PALATINE, Ill. – The Harper College wrestling team took second place out of eight teams in their first home meet of the year, the 2014 Community College Invitational. Jacob Bellis (/Bloomington) and Blake Tisza (/Thornton Fractional South) won individual titles while Blake Santi (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) and Lavontay Cobb (/King College Prep) finished as runners-up.

The Hawks scored 113.5 points in the meet and were only beaten by No. 11 Rochester Community and Technical College, who scored 128.5 points and took four individual crowns. Triton (No. 16) finished third with 81.5 points while Ridgewater College took fourth with 57.5 points.

Bellis dominated the competition at 125 pounds, winning two matches to capture the title. He beat Minnesota West's Kareed Williams by fall and earned a 9-0 victory over Rochester's Josh Farr in the championship match. Tisza only needed to win one match to capture the title at 141 pounds. He pinned Waubonsee's Reiter Bird in 1:24.

Santi earned a bye into the semifinals, where he defeated Rochester's Trevor Scott 15-3. In the finals, he was bested 7-6 by Ridgewater's Matt Meyer. Cobb earned a dominating 21-3 victory over Triton's Darvell Burgess in the first round of the heavyweight division and beat Rochester's Mike Dyer to advance to the championship. In the finals, Cobb fell 5-2 to Itasca Community College's Alex Yeager.

Tyler Thomas (Crystal Lake, Ill./) went posted a 3-1 record to take third place at 174 pounds for the Hawks.

Harper returns to competition on Saturday, February 1 at home for the Harper Open, beginning at 9 AM.