Complete Results

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Junior Bobby Christopher (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal-Gibbon) kicked off the 2009-10 wrestling season with a bang, earning his first collegiate individual championship at heavyweight and leading Gettysburg College at the King's College Monarch Invitational.

Gettysburg finished eighth overall in the 10-team field, totaling 63.5 points on the strength of Christopher's top finish at heavyweight and junior DJ Neri's (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) fifth-place showing at 174.

Christopher highest previous finish was third-place at last season's Centennial Conference Championship, but the Bullet junior turned in a dominating performance in his opening competition of this season. As the number four seed, he wasted no time in his opening two bouts, pinning Chris Pike of Oneonta State and Nick Pallotta of Muhlenberg College in 40 and 29 seconds, respectively. After earning a medical forfeit decision from the top seed, Christopher took down third seed Chris Rash of King's 7-4.

After a 10-win season as a sophomore, Neri turned in his best individual finish at a tournament by winning four matches. He dropped a razor-thin 4-3 decision to King's Franklin Marinucci to open the event, but recovered nicely with back-to-back pins in his first two bouts in the consolation bracket. He advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 13-2 major decision over Army's Tom O'Connor before Marinucci once again stepped in the way for a 7-4 decision. In the fifth-place match, Neri secured the victory over Oneonta's Kris Stafford by a 5-2 count.

Senior Patrick Doherty (Garden City, N.J./Chaminade) began the day on a high note with a dominating 19-3 technical fall in his opening contest at 157. The Bullet captain, seeded fifth in his division, was halted in his run at a title by injury in his second match of the afternoon.

Thirteen of the Bullets' 16 wrestlers scored a victory at the event with only junior Luke Mitchell (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) earning at least two outside of Christopher and Neri. Competing at 184, Mitchell earned his first pin of the season in his opening bout, taking down Braden Frisica of RIT in 3:28. Each of his final three matches was decided by three points or less, including a 6-5 victory in his second consolation match.

Sophomore Michael Slabinski (Alexandria, Va./St. Stephen's & St. Agnes), and freshmen Joe Fiore (Hicksville, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) and Adam Finkelstein (Purdys, N.Y./Somers) each earned pins at 149, 157, and 165, respectively, while freshman heavyweight Kevin Poplaski (North Reading, Mass./St. John's Prep) managed a major decision (10-0) in his first consolation bout.

The Gettysburg grapplers return to the mats next Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Ursinus College Fall Brawl. Opening bouts are slated to begin at 9 a.m.