ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - McDaniel College men's wrestling junior Xavier Howard captured the title at 157 pounds, highlight the team's fifth-place finish at the Blue Jay Classic Saturday at Elizabethtown College.

The Green Terror, who were ranked at No. 12 in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association rankings on Nov. 28, finished fifth out of 10 teams with a total of 119.5 points. The host Blue Jays took home top team honors with 152.5 points. Wilkes (145.5) placed second followed by SUNY Cortland (139.5) and Roanoke (126).

After three runner-up finishes, including the Messiah Invitational on Nov. 4 and last year's Centennial Conference Championships, Howard captured his first career individual title. He posted a perfect 4-0 record to earn 21 team points, opening with back-to-back tech falls before recording a fall against Elizabethtown's Gavin Fehr in 5:56. In the first-place match, he edged out a 5-1 decision over Scranton's Daniel Kosinski.

Howard is now 12-2 this season with an 11-2 tournament record.

Howard was one of three Green Terror to advance to the title match at their respective weight class along with sophomore Thomas Monn and senior Jaedyn Harris. After posting two falls and a major decision, Monn, the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 149 pounds, improved his record to 12-0 before falling to Angelo Centrone in the first place match by major decision, 13-5. Centrone is currently ranked eighth at 149 pounds.

Like Monn, Harris, ranked eighth in the nation at 197 pounds, also started his tournament with three-straight wins, all by decision. However, in the first-place match, he was edged by Cameron Butka of Wilkes, 4-1. Butka is currently ranked seventh at 197 pounds. It marked the third match-up between the two over the last two seasons with Butka winning the last two.

Highlighted by Howard, Monn and Harris, McDaniel had eight place winners on Saturday. Sophomore Romeo Tsai went 4-2, totaling two major decisions and one fall to finish fifth at 125 pounds while graduate student Dalton Pearl also went 4-2 and placed fifth at 174 pounds.

Meanwhile, sophomore Ryan Ohler led the team with five wins as he placed fifth at 165 pounds with two falls and one major decision. After losing his opening match SUNY Cortland's Justin Klein he won four-straight to advance the semifinals of the consolation bracket before posting an 11-10 decision over Roanoke's Josh Epperly in the fifth-place match.

Senior Alex DuFour and junior Val Pryor each registered sixth-place finishes for the Green Terror. DuFour went 3-3 with a loss against fifth-ranked JC Cardenas of SUNY Cortland in the quarterfinals at 133 pounds.

McDaniel returns home to take on Division II Frostburg State on Wednesday inside the Gill Center beginning at 7 p.m.