WINCHESTER, VA – The Johns Hopkins wrestling team closed out the pre-Thanksgiving portion of its 2023-24 schedule with a third-place finish at the Shenandoah Invitational on Sunday.  The Blue Jays, who entered 11 wrestlers over six weight classes, crowned three individual champions and totaled 103 points to grab their third-place showing.  Frostburg State won the team title with 143.5 points as the Bobcats edged the host Hornets, who rang up 138 points.  Frostburg entered 20 individuals in the tournament, while the Hornets had 21 entries.
 
Three First-Time Champions
Freshman Freddy Pimental (149), sophomore Jake Hoffmann (165) and junior Will Shiber (197) were all perfect on the day and picked up the first tournament titles of their careers.
 
Pimental becomes the first Johns Hopkins freshman to win an in-season tournament since Paul Bewak won the 125-pound title at the Waynesburg Open during the 2011-12 season.  Pimental won all three of his matches on the day to claim his title;  he opened with a 71-second pin and a decision in his first two bouts and added a 20-7 major decision of Shenandoah's Yuri Smaltz in the 149-pound final.
 
In the first in-season tournament title bout of his career, Hoffmann left little doubt as he rolled to a 19-4 technical fall victory over Landon Kissell of the Apprentice School in the 165-pound championship bout.  The technical fall was the third of the day for Hoffmann, who grabbed wins by scores of 22-6 and 20-5 in his first two matches and added an 11-6 win over Jalen Cornelius of Shenandoah in the semifinals.
 
Shiber made it three first-time champions for the Blue Jays as he eased his way to the title at 197.  After scoring a pair of second-period pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Shiber scored a 14-2 major decision of Frostburg's William Applegarth in the title bout to secure his first individual crown.
 
Other Top Performers
Senior Chris Roybal narrowly missed giving Hopkins a school-record four individual champions as he worked his way into the championship match at 174 before falling to Dylan Weaver of Shenandoah. Among Roybal's three wins were a decision, a technical fall and a major decision.
 
Senior Fritz Maurath went the long route to earn a third-place finish at 157.  After opening with a first-period pin, Maurath was bounced to the consolation bracket by the eventual runner-up.  There, he scored three straight first-period pins and closed his day with a 12-5 win over Christopher Johnson-Hunte of Shenandoah.
 
Kadin Khalloufi placed fourth and Samuel Gledhill was fifth in the 174-pound bracket.  Khalloufi was 3-2 on the day, while Gledhill went 2-2.
 
In addition to Maurath's third-place finish at 157, the Blue Jays got a sixth-place showing in that weight class from Dillon Heffernan, who went 2-2 before having to withdraw from the tournament.  Nate Puchalski also went 2-2 at 157 for the Blue Jays but did not place.
 
For the Third Time
Crowing three champions in a tournament is a rare occurrence.  In fact, today's trio of champions mark just the third time since the start of the 2010-11 season that Johns Hopkins has won three or more weight classes in one tournament.  The last time Hopkins crowned three champions was at the Waynesburg Open during the 2010-11 season  Earlier that season, Hopkins also had three champions at Oneonta's Red Dragon Open.
 
What's Next
The Blue Jays will return to action on Saturday, December 2 when they compete in Elizabethtown's Blue Jay Classic.