WIESBADEN, Germany-The Vicenza Cougars capped a stellar season by taking the Division II title in DoDDS-European Wrestling Championship play in Wiesbaden, Germany, Feb. 15-16. The Cougars amassed a total of 108 points for their first-place finish, followed by SHAPE in second place with 89 points and Aviano in third with 62.5 points.
Wrestlers from across Europe converged to battle for the top spots, each competing in a round-robin format at their respective weight class in two separate pools. Performance in the round-robin determined the brackets for the finals.
Nine Vicenza wrestlers qualified to compete, of whom six were undefeated going into the tournament. They were Peter McCollaum Jr. 106-lbs.; Ethan Fullmer, 126-lbs.; Connor Smith, 132-lbs.; Ramsey Schroeder, 138-lbs.; Liam Manville, 152-lbs.; and Will Pagan, 170-lbs.; Alex Jogthong, 120-lbs., Steven Fragger, 126-lbs. and Marshall Perfetti, 160-lbs., also qualified for the finals.
The VHS Cougars had won all but one meet in the regular season. They encountered largely little resistance in Italy, but realized they faced stiff competition from the larger German schools, such as Patch and Ramstein.
Five VHS wrestlers made it through the preliminary round-robins to the finals podium.
McCollaum managed a second place finish in the 106-lbs. division after losing to Ramstein 3-4 in the final. Smith, at 132 lbs., lost to Patch in Round 5, which put him in the bracket for fifth or sixth place. He secured a fifth-place finish by pinning his AFNORTH opponent in a mere 34 seconds.
Schroeder, at 138 lbs., took second, losing a heartbreaker against PATCH with a technical fall in the final.
Manville, in the 152-lb. division, took third place with a 7-4 decision against Kaiserslautern, and Pagan, wrestling in the 170-lb. bracket, finished third with a strong 17-4 decision against his Kaiserslautern opponent.
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