KINGS POINT, NY – The Johns Hopkins wrestling team got a second-place finish from senior Connor Powell (165) to lead five Johns Hopkins wrestlers who placed in the top four in their respective weight classes at the 2026 Centennial Conference Wrestling Championships at the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday.
 
Ursinus totaled 93.5 points to grab the team title and the Bears were followed by Gettysburg (87.5 points), Merchant Marine (70), Muhlenberg (48), McDaniel (40.5) and Johns Hopkins (33.5 points) in the final team standings.
 
Powell earned the number two seed and went 1-1 on the day to earn his runner-up finish.  He opened with a decisive 14-4 major decision of Gettysburg's Ean Wilson in the semifinals before falling to top-seeded Viviano Gutierrez, 10-3, in the title bout.  The runner-up finish is the best of Powell's career as he previously had third and fourth-place finishes to his credit.
 
Junior Freddy Pimental (149) and senior Kadin Khalloufi (184) added third-place finishes and sophomore Giorgio Difalco (157) and senior Jacob Pomykata (285) placed fourth to help lead the way for the Blue Jays.
 
Pimental went 3-1 on the day as he opened with an 11-2 major decision against Sam Teti of Ursinus before dropping a 7-4 decision to Jake Mitchell of Gettysburg in the semifinals.  He then topped Muhlenberg's Eoghan O'Hara, 16-1, in the consolation semifinals and topped Teti, 15-7, in the third-place match.
 
Khalloufi was seeded third and earned a first-round bye, but dropped his semifinal bout to eventual runner-up Nicholas Stump of Muhlenberg.  In the consolation bracket, he grabbed a 21-4 technical fall of McDaniel's Avery Cummings and topped Gettysburg's Joe Dietz, 4-0, in the third-place match.
 
Difalco went 2-2 on the day and nearly pulled off a stunning upset in the semifinals.  After opening with a win by decision, he took top-seeded Braden Kmak to overtime before falling 13-8.  He added an overtime win of his own in the consolation semifinals before dropping the third-place match.
 
Pomykata went 1-2 with an opening-round win against Jonathan Harms by injury default.  He fell to Gettysburg's Simon Taylor, 5-2, in the third-place match.
 
What's Next
The Blue Jays will return to action on February 27th at the NCAA Regional Championships.