GRANTHAM, Pa. – Six Gettysburg College wrestlers are in the hunt for championships after advancing to the semifinals of their respective weight classes on the opening day of the Messiah College Petrofes Invitational on Friday.
 
When competition resumes Saturday, Gettysburg will be represented in the semifinals by senior Lenny Ogozalek (Summit Hill, Pa./Panther Valley) at 125 pounds, sophomore Colin Devlin (Dresher, Pa./Upper Dublin) at 149, senior Quinn Merrigan (Canton, Mass./Canton) and junior Colin Kowalski (Derwood, Md./Georgetown Prep) at 165, freshman Mike Iodice (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central) at 197, and junior Paul Triandafilou (Derwood, Md./Georgetown Prep) at heavyweight.
 
Gettysburg, which finished runner-up as a team at the Petrofes event last season, sits fourth in the team standings with 79 points. No. 6 Messiah is first with 121.5 points followed by No. 22  University of Mount Union (109.5) and No. 24 Waynesburg University (89).
 
Ogozalek ran off three wins to open the day. He pulled out a close 6-4 decision in his opening match and picked up his first technical fall (20-3) of the season in his second bout. Ogozalek clinched a spot in the semis with a 12-4 major decision over Stefhen Caple from Thaddeus Stevens College. The Gettysburg senior draws top seed and 10th-ranked Nick Mancini from Mount Union in the next round.
 
Making just his second appearance on the mat this season, Devlin wasted no time in his first two matches. After posting a fall in 1:31, the sophomore logged the fastest pin of his career at just 18 seconds against Ursinus College's Donte McCarthy. It was the quickest fall by a Gettysburg wrestler since Triandafilou tied the program record with a 14-second match against Penn College on Jan. 16, 2015. Devlin followed up with a 9-6 win in the quarterfinals to set up a semifinal showdown with Messiah's Stephen Maloney on Saturday.
 
Gettysburg secured two of the four spots in the 165 semifinals. Merrigan posted a pair of pins to reach the final four, while Kowalski earned a pin and decision. The pair will face the top two competitors in the weight class as Kowalski squares off with No. 9 Jesse Gross of Mount Union and Merrigan meets No. 7 Jeff Hojnacki of Messiah.
 
Iodice scored a pair of wins to reach the 197 semis. He opened with a 20-2 technical fall and defeated Muhlenberg College's Gennaro Cerminara, who placed third at the Centennial Conference Championship last season, 14-9. The Gettysburg first-year will face seventh-ranked Kyle Koser from Messiah in his first match Saturday.
 
The two-time defending heavyweight champion, Triandafilou improved to 14-0 in his career at the event with three more wins Friday. He put up a pair of pins in his first two matches and blanked Messiah's Dan Kiser 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Triandafilou will tangle with Dylan Otis of Penn College in the semis. The Gettysburg junior defeated the Penn College grappler 3-2 in their only prior meeting last season.
 
The six semifinalists aren't the only Bullets remaining in the tournament with several competitors looking to make runs in the consolation brackets. Senior Louie Carusillo (Pequannock, N.J./DePaul Catholic) won his opening match by major decision before getting knocked into the consolation bracket at 133 pounds. Carusillo picked up a first-period fall (2:11) to assure more time on the mat Saturday.
 
Freshman Sean Thompson (Plainsboro, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro South) was upended 9-4 in his opening match against Springfield's Derek Bohle. The first-year came right back with three wins in the consolation bracket by major decision (8-0), fall (2:21), and technical fall (15-0) to secure a top-eight finish at the event.
 
Senior Anthony Puca (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) narrowly missed a spot in the semifinals in the heavyweight division. Puca opened with a 3-2 decision to set up a showdown with top seed and fourth-ranked Jake Evans of Waynesburg. The Gettysburg senior gave Evans all he could handle before going down by decision 3-0. Puca clinched a spot in Saturday's placement matches by taking down Nicholas Harper of Greensboro College 4-2.
 
Several Bullets turned in multiple wins before being eliminated from the tournament. Freshman Nolan Smith (Olney, Md./Paint Branch) earned a technical fall (19-2) in his first match at 141 and tacked on a 16-11 decision in the consolation bracket. Senior Jake Bracken (Chatsworth, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) and sophomore Traken Sutton (Wethersfield, Conn./Loomis Chaffee) each picked up a pair of wins at 149 pounds. Sophomore Austin Roskos (Lawrenceville, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) came out with two decision victories at 165.
 
Gettysburg resumes action at the Petrofes Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m.