ITHACA, N.Y. – The JWU (Providence) wrestling team opened the 2026-2027 season with a first-place finish at the Ithaca Invitational this weekend at Ben Light Gymnasium.
 
Complete Results
 
The Wildcats compiled 184.5 team points with 17 student-athletes placing in the top six of their weight class, including three first-place finishers, four runners-up, three third-place finishers, three fourth-place finishers, one fifth-place finisher, and three sixth-place finishers.
 
Junior Peyton Ellis posted a 5-0 record to finish first at 133 lbs. He recorded four falls, including a 14-second win over Chase Alloca (VTSU Castleton) and a finals win over Jay McDonnell (Ithaca) in 0:55. He also had a 17-4 tech fall over Cahota LaFond (VTSU Castleton).
 
Sophomore All-American Nico Rivera (125 lbs.) swept through the event with a 5-0 record, including two falls, a 20-5 semifinal tech fall over Johnny Moraes (Castleton) and 11-3 major decision in the final over Gavin Bradley (Castleton).
 
Senior All-American Jack Richardson also went 5-0 to win the 165 lb. bracket. He started the weekend with a pair of 15-0 tech falls before pinning Jack Pickersgill (Cortland) in 2:06. He later defeated Ithaca's Christopher Reddy (MD, 9-1) and Niagara Community College's Joseph Sanderfer, Jr. by a 9-2 decision in the final.
 
Junior Zach Miller was 4-1 to finish second at 184 pounds. He recorded three early falls before defeating Harrison Muller (Ithaca) by a 17-0 tech fall to reach the finals, where he dropped a 4-1 decision to Joseph Baker (VTSU Castleton).
 
Junior Jared Spahn (141 lbs.) used a tech fall, two pins and a 5-2 decision to reach his weight class final before falling to Penn College's Kaden Ware in the final. Classmate Ian Sutherland (174 lbs.) also finished second for JWU, advancing to the final with two pins and two decisions. He lost by fall to Nolen Zeigler (Lycoming) in 2:01.
 
Freshman Michael Mauro went 4-1 to finish second at 285 lbs. He lost a narrow 4-3 decision to Ithaca's Charlie Turner in the final. He recorded a 1:52 pin over Kade Crawford (Norwich) in the second round.
 
Third-place finishers Brayden Soleau (285 lbs.) and Eliezer Sanchez (141 lbs.) each went 5-1 on the weekend, while Matthew Pappas (174 lbs.) was 4-1. Soleau and Pappas each had two pins.
 
Freshmen Jack Lorper (133 lbs.), August Katz (157 lbs.) and Thomas Vecchio (174 lbs.) finished fourth in their weights. Senior Michael Schliem placed fifth at 197 lbs. Graduate student Nicholas Torres (141 lbs.), sophomore John Betancourt (197 lbs.) and junior Tyler Colclough (285 lbs.) each had sixth-place finishes.
 
VTSU Castleton was second (156), followed by Ithaca (154.5), Niagara Community College (108), Lycoming (87), Penn College (63), Emmanuel (58.5), Springfield (58), Oswego St. (54), Cortland (52.5), Norwich (49.5) and Elmira (15.5).