GRANTHAM, PA – Johns Hopkins freshman Chris Qureshi made an immediate impact in his first action with the Johns Hopkins wrestling team as he placed first at 125 pounds to help the Blue Jays to a seventh-place finish in the 11-team season-opening Messiah Invitational.
 
Qureshi and the Blue Jays amassed 71.5 points to earn their seventh-place finish.  Wisconsin-Eau Claire totaled 169.5 points to win the team title with Washington & Lee (140.5), Elizabethtown (120), Brockport (119.5) and Messiah (11675), rounding out the top five in the final team scoring.
 
Among the three Centennial Conference schools competing, the Blue Jays trailed sixth-place Ursinus, but topped 10th-placed McDaniel.
 
Qureshi went 5-0 on the day to become the first Johns Hopkins 125-pounder to win an in-season tournament since Paul Bewak won the Waynesburg Invitational during the 2014-15 season.  He opened his career with a 12-6 decision of Andrew Perez of Ursinus, added three straight bonus-point wins, including one technical fall and two major decisions, to move into the title bout against top-seeded Robert Armstrong of Brockport, who began the season ranked sixth in Region 2. 
 
Qureshi nearly ended things early as he scored a quick takedown and earned four back points to go up 7-0 in the first minute of the match.  He added a second-period takedown and used a defensive strategy in the final period to grab a 10-4 victory.
 
Senior Freddy Pimental added a fourth-place finish at 149 as he went 5-2 on the day.  Pimental scored two bonus-point wins with a technical fall and a major, added two wins by decision and advanced once via medical forfeit.  Both of his losses on the day came against Washington & Lee's Giosue Hickman, including a 13-5 setback in the third-place match.
 
Freshman Zev Koransky got his career off to a quick start with five wins in seven bouts to earn a sixth-place showing.  Among his victories were two wins by technical fall as he bounced back from a tournament-opening 11-6 loss to eventual semifinalist Finn Bloomquist.
 
Junior Max Apsel (141) and freshman Brody Bishop (157) finished 3-2 on the day to earn valuable team points.  Apsel counted a pin and a pair of decisions among his three victories, while Bishop had two pins among his three victories, including a career-opening 60-second fall of McDaniel's Brendan Bowman in his first bout.
 
Three other Blue Jays – all freshmen – went 2-2 on the day.  Liam Qureshi (133), the twin brother of Chris, scored a pair of wins by fall, while Raul Rodriguez added a pair of bonus-point wins with a major and technical fall on the day.  Will Merkle joined Liam Qureshi and Rodriguez with a pair of wins in the first action of his career with both of his victories coming by major decision.

Notes:  The Blue Jays had 17 individuals entered in the tournament today and 16 of the 17 won at least one match. The team accumulated a total of 35 bout victories on the day with the 23 bonus-point wins among the 35.  JHU's 17 entries were tied for the second-fewest among the 11 teams in the tournament.
 
What's Next
The Blue Jays will return to action on Saturday, November 14, when they travel to Ursinus to participate in the Racich Rumble.