SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 23, 2025) – The Western New England men's wrestling team earned a fourth place finish at the NEWA Futures Tournament, hosted by the Golden Bears again this season, earning 93.5 points, seeing seven total Golden Bears place in the top five of their respective weight classes. 

How it Happened:

In the 133 lb. weight class, Joseph Weikel came away with a fifth place finish over five matches on the day. Weikel opened with a bye on Sunday before grabbing a technical fall victory, 16-0 over New England College's Wyatt Gentile, moving on in the championship bracket of the weight class. Weikel would fall to Johnson & Wales University's Johan Aguilar in his next match on a major decision, 10-2. Despite the loss, the WNE first-year came back for a win in the consolation round of eight, picking up a huge technical fall victory, this time, a 17-0 win in just 2:34, moving on to the semifinal round in the consolation bracket. Weikel picked up a forfeit victory to automatically get into the fifth place match, a match in which he would come around with a 16-6 major decision victory, getting three nearfalls in the second period and came away with the fifth place victory. 

Samuel Worthing would impress for the Golden Bears in the 149 lb. weight class for Western New England men's wrestling, coming up with a third place finish overall. Worthing picked up a victory in his first match of the afternoon, picking up a 15-14 decision win over Dylan Vanegas over Vermont State University Castleton, moving on in the championship bracket. Worthing had a pin in his next victory of the afternoon, needing just the first period of the match to come up with the win. Worthing would earn a 10-6 decision win in his next bout, the quarterfinal round to advance to the semifinals of the weight class. Worthing would fall on a 10-6 decision to eventual weight class champion Mike Edwards. Despite the semifinal round loss, Worthing picked up a pin victory in the third place match, coming up with a 16-5 score in the match and a fall win in 6:34, earning third place. 

Matthew Rodriguez also shined for WNE in the 149 lb. weight class, going 4-1 on the day. Rodriguez began the afternoon with two fall victories, the first in 2:08 over Trinity's Nolan Sharp and the second over Johnson & Wales's Luke Montefusco. Rodriguez would drop the quarterfinal match on a major decision, 20-12, but would bounce back in the consolation semifinal round, earning a 11-4 decision victory over Dan Williams of Coast Guard Academy and then picked up a no contest win over Ryan Currier of Johnson & Wales University to pick up the fifth place finish overall. 

Two Golden Bears placed in the top-five in the 165 lb. weight class. Tristan Julian opened the weight class with an 8-1 decision victory over Anthony Marino of Johnson & Wales but would fall on a 10-5 decision in his next match to Alex Marshall of Coast Guard Academy.  Julian would fight back in the consolation round, bouncing back with a win over Trinity's Lucas Rosen, earning a fall victory in 3:23. In the consolation semifinal round, Julian picked up a win over Norwich's Jonahthan Neypes, an 8-1 decision and claimed fifth place overall in the weight class with a forfeit win over Cabriel Case of JWU. 

David Lisk also placed at 165 for Western New England, losing just one match on the day. Lisk opened the day with a 16-0 technical fall victory over Norwich's Sean Cavanaugh and would follow that up with a major decision win over Ryan Hsu of WPI, continuing on in the championship bracket. Lisk would then defeat JWU's Gabriel Case 6-2 on a decision to get into the semifinal round. Tye Barker of Coast Guard Academy would defeat Lisk on a technical fall, dropping Lisk back to the third-place match in which the WNE junior came up with a major decision win, 10-1, over Alex Marshall of Coast Guard Academy. 

Nicholas Baccala went 4-1 on the day in the 174 lb. weight class for the Golden Bears, taking third place overall. Baccala opened the weight class with a 12-6 decision victory over Scott Ingalls of Southern Maine. The Johnston, Rhode Island native then won a close 8-5 decision victory over Castleton's Jake Long, moving into the quarterfinal round. There Baccala earned his biggest win of the day, a 13-5 major decision victory over Darius Mangiafico of Castleton University. Baccala would fall just short in the semifinal round, falling in a close 4-3 match to Castleton's Desmond McLaughlin. In the third-place match that ensued, Baccala picked up an 11-6 decision win over JWU's Joebeth Plaza, coming up with third place overall for WNE in the weight class. 

Michael Bluhm went 3-1 on the afternoon for the Golden Bears, making it all the way to the championship match in the 184 lb. weight class, and finishing second overall. Bluhm opened with a fall victory over Asante Sanders of Bridgewater State University, needing just 1:54 to do so. Bluhm moved on to the quarterfinal match and picked up an 18-2 technical fall victory over Dylan Sofield of Trinity College, which put Bluhm into the semifinal round. Bluhm would grab his second pin of the afternoon, this time in 5:25 over Logan Frank of VTSU Castleton to get into the championship match. Bluhm would fall short to JWU's Zachary Miller, but would come away with a second-place finish overall for the blue and gold. 

As a team, Western New England men's wrestling earned 93.5 points on the day, fourth most at the event out of 16 teams. VTSU Castleton won the NEWA Futures event with 147 points and 13-place finishers. US Coast Guard Academy was just two points behind Castleton, finishing with 145 points and 13 place finishers. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England men's wrestling will next partake in the all-important NCAA Northeast Regionals event, which will take place at Beacon Field House, hosted by Wesleyan University on Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2. The event will begin at 11:00 AM on Saturday and 10:00 AM on Sunday.