Providence, R.I.—Rhode Island College junior 197 lbs. Daniel Sblendorio (Mountainside, NJ) and freshman 141 lbs. Nathan Lackman (Wernersville, PA) each finished fifth and earned All-Region honors at the 2020 NCAA Div. III Wrestling Northeast Regional Championship held at the RIC Recreation Center on Saturday, Feb. 29 and Sunday, March 1.
THE BASICS
• RIC finished 14th (17 teams) with a team score of 32.5.
• Johnson & Wales won the championship (168.0), followed by Coast Guard (122.5) and New York University (122.0).
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Sblendorio went 4-2 to earn All-Region honors with a fifth place finish. He opened the tournament by pinning Trinity's Anders Klass at 6:48. After dropping his next match, Sblendorio closed out the day by pinning Wesleyan's Duncan Kreutter at 2:34.
• On Sunday, Sblendorio picked up a major decision, 12-2, over Springfield's Sam Ware and then fell to Castleton's Mitchell LaFlam, 5-2. He then downed Roger Williams' Travis Arata, 3-2, to finish fifth.
• Lackman opened the tournament with a technical fall win on Saturday, defeating Norwich's Isaac Hahr, 16-0. He then downed Springfield's Michael Vietri, 5-3 SV2, to advance to the semifinals.
• On Sunday, Lackman fell to Johnson & Wales' Jordan Robinson, 3-1, and then to Coast Guard's Noah Caskey, 2-1. He rebounded to down Vietri in a rematch, 4-0, to claim fifth overall.
• Senior 165 lbs. Zach Ford (Flagler Beach, FL) went 2-3 and earned All-Region honors with an eighth place finish. After falling in his opening match, Ford pinned Western New England's Jeff Suschana at 5:40 and earned a medical forfeit to advance to Sunday's action. Ford dropped both of his matches on Sunday to finish eighth.
WRAPPING UP 2019-20
The tournament was the final competition for the Anchormen this season. Head Coach Jay Jones' team finished 2019-20 with a 7-12 overall record.
