The Ithaca College wrestling team is looking to build upon a second-place finish at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships and fight for another chance at a national title.
After a dominant run in the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC), where the Bombers have taken home the conference championship every season since 2014, they will be moving to the SUNYAC. This move makes the Bombers the only Ithaca athletics team to compete in the same conference as rival SUNY Cortland.
Despite the change, the Bombers are as determined as ever to have a successful season. They hope to win the conference, regional (Mideast) championships and send many athletes to the Division lll National Wrestling Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Junior team captain Wenchard “Winnie” Pierre-Louis, who wrestles at 157 pounds, has high expectations for his team this year and said the group is special.
“This is probably gonna be one of the best teams that I have been on,” Pierre-Louis said.
Pierre-Louis won the 157 pound bracket at the regional meet last season, qualifying for his first National Championship. In his second full collegiate season, he said he is not satisfied with last season’s successes. He said he wants an individual title and is holding himself accountable both on and off the mat.
“I take it very personal now, because of the things that are on the line,” Pierre-Louis said. “Everything’s getting done the right way in order to be a champ.”
Pierre-Louis believes that one of the keys to getting it done is trusting his coaching staff, which consists of all Ithaca Wrestling Alumni, including head coach Marty Nichols. Coach Nichols is entering his 27th season at the helm and shares the same confidence in his athletes as his captain does. Nichols said he only has one objective for the team.
“Win the nationals, right?” Nichols said. “That’s always the goal.”
Nichols and the team have three athletes returning who went to the national meet last year. Along with Pierre-Louis, there is sophomore Isaias Torres who wrestles at 133 lbs. and fifth year student Matthew Beyer who wrestles at 149 lbs.
The team is also looking for some new wrestlers to take the next jump and join them at nationals so they can compete for the team podium and Nichols said the team has the upside to make that a reality.
“To be in the top four [at nationals] you probably gotta have five guys,” Nichols said. “We could make that happen. Depends on how much they improve during the year.”
One of the athletes Nichols expects to step up is senior Jackson Gray, who wrestles at 165 lbs. Gray has plenty of experience, wrestling at the regional meet the last two seasons including a fourth-place finish in 2022. Nichols said the sky is the limit for Gray.
“[Gray] is pretty tough. … Our expectations are high for him,” Nichols said. “He was fourth, so he’s right there. He’s a guy you keep an eye on.”
Sophomore Isaias Torres is also looking to take a step forward this season after qualifying for the national meet as a first-year student last season. Similar to Pierre-Louis, Torres said he is holding himself more accountable this year after getting a taste of the national stage last season.
“I’ve been doing things this year that I hadn’t been doing last year, like diet-wise,” Torres said. “I’m trying to stay consistent with my sleep.”
Torres also stated that his teammates have been going above and beyond this offseason. Torres said that the team has been training when others have not and that other teams should be aware of them for that very reason.
Torres also noted that the team this year is very young. This offseason, Nichols brought in 17 first-year athletes. Torres said the team is keeping a keen eye on developing a solid team dynamic.
“We’ve been focusing on team chemistry first,” Torres said. “The [first-year students] feel comfortable in the room.”
Nichols believes that the first-year students he handpicked add depth and skill on the team and said the whole class will be able to affect the team this season.
“We have some pretty good [first-year students],” Nichols said. “Max Watson’s pretty good, Angelo Pellicci, Jake Jones is pretty good. So you have some pretty good guys that can get in there and do something.”
Nichols pointed to the upperclassmen as being capable leaders, including Pierre-Louis, Beyer and Gray. Nichols believes their experience will allow the team to grow and that they have been great mentors to the incoming class.
However, despite being given the title of team captain, Pierre-Louis said he does not believe in the title.
“I think that every guy in my room is a leader,” Pierre-Louis said.
Pierre-Louis said he believes that this style of leadership has allowed the first-year students to flourish and integrate themselves into the program easily. Pierre-Louis said he also believes that another one of his roles is to get everyone to buy into Nichols’ plan.
“The guy who knows it all is [coach] Marty,” Pierre-Louis said. “He’s been there, he’s had guys before and he knows what it’s like, and he knows the situation.”
Coach Nichols also said he credits the importance that the team has seven alumni of the program helping out, including Eze Chukwuezi ’23. Chukwuezi was a three-time All-American during his time in the program and placed third at the national meet last year.
Heading into the team’s first meet on Nov. 3rd and 4th, Pierre-Louis said it would be the first meet that positions the team at the top of the D-lll wrestling landscape.
“We are gonna solidify ourselves as one of the top teams in the country,” Pierre-Louis said.
The Bombers opened up its season with the Ithaca Invitational Nov. 3 and finished fourth out of 12 teams competing. The two-day event saw graduate student Matthew Beyer come away as the champion of the 149 pound weight class with a 13–3 win. The Bombers will next travel to compete in the Bob Del Rosa Ohio Intercollegiate Open at 10 a.m. Nov. 12 in Cleveland, Ohio.
