After placing in the top five in their respective weight classes at the East Stroudsburg Open, the Lions are off to yet another great start early this season.
Sophomore Brian Broderick finished second overall at 174 pounds in a tournament comprised of Division I,II,III colleges, club teams and unattached wrestlers. Broderick won his first four bouts, three by way of decision and the fourth by medical forfeit. In the title bout, Broderick, who is currently ranked No. 7 in his weight class in Division III, narrowly lost, falling 5-4 in a tiebreaker to Division I University of Binghamton freshman Tyler Beckwith.
Head coach David Icenhower was content with Broderick’s performance.
“He has more experience this year, after he had a strong freshman year,” Icenhower said. “He’s a very fundamentally sound wrestler and I thought he did great.”
Seniors Mike Denver and Justin Bonitatis also fared well at East Stroudsburg. Denver finished fifth at 184 pounds, winning five bouts, the last of which on a medical forfeit. Denver lost his second bout in the winners’ bracket to Millersville College’s junior Jason Foor, but did well in the losers’ bracket, winning four matches.
Bonitatis finished fourth at 165 pounds, advancing to the semifinals of the weight bracket before falling to Penn State freshman Dirk Cowburn 5-4.
College sophomores Dan Herr and John Darling also chipped in with four wins each. Herr fell in his second match, but gained m mentum in the loser’s bracket, pinning two opponents on the day. Darling won four consecutive bouts after dropping his opener.
“I feel that we fared very well,” Icenhower said. “Our starters each won four or five bouts and it’s a great experience for the team to win in competition.”
The College (3-0) will host its first match of the season tonight, Wednesday, Dec. 1 against King’s College. The Monarchs (0-8) will look for an upset against a Lions team that will be sitting a few starters due to medical reasons, according to Icenhower.
”Hopefully our backups can do a good job,” he said. “Our goal is to be healthy by the end of the year and get a little better every time out.”
Bobby Olivier can be reached at olivier6@tcnj.edu.
