GORHAM, Maine – The Johnson & Wales (RI) University wrestling team saw six of its 10 student-athletes competing at the NCAA Division III Northeast Regionals advance to the semifinal round on Saturday on the campus of the University of Southern Maine.

Freshman and top-seeded Joziah Fry (125 lbs.) won both of his matches via pin to advance to the semifinals on Sunday; he won his opening match in 1:47 and his second in 3:30. Junior Hayden Brown (157 lb.) also advanced to the semifinals, winning his first match via fall in 25 seconds and his next match via a 10-3 decision.

Senior Victor Perlleshi (141 lbs.) opened the day with a 14-5 majority decision before winning a 2-1 decision in the next round to advance to the semifinals. Sophomore Dylan Harr (197 lbs.) collected a fall in 4:40 to open his day and later was on the winning end of an 8-3 decision to move on to the semis.

Graduate student Michael Ross – the No. 1 seed at 174 lbs. – picked up a pair of tech fall wins (18-0, 16-0) to advance to the semifinal round. Sophomore Gabriel Leo-Esparolini joins Ross in the semis after picking up a fall victory in 1:33 in the first round and a 6-5 win by decision in the quarterfinals.

Graduate student and No. 1 seed at 285 lbs., Liridon Leka, advanced to the second round courtesy of a 9-1 majority decision, but was pinned in the next round in 4:17. He closed his day with an 11-3 majority decision win and will now chase third-place on Sunday.

Graduate student William Hughes, senior Ryan DeVivo, and sophomore Patrick Wisniewski all suffered a fate similar to Leka, winning their first match of the day before dropping their second. All three rebounded to win their third match and will compete to finish as high as third when competition concludes Sunday.