Presidents' Wrestling Opens Season At King's Monarch Invitational
WILKES BARRE, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College wrestling team opened its 2012-13 season on Saturday at the King's College Monarch Invitational. The Presidents took seventh place out of 12 teams with 34.5 points.
Cortland State won the team competition with 147 points, while Wilkes (137) and York (134.5) were close behind.
Sophomore heavyweight James Vautier (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) led the Presidents with a fourth-place finish. Vautier also made the semfinals after defeating RIT's Somara Atkinson 8-2 and then receiving a medical forfeit over top-seeded Pete Dwyer of King's. He dropped into the consolation bracket and lost by fall (3:47) to Wilkes' Michael Shannon in the third-place bout.
Junior Josh Etzel (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth-Forward) took fifth place in the 157-pound bracket. Etzel opened the tournament with a 15-6 victory over York's Michael Monarque and then moved into the semifinals by knocking off the bracket's No. 1 seed, Tyler Lauchaire of Wilkes 14-5. Etzel dropped a 4-3 decision to the eventual champion, Roger Williams' Francisco Colom, but bounced back to claim a 1-0 decision over Gettysburg's Tyler Cunningham in the fifth place match.
Junior 197-pounder Theron Mitchell (Mount Joy, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) recorded three victories on the afternoon, including a 5-0 decision over Gettysburg's Jared Schlett in the opening round. After falling to top-seeded Jared Myhrberg of Cortland State by fall (4:27), Mitchell earned 7-2 triumphs against RIT's Jake Swearingen and Muhlenberg's Logan Mccabe, but was outsted out of the consolation bracket by King's Ryan Longenberger (3-1, OT).
W&J returns to action next Saturday when hosting its own invitational at the Henry Memorial Center.
