Four New York wrestlers earned bids to the quarterfinals with victories in Session 2 on Thursday night.  The Cornell trio of Nahshon Garrett (125), Kyle Dake (165) and Steve Bosak (184) all advanced, as did Columbia’s Steve Santos (149).  Dake and Bosak controlled their matches all the way, while Garrett and Santos came back from early deficits to get their hands raised.  For more on how Session 2 went for all six of the Empire State’s Division 1 squads as well as additional New York natives, see below.

Army:

The Black Knights wrestled a number of close matches, but won’t have grapplers in the competition on Day 2.

149-pounder Daniel Young had a brutal draw, leading returning NCAA finalist Dylan Ness in the third period of his opener before the Minnesota wrestler notched a late takedown and then losing to nationally-ranked Andrew Alton. Connor Hanafee (141), Paul Hancock (165) and Bryce Barnes (197) also completed their seasons on Thursday.

Binghamton:

Donnie Vinson rebounded from a loss earlier in the day by easily handling Clarion’s Tyler Bedelyon in his first wrestleback contest.  He will be one of three Bearcats on the mat on Friday.  Derek Steeley and Nate Schiedel will also compete in the consolations after Round of 16 setbacks.

Upcoming Matches:

133: Derek Steeley vs. Geoff Alexander (Maryland)

149: Donnie Vinson vs. Dan Osterman (Michigan St)

197: Nate Schiedel vs. Nik Brown (UTC)

Buffalo:

After a gutsy 5-4 victory over #12 Mathew Miller in Round 1, John-Martin Cannon, dropped an 8-3 decision to returning All-American Josh Asper of Maryland.  The senior will square off with Cal State Bakersfield’s Bryce Hammond in Friday’s first session.

Upcoming Matches:

174: John-Martin Cannon vs. Bryce Hammond (Bakersfield)

Cornell:

The first two Big Red grapplers to take the mat on Thursday evening got the team off to a good start.  Jace Bennett responded to an early morning loss to Mario Gonzalez of Illinois by pinning Ohio State’s Andrew Campolattano at 197.  Shortly afterwards, Nahshon Garrett overcame a late 3-2 deficit with a tilt and back points in the third to defeat Stanford’s Evan Silver, 5-3.  With the victory, Garrett moves on to the quarterfinals against Iowa’s Matt McDonough.  Also continuing on to the Round of 8 are top seeded Kyle Dake at 165, who dominated from start to finish against fellow New York native Ryan LeBlanc (Indiana) and 184-pounder Steve Bosak, who blanked Navy’s Mason Bailey, 2-0.

Returning All-American Mike Nevinger beat Lehigh’s Anthony Salupo at 141 to move forward, however, teammates Chris Villalonga (149), Jace Bennett (197) and Stryker Lane (285) were eliminated on Thursday night.

Upcoming Matches:

125: Nahshon Garrett vs. Matt McDonough (Iowa)

165: Kyle Dake vs. Nick Sulzer (Virginia)

184: Steve Bosak vs. Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa)

141: Mike Nevinger vs. Chris Mecate (ODU)

Columbia:

Fifth-seeded Steve Santos faced #12 Eric Grajales of Michigan in the Round of 16 and the Wolverine scored first, taking an early 2-0 lead.  However, Santos responded with a pair of escapes and then notched a takedown with just a few seconds left in the second period to go ahead 4-2.  As he has most of the season, Santos owned the final stanza, riding his opponent for the bulk of the period before adding insurance points after an escape for a 6-3 win.

EIWA finalist Matt Bystol came out on top against Davidson’s Anthony Elias in the consolations, while 174-pounder Stephen West won a 4-2 decision over Cody Weishoff of Oregon State to move on to Friday action.

Upcoming Matches:

133: Matt Bystol vs. Scotti Sentes (Central Michigan)

149: Steve Santos vs. Cole Von Ohlen (Air Force)

174: Stephen West vs. Nick Bonaccorsi (Pitt)

Hofstra:

In the Round of 16, Steve Bonanno took an early lead against the #7 seed, Nathan Kraisser of North Carolina, however the Tar Heel responded to collect a 5-3 triumph.  At 141, Luke Vaith dropped his bout against fourth-seeded Mitchell Port of Edinboro.  Bonanno and Vaith will be joined on the mat on Friday by 133-pounder Jamie Franco, who came back from a deficit to capture a 6-4 triumph in sudden victory.

Upcoming Matches

125: Steve Bonanno vs. Tyler Iwamura (Bakersfield)

133: Jamie Franco vs. Joey Ward (UNC)

141: Luke Vaith vs. Nick Hucke (Missouri)

Additional New York wrestlers remaining in the field for Day 2 are Billy Watterson of Brown at 125, Josh Veltre (165) and Nick Wilcox of Bloomsburg (133), Steven Keith of Harvard at 141, Ryan LeBlanc of Indiana at 165 and Christian Boley of Maryland at 197.

Upcoming Matches:

125: Billy Watterson (Brown) vs. David Thorn (Minnesota)

133: Nick Wilcox (Bloomsburg) vs. Shelton Mack (Pitt)

141: Steven Keith (Harvard) vs. Bryan Pearsall (Penn State)

165: Josh Veltre (Bloomsburg) vs. Nate Moore (Iowa)

165: Ryan LeBlanc (Indiana) vs. John Staudenmeyer (UNC)

197: Christian Boley (Maryland) vs. Jake Meredith (Arizona St)

 

 
 
After Session I of the 2013 NCAA Championships in Des Moines,  a number of New York wrestlers remain in the championship bracket.  A few will meet in the Round of 16, with Cornell’s top-seeded Kyle Dake taking on Indiana’s Ryan LeBlanc, a former Section 3 star, at 165 pounds.

Hofstra’s Steve Bonanno defeated Air Force’s #10 seed Josh Martinez in one of the “upsets” in favor of New York wrestlers.  On the other end of upsets were a pair of 2012 All-Americans, who both fell in overtime.  Binghamton’s Donnie Vinson, the number three seed at 149, dropped a bout to American’s Kevin Tao while Cornell’s Mike Nevinger was upended by Virginia Tech’s Zach Niebert.

Here is a team-by-team Session I recap for each of the six New York colleges as well as for former New York high schoolers.

Army:

Daniel Young gave returning NCAA finalist Dylan Ness a major scare in Round 1, taking the lead with a reversal early in the third and going over a minute of riding time.  However, the Golden Gopher responded with a late takedown and erased the RT advantage, taking a 4-2 victory.  Paul Hancock, Connor Hanafee and Bryce Barnes will also get to work in the consolation brackets.  Barnes notched a takedown against Bloomsburg’s Richard Perry as time expired in the third period to tie the bout at 5, however, Perry picked up two of his own in the sudden victory session to get the win.

Army’s next matches

Consolations:

141: Connor Hanafee vs. Nathan Pennesi (West Virginia)

149: Daniel Young vs. Andrew Alton (Penn State)

165: Paul Hancock vs. Tyler Wilps (Pitt)

197: Bryce Barnes vs. Derrick Borlie (Virginia Tech)

 

Binghamton:

We all know Donnie Vinson can wrestle back really well after he captured seven straight victories at the NCAAs in 2012 to take the bronze.  He’ll have to do the same again this time, as he lost a match in the tiebreaker to American’s Kevin Tao after handling Ohio State’s Ian Paddock in the pigtail round.  Joining him in the consolations will be 184-pounder Cody Reed, who lost by decision to sixth-seeded Ryan Loder of Northern Iowa.

Victorious in their first bouts were 133-pounder Derek Steeley who prevailed over Fox Lane High’s Sam Speno of North Carolina State and 197-pounder Nate Schiedel, who dominated Conner Hartmann of Duke in a 10-1 major.

Binghamton’s next matches

Championship Bracket:

133: Derek Steeley vs. (4) AJ Schopp (Edinboro)

197: (7) Nate Schiedel vs. (10) Scott Schiller, Minnesota

Consolations:

149: (3) Donnie Vinson vs. Tyler Bedelyon (Clarion)

184: Cody Reed vs. Ophir Bernstein (Brown)

 

Buffalo:

John-Martin Cannon won a hard-fought 5-4 clash with 12^th seeded Mathew Miller of Navy, with riding time the difference.  His teammates similarly faced tough draws, with Blake Roulo and Mark Lewandowski dropping their initial bouts to the seventh and third seeds, respectively (Scott Sakaguchi of Oregon State and Peter Yates of Virginia Tech).  Max Soria was upended in the pigtail round by Penn’s Mark Rappo.

Buffalo’s next matches

Championship Bracket:

174: John-Martin Cannon vs. (5) Josh Asper, Maryland

Consolations:

125: Max Soria vs. Eddie Klimara (Oklahoma State)

149: Blake Roulo vs. Josh Roosa (Bloomsburg)

165: Mark Lewandowski vs. Mike Ottinger (Central Michigan)/Austin Wilson (Nebraska)

 

Columbia:

Steve Santos, a Round of 12 finisher a year ago, began with a fall in his opening match against UTC’s Alex Hudson.  It was a tough battle, with Santos falling behind early before taking control in the third period.  Jake O’Hara dropped his pigtail bout to Penn State’s Dylan Alton while Matt Bystol and Josh Houldsworth lost to seeded wrestlers Cody Brewer and Cody Yohn, respectively.  Jon Fausey of Virginia picked up a 3-0 victory over Stephen West of the Lions at 174.

Columbia’s next matches

Championship Bracket:

149: Steve Santos vs. (12) Eric Grajales (Michigan)

Consolations:

133: Matt Bystol vs. Anthony Elias (Davidson)

157: Jake O’Hara vs. Ryan Watts (Michigan St)

165: Josh Houldsworth vs. Ramon Santiago (Rider)

174: Stephen West vs. Cody Weishoff (Oregon State)

 

Cornell:

Defending national champions Kyle Dake (165) and Steve Bosak (184) began the day with shutouts, with Dake topping Ohio State’s Mark Martin 3-0 and Bosak breezing past Ty Vinson of Oregon State 12-0.  Nahshon Garrett was also dominant, with a 10-1 major decision over Campbell’s Eric Montoya in his first-ever NCAA action.  The Big Red’s other seeded wrestler, Mike Nevinger, battled Virginia Tech’s Zach Niebert in a low scoring affair won by the Hokie 3-1 on a reversal in the overtime.  He’ll look to go on a winning streak in the wrestlebacks as he did in 2012, as will 149-pounder Chris Villalonga, 197-pounder Jace Bennett and heavyweight Stryker Lane.

Cornell’s next matches

Championship Bracket:

125: Nahshon Garrett vs. Evan Silver (Stanford)

165: Kyle Dake vs. Ryan LeBlanc (Indiana)

184: Steve Bosak vs. Mason Bailey (Navy)

Consolations:

141: (11) Mike Nevinger vs. Anthony Salupo (Lehigh)

149: Chris Villalonga vs. Ian Paddock (Ohio State)/David Habat (Edinboro)

197: Jace Bennett vs. Andrew Campolattano (Ohio State)

285: Stryker Lane vs. Blake Herrin (American)

 

Hofstra:

Returning All-American Steve Bonanno got off to another good start at the NCAA tournament, decisively defeating #10 seed Josh Martinez of Air Force in Round 1.  The Pride wrestler trailed early but kept the pace high and moved ahead 8-2 after the second stanza with some late back points.  He finished with a 9-2 decision.  Joining Bonanno as a first round winner was 141-pounder Luke Vaith, who topped West Virginia’s Nathan Pennesi.  Jamie Franco was edged 3-2 at 133 pounds by Pittsburgh’s Shelton Mack.

Hofstra’s next matches

Championship Bracket:

125: Steve Bonanno vs. (7) Nathan Kraisser (North Carolina)

141: Luke Vaith vs. (4) Mitchell Port (Edinboro)

Consolations:

133: Jamie Franco vs. Brandon Gambucci (Duke)/Devon Lotito (Cal Poly)

 

Additional NY High School Wrestlers

Winning their first round bouts were: Billy Watterson (John Jay HS, Brown), Steven Keith (Shoreham Wading River HS, Harvard), Josh Veltre (Greece Olympia HS, Bloomsburg) and Ryan LeBlanc (Morrisville Eaton, Indiana).

Next Matches, Championship Round

125: Billy Watterson (Brown) vs. (2) Jesse Delgado (Illinois)

141: Steven Keith (Harvard) vs. Hunter Stieber (Ohio State)

165: (9) Josh Veltre (Bloomsburg) vs. (8) Nick Sulzer (Virginia)

165: Ryan LeBlanc (Indiana) vs. (1) Kyle Dake, (Cornell)

Consolations:

133: Nick Wilcox (Bloomsburg) vs. Daryl Thomas (Illinois)

133: Sam Speno (North Carolina State) vs. Rossi Bruno (Michigan)

133: Jimmy Morris (Rider) vs. Mackenzie McGuire (Kent State)

149: Ian Paddock (Ohio State) vs. David Habat (Edinboro)

165: John Greisheimer (Edinboro) vs. Pierce Harger (Northwestern)

197: Christian Boley (Maryland) vs. Conner Hartmann (Duke)

285: Steven Graziano (Penn) vs. Evan Knutson (North Dakota St)