ELIZABETHTOWN, PA – The Johns Hopkins wrestling team advanced two individuals to Sunday's semifinals and two Blue Jays remain alive in the consolation bracket after the first day of competition at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships.
 
The Blue Jays amassed 42.5 points on day one and currently sit in seventh place in the 20-team regional.  The College of New Jersey totaled 87.5 points to sit atop the team standings after the first day with Ithaca (83 points), RIT (72), Cortland (65.5) and Muhlenberg (56.5) rounding out the top five.
 
The Semifinalists
#3 Dominick Reyes (165)
Reyes earned the top seed at 165 and scored an 19-4 opening-round win over Matt Kline of Brockport.  Reyes built a 12-1 lead after the first period on the strength of two takedowns and a pair of four-point near falls and eased to the 19-4 technical fall victory.
 
Reyes then fell behind Cortland's Steven Gazzillo 6-3 at the end of the first period before earning a second-period point on an escape and a third-period takedown and nearfall (2) to rally for an 8-6 win.
 
In the quarterfinals, Reyes took all the drama out of his matchup with Scranton's Jeremiah Oakes in the second period when he turned a 2-0 lead into a 9-1 advantage on the strength of an escape, takedown and four-point nearfall to fuel what became a 12-1 victory.
 
#13 Joe Paul (174)
Paul drew Muhlenberg's Nicholas Cope in his first match and wasted no time putting the match away. He used an early takedown and four sets of back points (2, 4, 2, 4) to build a 14-0 lead after the first period and scored an escape early in the second to lock up the 15-0 victory.  The technical fall victory was the school-record ninth of the season for Paul; he had been tied with Ricky Cavallo (8/2017-18) for most single-season technical falls in school history.
 
Paul drew RIT's Zach Stedeford in the quarterfinals and scored a tough 7-6 victory to move into Sunday's semifinals.  Paul scored the only three takedowns in the match, but Stedeford stayed closed with three escapes and a reversal through two periods to enter the third down 6-5.  Paul got a penalty point midway through the final period and that offset one point of riding time for Stedeford to account for the 7-6 final score.
 
Two Alive in Consolation Bracket
 
Grant Walnoha (184) – Walnoha dropped a 9-3 decision in his opening match to Steven Bilali of Oneonta, but rebounded with a pair of bonus-point wins in the consolation bracket to advance to Sunday.
 
He needed less than a period to score an 18-0 technical fall of Christian Micikaas of Keystone. He used an early takedown and four, four-point nearfalls to cruise to the victory.
 
Walnoha followed that with a 14-2 major decision of Justin Hofman of Centenary.  Down 2-1 after the first period, Walnoha outscored Hofman 13-0 over the final two periods with two takedowns, a pair of four-point nearfalls and an escape.
 
Hank Behaeghel (285) -
Behaeghel methodically worked past Nick Barrett of Alfred State, 6-0, in his opening match.  He used takedowns in the first and second period, along with a penalty point in the third and a point of riding time to fuel his six-point win.  The win over Barrett was the 50^th of Behaeghel's career.
 
In the quarterfinals, Behaeghel dropped a 3-2 decision to Ithaca's Edwin Rubio.  After a scoreless first quarter, Rubio grabbed a 3-1 lead at the end of two with an escape and takedown that Beheaghel counted with a late takedown.  In the third, Behaeghel started on the bottom and worked a quick escape, but couldn't solve Rubio's defense to score a takedown and dropped into the consolation bracket with the one-point loss.
 
Behaeghel bounced back in the consolation bracket with an 8-0 major decision victory over Cortland's Ben Klei.  Beheaghel used takedowns in the first and second periods and a takedown, penalty point and riding time to account for the 8-0 victory.
 
Eliminated on Day One
Johns Hopkins' five other entries in the tournament were all eliminated on the first day.  Scoring for the Blue Jays before being ousted were senior Jack Albin (149) and sophomore Chris Roybal (157), who both won a pair of matches and went 2-2 on the day, and senior Yosef Ellis-Rech (141), who went 1-2.
 
What's Next
The final day of competition at the regional championships will start with the semifinals at 11 am on Sunday morning.  Wrestling will continue throughout the day with the top three finishers in each weight class earning a spot in the upcoming NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.
 
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