ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's wrestling squad competed at the 2024 NCAA Division III MidEast Regional Championships over the weekend, officially closing out the season. Seven Gothic Knights competed over the two-day tournament, which was hosted on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2. Individually, NJCU was led by sophomore Zack Vera (Livingston, N.J./Livingston), who claimed eighth place overall at 149 pounds.

As a team, the Green and Gold took home 20th-place over the weekend, while the tournament was won by New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival, #13/17-ranked The College of New Jersey.

Vera, as mentioned, was NJCU's top finisher over the two days as he came in eighth at 149 pounds with a final record of 4-3, including a streak of three consecutive victories. He began in the First Round of the championship side of the bracket, defeating Konstantinos Marvikidis of the University of Scranton via a 4-0 decision. After falling via pin in the next round to Thomas Monn of McDaniel — he is ranked #9 in the nation and #2 in the region — Vera moved over to the consolation side. There he began his run of three straight victories, pinning Ray Worsen of the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford to start it off. He then won a tight, 9-8 decision of Freddy Pimental of Johns Hopkins University before taking down Dominick Vinci of Alfred State College by fall. Vera, unfortunately, had his run halted in the consolation quarterfinals, falling via an 8-0 major decision of Christian Paredes of SUNY Cortland. Then, in the seventh-place match, his season — as well as the Gothic Knights' year — came to a close via a tough 9-3 decision loss to Tyler Rossini of SUNY Oswego, who is ranked #6 in the region.

Also advancing deep into the consolation bracket was senior 165-pounder Ty Bailey (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Boro). The fourth-year Gothic Knight went 2-2 over the weekend, starting off with a loss via tech fall in the second round of the championship side of the bracket against Jacob Burgette out of Scranton. Moving over to the consolation side, Bailey started off with a win by fall over Codi Bomboy of Keystone College before taking down Jeremy Devine of St. John Fisher College via fall in the next round, as well. His season came to a close in the fourth round of the consolation bracket against Dennis Slovick of Pitt-Bradford. The last NJCU grappler to score over the weekend was sophomore 141-pounder Andy Beras (Bergenfield, N.J./Bergenfield). After getting bumped from the championship bracket in the second round against Bryson Vaughn of RIT — #6 int the region — via tech fall, Beras started off with a win by fall over Juston Shiflett of McDaniel on the consolation second round. His year, though, closed out with a wild, 21-20 decision loss to Peter Sacco of SUNY Oneonta in the consolation third round.

Also competing for the Gothic Knights over the weekend were senior 133-pounder George Rivera (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck), fifth year 157-pounder Jeff Johnson (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) — his placed third at regionals in 2022 to become the first-ever NCAA qualifier in program history — sophomore 174-pounder Ryan McGuire (Lodi, N.J./Lodi) and senior 184-pounder Pierre Francois (Elizabeth, N.J./Dwyer Tech).