ROANOKE, VA.- Domenic Difrancescantonio and Nick Sacco earned All-American honors for TCNJ Wrestling after advancing to the semifinals at day one of the DIII NCAA Championships.
 
Peter Wersinger won one of his three bouts on the day while Matt Sacco and Reid Colella unfortunately fell in both of their matchups.
 
Difrancescantonio (141) took a reversal and built off that in his first matchup to pin Nate Fitt of the Coast Guard Academy in the second period. In his second matchup, he exploded for a six-point first period with a takedown and a near fall against Kyle Slendon of Stevens. He scored 3 more points in the second and held on in the third to claim his All-American Status. He will take on Ethan Harsted of Wheaton College tomorrow in the semifinal bout.
 
Nick Sacco (165) earned back crucial riding time in the second overtime period against Zach Altman of Adrian College. With Altman ahead by eight seconds going into the second overtime, Sacco managed to keep Altman down for eleven seconds to take the win by three seconds. In the quarterfinal, he gained his points from an escape plus one minute of riding time to claim All-American honors and a 2-0 victory over Cooper Pontelandolfo of NYU. He will match up against Nathan Lackman of Rhode Island College.
 
Wersinger (285) started his day off strong with a 2-0 decision win over Nate DeGroff of RIT. In the following match, Wersinger had no answer for Tyler Kim of Ausburg, who pinned him in the first period. In the consolation bracket, he could not find any momentum against Jake Peavey from Southern Maine as he lost by decision 3-0. Wersinger finished his season with a 24-10 record and his first Mideast Region Championship.
 
Matt Sacco (157) found himself in a jam against Nolan Hertel of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the in the second period after being taken down following a scoreless first period. In the third, Sacco was able to gain a point via escape, but it was not enough to come back as he lost 4-1. In his second bout, he was able to escape after being taken down twice but could not come up with a takedown of his own as he lost 6-2 by decision to Ryan Smith of Stevens. Sacco completed his season with an 18-7 record and a second-place finish at Mideast Regions. This was the second year in a row that Sacco was an NCAA qualifier.
 
Colella (174) could not gain any advantage in hist first matchup against Jared Stricker from Wisconsin- Eau Claire, falling by decision 6-0. He jumped out to a 4-2 lead after the first period against Luke Hopkins of Baldwin Wallace in his second bout, but a 3-0 second period from Hopkins would propel him to a 7-4 decision win. Colella finished the '22-'23 season with an impressive 20-9 record. This season also marks his first time qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
 
Difrancescantonio and Nick Sacco will make the attempt for an NCAA title tomorrow in the semifinals. The first match of the day for day 2 will commence at 10 AM.