With 25 total points scored for Elizabethtown College at the D. Kenneth Ober Invitational, senior Ganon Smith moved to the top position in the nation for the 184 pound weight class. 

Smith led the way for four total first-place finishes for the team, including junior Justice Hockenberry, graduate student Will Davis and sophomore Sav Niewiadomy. 

With athletes in each weight class, the Blue Jays were able to attempt to control each bracket for maximum points. Etown would place first as a team with 159 total points, eight points ahead of runner-up McDaniel College. The invitational saw 10 teams from around the central Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic areas. 

In the 125 weight class, the Jays saw first-years Roman Polcha and Hunter Pettorossi along with senior Deven Jackson. Polcha placed sixth overall, Pettorossi’s place was unknown and Jackson placed runner-up. Polcha would fall to senior Romeo Tsai of McDaniel in the semi-finals and would place sixth in the fifth place match. Pettorossi would receive a bye in round one then fall to Colin Marano in round two. Jackson made it to the championship match and ultimately placed second. The three men scored a combined 17 points for the team.

Etown placed two athletes in the top-eight of the 133 weight class. Sophomore Febian Dawit placed eighth overall and graduate student Corey Cope was runner-up. Dawit would make it to the fifth round before falling to McDaniel wrestler Stone Yuen. Cope finished runner-up to Kyle Von Schmidt of Shippensburg in the championship match. Together, Dawit and Cope scored 17.5 points for the team.

Senior Keegan Allen and senior Owen Heffner would represent the Blue Jays in the 141 weight class, scoring .5 points for the team. Four Jays would wrestle in the 149 weight class, with junior Casey Spina scoring six points for the team with a run up to round four. 

In the 157, 165 and 174 weight classes, Etown would score 46.5 points thanks to juniors Aiden Robinson, Justice Hockenberry and Gavin Fehr. Hockenberry would win the championship match in the 165 weight class by decision against Nicholas DeLorenzo of Eastern University. Fehr would fall in the championship match for the 174 weight class to Andrew Kozubal of Messiah. 

Smith received two byes in the 184 weight class bracket. He would dominate the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship match within a few minutes. Smith won by fall in the championship match in a total of two and a half minutes. This improves his personal record to 29-0 on the season, moving him from second in the nation to first. 

Davis scored 21.5 points for the team with a win in the 197 weight class. As a top-ranked wrestler in the region, he received two byes before winning the quarterfinal by a major decision, semifinal in sudden victory, and championship match by tech fall. 

In the 285 weight class, senior Jimmy Yeingst would place third and Niewiadomy would claim the title by medical forfeit, scoring 25 points for the Blue Jays. 

The next home match for the Etown wrestling squad will be Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. versus Gettysburg College.