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WILKES-BARRE — King’s junior David Morgan and freshman Mike Reilly earned trips to the NCAA Division III National Tournament as the duo captured individual championships at the Metropolitan Conference Tournament Sunday at Wilkes University.
The pair, along with Wilkes’ Erik Smith (149, third place) and Frank Heffernan (165, second place) will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the national championship event on March 7-8 at U.S. Cellular Center.
The Monarchs placed fifth in the nine-team field. Wilkes finished third. Scranton ended up last.
Top-seeded Morgan, the defending Division III national champion at 133 pounds, defended his title with a dominating effort in the tournament. In the finals, Morgan pinned third-seeded Ray Sarinelli of the College of New Jersey, the ninth-ranked wrestler in Division III, in 4:40. In his first match of the day, Morgan posted a 17-2 technical fall of eighth-seeded Matt Myers of Hunter. In the semifinals, he pinned Josh Pauling of Wilkes in 6:52 to advance to the title match.
Reilly entered the event as the fourth seed and was equally impressive in knocking off the top two seeds in the tournament. In his first match, Reilly pinned fifth-seeded Derek Schisler of Centenary in 2:00. In the semifinals, he scored an upset over top-seeded Greg Osgoodby of the College of New Jersey, the sixth-ranked wrestler in Division III, with a 9-7 decision. In the finals Reilly bested second-seeded Andre DeCristo of Hunter with a 12-9 decision.
King’s junior Zack Wilkinson was the only other Monarch to finish in the top-four, placing third at 184 pounds. Seeded sixth, Wilkinson fell in his first match by a 23-6 technical fall to eventual runner-up Peter Madden of Hunter. Wilkinson then pinned Devon Sassone-McHugh of Wilkes in 3:24 and advanced to the consolation finals with a 6-4 decision over William Meaney of Elizabethtown. Wilkinson then pinned Christopher Elliot of York in 3:36 to lock up third place.
At 125, King’s Ricky Dorsey won his first match by pinning Raymund Claudio of Scranton in 6:46. In the quarterfinals he fell by technical fall to top-seeded Kyle Flickinger of York, but remained alive in the consolations with a pin of Centenary’s Dustin Overs in 5:46. In the consolation semifinals, however, Dorsey was pinned by second-seeded Kyle Christensen of New York University in 5:48.
In the 141-pound class, fourth-seeded sophomore Tony Miele of King’s won his first-round match by pinning Richard Russell of Scranton in 6:15. In the semifinals he fell to top-seeded Stephen Hult of Hunter by a 4-2 margin. Miele was then eliminated by Branden Prentice of Wilkes by a 16-1 technical fall.
At 149, King’s unseeded Frankie Davis won his first-round match with 15-4 major decision over Michael Ebert of Scranton, but fell in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Richard Croswell of Elizabethtown by a 16-1 technical fall. Davis was then eliminated in the consolations by Vitaly Simkin of Hunter by a 10-6 count.
In the 157-pound class, King’s sixth-seeded sophomore Taylor Green defeated third-seeded Jereme Helsey of Elizabethtown 3-2 in a six-overtime riding time criteria victory. He then fell in the semifinals by a 10-2 count to second-seeded Rob Niedrich of York. Green was then eliminated by Wilkes’ Adam Penberthy by major decision.
At 165, King’s unseeded Ryan Trees was pinned in his first match in 1:07 by Michael Lussier of Elizabethtown. He was then eliminated by Steve Gray of Scranton by fall in 5:40.
At 197, King’s seventh-seeded Zach Martinez won his quarterfinal bout with a 17-15 upset of Shawn Vanwingerden of the College of New Jersey. In the semifinals he fell 9-5 to Ben Bonaventura of Hunter. Martinez was then eliminated in the consolation semifinals with an 11-6 loss to Dennis Conklin of York.
In the heavyweight class, King’s fourth-seeded Justin Bender lost his first match by a 3-2 verdict to Timothy Katzaman of Elizabethtown. He was then eliminated by a fall in 4:41 by Neil Slocum of Scranton.