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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; For six straight years, Wilkes has crowned a champion at its annual Wilkes Open tournament.</p><p>On paper, the chances for the Colonels producing another titlist in the 84th rendition of the event looked good. But the event is known as The Rose Bowl of Wrestling for a reason. </p><p>Thursday&#8217;s participants were perhaps the toughest the tournament has accrued in the last several years as the Colonels came out without a gold medalist for the first time since 2009.</p><p>Wilkes 125-pounder Guesseppe Rea was the team&#8217;s lone medalist finishing as runner-up in his attempt to win his second tourney championship in the last three years.</p><p>Rea defeated Division I wrestlers from North Carolina State and Columbia to get to the final where he ran into American University&#8217;s Gage Curry, who handed Rea a 6-1 defeat. The lengthy Curry picked up a pair of takedowns in the first period en route to the win.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of hard wrestling,&#8221; Wilkes coach Jon Laudenslager said. &#8220;The kid was pretty long and I think he shot us down a little bit with his length. He got us with two misdirection shots. But it was a good day for (Rea). He beat some tough kids along the way to get there.&#8221;</p><p>Winning multiple titles at the event is hard to do. And a performance like Mark Popple&#8217;s five tournament championships in the 1980&#8217;s may never happen again.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s pretty tough to do. Most of the kids who are here from Division I schools they&#8217;re here a year or two and then they&#8217;re in the starting lineups,&#8221; Laudenslager said. &#8220;It (winning more than once) is tough to do. Especially this year because the competition level is better than it has been the last three or four years.&#8221;</p><p>The turnout of tough opponents may have been generated to the change of date. In past years, the Rose Bowl has always been held during the week between Christmas and New Year&#8217;s. In a move to get more rest for everyone involved, Laudenslager decided to give it a try.</p><p>&#8220;A little less stress because it&#8217;s tough to prepare for right after Christmas,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Just getting everything ready. It&#8217;s a little easier on our guys. Usually they will go home after the X-Calibur Tournament then they come back after Christmas wrestle, then go home again and come back after New Year&#8217;s. So it was a lot of travel for our guys. Now they can enjoy five, six, seven days off instead of traveling for most of them.&#8221;</p><p>While Wilkes wrestlers came up empty in their quest for titles, there were other wrestlers with local ties that did walk away on top.</p><p>Wyoming Seminary graduate Nicky Hall, now wrestling for North Carolina State, claimed the 197-pound championship defeating Stroudsburg grad Jake Jakobsen from Lehigh. The final consisted of Hall, a National Prep Champion against Jakobsen, a 2016 PIAA Class 3A Champion.</p><p>Hall got the match&#8217;s initial takedown then notched a reversal in the second period for his scoring while holding Jakobsen to a pair of escapes.</p><p>Hall, who was wrestling up a weight, defeated Benton/Northwest product Jeric Kasunic in the semifinals, 2-1 thanks to a second-period escape and the advantage in riding time. Kasunic, representing American University, wrestled back to finish third in the bracket when he knocked off Luke Farinaro from Duke, 12-3. Kasunic also defeated Wyoming Seminary post grad J.T. Correll in the consolation round via major decision to reach the third-place bout.</p><p>Mike Rogers, another Wyoming Seminary alum wrestling for N.C. State, beat GAR grad Saul Wilkins 5-3 in the quarterfinals working an escape about a minute into the third period then fending off shots by Wilkins to hold on for the win. But Rogers was upended in the semis by eventual champ Michael Hughes from Hofstra. The Sem grad rebounded to claim fourth place.</p><p>&#8220;We want that competition here,&#8221; Laudenslager said. &#8220;Our guys battled with some good kids. Probably better kids than we&#8217;re seeing. &#8230;It&#8217;s a great, annual tradition that we look forward to doing every year.&#8221;</p><p>Most collegiate wrestlers will now take a break for the holiday season except for a few major tournaments. The Colonels are idle until Jan. 7 when they head to Collegeville for the North South Duals. Laudenslager missed a few key wrestlers on Thursday, so by that time he&#8217;s hoping his team is fully healthy and ready for a run in the second half of the season.</p><p><strong>84th Wilkes Open</strong></p><p><strong>Finals</strong></p><p><strong>125</strong> &#8211; Gage Curry (American) dec Guesseppe Rea (Wilkes) 6-1</p><p><strong>133</strong> &#8211; Joe Lobeck (Lehigh) dec Matt Noble (Bloomsburg) 8-3</p><p><strong>141</strong> &#8211; Ryan Pomrinca (Lehigh) maj dec Zeke Salvo (Brown) 12-3</p><p><strong>149</strong> &#8211; Cortland Schuyler (Lehigh) dec Kyle Brady (Sacred Heart) 12-6</p><p><strong>157</strong> &#8211; Justin Syaudenmayer (Brown) tech fall Ricky Stamm (Hofstra) 16-0, 2:38</p><p><strong>165</strong> &#8211; Cole Walter (Lehigh) medical forfeit Chase Gallik (Lehigh)</p><p><strong>174</strong> &#8211; Wayne Stinson (Rider) medical forfeit Dean Sherry (Rider)</p><p><strong>184</strong> &#8211; Stephen Loiseau (Drexel) dec Kyle Murphy (Bloomsburg) 1-0</p><p><strong>197</strong> &#8211; Nick Hall (N.C. State) dec Jake Jakobsen (Lehigh) 4-2</p><p><strong>285</strong> &#8211; Michael Hughes (Hofstra) pinned Mauro Correnti (Rider) 2:34</p><p><strong>Third Place</strong></p><p><strong>125</strong> &#8211; Louie Hayes (Virginia) pinned Jonathan Tropea (Rider) 6:53</p><p><strong>133</strong> &#8211; Tariq Wilson (N.C. State) dec Nick Farro (Lehigh) 10-5</p><p><strong>141</strong> &#8211; Mark McCormick (Rider) dec Kizhan Clarke (American) 3-1, SV</p><p><strong>149</strong> &#8211; Jesse Rodgers (Rider) pinned Adam Whitesell (Maryland) 3:57</p><p><strong>157</strong> &#8211; Sam Melikian (N.C. State) pinned Cole Moseley (American) 1:55</p><p><strong>165</strong> &#8211; Luke Drugac (Old Dominion) dec Austin Weigel (Buffalo) 7-1</p><p><strong>174 </strong>&#8211; Garrett Peppleman (unattached) dec Trevor Allard (Bloomsburg) 10-6</p><p><strong>184</strong> &#8211; Paul Dunn (Lehigh) dec Cory Damiana (Hofstra) 7-1</p><p><strong>197</strong> &#8211; Jeric Kasunic (American) maj dec Luke Farinaro (Duke) 12-3</p><p><strong>285</strong> &#8211; Tyler Love (Virginia) dec Michael Rogers (N.C. State) 7-5</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Benton/Northwest product Jeric Kasunic now at American University, right, sends Luke Farinaro of Unatt-Duke to the mat in Thursday&#8217;s NCAA wrestling meet at the Wilkes Open at Wilkes University. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_wilkesopen01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Benton/Northwest product Jeric Kasunic now at American University, right, sends Luke Farinaro of Unatt-Duke to the mat in Thursday&#8217;s NCAA wrestling meet at the Wilkes Open at Wilkes University. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_wilkesopen02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Michael Rogers, left, of Unatt-NC State throws Tyler Love of Unatt-Virginia to the mat. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_wilkesopen02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Michael Rogers, left, of Unatt-NC State throws Tyler Love of Unatt-Virginia to the mat. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_wilkesopen03.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Rider&#8217;s Mauro Correnti struggles in his match with Michael Hughes of Unatt-Hofstra in Thursday&#8217;s NCAA wrestling meet at the Wilkes Open at Wilkes University. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_wilkesopen03.jpg</photo2><caption2>Rider&#8217;s Mauro Correnti struggles in his match with Michael Hughes of Unatt-Hofstra in Thursday&#8217;s NCAA wrestling meet at the Wilkes Open at Wilkes University. </caption2><photoCredit2>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Colonels go without gold for 1st time since 2009</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Colonels champion run at the Wilkes Open ends