GRANTHAM, Pa. -- The Bridgewater State University wrestling team competed during the opening day of the prestigious Messiah Petrofes Invitational on Friday in Grantham, Pennsylvania.

Senior 174-pounder Fox Maxwell (Winchester, Mass.) and junior 125-pounder Wilson Gomes (Fogo, Cape Verde) both went 3-0 on the day for the Bears to advance to Saturday's competition.

Maxwell (11-3) cruised to a 17-0 technical fall victory over Tyler Riley of host Messiah in his opening bout before posting a 12-3 major decision over Hunter Thompson of Shenandoah University. Maxwell advanced to Saturday's semifinals with a tough 10-8 decision over Ray Martin of Gettysburg College. He will take on Mount Union's David Reinhart in the semifinals. 

Gomes (9-2) opened the day by pinning Blake Tarnowski of Alvernia University in 63 seconds and added an 8-5 decision over Messiah's Hunter Rinehart. He then advanced to Saturday's semifinals with a 7-3 decision over Errik Gerback of the University of Mount Union. Gomes will take on Cody Merwin of SUNY Cortland in the semifinals. Merwin is an honorable mention in the most recent d3wrestle.com rankings in the 125-pound weight class.

BSU freshman 157-pounder Michael Hopkins (Swampscott, Mass.) went 3-2 on the day competing out of the 157-pound weight class. Hopkins (7-6) bounced back from an opening round setback by posting a 6-2 decision over Mount Union's Jared Viancourt. Hopkins followed that up with an 8-0 major decision over Seth Evans of Waynesburg University, and then pinned (2:09) Jamal Everette of Alderson Broaddus University. Hopkins' run came to an end as he lost by fall to Anson Dewar of Muhlenberg College.