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Coast Guard wins Doug Parker for sixth straight season; Henckel’s impressive win

With two individual champions and five finalists, the Coast Guard wrestling team won the Doug Parker Invitational at Springfield College on Saturday for the sixth consecutive year.

The Bears scored 161 points to outlast host Springfield College with 125 points. With three individual champions, Wesleyan was fourth with 116½ points, their best finish in the tournament since winning it in 2017. Trinity finished tenth in the field of 15 teams.

Coast Guards’ Chase Randall (133) and Carl DiGiorgio (285) won individual titles while Kevin Pandorf (197), Nathan Fitt (149) and Nikko Beato (125) each finished second. Tye Barker (157) and Gabe Monroe (184) each finished third for Coast Guard.

Milford’s C.J. Shea (165), Hayden Myers (141) and Aris Dashiell (197) each won individual titles for Wesleyan.

Shea continues to dominate the competition at 165, as the senior remains undefeated on the season with four more wins coming on Saturday. Shea opened as the top seed and started the day with a 6-1 win over Mark Venson of Centenary before landing an 8-0 major decision win over Augustus Edwards of Coast Guard. Wrestling in the semifinal round against Landon Kearns of Coast Guard, Shea came out on top in a 5-1 decision. Competing for the title against Williams’ Fisher Stites (Newtown), Shea won another close bout, this time in a 5-2 decision, to take first place at 165, his second tournament win this fall.

Myers was also the top seed at 141 pounds. He won four matches with one pin to win the title with an 8-3 win over Kyle Moore of Southern Maine in the championship match.

Dashiell (4-0) was also a No. 1 seed at 197. He beat Coast Guard’s Brendan Raley in the quarterfinals, 8-2, topped Western New England’s Charles Maloy in the semifinal, 12-6 before beating Coast Guard’s Kevin Pandorf in the championship match, 4-2.

Williams’ Peter Kane of Fairfield finished first at 157 pounds. His perfect run was particularly impressive, as he conceded zero points in his four matches. Kane demonstrated why he is considered one of the most defensively sound wrestlers in Division III, consistently nullifying his opponents’ attacks and preventing them from gaining any momentum.

Kane beat Coast Guard’s Jacob Woodburn in the finals, 8-0.

Stites, a freshman from Newtown, had an outstanding tournament for Williams, taking second at 165.

He began the day with an 8-3 victory over Akiva Lind of Wesleyan. The match was scoreless after the first period, but in the second, Stites scored an escape and a take down to take the lead. Lind managed to escape, narrowing the gap, but Stites added another takedown in the final period to secure the win.

After another victory, Stites found himself in the semifinals against Cameron Hines. In a hard-fought match, Stites and Hines were tied 1-1 heading into overtime. Stites sealed the win with a take down midway through the overtime period.

College results: Nov. 22-24, 2024

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At Cornell’s Big Red Invitational in Itacha, N.Y., Fairfield Warde graduate Will Ebert of Binghamton continued his strong start of the season. Ebert (184) won his bracket at the Big Red Invitational with a 4-0 record and two pins. Ebert also pinned both Andrew Reall of Brown and Adrian Gacek of Clarion, putting him in a tie for the team lead in pins with three.

There was an A bracket and B bracket for each of the 10 weight classes. Ebert wrestled in the A tournament.

Sacred Heart wrestlers competed in the B brackets at the Big Red Invitational. Dakota Asuncion (157) finished first at 157 pounds with a 3-1 record. Nolan Hook (157), Calvin Pineda (165) and Nicky Eboli (174) each finished third.

College results: Nov. 22-24, 2024

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In Marshall, Missouri, the Sacred Heart women’s wrestling team had a pair of medalists at the Missouri Valley College Open on Saturday. Alexandra Fitzgerald (124) and Madison Sandquist (180) each finished seventh.

Fitzgerald (9-3) finished with a record of 5-2 with two tech falls and a pin. Sandquist was 5-2 and four pins in the tournament to improve to 16-3 on the season. Sacred Heart’s Jacklyn Smith went 4-2 in the tournament.

College results: Nov. 22-24, 2024

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Blair Academy senior William Henckel of Southbury (174 pounds) was impressive in winning at the 21st annual Shorty Hitchcock Collegiate Open on the campus of Millersville University in Millersville, Pa. While most of the competitors are collegiate wrestlers, the tournament is open to any wrestler including high school wrestlers, college graduates or unattached wrestlers.

Henckel, who has committed to attend Penn State next year, went 5-0 in the tournament and outscored his five opponents by a 56-10 margin. He beat Army’s Cooper Haase in the championship match, 9-1.

Henckel’s biggest win came in the semifinal with a 2-0 win over Nathan Lackman of Alvernia, who won two NCAA Division III national championships in 2022 and 2023 at Rhode Island College.

College results: Nov. 22-24, 2024

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No. 6 North Carolina State improved to 5-0 on Friday with a 23-16 win over Utah Valley in Raleigh. In his first dual meet of the season, Danbury senior Jakob Camacho lost by injury default to Utah Valley’s Kase Mauger at 133 pounds.

Mauger put Camacho on his back early in the first period to take a quick 7-0 lead. Camacho got a reversal to cut the lead to 7-2 and an escape early in the second period to cut the deficit to four points, 7-3.

But Camacho was injured with Mauger was going for a takedown with 47 seconds left in the second period. Camacho was carried off the mat by the NC State medical staff.

VIDEO: North Carolina State 23, Utah Valley 16

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Danbury’s Matty Lopes (133), who wrestled at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, got an opportunity to wrestle for No. 18 Lehigh in Sunday’s match with No. 21 Pittsburgh.

With sophomore Ryan Crookham under the weather, Lopes got a third period takedown to beat Pitt’s Vinnie Santaniello, 3-2. Lopes trailed 1-0 in the third period before securing his match-winning takedown to beat Santaniello, who is ranked No. 31 in the country. Pitt won the match, 21-12.

College results: Nov. 22-24, 2024

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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