The Muhlenberg men's wrestling team got strong performances from veterans and newcomers in the season-opening Tonee Ellis Memorial at Alvernia.

Three Mules - junior CJ Horvath and seniors Trey Miletics and Ryan Fairchild - reached the finals of their respective brackets.

Horvath, who set a school record with eight technical falls last season, wrapped a technical fall around two major decisions to advance to the 125-pound final, where he lost to a Division II wrestler from Kutztown.

Miletics pinned three straight opponents at 157 to reach his first career tournament final, while Fairchild, a three-year starter at 184, won his first three bouts as a full-time 197-pounder on a decision, technical fall and major decision. Neither wrestled in the finals. 

Among newcomers, freshman Eoghan O'Hara won his first three bouts, two by fall, and placed fourth at 149, while junior Zach Cohen went 2-2 at 184.

Sophomore Lucas Velando (174) went 2-2 in his collegiate debut and wrestled the most dramatic matches of the tournament, winning on a takedown with 15 seconds left in his first bout and scoring a takedown with 1:22 left to win his third. Appropriately, his final bout went into overtime. 

Sophomore Charles Levine (pictured above) had an impressive run to win the consolation bracket at 157, pinning four straight opponents to match his total from all of last season. His last two falls came in 42 seconds and 82 seconds.

Junior Tyson Derenberger, returning to action after taking last winter off, went 3-2 with a pair of pins at 165.

Team Scores
1. Kutztown (K) 241.5
2. Gettysburg (G) 209.5
3. Alvernia (Alv) 164.5
4. Shippensburg (Ship) 157.5
5. Albright (Alb) 155
6. Alfred State (Alf) 149
7. MUHLENBERG 118
8. Eastern (E) 80.5
9. Shenandoah (Shen) 68.5
10. Delaware Valley (DV) 53.5
11. Bethany (B) 48
12. Penn College (P) 44.5
13. Camden (C) 33.5
14. Rowan of South Jersey (R) 6
15. Md.-Baltimore County (UMBC) 2.5

Muhlenberg Results
125
CJ Horvath (Muhl) maj. dec. Colin Marano (Ship), 19-5
Horvath tech fall Danny Hopkins (G), 1:45 (16-0)
Horvath maj. dec. Ethan Staples (Alv), 10-1
final: Nic Allison (K) pinned Horvath, 1:20

149
Eoghan O'Hara (Muhl) pinned Jeremiah Stalling (B), 1:36
O'Hara dec. Danny Carrozza (G), 11-4
O'Hara pinned Kyle Collins (G), 4:46
Ali Alicea (K) tech fall O'Hara, 1:15 (15-0)
third place: Jake Mitchell (G) pinned O'Hara, 1:33

149
Yusuf Kulmatov (Alb) pinned Joey Lenio (Muhl), 1:57
Andrew Fabian (G) tech fall Lenio, 3:59 (21-5)

157
Trey Miletics (Muhl) pinned Antonio DeCarlo (Alb), 1:03
Miletics pinned Ryan Schimpf (K), 3:41
Miletics pinned Hunter Ballantine (Shen), 2:11
final: Trent Mahoney (Alb) over Miletics by medical forfeit

157
Hunter Ballantine (Shen) pinned Charles Levine (Muhl), 2:07
Levine dec. Nicholas Ewan (Alf), 5-3
Levine pinned Giovanni Patti (Alv), 4:28
Levine pinned Ryan Schimpf (K), 2:19
Levine pinned Brett Patton (P), 0:42
consolation final: Levine pinned Owen Cummings (Alf), 1:22

157
Owen Cummings (Alf) pinned Jack Nickell (Muhl), 2:29
Romeo Aviles (B) pinned Nickell, 1:51

165
Tyson Derenberger (Muhl) pinned Daiveon Barlow (Shen), 1:10
Derenberger dec. Connor Hoefling (G), 4-0
Nick Delp (Ship) maj. dec. Derenberger, 11-2
Derenberger pinned Cameron Mockbee (B), 2:42
Justin Richey (G) pinned Derenberger, 1:56

165
Collin Boldt (Muhl) maj. dec. Jimmy Do (C), 10-2
Luke Moore (DV) pinned Boldt, 1:02
Brandon DellaPia (Alf) tech fall Boldt, 21-1 (6:22)

174
Lucas Velando (Muhl) dec. Quinn Weismer (R), 5-4
Dalton Gimbor (K) tech fall Velando, 16-1 (4:25)
Velando dec. Lincoln Archibald (P), 7-6
Jonathan Braun (B) dec. Velando, 6-3 (sv)

174
Tyler-Ni Ritz (Shen) dec. Noah Schlofer (Muhl), 13-12
Schlofer pinned X. Ky (Muhl), 1:11
Schlofer dec. Jonny Beckett (E), 9-3
DeAngelo (Ship) maj. dec. Schlofer, 17-7

174
Luke Thomas (Alv) dec. Xandder Ky (Muhl), 14-7
N. Schlofer (Muhl) pinned Ky, 1:11

184
Zach Cohen (Muhl) pinned Gabriel Anaya (Alv), 2:41
Chris Herriman (Alf) pinned Cohen, 3:12
Cohen maj. dec. Cole Hosey (Alv), 15-7
Sam Gouveia (G) pinned Cohen, 3:36

184
Isaiah Feeney (K) tech fall Archie Rubin (Muhl), 17-0 (5:42)
Ryad Belguet (Alv) dec. Rubin, 12-10

197
Ryan Fairchild (Muhl) dec. Gideon Fasanya (Alb), 5-0
Fairchild tech fall Christop Dreher (B), 16-0 (2:07)
Fairchild maj. dec. Diesel Koser (Ship), 13-3
final: Wayne McIntyre (K) over Fairchild by medical forfeit

285
Hayk Grigorian (Muhl) maj. dec. Maximus Gordon (DV), 13-1
Joseph Gassert (Alb) maj. dec. Grigorian, 12-4
Matthew Jones (Ship) dec. Grigorian, 7-3