COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (January 17, 2026) – The Western New England men's wrestling team took second place on Saturday at the Will Abele Invitational, seeing 12 of their own place in the top eight of their respective weight classes, with Maxwell Bluhm and Antonio Intintoli picking up first place overall in their respective weight classes. 

How It Happened:

At 174 lbs., WNE's Maxwell Bluhm had an undefeated afternoon, going 4-0 in the weight class. Bluhm opened with a BYE before winning his first match over Anthony Velazquez of Nassau Community College on a fall in 1:58. Bluhm then took a win over Wesleyan's Ben Ronca on a 7-1 decision to advance to the semifinals of the weight class. There, Bluhm had no problem getting by Chris Herriman, winning via technical fall, 15-0, making his way into the championship bout. In the bout, Bluhm battled teammate Nicholas Baccala, defeating Baccala 4-1 to claim victory in the weight class. 

In the 133 lb. weight class, WNE's Antonio Intintoli earned four wins on the afternoon to take first place overall. Intintoli's first match came as a major decision win over Dominic Laconte of Wesleyan University, 12-1. In the quarterfinal match, the WNE sophomore took care of SVU's Joseph Camaduron, 18-3, winning via technical fall. In the semifinals, Intintoli continued to dominate the mat, winning 11-0, earning a major decision to get into the championship bout. The championship bout went back and forth until Intintoli pulled away from Joseph Ramirez of Nassau Community College, winning a 9-4 decision to take the weight class championship match, finishing in first place. 

The 165 lb. weight class saw Teghan McConnell take second overall, winning three of his four matches on the day. After a bye and a forfeit in his first two matches, McConnell earned a major decision,18-6, of Elijah Brito of Wilkes University. In the semifinal round, McConnell handled the match the whole way through, picking up a 18-2 technical fall win to get to the championship bout where he would come up short to Justin Hood of Emmanuel College, taking second overall in the weight class.

The aforementioned Nicholas Baccala took second in the 174 lb. weight class, following his defeat to Bluhm. Baccala earned a fall victory over Norwich's Jeff Bernardi, a fall victory over Rinaldo Digiacopo of Wesleyan University, and a technical fall victory over Ursinus College's AJ Cerulli to get into the championship bout.

The 141 lb. weight class saw Nicholas Adams also earn a second-place finish. Adams opened with a fall victory over Logan Banks of Utica University, and continued with wins on a decision in the round of 16, 5-0, a close 4-3 victory in the quarterfinal, and another close decision win in the semifinal round, 12-10, before having to take a forfeit in the championship bout as Andrew Schaen took the 141 lb. weight class championship.

James Linder also took second for the Golden Bears, earning four wins on the day. Linder picked up a technical fall win in his first match, earning the 17-1 win. Linder then picked up a major decision win, seeing the match go the distance, but earning a 16-5 decision win. In the quarterfinal round, Linder picked up a decision win, 11-7, to get into the semifinals. In the semifinals, Linder picked up a 4-1 win to get into the championship bout, where he would fall just short, a 10-6 defeat, taking second overall. 

The 157 lb. weight class saw Matthew Rodriguez take fourth place overall. Rodriguez opened the day with two wins, an 11-4 decision victory, followed by a fall victory in just 24 seconds. Rodriguez made it to the quarterfinals, where he came up with another fall win, this one coming in 1:19. The WNE sophomore fell in his final two matches in the weight class, taking fourth place overall for the day.

Clayton O'Connor earned wins in his first two matches in the 125 lb. weight class, picking up a fall victory over Ursinus' Teague McCormack and a decision victory, 6-2, over Ben Fourner of Norwich University to get into the semifinals of the weight class, but dropped his final two matches of the day, taking fourth place overall. 

Colten Wells wrestled in five matches on Saturday in the 285 lb. weight class, winning three of those to take sixth in the weight class. Wells earned two fall wins and a decision win for Western New England on the day. 

Luke Donis earned three wins and took seventh place overall in the 184 lb. weight class, coming up with a fall in 3:53, a major decision, 12-3, and a forfeit win on the afternoon. 

David Lisk was victorious in his first two matches of the day, earning two pins, a 2:34 pin, and a 1:21 pin. Lisk then fell via pin in the quarterfinal round but bounced back with a win in 6:34. Lisk took seventh place in the weight class following a forfeit in the final match of the day in the 157 lb. weight class, going 4-2 overall. 

Lucas Cardella notched eighth place overall in the weight class following a pair of forfeits for the Golden Bears, earning eighth place in the 184 lb. weight class, wrapping up the success on the day for the Blue and Gold.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will battle in the NEWA Duals next weekend at Johnson & Wales University, beginning at 9:30 AM on Sunday, January 25.