The wrestling team, ranked No. 3 in the nation, won its second consecutive opening match of the season last weekend in Ben Light Gymnasium.

Heading into the second day of the 26th annual Ithaca Invitational, the Bombers were behind rival SUNY-Cortland 90–89.5 for the top spot in team points in the tournament.

But a great second day by the Bombers put them ahead of the Red Dragons to take the tournament title for the second straight year, with a score of 160–143.5.

The Blue and Gold had 11 wrestlers compete in semifinal matches, with eight advancing to finals competition in their respective weight classes.

“You want to have as many guys in the finals as you can, and you hope that you have some of your own guys wrestling each other,” Head Coach Marty Nichols said. “It’s great to have that many guys in the finals.”

The wrestlers in the finals were 125-pound senior tri-captain Jon Gregory, 133-pound senior tri-captain Chad Winowich, 133-pound sophomore Seth Ecker, 141-pound junior Jeremy Stierly, 149-pound junior Blaine Woszczak, 157-pound junior Nick Sanko, 157-pound senior Willie Horwath, 157-pound freshman Derek Brenon, 174-pound junior David Priest, 197-pound sophomore Tom Heckman and sophomore heavyweight Matt Mahon.

The Bombers earned five first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and two third-place finishes in the tournament.

Gregory took his semifinal match against Cortland’s Jared Lemke 1–0, in which he was awarded the lone point of the bout in the third period by getting out of a jam. In the championship match against Mike Bastante of Johnson and Wales University, Gregory came out victorious, winning 7–2 to take home first place.

At last year’s invitational, Gregory suffered three herniated disks and was sidelined for the year. Though the injury is still lingering, and he is not at his peak in terms of his conditioning, he said it felt good for him to take the title.

“My confidence was a little down in the room,” Gregory said. “It’s going to be a few weeks until I feel like I was the wrestler I was towards the end of 2008. But this is definitely a goal I had from day one being a college wrestler here. ... It’s nice after four years here to walk away with a tournament title.”

Stierly won his semifinal match against Springfield College’s Blaze Chatham 7–3 and then, in the championship round, defeated New York University’s Gregg Martino 5–3 to take the 141-pound title.

In an exciting match against Cortland’s Dave Colagiovanni, Winowich won 5–3. Minutes later, Ecker lost a battle to Cortland’s Aljamain Sterling 4–3, setting up a 133-pound championship match with Winowich and Sterling.

In that bout, Winowich barely fell to Sterling in a 3–1 score that needed an extra period. In overtime, tied at 1–1, Sterling had an impressive takedown on Winowich for the win.

In the 149-pound class, Woszczak won his semifinal match against SUNY-Oswego’s Blake Fisher 13–6 and then his championship against Stephen Perez of Cortland 11–3.

At the 174-pound weight class, Priest defeated Roger Williams University’s Chris Nadeau 13–3 in the semifinals and Cortland’s Mike Ciaburri in the championship round 6–0.

Priest won this tournament two years ago as a freshman and finished third last year, which he said made his victory more fulfilling.

“I worked hard over the summer and in preseason so I’m back where I left off last year and just looking to get better every day,” Priest said.

Heckman lost against New York University’s Jamie Myers 6–4 in the semifinal round, then lost his first consolation match, but won his second to take fifth at the 197-pound weight class.

Mahon was the lone Bomber to pin an opponent in the semifinal round, doing so against Springfield’s Ron Fusco with 1:45 left in the first period. However, in his championship bout, he lost to Cortland’s Joe Murphy 3–2.

Though eight first-place finishes didn’t happen, beating Cortland and taking first for the second consecutive year in the team standings is what Nichols said the Blue and Gold wanted.

“[Cortland’s] always good, and they’re probably a top-10 team,” he said. The guys that took third, fourth, fifth — those are the guys that helped us win the tournament. You got to have those guys come back and win and do well.”