COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (January 13, 2024) – The Western New England men's wrestling team saw six of their own place in the top eight of their respective weight classes at Saturday's Will Abele Invitational. Clayton O'Connor, Cameron Hines, Nicholas Baccala, Tristan Julian, Griffin Ostrom, and Spencer Dickinson all picked up placements in Western New England's eighth-place finish in the tournament.

How it Happened:
After opening the tournament with a win in the 125 lb. weight class, Western New England's Clayton O'Connor would come away with an eighth-place finish in the weight class after going 4-2 on the day. O'Connor opened with a 22-6 tech-fall victory over Shenandoah University. O'Connor would be dropped in the next bout, though he would come back in the consolation bracket and take three straight matches, winning over RIT's Jacob Deysher, Utica's Mikael Neris, and Muhlenberg's CJ Horvath. O'Connor would fall short in the 7/8-place match to take eighth overall in the weight class.

In the 157 lb. weight class, Western New England's Cameron Hines would take sixth overall, going 4-2 on the afternoon. Hines dropped Ocean Rados of SUNY Oneonta 15-0 via tech-fall in his first match of the day while continuing in the winners bracket after defeating Wesleyan's Jacob Poore on a pinfall in 2:18. Hines would drop a close 9-7 decision match in the third match of the night, though he would bounce back in his next match, defeating Eric Falleni of East Stroudsburg University. Hines would defeat Cornelius Jones of Nassau CC to move into the 3/4 match before falling in that match to take fourth place overall in the weight class.

Nicholas Baccala would place sixth overall in the 165 lb. weight class, finishing the tournament with a 3-2 record. Baccala started the night with three straight wins via major decision and two decision wins before falling in his final two bouts of the invitational. Baccala would fall in the 5/6 match to take sixth overall in the weight class.

Tristan Julian competed hard in the 174 lb. weight class, earning a seventh-place finish overall. Julian opened the day with two straight wins, with his second win of the afternoon coming on a close 20-16 decision win. Julian would battle into the 7/8 match and would once again compete in a tight match, taking a decision victory, 10-9 over Kenny Sauer, to earn the seventh-place finish at 174.

In the 197 lb. weight class, Griffin Ostrom would turn out a fifth-place finish for the Golden Bears. Ostrom would finish the invitational 5-1 to earn the finish. The WNE senior would open with two straight wins before falling, though he came around for two decision victories, including in the 5/6 match, while also recording a major decision win to finish the weight class in fifth place overall.

Western New England would see Spencer Dickinson earn a sixth-place finish in the 285 lb. weight class. Dickinsonopened with a 10-4 win in his first match of the day, though he would fall in 2:35 in his second match of the night. Dickinson would come around to win his next two matches, grabbing a 30-second fall victory and a 6-4 decision victory. Dickinson would fall in the 5/6 match in 1:26 to take the sixth-place finish for Western New England.

Overall, six Golden Bears placed in the top eight for the Golden Bears while the team finished with 83.5 total points, finishing in 8^th place out of 17 teams competing in the invitational.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will head to Providence, Rhode Island, for the NEWA Duals on Sunday, January 21, beginning at 9:30 AM.