The Ithaca College men’s wrestling team competed in the Ithaca Quad on Feb. 3, dominating in all three matches in a pinning frenzy. Throughout the three matches, the Bombers racked up 14 wins by fall.
The first meet was against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons. After going down in the first match at 125 pounds, the Bombers bounced back and won 37–15.
Trailing 6–0 at 133 pounds, Bombers’ sophomore Isaias Torres was able to tie the score up at 6–6, pinning junior Danny Poggi in 5:34. Torres remained in control during the whole match but got the pin late.
Torres has put together a terrific season and is currently ranked 13 in the 133 pound weight class. With regionals in under a month on March 1 and 2, and nationals right around the corner, he said he is just taking it one day at a time and working extra hard.
“I think I’ve improved so much getting to this point,” Torres said. “And I think I can improve way more if I take it day by day, so working with the coaches, working out extra. I’m doing the things that a lot of people aren’t doing, things that I hate. But, I know in the long run, it’s going to be worth it for sure.”
Getting his 100th career win last weekend was just not enough for graduate student wrestler Matthew Beyer, who is currently ranked number 7 in all of Division III wrestling at his weight class.
The graduate student wrestler has had an excellent season placing in first place at the Ithaca Invitational in November for the 149 pound weight class. At the Ithaca Quad, he did not show any slowing down against the Red Dragons, getting a win by fall within the first minute of his first match against sophomore Colby D’Andria.
His win put the Bombers in a comfortable spot as they continued to lead for the remainder of the meet while also getting pins from sophomore Konrad Parker at 165 pounds, first-year Jake Jones at 184 pounds and senior Jeremy Mazzella at 285 pounds.
Against the Wesleyan University Cardinals, the South Hill Squad opened up strong with junior Cosmo Damiani getting a hard fought win by decision over first-year Chris Hong at 125 pounds. Directly afterwards, Torres was able to get his second win by fall, pinning junior Max Martinez in 1:33 at 133 pounds to take a 9–0 lead. Beyer won the next match by forfeit to improve the lead to 15–0.
Over the next two matches, the Cardinals started to mount a comeback getting a win by major decision and a win by decision to cut the Bomber’s lead to 15–7. However, at 165 pounds, Parker was able to get yet another win by fall, pinning junior Ciaran Edwards in 2:25. This shifted the whole momentum of the match, as the Bombers were able to get three wins by fall and one win by major decision in the last four matches of the meet.
At 174 pounds, junior Jackson Gray was able to pin senior Lucas Hughes in 2:03 to grab his second win of the day. Directly afterwards at 184 lbs, Jones pinned first-year Roman Martinez in 0:51 to grab his second win of the day in which he pinned his opponent in the first period. At 197 pounds, first-year Trey Darmody-Latham was able to grab control early on and pinned first-year William Maffei in 1:31. Finally, to end the match and to win 43–7, Mazzella was able to grab a 16–4 major decision win over junior Kolton Gagnon at 285 pounds.
The last match of the day against the Williams College Purple Cows was completely dominated by the Bombers who won 52–0. The Purple Cows did not stand a chance as five Bombers were able to secure pins all within the first period of the match.
Jones got his third pin of the day with every single one being in the first period. Jones talked about the work that Bombers’ head coach Marty Nichols put him through and how it has helped him dramatically through the season.
“I definitely give it all to coach Nichols,” Jones said. “He spends a lot of time working with me just on different moves and stuff like that. I can definitely tell a big change. … Before winter break, stuff was going good, but when we hit winter break, we were here every single day practicing two times a day. The amount of jumps you can make from practicing that much, it’s crazy and I can definitely tell a big difference, but he worked me very hard during that period.”
A pin and a forfeit gets the most points in a wrestling match, both being six points. Jones humbly talked about his pin-heavy style of wrestling that he approaches the mat with.
“Pinning has always really been my thing,” Jones said. “I don’t take a whole lot of shots, I can’t get out on bottom, but one thing I think I’m okay at is pinning. It’s always been my thing, always going upper body and going into a pin. That’s like the epitome of wrestling, I think.”
