LEXINGTON, Va. – The University of Scranton wrestling team had four wrestlers earn top-three finishes en route to placing fourth at the Washington & Lee Invitational on Saturday. 

The Royals finished with 77.5 points in the event, which was won by John Carroll with 129.5 points. Washington & Jefferson was a close second with 123.5, followed by Gettysburg (106) and Scranton. Virginia Military Institute rounded out the top five with 65.5 points.

Junior Ian Evans (Laurys Station, Pa./Parkland) led the Royals by finishing second at 157 pounds. Sophomore Zachary D'Apolito (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley Senior) was third at 165, as were freshmen Nicholas DePierro (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold) at 133 and Daniel D'Agostini (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) at 184. 

Evans opened the day with a technical fall victory (23-5, 4:08) in the opening round. That put him in the quarterfinals where he had a 12-5 decision, and he followed that with a 2-0 shutout decision to reach the final. Unfortunately he dropped a 7-2 decision in the title bout to John Carroll's Dan Mirman.

The three wins give Evans 82 for his career, third-best in school history. He is 11 behind Michael Grandchamp (1995-99) for second. 

D'Apolito received a bye into the quarterfinals, where he suffered a 5-2 loss to Ferrum's Kendall Cherry. But he rallied to opened consolation round action with a dramatic 1-0 victory, and followed that with a pin in 5:21 to reach the consolation semifinals. There, he earned a pin in 6:59 to reach the third-place match, where he avenged his loss opening loss to Cherry with a 3-1 win in sudden death.

DePierro also received an opening-round bye at 133, then had an 5-2 win in a tiebreaker in the quarterfinals. He suffered an 8-4 loss in the semifinals to Washington & Lee's Zach Bylykbashi. Bumped to the consolation bracket, DePierro earned a 9-3 semifinal win, then defeated John Carroll's Mitch Tikkanen with a pin in 7:54 in the third-place match. 

D'Agostini opened his day with a pin in 1:37 in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, he suffered a 6-4 loss in sudden death to Washington & Jefferson's Martin Shulik to fall into the consolation bracket. There, he had back-to-back major decision wins of 8-0 and 11-2 to reach the consolation semifinal. A 3-2 win there gave him a shot at redemption against Shulik in the third-place match, which he earned with an 8-2 victory.

Freshman Andrew Gombas (Warren, N.J./Bound Brook) gave the Royals one more top-five finish by finishing fifth at 174. He suffered an opening-round lost before rallying in the consolation bracket with three straight wins – a pin in 4:29, a pin in 4:31 and an 8-6 win in sudden death. A loss in the consolation semifinal put him in the fifth-place match, where he won by medical forfeit.

Scranton also received sixth-place finishes from sophomore Brandon Davis (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley Senior) at 125 and freshmen Liam Gallagher (Aberdeen, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) at 141 and Derek Fisher (Nanticoke, Pa./Nanticoke) at 197. 

Scranton will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 13, when the Royals host King's at 7 p.m. in the Long Center.

--ROYALS--