40th Annual New York State Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships

UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO HOLDS OFF DEFENDING CHAMP ARMY TO CLAIM CLAIM EIGHTH
NEW YORK STATE INTERCOLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Matt Kyler of Army named Most Outstanding Wrestler with third consecutive title
[final team scores]  [final bracket results]

Finally, after enduring two days of mother nature's hit on Oswego County, the 40th annual New York State Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships is a wrap.

The University of Buffalo, runners-up in four of the last five state championships (finishing third in 2007), broke through and captured their ninth title overall, holding off defending champion Army 168.5-162.5. The Bulls came away with four individual champions out of seven finalists, while the Black Knights produced three champions out of six finalists.

Both teams met head-to-head in five of the 10 championships, with Army coming away on top with wins by Casey Thome at 141 pounds, Matt Kyler at 149 pounds, and Richard Starks at 197 pounds.  Buffalo came away with individual titles from Kevin Smith at 133 pounds and Nate Rock at 174 pounds and had an additional winner in Mickey Moran at 184 pounds.

Moran and Kyler were repeat individual champions. Moran successfully defended his state championship with a 3-2 victory over Nate Holley of Cornell University

Kyler claimed his third consecutive crown after earning a hard-fought 5-1 victory over Desi Green of Buffalo. Kyler, the championship's Most Outstandng Wrestler, will have an opportunity to do what only one wrestler in the tournament's history has ever done - complete the career grand slam with his fourth state title. Fellow cadet Philip Simpson is the only one to date to accomplish the feat, winning titles at 141 and 157 pounds from 2002-05.

Mike McInally of RIT came away as the Division III lone champion of the meet, scoring a 3-1 decision over Dan Bishop of Buffalo, while Justin James of Niagara County Community College became only the second junior college wrestler to capture a state title since 1998, coming away with a 3-1 triumph over Eren Civan of Columbia.

The Lions, the third-place finishers with 128 points, sported a pair of champions in Derek Sickles at 157 pounds, posting a 15-0 technical fall in seven minutes over Eduardo Delgado of Nassau CC, and Ryan Flores at 285 pounds with a 5-3 decision over Army's Mike Sprigg.

NOTES: 15 of the 18 teams entered had at least one wrestler finish in the top eight, earning them All-State accolades ... Army's Matt Kyler finished with four falls in a total time of 9:54 (three of his falls came in the opening period) ... The host Oswego State Lakers didn't come away empty handed as three of its wrestlers, senior captain Derrick Smith (seventh place at 141 pounds), and sophomore Joel Ford (197 pounds) each came away with seventh-place finishes, while junior Eric Leusch finished sixth at 285 pounds ... Oswego State also had the lone individual to be inducted into the New York State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in Dave Parisi, who was a two-time runner-up in the state championships and a three-time NCAA Division III All-American, winning the national title in 1982 at 118 pounds. He is the fourth member of the Oswego State wrestling program to be included into the Hall of Fame, joining Doug Morse (2009) and former Laker coaches Jim Howard (1080) and Dave See (1986).

[team scores - through championship and consolation quarterfinals]  [bracket updates]

12:24 p.m. - We started on time at 10 a.m. and we're through the championship semifinals and into the consolationn semifinals. The final round at 4 p.m. is guaranteed to be a battle as the University of Buffalo has taken over the team lead with 100 points, putting seven wrestlers into the championship finals. Army, the defending team champions, is second with 97 points and will have six representatives in the finals, while Columbia University holds down the third spot with three finalists.  Ithaca still stands as the top NCAA Division III team in the tournament with 37.5 points, with nine of its wrestlers guaranteed to finish from 3rd to 8th place, while Rochester Institute of Technology (33 points), Cornell University and Nassau Community College (30.5 points each) and Niagara County Community College (26.5) round out the top eight teams, each with one finalists.

The Bulls and Black Knights are set to face off in five of the 10 weight classes in the championship finals. with the most interest coming in the 149 pound final. Army junior Matt Kyler scored his fourth fall of the tournament in his quest for a third straight title (he won his first two titles at 141 pounds), defeating Ithaca's Blaine Woszczak in 1:08. Kyler will face Buffalo redshirt freshman Desi Green, who edged defending weight class champion Matt Dunn, 3-2 in his semifinal bout.

The other head-to-head matchups will feature Kevin Smith (UB, #1 seed) vs. Whitt Dunning (Army, 2) at 133 pounds, Casey Thome (Army, 1) vs. Mark Lewandowski (UB, unseeded) at 141, Ryan Mergen (Army, 1) vs. Nate Rock (UB, 2) at 174 , and Jim Hamel (UB, 1) vs. Richard Starks (Army, 3) at 197.

Mike Sprigg is Army's other finalists, seeded second at 285 pounds, while senior Mickey Moran the top seed and defending champion at 184 pounds, and junior Dan Bishop, the second seed at 125 pounds, are Buffalo's additional finalists.

The junior colleges will be well represented in the finals by Eduardo Delgado of Nassau CC and Justin James of Niagara CC. Delgado, the fifth seed at 157 pounds, scored a 10-4 win over top seeded Rudy Chelednik of Army in the semifinal, while James, the top seed at 165 pounds, survived a 14-10 win over fifth seed Patrick Knight of New York University.

Mike McInally of RIT, the top seed at 125 pounds, is the lone division III finalist. He registered a 6-3 decision over fifth seed Kyle Gilchrist of Columbia in his semifinal bout.

ARMY, BUFFALO SET TO BATTLE FOR TEAM TITLE AFTER FIRST DAY OF NYS INTERCOLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

[day one team scoring] ["A" Bracket Results] ["B" Bracket Results - Final]

 The United States Millitary Academy (Army) and the University of Buffalo were the dominant teams after the first day of the 40th Annual New York State Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships hosted by the State University of New York at Oswego. Both teams have all ten of their respective wrestlers still in the running for All-State accolades (top eight finishers in each weight) when action resumes on Saturday, Jan. 17 with the conaolation round and the championship semifinals at 10 a.m. in Max Ziel Gymnasium.

The Black Knights, the defending state champions and winners of four of the last five state championships, currently lead the team standings after day one with 44 points, placing nine wrestlers into Saturday's semifinals. The Bulls, who will be represented with seven semifinalists, trail by only two points, registering 42 points.

Ithaca College represents the top Division III team in the standings at third place with 33.5 points. The Bombers have nine wrestlers still in the hunt for All-State honors, with five seeing semifinal action.  Columbia University (31 points, six semifinalist) and Rochester Institute of Technology (25 points, three semifinalists) round out the top five teams in the 17 team field.

Army junior 149 pounder Matt Kyler, Columbia University junior Matt Dunn, and University of Buffalo senior and 184 pounder Mickey Moran, all returning champions from last year, highlight the first day of action, Kyler, who is looking for his third consecutive championship (champion at 141 in 2007 and 2008) registered three falls in his opening day of competition, defeating Max Murray of Jamestown CC in 1:25, Vitaly Simkin of Hunter College in 6:17, and James Forsyth of SUNY Brockport in 1:04. Dunn, the defending champion at the weight class picked up a pair of decisions, defeating Brian Alves of Cornell University, 6-2, and pulling out a 4-2 verdict over Tom Rispoli of Nassau Community College. Both wrestlers will face tough opponents in the semifinals, with Kyler taking on fourth seed Blaine Woszczak of Ithaca, and Dunn facing Buffalo's Desi Green, the third seed.

Moran earned his spot in the semifinals with a fall at 2:15 over Oswego's Tom Lester in the first round, and an 18-6 decision over Tom Heckman of Ithaca in the quarterfinals. He will face fourth-seeded Martino Sotille of SUNY Cortland in the semifinals.

All ten of the top seeds in each weight class survived the opening day, with nine of ten number two seeds moving on. The 285 pound weight class saw its lone victiim among the top two seeds as Ithaca's Chris Carabello, the seventh seed, held on for a 3-2 triumph over Brian Scher of Hunter College.

71 competitors competed in the "B" bracket of the championships, which crowned champions in its one-day competition. Army crowned two champions in Davey Mason at 125 and Casey Smith at 141 pounds, as did Columbia with Nick Standish (149) and Ryan Sullivan (197). Ithaca (Seth Ecker at 133), NYU (David Rice at 157) and host Oswego State (Marc Collins at 165) each crowned "B" individual titlist, while Buffalo sported three winners (Matt Bogardus, unattached at 174; Jason Brown at 184, and Jedd Mason unattached at 285).

*****First day blog highlights*****

10:35 a.m. - WOW! What a way to start the first day of the NYS Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships (those of you who went to Lycoming last weekend for the Division III National Duals will understand).  Wrestlers from 18 schools woke up to a blinding lake effect snow storm (along with winds up to 20 mph) that is supposed to last the remainder of the day. High schools around the area are already closed for the day, not to mention a couple of accidents around the city where visibility was treacherous. 

HOWEVER, WE ARE WRESTLING!

Action got underway on the six mats almost right on schedule. I will try to keep updates going along with bracket updates throughout the day.

11:30 am - Here are the top seeds in each weight class (number of individuals in bracket in parentheses).

12:30 p.m. - We have gone through all of the pigtail matches and are now starting to move through the round of 16 ["A" Bracket Results]  ["B" Bracket Results]. No major upsets to this point.  Mike McInally of RIT (125 pounds) and two-time defending champion Matt Kyler of Army (129 pounds) were the only top seeds put into the pigtails, both coming away with relatively easy victories.

3:10 p.m. - Things running smoothly in Max Ziel Gymnasium as we are now pushing into the championship quarterfinals and semifinals of the "B" championship bracket ["A" bracket update through two rounds / "B" bracket update]. All ten top seeds pushed through successfully with only a few minor surprises in a few weight classes.  The third and six seeds at 133 pounds fell in second round action as hometown favorite Derrick Smith dropped a 4-3 decision to unseeded Mark Lewandowski of Buffalo and NYU's Calvin Hawkes scored a 5-3 decision over sixth seed Derrick Adams of Niagara County CC.  Army's Matt Kyler's run at a third straight title continues, posting a 6:17 fall over Vitaly Simkin of Hunter.

Josh Wake of Oneonta, the third seed at 184 pounds, dropped a 6-1 decision to Josh Pushpack of Columbia, while unseeded travis Dale of Cornell defeated fifth seed Lou Miller of Columbia, 3-1 in a battle of EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) schools. Finally, Jabrill Patterson of Brockport, the sixth seed at 285 pounds, was the lone seed to fall, dropping a 3-1 decision to Brett Cornell of Buffalo.

5:16 pm - We are done with the championship quarterfinals and are now into the consolation round and the closing stages of the "B" bracket, which will be completed by nights end ["A" bracket update / "B" bracket update / team standings] .  Defending champion Army currently leads the team standings with 44 points, putting nine wrestlers into the Saturday morning semifinals.  The University of Buffalo is currently second wirh 36.5 points and seven semifinalist, while Ithaca College, the top Division III tournament team in the standings, holds down the third spot with 31 points and three semifinalists.

Army junior 149 pounder Matt Kyler continues his quest for a third consecutive state title by registering his third pin of the day with a 1:04 fall over Brockport's James Forsyth, setting up what may be a most interesting semifinal matchup with sophomore Blane Woszniak of Ithaca. Woszniak, seeded fourth in the tournament and ranked seventh nationally in Division III, posted back-to-back falls in his first two matches, defeating Goodson Phillipe of Morrisville State (3:46) and fifth seeded Devan Whitman of Oneonta State (6:15).

Buffalo Senior Mickey Moran is also looking good in defense of his state title at 184 pounds, opening the day with a 2:15 fall over Oswego's Tom Lester and following with an 18-6 major decision over Tom Heckman of Ithaca. He will face his third Division III opponent of the tournament in the semifinals on Saturday, facing fourth seed Martino Sotille of SUNY Cortland.

For those who are curious regarding the weather in Oswego, it has been snowing all day as we are in a Lake Effect snow warning until 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. Add to that the dropping of the temperature in single digits tonight and you're looking at a brutal night ahead (BRRRRR).

We will have a final update along with the final updated brackets and team scores later in the evening. When that will be is anyone's guess as I have to staff a women's ice hockey game at 7 p.m. (that is, if we end at a good time. We're looking at wraping things up right around 6:30 p.m.).

Written by Mark Coley, Oswego State SID.