EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – A pair of TCNJ wrestling standouts got their seasons underway Sunday with place-winning performances at the East Stroudsburg Open.
 
Each wrestling up a weight class from his typical slot, Garrett Totten finished third at 141 pounds and Matthew Griffin took fifth at 133. The pair combined to go 9-2 with five pins and a technical fall for the day.
 
Totten, the reigning NCAA champion at 133 pounds, made short work of Lucas Nason (pin in 1:01) and Bridgeport's Jaiden Hernandez. The top-seeded Totten scored a trio of first-period takedowns, the last coming with four near-fall points attached, to go up 13-2 after one en route to clinching a 19-3 technical fall just before the second-period buzzer.
 
Totten navigated through a tricky quarterfinal clash with Navy Prep's Nathan Attisano, trailing 1-0 after two periods before pulling even with an escape to open the third. He scored the go-ahead takedown with just over a minute remaining, then managed to ride out the rest of the match for a hard-fought 5-1 triumph.
 
Totten's bid for a title ended in the semifinals, a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Tyler Traves of Spartan Combat RTC, who scored a first-period takedown and survived a late stall warning to hold off the Lions' star senior by a single point.
 
Totten claimed third via medical forfeit.
 
Griffin pinned Union College's Liam Gonzalez in his first action of the new campaign. He did the same to Averett's Patrick Burdhsall, needing just 1:25 of mat time to score the fall and a trip to the quarterfinals.
 
Griffin made things interesting with a late takedown of 3^rd-seeded Hayden Andrus, but was unable to secure another and conceded an 8-4 decision to bow out of the main bracket. He advanced to the consolation semifinals via medical forfeit.
 
Griffin tacked on a third pin in his next bout, racking up eight near-fall points on his initial takedown before taking Centenary's Mason Johnson to the mat to reach the consolation final. He put a bow on his day with a fourth pin, this time dropping No. 2 seed AJ Orlando of Averett in the first period.

UP NEXT

• The Lions head to Rhode Island College for a tournament next Saturday