Ambrocio, Sanders win titles; Wrestling competes at North Central Invitational

NAPERVILLE, Ill – Sean Ambrocio and Greg Sanders each won titles for Concordia University Wisconsin, as the wrestling team competed at the difficult North Central College Invitational. Ambrocio was named Outstanding Wrestler for his efforts.

The Falcons placed four wrestlers, which included Leonard Kuspa and Casey Kenealy's fourth-place finishes. CUW took sixth place as a team with 56.5 points.

Ambrocio (sophomore, San Antonio, Texas) defeated Matt Damp (Lakeland) by technical fall, 17-1, before defeating Jimmy Panozza (Augustana) by decision, 13-6. In the championship match he edged out No. 8-ranked Jake Scholten (Augustana) by a 6-5 decision victory. The 125-pound title is the second of the season for Ambrocio.

Sanders (sophomore, San Antonio, Texas) cruised to his second 149-pound title of the season. He pinned Gage Burt (Wheaton) in 2:20 before winning by decision, 10-3, over David Tessiatore (Augustana). Sanders then won by decision, 6-1, over Walter Piech (Augustana) to get the championship match where he won by major decision, 13-5, against Elroy Perkin (UW-Whitewater).

Kuspa (junior, Oak Forest, Ill.) dropped his opening bout by technical fall, 19-4, to Torey Welch (Augustana). In the wrestle-back portion of the 165-pound bracket he defeated Connor Cummings (Augustana) by decision, 5-1, and Thomas Reyhons (Augustana) by major decision, 11-2. Kuspa lost a third-place bout to Ethan Farmer (Wabash) by major decision, 9-0.

Kenealy (sophomore, Hartford, Wis.) lost his first bout of the day by technical fall, 15-0, against Matt McCrary (Wheaton) to send him to the wrestle-back portion of the 174-pound bracket. There he won three-straight bouts by decision with wins over Kyle Perea (MSOE) 7-5, Greg Ventris (Knox) 3-1 and over Steven Burling (North Central) 5-4. During the third-place bout he was pinned in 26 seconds by No. 7-ranked Connor Lefever (Wabash).

No. 11 Wabash College won the tournament with 140 team points, while No. 19 Augustana College was second place with 134.5 points. No. 9-ranked UW-Whitewater was third with 102 points.

CUW will travel to Ft. Myers, Fla., for the Second Annual Florida Gulf Coast Duals. It will compete against Heidelberg University, Alma College, SUNY Oneonta and Augustana College on Sunday, Dec. 16.