Wrestling Competes at Messiah Petrofes Invitational

GRANTHAM, Pa. -- The Bridgewater State University wrestling team was in action during day one of the prestigious Messiah Petrofes Invitational on Friday at the Hitchcock Arena on the campus of Messiah University.

Sophomore Malcolm Chrispin (Hyde Park, Mass.) was the only BSU grappler to advance to Saturday.

Chrispin went 3-1 competing out of the 133-pound weight class. After getting pinned in his first bout of the day, Chrispin bounced back with three straight wins, including back-to-back dominant technical fall victories (18-0 and 16-0) over Fernando Morales of Southern Virginia University and Derek Renninger of Thaddeus Stevens College, followed by a 6-0 decision against AJ Orlando of Averett University.

Chrispin, who improved to 8-6 on the season, will take on Sean Rinebolt of Shenandoah University in the consolation quarterfinals on Saturday morning.

BSU freshman Tyler Candelari (Pittsfield, Mass.) picked up his first two collegiate wins, both by fall, as he went 2-2 out of the 125-pound weight class. After dropping his opening bout by technical fall, Candelari recorded back-to-back pins over Southern Virginia's Joseph Comaduron and Quinn Richards. Candelari was eliminated with a technical fall setback to Tyler Ratledge of host Messiah.

The Bears are in 13th place in the team standings with 20.5 points after day one. Host Messiah leads all teams with 117 points.