When the season began, the wrestling team was ranked 14th in the National Wrestling Coaches Association preseason rankings. There were high expectations for the young bunch, which included only one senior, 165-pound Greg Davis.

The South Hill squad did not disappoint. The team finished the season with a dual meet record of 11–5, top finishes in most of the tournaments they competed in and four NCAA Championship qualifiers.

“We had a good year, [a] good solid year,” Head Coach Marty Nichols said.

The season started in Ithaca in the familiar setting of the Ben Light Gymnasium. The event was the Ithaca Invitational, where the Blue and Gold finished second in the 16-team tournament.

During winter break, Ithaca was successful at the Williamstown Invitational, finishing third out of nine. By the start of the second semester, the Bombers were 8–2 in dual meets and ranked No. 22 in the country.

After an impressive 28–9 victory over No. 24 SUNY-Oneonta, the South Hill squad had a tough stretch of matches to finish out the dual meet season. On Feb. 2, the Bombers hosted a quad meet, which included Division-I Binghamton University and Eastern Michigan University, and Division-II Mercyhurst College.

The Blue and Gold defeated Mercyhurst 19–15 but lost to Binghamton and Eastern Michigan, 21–12 and 31–12, respectively. Their next match was six days later at No. 19 Wilkes University, where the Bombers won a thriller 16–15.

Their final dual meet was against rival No. 5 SUNY-Cortland on Feb. 13 at home. The Bombers found themselves down early but caught up in the middle of the meet only to lose in the end 25–12, to finish 11–5 in dual meets.

Ten days later, the Blue and Gold traveled to Oneonta for the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Championships. Ithaca came in first in the team competition and qualified four members of the team to participate in the NCAA Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Sophomore Willie Horwath won the 141-pound class to get the automatic bid, while sophomore Jon Gregory (125 pounds) and freshmen Blaine Woszczak (149 pounds), who was named Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Rookie of the Year, and David Priest (174 pounds) got Wild Card bids. Gregory, Woszczak and Priest all finished second in their divisions.

Sophomore Chad Winowich (133 pounds) also finished second in his weight class but did not get an at-large bid. He was named a second alternate for the NCAA Championships.

In Cedar Rapids, Gregory earned All–American honors, finishing eighth in his weight class. He is the school’s 51st All–American in a program that has had at least one All-American every year since 1983.

Gregory said that it feels good to be recognized as an All-American and that he is starting to see all of his hard work pay off.

After his first­-round bye, he won his first match in a 2–1 decision. He lost his next match to the top seed and fell to the consolation bracket. There, he won in the consolation round with a 16–3 major decision, followed by a loss in the consolation semi–final and in the seventh/eighth–place contest.

Because of Gregory’s finish, the team of four was able to place 29 out of 60 teams in the tournament. The All­–American said a couple more wins could have placed them higher — ninth or 10th — considering his teammates were in some pretty close contests.

Priest, after upsetting the second seed in his first match, later lost to an opponent who ended up going to the finals in a three–overtime battle.

In Woszczak’s first match, he also lost to an opponent who would end up going to the finals in a close 13–10 decision.

Horwath, after losing a 8–2 decision to the number eight seed, lost by one point in the final nine seconds of his consolation round match.

“We win a couple of those matches, we score a lot more points,” Nichols said. “We’re awfully close right now, and next year we should be right in there.”

Horwath said the tournament was a great experience for the four who competed in it this season.

“We brought guys to the tournament that have never been there before,” Horwath said. “I think for everyone that went there it was good experience for next year and [the] following year.”

Next year, the Bombers are returning everyone except for Davis. This group includes five All–Americans. They are the four from this season and sophomore Justin Seifried (133 pounds), who was injured for most of the season.

“We’re at the cusp of being [one of the] premiere programs in the country,” Gregory said. “We had a real young team this year. I really think we’re going places. I think [there are] big things to come from Bombers wrestling.”