Springfield, Mass.—Junior 157 lbs.
Nathan Lackman (Wernersville, Pa.) and freshman 125 lbs.
Fred Luchs (Bedford, N.J.) each won individual titles as the Rhode Island College wrestling team opened the 2021-22 season with a sixth place finish at Springfield's Doug Parker Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
• The Anchormen placed sixth (14 teams) with a team score of 79.0. Coast Guard won the championship with a team score of 162.5.
• RIC had 15 wrestlers compete at the event.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Lackman, who is currently ranked No. 6 in the nation and No. 1 in New England in his weight class, went 5-0 with two major victories and one pin to capture the individual crown at 157 lbs. He defeated Coast Guard's
Joe Chapman, 11-3, in the finals. Lackman went through the entire day without being taken down or giving up near-fall points.
• Luchs went 4-0 with three pins to win the individual title at 125 lbs. He defeated teammate and classmate
Kwesi Amoa (Central Islip, N.Y.) with a pin (0:53) in the finals.
• Amoa went 3-1 with a major decision to finish second at 125 lbs.
• Junior
Jett Tancsik (Centereach, N.Y.) went 3-1 with a technical fall victory to finish second at 184 lbs. He lost in the finals to Coast Guard's
Paul Detwiler (currently No. 1 in New England).
• Senior
Travis Manick (Methuen, Mass.) went 2-2 to finish fourth at 285 lbs. and round out the RIC place-finishers.
HEAD COACH JAY JONES ON THE TEAM'S PERFORMANCE
• "I am pretty proud of most of our guys today. We are showing some improvement as a program with five place-winners at the Doug Parker, which included two champions. We were only six points from third place so we have to make less rookie mistakes and we will be right in the mix."
• "It felt great to have guys competing at a high level for most of the day. We have all been through a lot in the last year or so, thus it was a huge step for all the guys to compete. We are really blessed to have these student-athletes and coaches who stuck it out and continue to move forward."
WHAT'S NEXT
In upcoming action, Rhode Island College will host Western New England on Friday, Dec. 3 (7 p.m.).
