Gauge Shipp, Frank Volpe and Will Conlon of the Hofstra University wrestling team all posted a 4-2 record at the David H. Lehman Franklin & Marshall Open on Friday, Jan. 9. The three advanced to the consolation round of four in their respective brackets, while Teague Strobel made it to the quarterfinals after two wins, going 2-2 on the day. Alex Turley and Zach Reilley held 3-2 marks on the day, and Jackson Slotnick went 2-2.
At 133 pounds, Shipp won his first match of the day by a pin before being pinned in the Round of 16. In the consolation bracket, Shipp beat three Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) opponents in a row: First, Colin Martin – wrestling unattached for American University – by decision 6-5, then Christopher Betancourt of Long Island University by major decision 9-1 and finally Gabe Giampietro – who wrestled unattached from Drexel University – by decision 6-0. He failed to score a point against Princeton University’s Daniel Jones who ended Shipp’s run with a 15-0 technical fall.
Volpe entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed at 157 pounds and won three straight matches to make it to the quarterfinals. He beat Wyatt Stout of the University of Pennsylvania 4-2 and beat Rocco Camillaci of Princeton by the same score. He bested one of his two EIWA opponents in Franklin & Marshall College’s Josh Hillard, with a score of 5-4. Volpe dropped his final two matches, including a 4-3 loss to American’s Cameron Milheim.
As the No. 6 seed at 197 pounds, Conlon came into the tournament as the Pride’s second-highest-seeded wrestler, only behind Jake Slotnick, who was the No. 3 seed at 165 pounds. Conlon dropped his first match before winning three matches by decision and one by forfeit in the consolation bracket. He went 1-1 against EIWA opponents, both out of Binghamton University, beating Quinn Funk 4-2 before ending his day with an 8-2 loss to Mikey Squires.
At 125 pounds, Strobel wrestled EIWA opponents exclusively: He beat Jason Foutz – who wrestled unattached for Drexel – by tech fall 19-4, and John Bergmann of the United States Naval Academy 8-3, before falling to Charlie Farmer of the United States Military Academy West Point by pin and Binghamton’s Carson Wagner in sudden victory overtime 4-1.
Turley lost in his first match at 149 pounds before beating EIWA opponent Venumadhava Mirel of Navy 11-1 and teammate Cam Ice by tech fall 19-3. His day ended with a sudden overtime loss 12-9 to American’s Gage Owen, who entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
At 157 pounds, Reilley won three straight matches over EIWA wrestlers: He pinned Antonio Jimenez – who wrestled unattached for Sacred Heart University – before beating Kyle Deisley of Franklin & Marshall by tech fall 21-6 and Navy’s Tyler Russ by major decision 17-3.
Jackson Slotnick’s two wins at 149 pounds were over Drexel’s Justin Soriano 13-6 and Columbia University’s Marco Frinzi 9-5.
Hofstra returns to dual meet action on Sunday, Jan. 25, when they head upstate to face the University at Buffalo.
