Final Results (PDF)

WILKES-BARRE – Freshman Myzar Mendoza (Westminster, MD/Winters Mill) was the champion at 125 and three other Colonels wrestlers placed in the top four as Wilkes University hosted the 78th Annual Wilkes Open at the Marts Center on Tuesday.

Anthony Dattolo (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) came in fourth place at 149, Shane Everett (Saylorsburg, PA/Pleasant Valley) was second at 157 and Chris Smith (Wantage, NJ/High Point) was fourth at heavyweight to round out the rest of the Wilkes top finishers. More than 300 wrestlers competed, with most coming from Division I schools such as Lehigh, Rutgers and American.

Receiving a round one bye, Mendoza pinned Anthony Marino from Bloomsburg in 4:40 before getting a forfeit victory from Millersville's Alex Abramat in round two. He then defeated Mike Rhone from Lock Haven in the championship to take first place. Mendoza ups his overall record to 15-4 on the season and has two individual championships at 125.

Everett began the Open with a 42-second pin of Franklin & Marshall's Sean Tippin before another pin, this one in 1:14, of Scott Sanderson of Williams College. He then defeated Dakota Kuhn of Millersville before pinning Brian Herold of Nassau Community College to advance to the finals. In the championship bout, Everett fell to Keith Ryan of Pitt-Johnstown in 1:51, his third pin of the day.

Dattolo started out with three straight victories, including a second round tech fall over Cal Stack from Lehigh. He then fell to Rutgers' Jordan Beverly before facing more wrestlers from Lehigh, beating Dillon Smith before losing to Shane Welsh to take home fourth. The losses for Dattolo were the first two of the season, as he has racked up 16 wins on the year.

After receiving a first round bye, Smith got wins over Millersville's Bradley Ladd and Colin Curzi of Williams before a fall in 2:18 to Nassau's David Agu, the eventual second place finisher. Smith then defeated East Stroudsburg's Will Weaver before losing to Christopher Dempsey of Pitt-Johnstown.

Award winners for the Wilkes Open were Shane Smith of Millersville, who had the most falls (six) and Jordan Beverly of Rutgers, who racked up the most points (30) and was named the Outstanding Wrestler.

The Colonels will look to build off of their individual success at the Wilkes Open next month when they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete in the NWCA National Duals, January 8-9.