped a pair of decisions to finished his weekend in eighth place at 125 lbs.
At 174 lbs.,
Austin Brass ended his tournament with a victory, picking up a fall midway through the second period in the seventh-place match. After dropping a tight, 8-6 decision in the consolation quarters, Brass pinned Dylan Weigert (Shenandoah) to end his weekend on a high note.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Friday when they host the Alvernia Golden Wolves for a dual in Hitchcock Arena at 7:00 p.m. Messiah will then head to Hoboken, N.J. for a pair of duals against Stevens and Delaware Valley on Saturday.
