NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Vermont State University Castleton wrestling team finished third at the North Central College Invitational Saturday evening after battling in the toughest in-season tournament in the nation at the Division III level. The Spartans had 12 place-winners with
James Rodriguez earning a first-place finish at 141 pounds, and
Sampson Wilkins taking first at 184 pounds.
Augsburg took home first place with 165.5 team points, followed by the host squad North Central with 142.5 team points. Castleton finished the day with 135.5 points, with Coe following closely behind with 131.5. Baldwin Wallace finished with 86 points to round out the top five.
Rodriguez finished the day 4-0, taking his first three matches by major decision and taking the first-place match via decision 8-6 over Evan Onstad of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Wilkins went 4-0 on the day winning the semifinal match in sudden victory before taking down Jared Voss of Coe 9-0 to win by major decision.
Gavin Bradley (125), and
Evan Day (285) finished second in their respective weight classes. Bradley went 3-1 taking his first match via major decision, pinning his second opponent in 2:59, and winning the semifinal match via decision. He fell in the first-place match by a tech fall 16-1. Day finished with a 4-1 record winning the semifinal match via major decision, 8-0. Day fell to Robby Bates of North Central in the first-place match via sudden victory 5-2.
Haven Tatarek was the lone third-place finisher for Castleton at 197 pounds. Going 5-1 on the day. After winning his fifth match of the day in the consolation round via major decision, Tatarek won via sudden victory to secure third place.
Elijah Cyr finished fourth at 149 pounds going 4-2 on the day. At 157 pounds,
Nathaniel Camiscioli took home a fourth-place finish, going 4-2 as well.
Jashon Holmes finished fourth at 165 pounds with a 4-2 record.
First year
Nicolas Balella went 5-1 at 149 pounds for a fifth-place finish. At 165 pounds,
Connor Gregory finished fifth going 5-1 on the day.
Desmond McLaughlin finished sixth at 174 pounds with a record of 3-3.
Abbas Abdulrahman rounded out the Spartans place-winners at 285 pounds going 4-2 for a sixth-place finish.
The Spartans head to Providence, R.I. on Saturday, December 21 for the East Coast Duals beginning at 10 a.m.
