By Cameron Burns
Correspondent
The Lions’ wrestling took care of business on the road this past weekend, improving to 8-4 this season. The College won their second dual meet in a row, this time against the Ithaca Bombers. The Lions went into this matchup with a 7-4 dual meet record, earning them the No. 13 spot in the Division III rankings.
To kick off the action, the College started off the day firing on all cylinders. The No. 18 Division III wrestler at 125 pounds, Matthew Griffin, displayed a dominant effort while also awarding the Lions five points. Griffin was victorious over the Ithaca 125-pounder Cosmo Damiani via tech fall in a 21-2 commanding showcase.
The Lions built off this momentum and were victorious in the next two matches. The Lions' 133-pound wrestler Kyle Nace pinned Ithaca wrestler Francisco Muriel about a minute into the second period. After that, the College’s Sam Kotch was victorious in a decision against Matt Haycook. This put them out to a strong 14-0 lead.
Next up on the schedule were the 149 and 157-pound matchups. The Lions fell in both of these matchups; however, they were very close, hard-fought matches. The College’s 149-pound wrestler Mayson Harms lost a narrow 7-3 decision against the Bomber's Matthew Beyer. Then, the Lions’ wrestler Ryan Datz lost a razor-thin 4-2 match on points. The Lions still held on to a commanding lead of 14-6.
The College found its way back on track in the 165-pound matchup. The Lions’ Nicholas Sacco defeated Konrad Parker in an extremely hard-fought 6-5 victory. The College extended their lead to 17-6. Sacco entered the meet as the second ranked 165-pounder in the Division III wrestling rankings. He has been consistently outstanding all season, posting an impressive 13-0 record in dual meets.
The Lions came up short in the next 3 matches. The bombers won the 174, 184 and 197-pound matchup by points, and climbed back into the match to give their team a chance in the final match of the meet.
The biggest match of the day would be between the two heavyweights: the Lions 285-pound wrestler Peter Wersingner and the Ithaca 285 pounder wrestler, Jeremy Mazzella. This would be the deciding match for the meet.
The match was extremely close and ended up needing more time than regulation to decide. Wersinger won during the end of the first sudden victory period, but more importantly gave the College an incredible, dramatic victory.
The Lions’ next meet is a quad meet in Cortland, New York at SUNY Cortland this Saturday, Feb. 2.
