Gorham, Maine - February 25, 2023- The Springfield College wrestling team competed in the first day of the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Championships in the University of Southern Maine's Costello Sports Complex Field House on Saturday.
As a team, the Pride is tied for fourth with 62.5 points among the 19 teams in the competition and has seven wrestlers earn spots in Sunday's second day of competition. The top three finishers in each of the 10 weight classes will earn a spot in the NCAA Division III Championships which which will be held March 10-11 at Ferrum College in Roanoke, Va.
For Springfield, three wrestlers will compete in the semifinals on Sunday, while four are wrestling their way back through the consolation bracket.
At 125 pounds, third-seeded Joey Manginelli (Dumont, N.J.) battled his way to three victories on Saturday to earn a spot in tomorrow's semifinals. Manginelli produced a 12-2 major decision against Trinity Matthew Carrozza and then prevailed by a 9-2 decision over Wesleyan's Greg Fischer. In the quarterfinals, Manginelli powered his way to a 7-1 triumph over David Yeh from Williams and is set to take on second-seeded Jake Craig of Southern Maine in a showdown of two wrestlers who are both ranked in the top ten in the country.
Chase Parrott (Stamford, Conn.) punched his ticket to the semifinals at 149 as the third seed. Following a dominant 15-2 major decision against Ken Sherman from NYU, Parrott prevailed by a 2-1 decision over Nicholas Roeger from Castleton as he next prepares for a clash with Southern Maine's Colby Frost, as the two nationally-ranked wrestlers will clash with a spot in the national tournament on the line.
Jacob Deguire (Schenectady, N.Y.) continued to impress in his sophomore year and will represent the Pride in the semifinals at 157 pounds. Ranked third in the weight class, Deguire produced a first-period pin over Norwich's Cameron Wooldrige in 2:09 before putting Williams Hughes of JWU on his back in the last second of his quarterfinal bout, setting up a semifinal showdown with second-seeded Joe Chapman of Coast Guard.
At 133 pounds, top-seeded Gianni Manginelli (Dumont, N.J.) went 2-1 on the day with a setback in the quarterfinals and will begin his quest to reach the national tournament against Wesley Wedick from Merchant Marine on Sunday. Joey Parsons (Waldwick, N.J.), who was seeded fourth at 141 pounds, picked up three wins on Saturday, but dropped a quarterfinal bout as well and will continue to wrestle back through the bracket against Joseph Lotruglio of Norwich.
In his first regional experience, Myles Leonard (Waldwick, N.J.) produced two pins at 165 to bring his season total 25, the most in all of college wrestling. Leonard will take on Tyler Miller of Plymouth State in the consolation bracket. At 285, Michael Filieri (Garfield, N.J.) bounced back from an opening round setback with two wins and will square off with Merchant Marine's Reid Garrison on to continue his tournament on Sunday.
The action continues on Sunday beginning at 11 am.
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