FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Castleton University wrestling team finished comfortably in second place on Friday at the Citrus Invitational, trailing only No. 2 Augsburg in the team standings of an event with a strong field.
 
Castleton had 170 team points, while Augsburg had 219.5. Third-place UNC-Pembroke had 110 points as a team. James Rodriguez was the 141-pound champion at the event, while Gavin Bradley finished second at 125 and Sampson Wilkins was second at 184. Castleton had 15 total place finishers at the event.
 
Rodriguez topped No. 8 Jake Dado in the semifinals with a takedown in the first sudden-victory period to lock in his place in the title bout. In the championship, he faced off with No. 4 Sam Stuhl of Augsburg, topping him with an 11-7 decision for the crown. A majority of the scoring came in the third period, with Rodriguez netting three takedowns and an escape in the final two minutes to earn the win.
 
Bradley wrestled Liberty's Dante Minnino in the semifinals, claiming an 11-9 win in sudden-victory with a quick takedown. Minnino forced overtime with a late takedown, but Bradley prevailed nonetheless with the extra-time victory to earn his spot in the 125-pound championship against Logan Seliga of UNC Pembroke. Seliga controlled the pace in the title bout, winning 8-0 over Bradley to give the Spartans a second-place finisher.
 
A 184, Wilkins blanked No. 4 Mahllic Sallah with a 5-0 decision to earn his spot in the title bout. He had a four-point nearfall in the second period and began the third period with an escape to keep the match out of reach. He battled Augsburg's Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann in the title bout, the No. 7 184-pounder in the nation. Schwanebeck-Ostermann was leading 5-0 in the third period when he closed out the match with a pin of Wilkins, but Wilkins secured the second-place finish regardless to help keep Castleton in a secure position as a team.
 
Kaya Bogle finished third at 125, winning four consecutive consolation matches after losing Thursday in the quarterfinals. His final victory was a 6-2 decision in the third-place match against Roanoke's Jude Robson. Nicholas Roeger also finished third, topping teammate Elijah Cyr in the third-place match with a 5-2 decision. Roeger also had four wins in a row in the knockout rounds, while Cyr staved off elimination with seven straight wins before Roeger defeated him in the third-place match.
 
Michael Gonyea was also a fourth-place finisher for the Spartans, winning three consolation matches before falling in the third-place match to NYU's Tyler Crew, the same opponent who bested him in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Michael Angers faced the same fate as Gonyea, earning three consolation wins before dropping the third-place match.
 
Drew Marchese and Haven Tatarek earned fifth-place results, with Cooper Fleming and Abbas Abdulrahman placing sixth in their respective weight classes. Jashon Holmes and Shea Garand were seventh-place finishers with Josh Negron recording an eight-place result.
 
Castleton returns to the mat on January 6 and 7 for the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Kentucky.