By Jim Fenton
GRANTHAM, Pa. -- Two Bridgewater State University wrestlers placed at the 53rd annual Petrofes Invitational, hosted by Messiah University.
Sophomore Christian Curley (Bridgewater, Mass.) and senior Michael Hopkins (Swampscott, Mass.) completed the two-day tournament on Saturday morning.
Curley placed fifth out of the 197-pound weight class while Hopkins placed sixth at 174.
Curley was 5-2 with five pins over the two-day tournament while Hopkins went 5-3.
On the second day, Curley began with a win by fall at 1:48 over James Ellis of Lycoming to advance to the consolation semifinal round.
He then dropped a tough 11-10 decision to Paul Parise of Muhlenberg before bouncing back with a win by fall (3:32) over Micah Kunkle of host Messiah in the fifth-place match.
On Friday, Curley won his first two matches by fall against Nick Blitz of Springfield and Dakota McDermott of Saint Vincent.
He was sent to the consolation round with an 11-9 decision loss to Sawyer Dereszynski of Messiah in the quarterfinal round, but stayed in the tourney and advanced to Saturday with a win by fall (2:15) over Jason Chiodi of Alvernia.
Curley is now 10-3 on the season with an impressive eight pins.
On the second day, Hopkins began with a 5-0 decision victory over Michael Gabbard of Averett followed by a 9-0 major decision setback to Nolen Zeigler of Lycoming in the consolation semifinal round.
In the fifth place match, Hopkins dropped a close 4-1 decision to Nick Rogers of Springfield College.
Hopkins started the tournament Friday with a win by technical fall over Nick Parrella of Lycoming and was sent to the consolation round with a majority decision loss to Jake Deguire of Springfield College.
Hopkins then won three straight matches, by an 8-1 decision over Aiden Weingrad of Muhlenberg and majority decisions over Ryan Gallagher of Gettysburg and Spencer Vos of Adrian to reach Saturday's competition.
BSU finished with 43 points (12th place) with Curley getting 20 and Hopkins 12.5.
The Bears have one more competition in 2024 as they travel to Rhode Island for the Scott Viera Open at Roger Williams University on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. BSU will be idle after that until Jan. 11.