WILKES-BARRE, PA - Junior Steve Adamcsik (Chester, NJ) and freshman Mike Whalen (Lake Hiawatha, NJ) both made the finals of their respective weight classes as they and the Rutgers University wrestling team competed at the 73rd Annual Wilkes Open on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

Adamcsik recorded a remarkable five straight victories to take the title of the 141-pound weight class and he earned two individual honors, including the tournament's record for the most individual points. He falled Rocco Bucco of Wilkes at 1:21 and did the same to Justin DeArment of Purdue at the 4:27 mark. Adamcsik then earned an 11-0 major decision over Gene Kobilansky of NYU and after he slipped by Tim Harner, he falled Cody Becker of Millersville at 3:31 to take first place honors. With his five victories, Adamcsik now has the team-lead in wins with 12.

Unlike his teammate Adamcsik, Whalen fell in his finals match-up against Michael Mackie of Cornell. Whalens' road to the finals was a difficult one, yet he defeated Andrew Knerr of Lehigh, Evan Murtaugh of American and Brian Cantalupi of Penn State before his eventual loss to Mackie. Whalen has nine wins on the season, including a 7-2 tournament win-loss record.

Rutgers head coach John Sacchi was very pleased with his team's performance, especially Adamcsik and Whalen.

Freshman Zubin Karimattam (Flemington, NJ) tallied four wins for the Scarlet Knights while heavyweight freshman Mike D'Amico (Kenilworth, NJ) and 157-pound sophomore Jamie Lijo (Hopatcong, NJ) tallied three victories apiece.

Rutgers senior Rudy Medini (Colonia, NJ) will represent the Scarlet Knights in the prestigious Midlands Championships on the campus for Northwestern University in Evanston, IL on Dec. 29 and 30.