The Ithaca College wrestling team saw three of its six wrestlers advance to day two of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships on March 11–12 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As a team, the South Hill squad earned a total of 26.5 points for the championship, which left them in the 14th overall spot in the standings.
Juniors Jimmy Kaishian, 125 lbs.; Carlos Toribio, 184 lbs.; and sophomore Nick Velez, 165 lbs., each advanced with 2–1 records. Senior Dan Glinko, 285 lbs.; junior Nick Wahba, 141 lbs.; and freshman Bryan Israel, 133 lbs., rounded out Ithaca’s national’s squad, but they were eliminated from their respective brackets March 11.
Kaishian began his tournament with a 5–1 decision win over senior Cole Ferguson from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the first round. He followed that up with a close 3–2 loss by decision to third-ranked sophomore Jakob Stageberg of Concordia-Moorhead College. That result moved Kaishian to the consolation bracket.
Kaishian held his own in the tournament with a crucial victory in the final seconds of his next bout with fifth-ranked junior Ryan Weinmann of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to take home a 6–4 win by decision.
In his first match on day two, Kaishian was pinned in just over two minutes after falling behind quickly, 4–1. He followed that performance up with a bounce-back win in the seventh-place matchup.
The seventh-place finish was good enough to earn Kaishian All-American status. The junior finished his 2015–16 campaign with a record of 39–5.
Velez started his national tournament March 11 with a matchup against sixth-ranked junior Colin Navickas from Stevens Institute of Technology, where he suffered a 2–0 defeat on a takedown in the second period.
However, he flipped the script in the second match, dominating with a 16–0 technical fall victory over sophomore Cole Sladek of Concordia-Moorhead to continue on in the championship.
Velez squeaked out a 2–1 decision in his next matchup with junior Ryan Vandall of Central College before taking on sophomore Jeff Hojnacki from Messiah College on March 12.
Velez kicked off the morning with a 4–3 decision loss to Hojnacki, forcing him to hit the mat in the seventh-place bout, where he challenged senior Farai Sewera of Coe College.
Velez took care Sewera rather easily, and came out with a 10–4 win. The sophomore wrapped up his season with an overall record of 34–6.
Toribio had the strongest start for the college March 11 with a couple of major decision wins.
Toribio won his first match 10–1 over sophomore Sebastian Larson of Augsburg College, before dropping a 7–4 decision to second-ranked senior Josh Thomson of Messiah. In the final bout of March 11, Toribio put on the gas at the end of a close match to pull away 11–2.
The junior started off March 12 by pinning senior Brandon Conrad of Rhode Island College, leading to a match with fourth-seeded sophomore AJ Kowal of Stevens, where he dropped a 9–2 decision.
His final bout of the championship came against freshman Austin Cook from Wisconsin-La Crosse in the fifth place match. He closed out the match with a 6–1 advantage, securing the fifth place finish. Toribio concluded the season with a 30–7 record.
The conclusion of the tournament ends the Bombers season with an overall record of 16–5.
