Wrestling | 12/22/2022 9:39:00 PM

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Eight Huskies earned a spot on the podiums as the Bloomsburg wrestling team finished with 141 teams points and at the top of the team rankings at the Wilkes Open Thursday afternoon.
 
Redshirt senior Josh Mason (New Ringgold, Pa./Blue Mountain) led the way for the Huskies with a second-place finish behind three pins in the 141-pound bracket. Mason kicked off the tournament with a fall at 1:18 over Jacob Sheiner of Ursinus. He picked up his second pin of the day at 0:58 over Brett Patton of Pennsylvania College of Pennsylvania. Mason continued in the bracket with a 6-0 decision over Jordan Robins of the Apprentice School and moved into the championship bout with a fall at 1:40 over Joe Fongaro of Rutgers. Mason took second as Jacob Reed of Ohio Northern earned a hard-fought 3-2 decision in the championship match.
 
Anthony DeRosa (Milford, N.J./Bethlehem Catholic) and Josh Bonomo (Sweet Valley/Lake-Lehman) each took third in their respective brackets.
 
DeRosa finished third in the 174-pound bracket behind his first bonus point win. He opened the tournament with a 7-3 decision over Jackson Hawker of Ohio Northern before taking down Jonny Gherman of Ursinus with a 17-6 major decision. After falling to Jacob Burgette of Pitt-Johnstown 16-1, DeRosa won the third-place match thanks to a medical forfeit.
 
Bonomo took third in the 157-pound bracket thanks to three bonus point wins. Bonomo had a bye in the first round and earned a 15-0 tech fall over Cullen Van Rooyen of Pennsylvania College of Technology. He got back-to-back bonus point wins with a 12-4 major decision over Connor Trowbridge of Drexel. After a fall at 0:28 moved Bonomo into the third-place match, the sophomore closed out his tournament with a fall at 0:16, the fastest fall of the season for the Huskies, over Nick Alvarez of Franklin & Marshall to take third.
 
Matt Benedetti (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan) finished fourth overall the in the 174-pound bracket. After a bye in the first round, Benedetti picked up a 16-0 tech fall over Rhys Carlson from the Apprentice School. Fox of Franklin & Marshall won 2-0 behind a medical forfeit from Benedetti, and DeRosa earned the medical forfeit win in the final bout after he was set to face his teammate in the third-place match.
 
Bronson Garber (Millersburg, Pa./Upper Dauphin), Bruno Stolfi (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton), Cade Balestrini (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy), and Shane Noonan (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) all finished fifth in their brackets.
 
Garber had a bye in the first round of the 125-pound bracket and earned his first win of the day with a fall at 2:51 over Lucas Johnson of Williams. Benjamin Monn picked up a 3-2 decision over Garber to send him to the consolation bracket. Garber defeated his teammate, Kevin Riedinger (Hackettstown,N.J./Warren Hills Regional), with an 8-0 major decision and picked up an 8-1 decision over Kade Davidheiser to move to the fifth-place bout. Garber earned a spot on the podium with a 12-0 major decision over Franco Mazza of Ursinus.
 
Stolfi defeated Eric Washington of Marymount University 7-1 in the opening round of the 184-pound bracket before falling by a 12-4 major decision to James Conway from Franklin & Marshall to move to the consolation bracket. Stolfi got a bye in the first bout of the consolation round and got a fall at 4:22 over Connor Fritsch of Ursinus to continue in the bracket. Stolfi earned his second-straight fall at 6:07 over Oliver Tipton of Davidson to earn a spot in the fifth-place bout. He defeated Stratos Kantanas of Rutgers 4-0 to take fifth overall.
 
Balestrini had an impressive showing in the 149-pound bracket as he opened the tournament with back-to-back bonus point wins. Balestrini defeated Matthew Dewitz from Ohio Northern 18-3 in a tech fall before pinning Zachary Ortega of the Apprentice School at 6:05. After dropping an 8-4 decision to Evan Maag from George Mason, Balenstrini rebounded with a 16-1 tech fall over Spencer Huges of Wilkes. Balestrini got his second fall of the day at 1:29 over Avery Clarke of Franklin & Marshall before closing the tournament with an 18-3 tech fall over Colton Stoneking to take fifth overall.
 
Noonan took fifth overall in the 285-pound bracket behind three falls and a decision. Noonan opened the day with an 8-1 decision over Logan Painter of Ohio Northern before posting a 0:30 fall over Dustin Uribes of the Apprentice School. Noonan fell to Nolan Neves by a 3-2 decision but got back in the winning column with a 5-2 decision over Peter Cortapasso of the Apprentice School. Noonan had back-to-back falls to close out the tournament. His first of two straight came at 4:08 over Caleb Burkhart of Wilkes and finished the day with a pin at 4:53 over Charles Tibbitts of Binghamton in the fifth-place bout.
 
The Huskies have the next week off before heading to the 58^th-Annual Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern University on December 29 and 30.