New York, NY – After a rough start against some of the toughest competition on the east coast, the Hunter wrestling team finally earned a dual match win this season, defeating Messiah College 22-15 Saturday afternoon at the Hunter Sportsplex.

157

Senior Vitaly Simkin had a slow start to the day falling behind 3-0 after two periods, but then turned it on in the third period, scoring four points to force the extra period where he earned two points for a takedown on Matt Cross en route to his third win of the season.

165

Following a 3-3 tie after the first period and a scoreless second period, Messiah junior Trent Zempel scored a point off an escape in the third and got an additional point from a1:33 riding time for a 5-3 decision over Matt Cartusciello.

174

Junior Emman Sarwari held a 4-3 lead after two periods and then ran away with it in the third scoring five points plus 1:49 of riding time to take an 11-5 decision on David Okerblom.

184

Messiah freshman Travis Ebersole picked up a 4-0 decision on Hunter's Ryan Baxter following two scoreless periods.

197 & Heavyweight

Junior RJ Klotz and senior Dan Heydebrand each dropped 5-1 decisions at 197 and heavyweight.

125

Messiah sophomore Danny Lethbridge held a 9-5 lead after two periods, but Hunter freshman Ariel Guerrero fought back in the third, eventually taking the lead before Lethbridge tied the match at 12. However, the match was decided on 1:13 of riding time giving a 13-12 decision to Lethbridge and putting Messiah up 15-6.

133

Hunter began its comeback with a huge victory by junior James Mustakis at 133 pounds. Mustakis had control of the match the whole way through, leading 4-0 after the first and then 9-1 after two periods before earning a 21-5 tech fall with just eight second left in the third period.

141

SophomoreSean Messina then followed up Mustakis' tech fall with one of his own, simply dominating freshman Ryan Sneed 15-0, scoring the tech fall with 1:09 left in the third period to give Hunter a 16-15 lead.

149

In the deciding match, Hunter's Shabazz Bailey held a 1-0 lead into the second period, but then things took an interesting turn. A slam by Messiah senior Domineak Commodore, which subsequently injured Bailey was ruled illegal by the official and an injury default was awarded to Hunter along with a 22-15 overall match win.

The Hawks close out the fall semester 1-4 in dual matches. Hunter will be back in action on Tuesday, January 5 when they host Kings College for a 1:00 p.m. dual match at the Sportsplex.

Weight by weight summary
157 Vitaly Simkin (HC) decision Matt Cross (MC) 6-4 OT
165 Trent Zempel (MC) decision Matt Cartusciello (HC) 5-3
174 Emman Sarwari (HC) decision Davin Okerblom (MC) 11-5
184 Travis Ebersole (MC) decision Ryan Baxter (HC) 4-0
197 Pat Hogan (MC) decision RJ Klotz (HC) 5-1
285 Zane Bachert (MC) decision Dan Heydebrand (HC) 5-1
125 Danny Lethbridge (MC) decision Ariel Guerrero (HC) 13-12
133 James Mustakis (HC) tech fall Ryan Sneed (MC) 21-5 6:52
141 Sean Messina (HC) tech fall Alex DeHart (MC) 15-0
149 Shabazz Bailey (HC) injury default Dom Commadore (MC)

Exhibition
133 Andrew Clark (MC) decision Brady Kwong (HC) 6-4
149 Chris Hardenberg (MC) pinned Modesto Gil (HC) 1:28
165 Ryan Pastore (MC) major decision Jesse Capello-Colon (HC) 11-2