Cornell and Columbia Each With Three EIWA Finalists; Hofstra and Binghamton Well Represented in the CAA Semis

Going into the final session (first, third and fifth place matches), Cornell leads at the EIWA tournament with 126.5 points. Navy is second with 109.5 and Penn third with 101.5.

Cornell has qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA tournament already – Nahshon Garrett (125), Mike Nevinger (141), Chris Villalonga (149), Kyle Dake (165), Steve Bosak (184), Jace Bennett (197) and Stryker Lane (285). Jesse Shanaman will wrestle for fifth this afternoon against Scott Winston of Rutgers. The winner of that bout will get a bid to Nationals.

The Big Red has three wrestlers competing for an EIWA championship – Garrett, Dake and Bosak. Nevinger, Villalonga, Bennett and Lane will all be battling for third.

Columbia also has three grapplers in the finals – Steve Santos (149), Matt Bystol (133) and Josh Houldsworth (165). That trio has already qualified for the NCAAs and will joined there by 157-pounder Jake O’Hara, who is in the third place bout at 157.

Facing Columbia’s Santos in the title bout is Army’s Daniel Young. He is one of the four Black Knights who have punched tickets to the NCAAs. Two of the others will be fighting for third (Paul Hancock at 165 and Bryce Barnes at 197). The other, Connor Hanafee, took seventh at 141.

For full results, see here.

CAA Update – Hofstra and Binghamton

After the morning session in Boston, Hofstra and Binghamton have strong representation in the semifinals. The Pride will send seven wrestlers to the mat in the semis, while the Bearcats have six in that round.

For Hofstra, top seeds Steve Bonanno (125) and Jermaine John (174) registered victories, as did defending champion Luke Vaith (141) and returning NCAA qualifier Jamie Franco (133). Cody Ruggirello (149) and Nick Terdick (165) both upset top three seeds to stay in the championship hunt. Tyler Banks also advanced.

The Bearcats saw Donnie Vinson (149), Mike Sardo (125) and Tyler Deuel (285) move forward with byes, while Derek Steeley (133) and Nate Schiedel (197) both won by fall. Second seed Cody Reed won by decision at 184.

The next round will resume at 3 p.m.

For full results, see here.

CAA Preview: Hofstra and Binghamton Looking for Conference Supremacy

 
 
Hofstra edged Binghamton by just two points at last year’s CAA Championships to win the conference title for the 10th time in the last 11 years.  The Pride will look to keep that streak going in Boston this weekend with expected challenges from the Bearcats and Rider.  Old Dominion, which fields a strong squad, isn’t eligible for a title since the Monarchs are departing the CAA.

Photo by BV

Who are some of the standouts to watch this weekend?  You could start with two of the conference’s returning All-Americans, who will look to go back to Nationals and improve their placing.  At 125 pounds, Hofstra’s Steve Bonanno has a perfect record in league competition in 2012-13 after taking eighth at NCAAs in 2012.   He is the favorite to capture the one automatic qualifying spot.

Also on the podium in St. Louis was 149-pound bronze medalist Donnie Vinson of Binghamton.  The returning CAA Wrestler of the Year has his sights set on a national title to cap off his career.

Vinson isn’t the only Bearcat currently ranked in the top five nationally.  His teammate Nate Schiedel has had a banner year at 197.  Schiedel is the frontrunner for the CAA crown and hopes to capture a medal in Des Moines.

What Other Returning Champions Are Back?

Besides Bonanno and Vinson, two other 2012 CAA champions return – 133-pounder Scott Festejo of Old Dominion and 141-pounder Luke Vaith of Hofstra.

Festejo will have his hands full with some wrestlers with strong New York ties, including Rider’s Jimmy Morris (a former CHSAA star) and Hofstra’s Jamie Franco.  Franco made an appearance at Nationals a year ago, and has rebounded from a slow start to record some solid victories lately, including over nationally-ranked George DiCamillo of Virginia. (There are three automatic qualifying spots at 133).

Vaith will need to contend with a pair of opponents who have wrestled well, especially in conference action – Frank Cimato of Drexel and Chris Mecate of Old Dominion.   And while he has seen limited action, Binghamton’s Joe Bonaldi started off the season on a high note, beating a number of tough foes to capture the Binghamton Open crown.  He returned to the mat in the final dual of the year and will try to recapture that early season form and take one of the three guaranteed CAA slots in the NCAA field.

Other New York Storylines

Photo by BV

Only the champions at 174 and 184 pounds are guaranteed slots at the National tournament.  Could Jermaine John fit the bill at 174? How about Cody Reed at 184?  Hofstra’s John has put together an undefeated campaign in the conference and was second in the latest CAA rankings behind Old Dominion’s Billy Curling, with James Brundage of Rider in third.

Meanwhile, Reed recorded one of the big upsets in the first round of the NCAAs a year ago when he upended fourth-seed Christian Boley of Maryland. While he hasn’t seen the same level of success down at 184, he knows what it takes to win in March and will be someone to keep an eye on.  (Reed is also second in the CAA rankings, behind Rider’s Ryan Wolfe).

Hofstra 285-pounder Paul Snyder was in the midst of a solid senior campaign when he sustained an injury against Cornell. He didn’t return and according to gohofstra.com, he will not compete this weekend.  (Zeal McGrew took his place at the National Duals). In any event, look for Binghamton’s Tyler Deuel to be in the hunt with Old Dominion’s Matt Tourdot and Boston’s Kevin Innis at heavyweight after going 5-1 in CAA action.

So, what will we see this weekend? Hofstra has owned this tournament for much of the last decade.  Can the Pride ride the production in the lower weights to another title?  Binghamton will once again be in the mix, propelled by a probable slew of bonus points from Vinson and Schiedel.  And Rider can’t be overlooked, with a solid and balanced lineup.  The Broncs had seven grapplers in the top four in the last CAA poll, while Hofstra and Binghamton had five apiece.  (Old Dominion led the way with nine).  Last year, the team race came down to the wire.  It could be that way again.

** According to gohofstra.com, Snyder will not compete.

Maryland State Champ Diallo Joins Highly-Acclaimed Binghamton Recruiting Class

Thierno Diallo is no stranger to picking things up quickly.  After all, within months of arriving in the United States in elementary school, he was interacting and communicating in English, a language he didn’t know at all when leaving his native country – Guinea.

So it wasn’t a huge surprise to those who knew Diallo, a future 125 or 133 pounder for Binghamton, that just three weeks after seeing his first-ever wrestling action, he won the county championship at 103 pounds.

It was his freshman year at DuVal High in Maryland and the football coach, who also assisted with the wrestling team, suggested that getting on the mat would help make Diallo better on the gridiron.

“I watched a lot of tape and learned a lot by doing that,” he said. “I didn’t wrestle at the beginning of the season, but once I started, it came together for me.  I had a really good coach who taught me what I needed to know and who helped me make the transition.”

He didn’t only win that county crown just a few weeks into his career, however.  Shortly afterwards, he took fourth at the regional event to qualify for an appearance at the Maryland State championships.

“Wrestling at the state tournament was definitely shocking,” he said. “When I walked in, it wasn’t what I ever expected.  In my first match, I don’t remember anything until the third period.  I was too busy worrying about the people in the stands before I realized that I needed to focus on wrestling.  I lost that match and I learned a lot.  It was a stepping stone for me.”

While he originally began wrestling to help his performance on the football field, he quickly changed course.  Because after even a short period of time on the mat, he decided wrestling was his future.

“I ended up falling so much in love with wrestling that I quit football to focus on it,” he said. “As soon as I started, I realized I liked the one on one part of it. It’s just you, depending on no one else.  I liked the idea of having to do it myself.”

While he had a lot of quick success, he knew longer-term achievements would come from really immersing himself in the sport.

“I spent the time going to camps and as many tournaments as I could,” he said. “I just wrestled and wrestled and wrestled.  It made me so much better in just a few months.  I came back for my next season much more prepared.”

Diallo once again breezed through the county and regional competitions and arrived at the state event with more confidence.  He went all the way to the finals before dropping the title bout to take second.  Then, as a junior, he again lost a single match at the biggest event of the season, picking up a bronze medal.

Without a state championship, he wasn’t satisfied. Diallo set out to make up for it in the offseason by taking on some of the nation’s best.

That began in Philadelphia at the FloNationals, where he entered at 113 pounds.  After a first round victory, he dropped a 3-1 decision to Pennsylvania’s Tanner Shoap.  He knew it was a long road from there to make the podium.

“Going into the tournament, I thought I would be able to be an All-American there if I wrestled the way I knew I could,” he said. “After I lost, I looked at the bracket with my coach and we saw that I would need to win a lot of matches to place.  My coach said, ‘Well, let’s get started.’  I kept doing it one match at a time.”

Diallo won five consecutive contests to get himself in the medal picture.  After a setback against Angel Velazquez of California, he defeated New Jersey’s Luis Gonzalez to capture seventh.

“That was a really exciting moment for me,” he said. “It taught me that I could wrestle against the best of the best and that I could wrestle match after match and not be exhausted.  It was a fun learning experience.”

Another such experience took place a bit later in the offseason, when Diallo decided to make a run at the Junior Freestyle and Greco Roman Nationals.

“I wrestled at the Maryland states in Freestyle and Greco the year before but hadn’t practiced those styles again,” he said. “I liked Freestyle and Greco, though, and I thought, maybe I would try to get to Fargo.”

He did well enough to represent his state in North Dakota and he made an impact there, taking fourth at 120 in Greco.  He said he plans on returning this summer for another chance to get higher on the medal stand.

But despite the accolades at those national competitions, Diallo’s main goal was to get an elusive state crown.  He cruised through the 2012-13 season at 126 pounds, sporting a 31-0 mark coming into last weekend’s Maryland tournament.

In his first three bouts, Diallo outscored his opponents 38-0 to make the finals.  And then, he finished the job with a 7-1 victory in the title match to get the gold medal missing from his collection.

“It was a relief to finally win state title,” he said. “It was the only thing left that I really felt like I needed to win. I had a chip on my shoulder after taking second and third the last two years.  I was really motivated to be the best this year.”

Even prior to finishing atop the podium, Diallo had a number of colleges recruiting him, including Maryland and North Carolina State.  But he felt that Binghamton was the right choice.

“Binghamton seemed like a perfect fit for me,” he said.  “It’s not too far away from home, but far enough.  I loved the look of the campus and the high academic standards.  My parents moved to this country because of better educational opportunities and getting a really good education is something that my family really values. Binghamton had all the right pieces and parts to be the place I want to be for the next four or five years.”

Diallo joins a stellar recruiting class for the Bearcats, which includes a number of the top ranked seniors in New York such as Zack Zupan, Nick Kelley, Nick Tighe, Kyle Kelly, David Almaviva and Bryce Mazurowski.

While those wrestlers have familiarity with the Empire State already, there’s no doubt Diallo will pick up what he needs to know about the Section 4 area in no time.

After all, picking new things up quickly is something he has done many times before.

NCAA Updates: 30 NY Wrestlers in the Coaches' Panel Rankings/RPI; Automatic Qualifer Spots Announced

The NCAA made several announcements today as we get closer to the NCAAs.  First, the number of automatic qualifier spots allocated to each conference were announced by weight class.  In addition, the final Coaches’ Panel Rankings and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) were released.  Those statistics are some of the key criteria used to select wrestlers for the NCAA tournament.

For the full NCAA release, see here.

Making the Coaches’ Panel Rankings and/or the RPI from the six Division I colleges in New York are:

(RPI, Coaches’ Panel)

Army

Jordan Thome, 133 (NR in the RPI, 33 in Coaches’ Panel Rankings)

Connor Hanafee, 141 (25, 29)

Daniel Young, 149 (19, NR)

Paul Hancock, 165 (25, 23)

Coleman Gracey, 174 (NR, 32)

Bryce Barnes, 197 (NR, 32)

Binghamton

Donnie Vinson, 149 (4, 4)

Cody Reed, 184 (30, NR)

Nate Schiedel, 197 (18, 5)

Buffalo

Mark Lewandowski, 165 (8, 14)

John Martin Cannon, 174 (NR, 18)

Columbia

Steve Santos, 149 (5, 5)

Jake O’Hara, 157 (27, 20)

Stephen West, 174 (17, 21)

Cornell

Nahshon Garrett, 125 (10, 6)

Bricker Dixon, 133 (NR, 32)

Mike Nevinger, 141 (6, 8 )

Chris Villalonga, 149 (16, 16)

Jesse Shanaman, 157 (15, 33)

Kyle Dake, 165 (6, 1)

Marshall Peppelman, 174 (18, NR)

Steve Bosak, 184 (4, 4)

Jace Bennett, 197 (25, 23)

Stryker Lane, 285 (20, 28)

Hofstra

Steve Bonanno, 125 (32, 17)

Jamie Franco, 133 (26, 29)

Luke Vaith, 141 (8, 16)

Tyler Banks, 157 (NR, 33)

Jermaine John, 174 (32, NR)

Paul Snyder, 285 (24, 25)

(NY high school wrestlers not wrestling at one of the colleges listed above not currently included)

 

 

 

More than 30 NY Wrestlers in Latest Release of RPI and Coaches' Panel Rankings

On Thursday, the NCAA released updates to two of the key criteria used to select the field for the NCAA tournament – the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and the Coaches’ Panel Rankings.  A number of wrestlers who compete for the six Division I schools in New York sit in those rankings.  They are:

(RPI ranking, Coaches Ranking) 33 wrestlers make the field at each weight.

125:

Nahshon Garrett, Cornell (RPI 8, Coaches 6)

Steve Bonanno, Hofstra (32, 17)

133:

Jordan Thome, Army (NR, 28)

Jamie Franco, Hofstra (31, 31)

141:

Mike Nevinger, Cornell (8, 13)

Luke Vaith, Hofstra (10, 17)

Connor Hanafee, Army (26, 31)

149:

Donnie Vinson, Binghamton (7, 4)

Steve Santos, Columbia (NR, 6)

Chris Villalonga, Cornell (13, 18)

Daniel Young, Army (NR, 19)

Blake Ruolo, Buffalo (33, NR)

157:

Jake O’Hara, Columbia (21, 21)

Wally Maziarz, Buffalo (22, NR)

Tyler Banks, Hofstra (NR, 33)

165:

Kyle Dake, Cornell (2, 1)

Mark Lewandowski, Buffalo (7, 13)

Paul Hancock, Army (27, 23)

174:

Stephen West, Columbia (18, 21)

Marshall Peppelman, Cornell (16, NR)

John-Martin Cannon, Buffalo (NR, 18)

Jermaine John, Hofstra (25, NR)

Coleman Gracey, Army (NR, 33)

184:

Steve Bosak, Cornell (NR, 4)

Cody Reed, Binghamton (33, NR)

197:

Nate Schiedel, Binghamton (16, 5)

Jace Bennett, Cornell (17, 22)

Bryce Barnes, Army (30, 32)

285:

Stryker Lane, Cornell (18, 27)

Paul Snyder, Hofstra (25, 22)

For the full RPI and Panel Rankings, see this link.

Other New York natives present in one or both of the rankings are:  (Feel free to provide feedback if any are missing).

133:

Nick Wilcox, Bloomsburg (13, 14)

Jimmy Morris, Rider (22, 26)

Sam Speno, NC State (26, 24)

141:

Steven Keith, Harvard (15, 11)

149:

Andrew Lenzi, Penn (NR, 33)

165:

Ryan LeBlanc, Indiana (11, 19)

Josh Veltre, Bloomsburg (23, 11)

Johnny Greisheimer, Edinboro (22, 22)

174:

James Brundage, Rider (13, 32)

197:
Christian Boley, Maryland (19, 15)

285:

Peter Capone, Ohio State (11, 12)

Ernest James, Edinboro (23, 20)

 

 

Cornell Dominates Bucknell; Hofstra Tops Binghamton as Big Red and Bearcats Honor Seniors

It was Senior Day in Section 4 on Sunday as both Cornell and Binghamton honored their graduating wrestlers.  While the Big Red crushed Bucknell, 37-3, the Bearcats dropped a CAA dual against a surging Hofstra team, 23-19.

Still, the nationally-ranked seniors who took the mat for Cornell (Kyle Dake and Steve Bosak) and Binghamton (Donnie Vinson and Nate Schiedel) finished in style with pins in front of their home crowds.

Cornell Breezes Past Bucknell; Dake Pins #10 Lear in First Period

Bosak, Photo by BV

The Big Red notched wins in nine of the 10 bouts against fellow EIWA squad Bucknell.  In their last appearances at the Friedman Center, defending NCAA champions Kyle Dake and Steve Bosak both earned first period falls.  Also collecting bonus points for the Ivy League team were Nahshon Garrett at 125 and Chris Villalonga at 149.

For more, see here.

Hofstra Wins All-New York CAA Battle

The Pride got off to a great start, with victories in six of the first seven bouts, and captured a 23-19 decision against Binghamton.  The win was the sixth in the past eight duals for Hofstra, which racked up four bonus points triumphs.  Luke Vaith registered a technical fall at 141 while Steve Bonanno (125), Tyler Banks (157) and Nick Terdick (165) all picked up major decisions.

For more on the dual, see here.

Army Tops American

The Black Knights captured eight of 10 matches, including pins by Jordan Thome at 133 and Ryan Tompkins at 184 to defeat American, 34-8 in an EIWA meeting on Sunday.  The results of Army’s dual with Boston will be posted when that event ends.

For more on Army’s victory over the Eagles, see here.

 

 

 

FLWC's Grey and Realbuto Win Titles; Buffalo Places Four at Edinboro Open

While the New York Division I wrestling teams didn’t see dual action on Saturday, a number of wrestlers from the Empire State placed at the Edinboro Open in Pennsylvania.

Realbuto, Photo by BV

A pair of grapplers from the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club (FLWC) in Ithaca won titles – Mark Grey (133) and Brian Realbuto (157).  Grey once again battled with Lehigh’s Mason Beckman, an opponent he has faced a number of times dating back to high school.  Beckman has had a very impressive redshirt year, but Grey came out with the 4-3 victory.  Meanwhile, Realbuto picked up five wins, including three by bonus points and topped Pittsburgh’s Donnie Tasser 9-7 in the championship bout.

Also placing for the FLWC were Gabe Dean at 184 (fourth) and Angelo Silvestro at 141 (fifth).

Those wrestlers will likely suit up for Cornell in the future.  Some current Big Red grapplers delivered strong performances on Saturday, with 197-pounder Billy George earning second place behind American’s Daniel Mitchell at 197 and 141-pounder Joe Rendina grabbing fourth.

Buffalo put four wrestlers on the podium, including three fourth place finishers – Blake Ruolo (149), Tony Lock (197) and Justin Heiserman (285).  Notching fifth was Justin Lozano at 165 pounds.  Lozano lost to eventual gold medalist Ian Miller of Kent State in the second round but came back to win five consolation matches.

Binghamton’s David White was edged in the 125-pound finals by Pittsburgh’s Anthony Zanetta, while 2012 Frewsburg High School state runner up Nick Mitchell of Edinboro picked up third at 174.  Mitchell’s one setback was against champion PJ Tasser of Pittsburgh, but he responded with four consecutive victories to collect bronze.

Brackets are available here: EUP_Open_2013

 

 

Cornell Wins 11th Straight Ivy Title, Comes Back to Beat Hofstra; Plus Army, Binghamton and Buffalo Results

Cornell picked up two dual victories on the road on Saturday, including a 29-12 win over Columbia in the evening that sealed the Big Red’s 11th consecutive Ivy League championship.

Midway through the opening match against Hofstra it looked like a weekend sweep might not be in the cards as Cornell faced a 15-3 deficit going into the intermission.

Freshman Nahshon Garrett had given the Big Red a 3-0 lead after defeating returning All-American Steve Bonanno 3-1 to begin the dual, however, Hofstra registered wins in the next four bouts. Jamie Franco edged Bricker Dixon at 133 in the tiebreakers, Luke Vaith dominated in the top position in a 5-0 victory over Mike Nevinger at 141, Cody Ruggirello got the crowd excited with a pin over Ryan Dunphy at 149 and Tyler Banks outlasted Jesse Shanaman in multiple overtimes at 157.

“I’m not going to lie – it was a little nerve-racking,” said Cornell assistant coach Damion Hahn. “We definitely didn’t expect to be down like that.  The first five weights, there was a stubbornness in how we wrestled.  It was like the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  There were the same mistakes again and again.  We went back to the locker room and talked about making changes in the next five matches.”

There was an immediate difference after the break. With his team needing a boost, three-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake took the mat and delivered with a first period pin against Nick Terdick.

“Any time you start with Kyle Dake, you’ll get the momentum going,” Hahn said. “He was dominant as usual and got us what we needed.”

Peppelman, Photo by BV

With the deficit now a more manageable six points, the Big Red’s Marshall Peppelman took the mat against Jermaine John at 174 pounds.

The Pride sophomore held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, but Peppelman notched a pair of takedowns, including one with less than five seconds to go, to capture the pivotal bout by a 5-3 score.

“We saw 174 as a toss up match going in,” Hahn said. “Marshall fell behind but he wrestled hard and stayed focused for the entire match. People don’t get to see how powerful Marshall is because he usually doesn’t take too many risks. But the people in the arena [at Hofstra] saw how explosive he can be.  I mean, he hit a double in the middle of the mat and drove [John] all the way to the edge where he finished.  And then with time running out, he hit another strong attack. In the past, he stopped when his shot was defended. In that match, he showed confidence and finished for the win.”

Cornell trailed 15-12 but it was smooth sailing from there, beginning with a quick fall for defending NCAA champion Steve Bosak at 184 against Taras Luzhnyy.

“I told Steve we needed six right before he went out there and he got the job done,” Hahn said. “I couldn’t be happier with what our veterans, Kyle and Steve, have been doing for us.”

And sophomore Jace Bennett followed suit with a pin of his own.

“Jace has been focused on some key aspects of his wrestling, especially not getting sloppy on top,” Hahn said. “We know he has a lot of talent. He can take down anyone in the country. When he gets on top, he has to focus on not rushing the legs. He needs to get to a good ride, in a dominant position and not force the legs.  That’s gotten him into trouble.  He did a good job staying in control.”

In the final match, Jacob Aiken-Phillips was in a battle with Hofstra senior Paul Snyder when the Pride wrestler injury defaulted.

“The last time [Aiken-Phillips] wrestled Snyder he lost to him at the Binghamton Open last year,” Hahn said. “He’s really good on the mat and when he got on top, he was riding really hard.  I felt like he was gaining momentum.  Unfortunately, Snyder got hurt.”

So, despite some shaky moments early, the Big Red captured the dual by a seemingly comfortable 30-15 score.

“Those last five guys came out and performed when we needed them to,” Hahn said. “Maybe they were a little angry about the first five and rightfully so.  But there are definitely positives we can take away from winning at the end.”

Those positives carried over to the second meet of the day in New York City as the Big Red brought the Ivy title back to Ithaca for the 11th time in a row.

To watch videos of all 10 matches of Cornell vs. Columbia see this link.

Photo by BV

The Big Red never trailed as Garrett opened the event with an 11-1 major decision over Penn Gottfried. Leading the way for Cornell with pins were Dake and Bosak, with Bennett picking up a major at 197.  Mike Nevinger (141), Chris Villalonga (149) and Aiken-Phillips all got their hands raised as well.

In the most dramatic bout of the night, Columbia senior Stephen West recorded a third period fall over Duke Pickett at 174.  The Big Red freshman led for most of the match, but with little time left in the final stanza, West threw Pickett to his back and grabbed six points for the home team.  Also winning for the Lions were Matt Bystol at 133 and Jake O’Hara at 157.

The victory capped off another undefeated conference season for Cornell and 11 straight years at the top of the Ancient Eight.

“We’re a little bit spoiled because we’ve had so many great kids over the past 11 years,” said Cornell head coach Rob Koll. “Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the trap of not appreciating the accomplishments.  We’ve had more losses this year, but we need to be thankful for the victories and not focus only on the defeats. We’re happy to be Ivy League champions again but we know that we have a lot of work to do to get our seventh EIWA title in a row, get to the finals weekend of the National Duals and perform the way we want to at NCAAs.”

Army Hosts All-Academy Championships, Navy Takes First

Army took fourth at the 19th Annual All-Academy Championships held in West Point on Saturday.  The Black Knights were led by four second place finishers – Jordan Thome (133), Tyler Rauenzahn (141), Paul Hancock (165) and Bryce Barnes (197).

Taking bronze for Army were John Belanger (149) and Patrick Marchetti (157).

Navy finished atop the team standings on the strength of seven individual gold medalists.

For more on the All-Academy Championships, see here.

American Tops Binghamton; Kent State Edges Buffalo

Nationally-ranked 149 pounder Donnie Vinson notched another quick pin and Nate Schiedel picked up a technical fall at 197, but it wasn’t enough as American topped the Bearcats, 26-14 in Washington D.C..  Also getting his hand raised for Binghamton was Cody Reed, who won by decision at 184.

For more on the Binghamton dual, see here.

Meanwhile, Buffalo got off to a strong start against Kent State with five wins in the first six bouts.  However, in the 174-pound match, John-Martin Cannon was forced to injury default and the Golden Flashes won the remainder of the contests, including a major decision and a pin to capture a 22-19 triumph.

For more on the Buffalo dual, see here.

Hofstra Tops American; Vinson Becomes All-Time Wins Leader in Binghamton Loss to Old Dominion

CAA teams Hofstra and Binghamton both took the mat on Friday night after winning two of three duals last weekend in Virginia. The Pride defeated American at home, 21-9. After dropping two of the first three matches against the Eagles, Hofstra responded with five consecutive victories, beginning with a decision by Tim Murphy at 197.

Meanwhile, Binghamton lost a 21-18 dual at conference rival Old Dominion.  The Bearcats trailed 21-6 after six bouts but mounted a comeback, winning the last four matches.

One of the highlights for the Bearcats came in the 149-pound match when senior Donnie Vinson pinned Brennan Brumley. The victory for Vinson was the 124th of his career, making him Binghamton’s all-time wins leader.

Hofstra 21 American 9

165: Phillip Barreiro (American) dec Nick Terdick (Hofstra), 7-5
174: Jermaine John (Hofstra) dec Keithan Cast (American), 8-3
184: Thomas Barreiro (American) dec Victor Pozsonyi (Hofstra), 4-1
197: Tim Murphy (Hofstra) dec Devon Bradley (American), 6-3
285: Paul Snyder (Hofstra) dec Blake Herrin (American), 3-1 SV
125: Steve Bonnano (Hofstra) dec David Terao (American), 13-6
133: Jamie Franco (Hofstra) dec Esteban Gomez-Rivera (American), 2-0
141: Luke Vaith (Hofstra) dec John Boyle (American), 6-1
149: Kevin Tao (American) dec Cody Ruggirello (Hofstra), 7-4
157: Tyler Banks (Hofstra) dec Mark Cirello (American), 3-1

Old Dominion 21 Binghamton 18

125: Rob Deutsch (ODU) tech fall Mike Sardo (Binghamton)
133: Scott Festejo (ODU) dec Derek Steeley (Binghamton), 6-4
141: Justin LaValle (ODU) maj Dan Riggi (Binghamton), 10-0
149: Donnie Vinson (Binghamton) pin Brennan Brumley (ODU)
157: John Nicholson (ODU) pin Jack McKeever (Binghamton)
165: Brett Miller (ODU) dec Vincent Grella (Binghamton), 4-3
174: John Paris (Binghamton) dec Marcus Johnson (ODU), 4-2
184: Cody Reed (Binghamton) dec Austin Coburn (ODU), 5-3 SV
197: Nate Schiedel (Binghamton) dec Jacob Henderson (ODU), 4-1
285: Tyler Deuel (Binghamton) dec Matt Tourdot (ODU), 11-5

 

First NCAA Coaches Rankings Revealed; 25 NY Wrestlers Included, Dake First at 165

 
 

The NCAA revealed the first Coaches Panel Rankings for the 2012-13 campaign on Thursday.  25 wrestlers from the six Division I programs in New York were included.

There will be two more sets of these rankings this season and the final version will be used as one of the key components of the selection process for the NCAA tournament, along with winning percentage and rating percentage index (RPI).

Here are the wrestlers currently included:

125:

Nahshon Garrett, Cornell (6th)

Steve Bonanno, Hofstra (19th)

 

133:

Jamie Franco, Hofstra (Tie 27th)

Derek Steeley, Binghamton (Tie 27th)

Jordan Thome, Army (33rd)

 

141:

Photo by BV

Mike Nevinger, Cornell (6th)

Luke Vaith, Hofstra (17th)

Connor Hanafee, Army (30th)

 

 

 

 

149:

Donnie Vinson, Binghamton (3rd)

Steve Santos, Columbia (8th)

Chris Villalonga, Cornell (15th)

Daniel Young, Army (18th)

 

157:

Jake O’Hara, Columbia (17th)

Jesse Shanaman, Cornell (30th)

 

165:

Kyle Dake, Cornell (1st)

Mark Lewandowski, Buffalo (17th)

Paul Hancock, Army (22nd)

 

174:

John-Martin Cannon, Buffalo (16th)

Stephen West, Columbia (22nd)

Coleman Gracey, Army (33rd)

 

184:

Steve Bosak, Cornell (4th)

 

197:

Nate Schiedel, Binghamton (5th)

Jace Bennett, Cornell (24th)

 

285:

Paul Snyder, Hofstra (25th)

Stryker Lane, Cornell (27th)

 

For the full rankings, see here.