BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Competing in his first open tournament of the year, VMI 157-pound sophomore Neal Richards placed second at the Bearcat Open hosted by SUNY Binghamton Sunday in Binghamton, New York.

The South Chesterfield, Virginia, native advanced to the championship bout following a bye and four consecutive victories to reach the title mat. In his final match, he fell by a close tiebreaker to Brown's Justin Staudenmayer by a 5-2 score to place second overall in the weight class.

After his opening-round bye, he defeated Bloomsburg's Ryan Dougherty by an injury default before topping Franklin & Marshall's Emmett LiCastri by a 21-5 technical fall. He then pinned Sames Saylor of the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS) in 1:43 before taking a 9-4 decision over Army's Cael McCormick in the semifinals.

VMI's John Reed (141), Steven Midkiff (141) and Dolan Walsh (149) also competed Sunday but all went 0-2 for the day in their respective weight classes.

The Keydets return to action Sunday as multiple grapplers will compete at the Keystone Classic hosted by Penn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

John Reed (141)
Lost to Julian Flores (Drexel), Fall 4:45
Bye
Lost to Conner Burkert (Hofstra), Dec. 5-3

Steven Midkiff (141)
Bye
Lost to Jordan Reich (Princeton), Fall 1:04
Lost to Noah Hanau (Army West Point), Maj. dec. 13-1

Dolan Walsh (149)
Bye
Lost to Joseph Galasso (Cornell), Tech fall 17-1
Lost to David Pipa (Lehigh), Dec. 5-1

Neal Richards (157)
Bye
Inj. def. Ryan Daugherty (Bloomsburg), 0:00
Tech fall Emmett LiCastri (Franklin & Marshall), 21-5
Pinned James Saylor (USMAPS), 1:43
Dec. Cael McCormick (Army West Point), 9-4
Lost to No. 13 Justin Staudenmayer (Brown), TB1, 5-2