CORTLAND, N.Y. – RIT junior Josh Harkless won the 285 lb. division to help the No. 18 Tigers to a fifth-place finish at the 2025 SUNYAC Championships, Saturday.
 
After a first-round bye, Harkless, ranked No. 4, pinned Oneonta's Andrew Morris. He pinned Dylan Cogswell (Oswego) at 1:05 in the semifinals and pinned Nick Franco 59 seconds into the championship bout to win the title.
 
Sophomore Jacob Deysher placed second at 125 lb. He beat Timothy Pescatore (St. John Fisher) 1-0 in his opening match and was a 7-5 winner over Christian Lievano (Cortland) in the quarterfinals. Deysher beat Cade Sands (Cortland) with a 7-5 sudden-victory win in the semifinals before a 13-2 loss to Ithaca's Tomah Gummow in the championship match.
 
Sophomore Tyler Balent finished second at 174 lb. beating Joseph Dabovich (Cortland) with a fall 2:43 into his opening bout. He beat EJ Bonet (Brockport) with a 21-5 technical fall in the quarterfinals and won an 11-4 decision over Christopher Reddy (Ithaca) in the semifinals. Balent lost to Kiam Coleman (Brockport) in the championship match.
 
Sophomore Jared Lee finished third at 157 lb. He was a 15-0 winner over Sam Ziegler (Brockport in his opening match and defeated Oneonta's Cael Owen with a 17-0 technical fall in his second-round bout. Lee beat Dara Heydarpour 5-1 in the quarterfinals before a 4-1 loss to Tyler Rossini (Oswego) in the semifinals. Lee defeated Carter Tadusz with a fall at 2:28 in the consolation semifinals before an 11-3 major decision over Akio Sanders (Ithaca) in the third-place match.
 
Senior Matthew Grant placed fourth at 149 lb., first year Lawrence Liss placed fifth at 133 lb., Tadusz finished sixth at 157 lb. and sophomore Josh Lanka placed sixth at 285 lb.
 
RIT returns to action on Saturday (Jan. 25) at the Ken Ober Memorial Invitational at 10:00 a.m.