Bullets Wrestling. (Photo Courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Joe Curry, Staff Writer
The Gettysburg wrestling team had a tough weekend of competition, with a matchup against Johns Hopkins this past Friday and a Centennial Conference quad match against Ursinus and Merchant Marine on Saturday. These back-to-back matches against conference competition saw many great performances from the squad.
To start the weekend, Gettysburg defeated Johns Hopkins on the road to take home their first conference victory of the season.
The Bullets started with a win by forfeit for Frank Spelt ’27 in the 125 weight class, followed by a strong showing from Brendan Callahan ’27, who won his bout with a score of 15-0 in the 133 weight class.
Luke Kowalski ʼ24 continued the strong opening in the 141 weight class with an 11-6 win, and Ethan Composto ʼ27 finished off the streak of wins with a 12-3 victory. These four brought the Bullets to an early 18-0 lead over the Blue Jays.
Hopkins rallied in the next three bouts to cut the Bullets’ lead down to five points. However, James Doliscar ’27 halted the Blue Jays’ progress, as he won his match in the 184 weight class with a score of 22-6. Phil Nave ʼ26 cemented the win for the Bullets in the following bout, as he won 25-9.
The final score of the evening was 30-13 in favor of the Bullets.
The following day, Gettysburg traveled to Ursinus for a quad matchup. Although the turnaround was quick, many of the Bullets were still able to walk away with wins. Unfortunately, the team fell to both Ursinus and Merchant Marine, with a final score of 31-9 against Ursinus and 27-21 against Merchant Marine.
In the first match of the day, the Bullets faced Ursinus. After an opening win for the Bears in the 125 weight class, Gettysburg’s Callahan and Kowalski punched back with victories of their own.
Ursinus followed with a pin, but Gettysburg once again struck back thanks to Gavin Pascoe ʼ27, who won the 157 weight class bout with a decision to tie the match at nine. Following this match, the Bears went on a strong run to close out the battle and beat the Bullets.
The following matchup against Merchant Marine proved to be exciting. Callahan once again answered the opposition’s opening win in the 125 weight class with yet another win for himself in the 133 class. From there, the Bullets went on a run, and Kowalski, Composto, Pascoe, and Justin Richey ʼ26 all walked away successfully. Merchant Marine was able to rally, however, and finish out the remainder of the match with three pins in a row.
These matches mark the end of the team’s regular season as they gear up for the Centennial Conference championship at McDaniel this Saturday, February 10th.
