Junior Blaine Woszczak is placing himself in an elite category, among some of the best wrestlers in the country.

Yesterday in York College’s Spartan Classic, he was named Most Outstanding Wrestler, as he won the 149-pound weight class and guided the No. 4 wrestling team to first place in the tournament.

They just beat out The College of New Jersey in the 10 team field by a 140.5–139 score. So far this season, Ithaca has won all Division III related competition.

Ranked No. 2 in the country at 149-pounds, Woszczak went 4–0 on the day, with two of those wins coming against two of the best wrestlers in the nation.

In the semifinals, he defeated Division III’s eighth-ranked wrestler and in the finals, its fourth-ranked wrestler.

But while Woszczak was definitely a major factor in the Blue and Gold winning yet another tournament, other wrestlers heavily contributed.

Three to note specifically were senior tri-captain Chad Winowich and juniors Jeremy Stierly and David Priest. All three, like Woszczak, won their respective weight classes.

Winowich, who was seeded first at 133-pounds, recorded a major decision and technical fall in two of his victories.

Stierly was seeded second at 141-pounds and won two of his bouts by pin fall and major decision. He leads the South Hill squad in major decision victories. Last year, the 141-pound slot was occupied by Jon Paxos ’09 and two years ago it was current senior Willie Horwath, who now wrestles at 157-pounds.

Priest, 174-pounds, had two pin falls on the day.

Along with those four, eight other Bombers placed on the day.

Freshman Josue Mendez placed third at 174-pounds and sophomore Matt Mahon did the same in the heavyweight division.

Horwath upped his career record to 105–38, taking fourth place in his weight class. Also taking fourth in his class was 165-pound senior John Dale.

Finishing in fifth place for the Bombers were 133-pound junior Junior Amazan, 149-pound freshman Evan Connors and 157-pound sophomore Derek Brenon. Sophomore Tom Heckman finished sixth at 197-pounds.

The Bombers were able to take first even with two of their top lightweights absent from tournament play.

Senior 125-pound tri-captain Jon Gregory and 133-pound freshmen Seth Ecker did not participate in the competition.

Both returning All-Americans, Ecker was feeling under the weather and Gregory was resting his fragile neck for dual matches this week.

Gregory missed most of last season with three herniated discs in neck. Gregory said the injury is still going to linger no matter what, so he only wants to compete when it’s most important.

The Blue and Gold, along with Gregory, return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday when they travel to Rochester Institute of Technology to battle the Tigers.