Coming off a big victory over Rochester Institute of Technology Dec. 9, the No. 2–ranked Ithaca College wrestling squad defeated the SUNY Oswego Lakers Dec. 12 inside Ben Light Gymnasium improving to a season record of 4–1.
It was freshman, Ferdinand Mase who started off the match against Oswego junior Jacob Yankloski in the 125-pound contest. Mase controlled most of the bout on the mat, and held a commanding 4–1 lead heading into the final two minutes where the score remained neutral, giving the Bombers an opening lead.
Next up was one of the most highly anticipated contests when Bombers junior captain Jimmy Kaishian was up against Oswego junior James Ronca. This was a low-scoring bout, but in the end it was Kaishian who ended up on top with a pinfall midway through the second round.
Ronca was able to take Kaishian down to the mat once, but that was all he could muster against the No. 5-ranked wrestler in the 133-pound weight class.
Kaishian said he was pleased with of how the unit performed as a whole on the afternoon.
“We had a good performance,” Kaishian said. “We came out and handled our business. I’m just happy with how the team has come together and we got big matched ahead of us coming back over break.”
Next up for the Bombers came junior Nick Wahba in the 141-pound division. He took on Lakers’ sophomore Israel Segarra and from the opening horn, this was Wahba’s match. He controlled all three rounds and earned the victory by the score of 14–4.
Senior Dan Pak was awarded the victory due to a forfeit in the 149-pound weight class. Even though he was not able to wrestle, Pak said he is incredibly proud of his team and how far they have come.
“Just with the way that our team has been performing, we could honestly be number one,” Pak said. “We’re going to see [Wartburg College] at National Duals and we’re preparing for it. We have enough talent and enough potential in each wrestler to be number one in the country.”
In the following matchup, it was sophomore Nik Hansen representing the Blue and Gold. The 157-pounder won by technical fall in the first round with a point advantage of 20–3 over Oswego freshman Todd Woodcock. The impressive victory gave the Bombers a huge advantage midway through the card.
After an 8–2 victory for sophomore Nick Velez, sophomore Jaison White took the mat going up against Troy Seymour, sophomore captain for the Lakers. In the last outing against RIT, White won by major decision. However, when he went up against Seymour, he struggled to get a grip and earn the victory.
This was the lone victory for the Lakers throughout the day. The two competitors were in a stalemate for the majority of the seven minutes. However, with a couple of takedowns and an escape from one of the maneuvers, Seymour was able to spark three points on the board for Oswego as he took down White 5–2.
In the 184-pound class, it was freshman Jake Ashcraft who dominated one of the captains from Oswego, Sean Maloney. It took Ashcraft just over one minute to gain the pinfall.
Senior Dan Glinko put on the most dominant performance of the afternoon when he pinned freshman Ben Paccione in 57 seconds in the 197 weight division, giving the Bombers a commanding 42–3 lead entering the final contest.
The final match of the afternoon came in the 285-pound division when junior Matt Booth pinned freshman Kade Andrews in just over a minute-and-a-half. Andrews was never able to grasp Booth to get him to the mat. Booth used his weight and size advantage to takedown Andrews for the count.
Head coach Marty Nichols said his squad followed and executed a solid game plan.
“Overall it was pretty good,” Nichols said.“We mixed it up with some different guys and we just wanted to see some intensity out there, we did a pretty good job.”
The Bombers will look forward to the National Duals at 9 a.m. Jan. 8 and 9 in Fort Wayne, Indiana to state their case against the No. 1–ranked squad in the nation.
