On Saturday, November 20th, the Blue Jay wrestling squad travelled up to Oneonta, New York to compete in the annual 10 team Red Dragon Invitational and made a statement.
Lead by freshman Henry Stauber, senior Patrick Stanley and sophomore Reid Mosquera, who all won individual titles in their respective weight classes, Hopkins compiled 134 points, nipping host SUNY Oneonta’s 112.5 to win the event for the first time in program history.
This was the third tournament for the Jays this season, having already competed in the Terrapin Duals with many Division I teams and the Duals at Hershey with many Division II schools.
The Red Dragon Invite marked the first time Hopkins had primarily wrestled against other Division III programs.
The Jays were joined at the event by SUNY Cortland and Southern Maine who tied for third place with 110 points, Niagra Community College, who finished fourth with 101 points, and fellow Centennial Conference member Gettysburg, who finished seventh with 75 points, made it a different field of competition than what Hopkins had been seeing.
The competition was similar to what the Jays will be facing from here on out, however, making this an especially sweet victory.
When the mats were rolled out and the Invitational was underway, freshman Stauber set the tone early for the Jays.
Wrestling at 141 pounds as the number four seed, Stauber needed to take down the number one seed, two seed and five seed en route to winning his first collegiate individual title.
Stauber had won earlier in the week in a non-conference affair against nationally ranked Elizabethtown, also getting the Jays going with their first points of the evening.
174-pound senior Patrick Stanley, who was the number one seed going into his bouts, gave the Jays their second individual win of the afternoon, going 4-0. Stanley won on two pins and two decisions, the second time this season he had gone undefeated in an event.
A week before, Stanley had keyed a win over York with a pin and also added personal wins against Waynesburg and Shippensburg.
He took the match off against Elizabethtown, and the extra rest paid off on Saturday.
Reid Mosquera, who had a key victory against Elizabethtown days before, brought his momentum to Upstate New York, garnering an individual title of his own at the 197 pound weight class.
Mosquera won by way of pin, major decision and regular decision to go 3-0, essentially clinching the tournament crown for Hopkins.
The three individual wins were just icing on the cake for the Jays who also saw nine other wrestlers finish in the top six of their events.
The freshman class, which has impressed early on, continued doing so in Oneonta.
In addition to Stauber, the Jays also saw a second-place finish by Ray Yagloski at 125, a third-place finish by Matt Fusaro at 157 who had a five match winning streak heading into meet, and a fifth-place finish for Duncan Crystal at 141.
Junior Michael Testa placed fifth at 149, while classmates Adam Stevens, Ben Finelli and Rick Danilkowicz, who recorded an impressive win the first week of the season against the Mountaineers of West Virginia, came in sixth at 125, 184 and 285 respectively.
Not to be outdone, senior co-captains Rocky Barilla, 149, and Eric Levenseller, 165, turned in great fights as well. Barilla took third and Levenseller second in their individual tournaments.
They have both been consistent early on, winning at least one match in each of the three Duals this season.
The tournament win marked the first of the year for Hopkins, and a dramatic improvement over last year’s trip up north when the Jays finished ninth.
Next up for Hopkins is the Petrofes Invitational at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, beginning Friday where the Jays hope to keep the ball rolling in their direction.
It will be the only meet in December for Hopkins. After the weekend, the Jays will wrestle next on January 5th at home.
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