WILLIMASTOWN, Mass. (January 4, 2024) – The Western New England men's wrestling team opened their 2025 season on the road on Saturday afternoon at the Williams College Open, seeing five of their own place third in their respective weight classes.

How it Happened:
Clayton O'Connor opened the 125 lb. weight class with a bye in the opening round but would fall in his second match of the day in the quarterfinal round to SUNY Cortland's Christian Lievano on a 7-6 decision to quickly move into the consolation bracket of the weight class. O'Connor would take down Wyatt Gentzel on a pinfall decision to continue on in the weight class. O'Connor would then take down Hunter College's Michael Douglas on a 17-2 technical fall, continuing the win streak. O'Connor would make it to the third place match and would get his revenge over Christian Lievano, coming away with a 12-4 major decision victory to place third overall in the 125 lb. weight class.

At 149, James Linder would open the weight class with a win over David Ensminger of SUNY Cortland, notching a 19-3 technical fall victory, making it to the quarterfinal round of the weight class. Linder would then defeat Springfield Technical Community College's Mark Zavalkay on a 19-4 technical fall decision, moving into the semifinal match. There, Linder would fall just short after being pinned in 5:00 by Jayden Medina of Hunter College. Linder would move into the consolation bracket to get into the third place match, defeating Ensminger for the second time on the day, this time, a 13-4 major decision win to get into the third place match. Linder would win the match 7-3 after picking up a 7-3 decision over Leonardo Maiuolo of Williams College, taking third place overall in the weight class.

Matthew Rodriguez opened the 157 lb. weight class with a win over Isaiah Harris of Hunter College, getting a quick pinfall victory in 2:00. Rodriguez won his next match, also via pinfall, this time taking down Alexander Johnson of Alfred State University in 3:27. In the semifinal match, Rodriguez would be bested by Tyler Russ, heading into the consolation round to work for the first place match. Rodruguez would face Cortland's Justin Klein in the consolation semifinal round and would win an 11-5 decision to get into the third place match. In the third place match, a high-scoring 22-12 decision would go to Rodriguez over Owen Cummings, becoming the third Golden Bear to collect a third place finish on the day.

The 174 lb. weight class had CJ Glaropoulos earned a first-round bye and would face Gavin Seller of SUNY Cortland in the quarterfinal round, where Glaropoulos needed just two minutes to come away with a victory. In the weight class's semifinal round, Glaropoulos would fall to Elliott Humphries to move into the 174 lb. weight class consolation bracket. Glaropoulos would take on teammate David Lisk in the cons. semifinal round and would pick up a close 10-4 victory overall. In the third place match, Glaropoulos faced Simon Taraska of Norwich University, coming away with a 4-3 decision win to earn the third place finish.

The heavyweight weight class would see Spencer Dickinson open with a victory in just 1:00, defeating Abdulrahma Khaldi of Hunter College. Dickinson would win his next match of the afternoon, pinning Rory Nolan of Norwich University in 2:25 to get into the championship semifinal round. Dickinson would nearly come away with a victory before being pinned by Thomas Goodwin of Williams College, heading into the consolation bracket. Dickinson would open the consolation bracket with a victory over Colin Hile of Plymouth State University on a pinfall in 4:52 to get into the 3^rd/4^thplacement match. Dickinson would earn his fourth pinfall victory of the afternoon in the 3/4 match over Rory Nolan, defeating Nolan for the second time on the day, coming away with a third place finish in the weight class.

In total, five Golden Bears would place third on the day.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears return home to take on Delaware Valley University at the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center on Wednesday, January 8, at 6:00 PM.