Over the weekend 11 members of the wrestling team competed at the Messiah College Open to help determine who will help the Lions finish their season, which continues on Wednesday when the College hosts its first home dual meet in more than two months against No. 20 Delaware Valley College (7-7).
There was no team scoring at the Messiah event, a meet which helped the Lions “figure out what roles certain members of our team will player from here on (out),” head coach Joe Galante said.
A handful of the 27th-ranked Lions at the event made deep runs into the tournament. Freshman Josh Garzio (149) earned second in his weight class after going 3-1, junior Jason Ecklof (149) also took three wins for fourth place, and sophomores John Palsi (141), Justin DeAndrea (165), Rich Cordero (174) and freshman Michael Larcamp (285) each won two bouts.
The meet came just days before the Lions hope to improve to 8-4 on the season — and 2-3 against ranked teams — against a hot Delaware Valley team in a potentially pivotal event for the College’s wrestling team, which can significantly improve its conference and national standing with a victory.
“(The meet against Delaware is) very important because they are conference match ups and they are ranked above us,” Galante said. “The team needs to and can step up to the challenge.”
Delaware Valley has gone 4-1 since starting the season 3-6, most recently picking up an impressive 18-15 win against No. 19 Messiah College during a 4-0 tear before falling, 24-13, to Centenary College last Friday.
The meet will be played in Packer Hall tonight at 7 p.m. This weekend, the College will compete at the NEWA-Metro Conference Duals, held at Roger Williams University, and play a road dual meet at Springfield College.
