PHILADELPHIA – Junior Jonathan Tropea (Harrington Park, NJ/Saint Joseph (Montvale)) went 4-0 and earned the championship at 125 and three other Broncs reached the semifinals as the Rider University wrestling team competed at the Keystone Classic Sunday. The championship was Tropea's second top-two finish in as many tournaments to begin the season after a runner-up finish at the Princeton Open on Nov. 4. All told, seven Broncs turned in top six finishes on the day.
 
Tropea reached the finals on the strength of wins over Derek Shockley (VMI, 16-6 major decision), Blair Orr (Penn, 11-5 decision) and Deandre Swinson-Barr (Appalachian State, leading 6-0 when Swinson-Barr withdrew due to injury). He then earned a 7-3 victory over Penn's Carmen Ferrante in the championship bout.

Jesse Dellavecchia (Great River, NY/East Islip [Binghamton]), Dean Sherry (Brick, NJ/Brick Township) and Ethan Laird (Waterford, PA/General McLane) also advanced to the semifinals at 165, 174 and 197, respectively. Dellavecchia fell to Drexel's Ebed Jarrell, 5-2, and withdrew with a medical forfeit for the consolation semifinals. Sherry was edged by Duke's Matthew Finesilver, 5-4, in the semifinals before    Bryan McLaughlin (Drexel) took a 7-6 decision against him in the consolation semifinals. Laird fell in the semifinals to the nation's top wrestler at 197, Penn State's Bo Nickal, by fall at 1:35. He came back to defeat Penn's Greg Bensley by tech fall, 16-1, at 2:53 to reach the third-place match against Appalachian State's Randall Diabe. Diabe took a 5-2 victory. 

Quotes & Notes
"We need to become more consistent with our individual performances. We need to embrace more opportunities and find ways to win big matches on a more regular basis. I'm very pleased with Tropea's performance. He's off to a good start." - Rider Head Coach John Hangey

- Redshirt freshman Herb Edwards (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Central) fell in his opening match at 133, but wrestled back all the way back to a 5^th place finish with a pair of victories and a medical forfeit.   
- Fellow freshman George Walton (Franklin, NJ/Bound Brook) also fell in his opening match, but wrestled back into a 5^th place finish, capping the run with a 6-4 sudden victory over Sherry at 174.  
- Redshirt senior Michale Fagg-Daves (Somerset, NJ/Franklin) won four matches at 184, including the 5^th place match over Penn State's Franny Bisono, 5-3.