SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Kyle Kaiser (Paramus, N.J.) took the top spot at 133 leading a trio of wresters who earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament as the Roger Williams University Wrestling team claimed fifth overall at the NCAA DIII Northeast Regional Championship Tournament, hosted by Springfield College over the weekend. Travis Arata (Riverdale, N.J.) and Addison Boisvert (Scarborough, Maine) also punched their tickets to Cedar Rapids, Iowa claiming second and third at 197 and 285 respectively.
 
As a team, RWU took fifth place out of the 19 competing schools with a team score of 88.5. The United States Coast Guard Academy took the top spot with a score of 166.5 followed by Johnson & Wales with 163.5, New York University at 102.0, and Springfield College with 93.0.
 
The three wrestlers to qualify for nationals is the most the program has had since they had four in 2017-18. In addition, Roger Williams had a wrestler receive All-Northeast honors in six of the ten weight classes as Cole Shaughnessy (Fairfield, Conn.) took fourth at 184, and Peter Tringali (Chester, N.J.) and Ben Bariso (Butler, N.J.) each claimed seventh at 141 and 149 respectively.
 
Kaiser shredded through the 133-pound weight class after entering as the top seed. He went 5-0 overall with wins by major decision and pin before three consecutive wins by decision, including a 4-0 shutout victory over Diego Santiago (Easton, Penn.) to claim first.
 
Arata also went unblemished through his first three matches, all three by way of decision before falling to Coy Spooner (Minot, N.D.) of Coast Guard in the finals.
 
The most dramatic route to NCAA's came from Boisvert. After wins by major decision and pin, Boisvert found himself in the consolation bracket after falling to the top seed at 285 in the semifinals round. In the consolation semifinals he needed extra time to advance to face Will Ortman (Hopewell Valley, N.J.) with a trip to nationals on the line. That match extended to a pair of overtime periods before Boisvert finally pulled off the 4-2 win by decision.
 
Shaughnessy just missed the cut, finishing fourth and he had a difficult road to get to that point. He lost in his second match of the weekend to Edwin Morales (Philadelphia, Pa.) to get bounced into the consolation bracket. He won his next three by decision but then encountered Morales yet again to fall just shy of an NCAA Tournament berth.
 
Bariso and Tringali each went 3-2 during the weekend on their way to seventh place.
 
Placings
133
1^st- Kyle Kaiser (RWU) defeats Diego Santiago (NEC) in finals by decision, 4-0
 
141
7^th- Peter Tringali (RWU) defeats Edward Pinc (USMMA) in seventh-place match by decision, 6-0
 
149
7^th- Ben Bariso (RWU) defeats Jack Murphy (WILL) in seventh-place match by third-period pin at 4:54
 
184
4^th- Cole Shaughnessy (RWU) defeated by Edwin Morales (BSU) in consolation finals by major decision, 10-2
 
197
2^nd- Travis Arata (RWU) defeated by Coy Spooner (USCGA) in finals by major decision, 9-1
 
285
3^rd- Addison Boisvert (RWU) defeats Will Ortman (NYU) in consolation finals by decision in double-overtime, 4-2
 
What's Next
March 11-12 at the NCAA Division III Championships