The AU Wrestling team turned in its best performance in recent memory Saturday, seizing three individual first-place finishes en route to a third-place team finish at the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia.
AU ended the meet with 89.5 points with only seven of its 10 wrestlers competing, behind No. 23 Rider, which won with 141 points, and host No. 20 Pennsylvania, which came in second with a score of 105.5.
In head-to-head championship matches against Rider, AU wrestlers were 3-1.
Junior Muzzaffar Abdurakhmanov, ranked ninth in the nation, won the 157-pound title, and was named wrestler of the tournament after winning his first two matches by decision before pinning Penn's Brock Whitmeyer in 2:50 in the semifinal.
Abdurakhmanov secured the title after a dominating match over No. 23 Dave Miller of Rider ended in medical default during a third-period takedown. Abdurakhmanov controlled all of his matches, with his opponents being unsuccessful in scoring any offensive point against him.
No. 21 Daniel Waters, a grad student, won the 174 class after three straight decision victories, including a title-match win over Sean Jenkins of Rider, which finished 10-4.
Waters improved on a sixth-place finish at the Keystone classic last year and was only challenged in his semifinal match against Penn's Dustin Wiles, whose frantic wrestling style clashed against Waters' calm and meticulous style.
Josh Glenn, a redshirt freshman, rounded out the Eagle victories at 184, downing a third Rider opponent, T.J. Morrison, for the Eagles in the finals.
Glenn stuck Matt Dwyer of Penn before winning a major decision in the semis and again in the finals. This was Glenn's first tournament appearance officially wrestling for AU.
Junior Tom Kniezewski wrestled seven matches (5-2), the most for any wrestlers at the entire tournament, for AU at the 149 weight class, taking fourth place. Kniewzewski upset multiple wrestlers and finished two positions higher then his original seed.
Sophomore heavyweight Adam LoPiccolo lost twice to Rider's Tyler Rees, with the second loss coming in the consolation finals in a triple overtime 4-2 decision. In four of LoPiccolo's matches he was outweighed by nearly 70 pounds by his opponents.
True sophomore Dwayne Hash, at 165 pounds, rounded out AU's scoring, placing sixth in his bracket.
